Naomh Anna Leitir Mór have a rich history in GAA since their formation in 1964, Having been part of an amalgamted Connemara team in the Galway senior championship in the 1980s, they won the Intermediate Championship for the first time in 1995 and earned senior status in their own right. 14 years later Naomh Anna won their second Galway IFC crown and went on to claim provincial honours, before being denied a place in Croke Park by Owen Mulligan's club Cookstown Fr Rocks in the All Ireland semi final.
That 1995 Leitir Mór team is pictured below:
After a swift return to Intermediate following that win in '95, Leitir Mór had to wait until 2009 for their next county title at the grade and the Connemara men would go on to win the Connacht title in what proved to be a momentous year for the club. That 2009 county final success is recounted here:
2009 Intermediate Football Final
Naomh Anna Leitir Mór 0-9 St James 0-7
Connacht Tribune report by Dara Bradley:
WHAT a peculiar match. For long periods of the intermediate county final at Pearse Stadium on Sunday it was looking like Naomh Anna/Leitir Mór weren’t even going to score for the entire second half but still hold on for a win. As it happened, with the game on a knife-edge tied at 0-7 apiece, the Gaeltacht underdogs found the inner-strength to launch a late rally and with three minutes of normal time remaining Daithí MacDonnchadha ended his sides’ 36-minutes barren patch by landing a relatively simple, yet pressure, free-kick to give Leitir Mór the edge. It was helter-skelter for the remaining three minutes, plus five minutes of injury-time but when Leitir Mór substitute Patrick Mark Ó Fatharta landed an insurance point in timeadded-on the men from the West Connemara Islands piled all 15-men back between the end-line and their own ‘40 and were never going to cough-up the late goal that was needed for St James’ to snatch victory at the death.
Leitir Mór deservedly emerged with the spoils and can look forward to local derbies with the likes of An Cheathrú Rua next year as they are now promoted back to the senior ranks – where they feel they belong – after a 14-year absence. And on this display, in the first-half in particular, Leitir Mór will feel confident of progressing through the Connacht and All-Ireland intermediate championship later this year and, who knows, may even follow in the footsteps of Moycullen who won the All-Ireland title in Croke Park last year. But for now Leitir Mór will just savour this sweet win.
It was a game of two halves if ever there was one – and ultimately it was won and lost in the first 30 minutes. For St James, who were bidding to become a senior team for the first time in the club’s 15 year existence, it’s difficult to comprehend what went wrong and probably a lot easier to pinpoint what went right – nothing!, in the first half at least.
They were red-hot favourites going into the decider but endured an abysmal opening half-hour in which they looked like rabbits caught in headlights – totally overcome by the occasion. Manager Seamus Burke and his backroom team must still be scratching their heads this week wondering why in the world did their team reserve their worst 30-minutes of football all year for the most important match of the season. It was unbelievable how poor St James’ were – their first score from play (and only their second point all day) came courtesy of centre-forward Seán Donnellan after 32 minutes of football, right on the stroke of half-time. Not good enough in a county final.
But then again, St James’ forwards were totally deprived of possession with Leitir Mór’s Antaine Ó Gríofa and Cristóir Ó Flatharta horsing Paul Conroy and Mark Kelly out of it at centrefield and the likes of Tomás Ó Gríofa, Ciarán Bairéad and Michéal Pól Ó Ceallaigh were gobbling up all the breaking ball from kick-outs. It was this dominance in the possession stakes – and the sheer ferocity and intensity in which Leitir Mór approached the match from the throw-in – that gave the Connemara men a platform to establish a 0-7 to 0-2 lead at the interval.
The ever-impressive wing forward Daithí MacDonnchadha, corner-forward Eamonn Ó Loinsigh and full forward Ferdia Breathnach provided the points as Leitir Mór threatened to run riot early on, with Fiachra Breathnach and Peatsaí Seoighe also prominent up front although they didn’t score. Indeed, they should have been out of sight entirely at the break but for some shocking shooting from Ferdia Breathnach and Cormac Ó Conghaile in particular which let St James’ off the hook to a certain degree, with seven wides in the opening 30 minutes.
The match was passing St James’ by; the players were relegated to mere bystanders in a game where they were supposed to be playing the leading role – their heads were still in the dressing-room. Then again Leitir Mór didn’t let them play. The Gaeltacht team, like all good underdogs, really got in their opponents’ faces, fought for – and invariably won – every breaking ball and defended from their own full forward line with a Jack Charlton ‘put ‘em under pressure’ intensity that rattled St James’, who up to this juncture hadn’t really been fully tested all year.
St James emerged a different outfit at the turnaround though and, credit to them, began to play with the type of fluidity that we have come to expect from Mervue/Renmore men but they just lacked that killer instinct to push on and kick for home when the result was in the balance. Wing-back Seán Boyle, Conroy (free), Kelly, Alan Hanley and Eoin Concannon all landed points to haul them back on level terms with Leitir Mór by the 22nd minute of the half but they couldn’t close-out what would have been a fairytale comeback and Leitir Mór awoke from their second-half slumber to dig deep with Mac-Donnchadha landing that allimportant free.
There was still plenty of time for a St James’ equaliser but things went further downhill when captain and veteran Mark Kelly, the only survivor on the Renmore/Mervue outfit who was there when the club hadn’t yet amalgamated, was sent-off for giving the referee and linesman lip on the stroke of full-time before Patrick Mark Ó Fatharta compounded St James’ misery with a point to stretch Leitir Mór’s lead to two.
Goalkeeper Eoghan O Conghaile was once again in excellent form for Leitir Mór, pulling off a couple of crucial saves; the full-back line of Coilín Ó Hogáin, Seosamh Seoighe and Padraic Mac An Ríogh were solid throughout and kept their men scoreless from play; Ciarán Baireád, Cristóir Ó Flatharta, Fiachra Breathnach, Daithí MacDonnchadha also stood out in the first half but the outstanding player on show was Antaine Ó Gríofa at midfield, who covered acres of ground all day and was pivotal to securing so much possession for Leitir Mór.
Best for St James’, on a day when none of them played to their full-potential, were midfielder Mark Kelly, ‘keeper David Curran, full-back line of Johnny Duane, Connor Glynn and Alan Deacy and corner-forward Eoin Concannon all in the second half Substitutes Shane Coughlan and Padraig Egan also tried hard when introduced.
Leitir Mór: E. Ó Conghaile; C. Ó Hogáin, S. Seoighe, P. Mac an Ríogh; M. P. Ó Ceallaigh, C. Bairéad, T. Ó Gríofa; A. Ó Gríofa, C. Ó Flatharta; C. Ó Conghaile, Fiachra Breathnach, D. Mac Donnchadha (0-4, 0-2 frees), E. Ó Loinsigh (0-2), Ferdia Breathnach (0-2, 0-1 free), P Seoighe. Subs: C O’Conghaile for Soighe (half time), P. M. Ó Fatharta (0-1) for C. Ó Conghaile (‘40 mins); T. Gamble for Ó Loinsigh (‘51 mins); E. Ó Cathain for Bairéad (‘57 mins).
St James’: D. Curran; C. Glynn, A. Deacy, J. Duane; T. Walsh, J. Burke, S.Boyle (0-1); P. Conroy (0-2, frees), M. Kelly (0-1); A. Hanley (0-1), S. Donnellan(0-1), M. McCormack; E. Concannon (0-1 free). A O’Donnell, R O’Connell. Subs: S Coughlan for Seoighe (half-time); P Egan for O’Connell (51 mins)
Referee: J. Henry (An Spidéal)
