Leitrim's Mark Diffley pictured at the launch of the Connacht SFC. Photo by Tyler Miller/Sportsfile
By Cian O'Connell
"People talk about Leitrim and its population, but there is talent there," Mark Diffley says with equal measures of passion and hope.
It has been a demanding stint for Leitrim, who were relegated from Division Three of the Allianz Football League. Next on the agenda is a Connacht SFC Semi-Final against Mayo on Saturday. Another daunting challenge.
Diffley, though, is adamant that Leitrim can flourish in the future providing the core of the panel can stay together for a sustained spell. "You look at the Sigerson team of the year, Barry McNulty and Tom Prior both getting on that team, and I am not sure if there are any other Connacht players on that," Diffley adds.
"So the talent is there in Leitrim. Obviously, we have a smaller playing pool than most counties so trying to keep lads involved for the long term is quite challenging.
"We probably don’t have the same incentives as most other counties to keep those lads around. Whether they get setbacks with injuries, whether they want to go travelling, whether older lads are contemplating whether it is time to retire or not, are the incentives there for Leitrim to keep them in?
"There is very good players there. Paul Honeyman has only gone 18 and he has played for UCD at Sigerson this year in second year, coming off the bench and playing for them.
"There is lots of talent there to build on. There is a group of players coming through. Can we keep fostering them and making sure the right steps are there for them to grow into the role?”
What can help that? “It is easy to say you should play for the pride of your county and all that and a lot of lads are there for that reason," Diffley responds.
"This is not like the golden age of 30 years ago. You want to try and keep lads involved for a certain period of time. You do need to. You look at teams like Sligo who have kept their panel for five, six, seven years and you see where they have gone.
“That is what you are trying to build with Leitrim and you hope these lads coming through will make sure they have the right standards there, the right want, to really commit to it, because everyone knows it takes commitment. It does take an awful lot."
Playing in the Connacht SFC matters to Diffley. His links to previous Leitrim teams are strong, a reminder of what can happen. "My club man, Fergal Reynolds, played corner back on the Leitrim 1994 team," Diffley says.
John Paul Nolan, Wicklow, and Tom Prior and Mark Diffley, Leitrim in Tailteann Cup action last year. Photo by Stephen Marken/Sportsfile
"That is the golden age of Leitrim football, the 90s and early 2000s. My cousin James Clancy played for Leitrim for a while and that is why I got involved. This is my sixth or seventh year. I like the Connacht Championship, I really do.
"I do really enjoy it. I love this year stepping up to Division Three and playing against a higher quality. You want to pitch yourself against the best players to see where you are at.
"I love playing the likes of Mayo and Galway, to pitch yourself for where you are. We can build on that. It just gives you the benchmark for where you want to be and to chase the standards you wish to chase."
When asked can the current crop be a version of the '94 crew, Diffley answers honestly. "It is extremely difficult and I can see why certain people don’t actually don’t think it is viable," Diffley says.
"I can see that. The main thing is to keep the panel together. There is a trend in Leitrim where you keep the panel for three years and then it rotates and you start from scratch.
"The talent is there. You see it in the Sigerson teams of the year. Can you incentivise players to stay for six or seven years, like the Mayos and the Sligos do?
"If we looked at the panel we played against Galway three years ago, I think myself and someone else are the only starters we have left in our panel whereas the Galway panel is the same team as three years ago."
Retaining players is key according to Diffley. "If you can get those six, seven, eight years you would be surprised where you could get to because Sligo nearly beat Galway in the Connacht championship last year and they are together five or six years," he adds.
"No one can say where we can go because no one in Leitrim has seen a team stay together for six or seven years.
"That hasn’t happened in the last 20 years. I would love to see the chance of us doing that, staying together. Maybe it is viable, maybe it isn’t, but if we could stay together for five or six years, well, then, we will know.
"That is what you are striving for."
