In attendance during the captains day ahead of the 2024 TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Football Championship Finals at Croke Park in Dublin is Leitrim captain Michelle Guckian. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
When Leitrim last played in an All-Ireland Intermediate LGFA Final in 2007, a then 14-year-old Michelle Guckian was there as a supporter shouting her team on to victory.
Two years later she was playing for the Leitrim seniors herself, but she’s had to wait until this Sunday to get the opportunity to experience All-Ireland Final day as a player.
It’s been a long time coming, so she’s determined to make the most of it.
“Yeah, it definitely has been a long, long wait," says Guckian. "Being here in the stand as a supporter in 2007 when I was 14, it's great to have a chance to play in a final now myself.
“I've been playing for Leitrim since 2009 when I started as a 16-year-old. That was my debut year and it's a long time. I thought I'd never get to grace the pitch in Croke Park so it's a dream come through to be here. We're delighted.
“The last few weeks have just been a roller-coaster ride. We're really looking forward to it, there's great excitement building, it's been great for the whole county, to be honest. You can see everyone is getting behind us and supporting us from businesses to individuals and all the clubs coming together.”
Apart from one year she took out in 2019, Guckian’s commitment to the Leitrim cause has been unstinting.
There have been some tough times along the way, but it all feels worthwhile now.
“Oh, there's been more challenging days than there has been good days when you come from Leitrim,” she says.
“But, no, it's brilliant. Obviously it's very hard to get back here every November/December time and get back training for another year but we've a great management team in place and I have to thank Johnny Garrity for convincing me to come back two years ago.
“There's times obviously it does get tougher as you get older. But these are the days that make it all worthwhile.
“Playing for Leitrim means everything. I know we've had tough days but when you're with a group of people like the Leitrim ladies, and it's a small-knit group and a small panel, but we're a very, very close team.
“We all know that everyone has each other's back and it is hard to step away from that. It is very difficult on the hard days to keep getting back up but they're there to help you all the time.
“It's for days like this that we make this commitment and keep coming back for more. It's going to be a dream come through for us all to step out on that pitch in Croke Park together as a team.”
Michelle Guckian of Leitrim in action against Yvonne Lee of Limerick during the Lidl LGFA National League Division 4 semi-final match between Leitrim and Limerick at Pádraig Pearses GAA Club in Roscommon. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile.
Clearly Leitrim have raised their level this year if they’re in an All-Ireland Final for the first time since 2007. Where did they get those few extra percentage points from?
“Look, we didn't have a great end to our League campaign in Division 4,” says Guckian. “We've been trying to get out of Division 4 for a good while and didn't have a great end to the campaign but we went back to training on the Wednesday four days later after the League semi-final and we had a little talk to ourselves because we know the talent and ability that is in this group and, if we put our minds to it, we can compete with the best at intermediate level.
“That's what we did and the belief that the management have instilled in us is huge. The belief that they've had in us and the never say die attitude, they really have pushed that and gotten that more mentally into us. It's just been brilliant, they've really pushed us on a step further this year.”
Leitrim have already beaten Tyrone in this year’s LGFA Intermediate Championship when they came from 10 points down to win by one in the first round.
Does that result bear any relevance for Sunday’s game?
“It absolutely counts for nothing,” says Guckian. “Tyrone are a brilliant, brilliant team. They have an advantage over us in so far as they played here in a League Final this year and they're up to Division 1.
“It's going to be a completely different game than it was in the group stages, we know that. Different pitch, different atmosphere. The excitement, the nerves, everything is going to play a part in that.
“But, look, we know that we can prove ourselves in the tough games. Against Roscommon and against Wexford we lifted our game again. We know we can do it and we just hope that we can prove it on the big day.”
