By Daire Walsh 

Having just missed out on her county’s previous success in the competition all the way back in 2007, Leitrim’s Clare Owens was deeply satisfied to finally get her hands on a TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate Football Championship title last Sunday.

Despite being just 16 years of age, Owens first broke onto the adult inter-county scene in 2006 and played a prominent role in helping the O’Rourke women to reach that season’s All-Ireland junior decider against Sligo — back when it was the next grade below the senior championship. Leitrim eventually bounced back from a defeat to their provincial rivals on that occasion by overcoming Wexford in an All-Ireland intermediate showpiece 12 months later, but a desire to focus on her Leaving Certificate examinations meant Owens wasn’t part of the panel that year.

It was a long road back to All-Ireland finals day in Croke Park, but Owens, who didn’t feature in that 2006 final, and Leitrim finally returned to the biggest stage at GAA HQ last weekend. Lining up in the full-back line alongside 2007 survivor Charlene Tyrell, she played a significant role as the Connacht side secured a thrilling 3-11 to 3-10 win over Tyrone.

“That feels like a lifetime ago really and I don’t know what I had to offer as a young player back then really. I suppose it’s just different. Maybe I had more to offer in different ways than I do now, or more to offer now. We play football for lots of reasons,” Owens said.

“Mainly because we love it, but of course you have to have the ambition to make it to the All-Ireland final day with the other teams involved and to bring a cup back down the road. It definitely feels very satisfying from that point of view to dedicate a life to doing that and finally doing it.

“It just shows you, no one knows how a season will go or end. I was involved first in ‘06 with that great team that went on to win in ‘07 and it’s lovely to have been involved as a 16-year-old and still be involved as a 34, nearly 35-year-old.”

While Owens — whose cousin Bronagh O'Rourke appeared as a second half substitute last weekend — had been a regular fixture in the Leitrim defence down through the years, she opted out of the panel for the 2023 season.

This is due to the fact the Longford-based school teacher had elected to take a career break and was going to be outside of Ireland for an extended period. There were some people who queried if this was the end of her career as an inter-county footballer, but she was back in the starting line-up for a Lidl National Football League Division Four opener away to Kilkenny on January 14 of this year and life has been good for the St Joseph's player ever since.

“People asked was I retiring. Was I this, was I that. It certainly wasn’t a big decision that I was retiring. It was just a case of, I couldn’t commit. I’ve always been a very committed player. If I’m playing, I don’t miss training and I couldn’t commit to training last year.

“Maybe came back with a renewed attitude. It’s not the template for winning an All-Ireland necessarily, but it was absolutely fantastic. I felt like I was starting all over again this year with the break away. Certainly glad I got involved again.”

Leitrim’s success in Croke Park six days ago is even more remarkable when you consider they found themselves on the brink of relegation to the TG4 All-Ireland Junior Football Championship just five years ago. Despite Owens having to miss the game herself through injury, the O’Rourke women dug deep to secure a play-off triumph over Wicklow in Kinnegad and — by extension — retain their second-tier status for 2020.

When you remember Tyrone, their opponents last Sunday, were taking on Cork in an All-Ireland senior football championship quarter-final on the previous weekend in 2019, it really hits home how much progress Leitrim have made in recent years. 

“I’m not one to dwell on the past or harp back to ‘it wasn’t always like this’, but it is amazing to think of the few girls that were involved in 2019 and we all remember so clearly going up to play Wicklow that year in Kinnegad in the relegation play-off. We probably didn’t appreciate how important it was to win that game.

“You’re a different prospect as a junior team or an intermediate team, or a senior team. Some managers will be mad keen to take a junior team, some will want intermediate, some will want senior. I definitely think, as much as we mightn’t have realised it, it was hugely significant that day up to Kinnegad and beating Wicklow in that game.

“The management that were involved that year and the county board, it was a real labour of love. It’s nice for those people that were involved because I hope today and the weekend feels like a reward for them.”

Aside from having the Mary Quinn Memorial Cup — named after a native of the O’Rourke County — in their possession, Sunday’s victory presents Leitrim with the opportunity to compete in next year’s TG4 Connacht and All-Ireland Senior Football Championships.

Owens has previous experience from playing in the top-tier of ladies football from 2009 and 2010, when her county were on the receiving end of some heavy defeats at the hands of provincial rivals Mayo and Galway. Yet even though Leitrim will once again be operating in Division 4 of the NFL when inter-county action returns in 2025, Owens feels her county are much better equipped to cope with their latest emergence on the senior championship scene.

“This actually happened us before, where we were in Division Four in 2010. We were Division Four and senior championship. We actually won Division Four that year against Limerick,” Owens added.

“I think Leitrim football is in a much better place all over, in terms of the set-up. I think ladies football, the whole thing has moved on a lot in the last decade. I think that Leitrim ladies taking on senior football next season is a whole other prospect to what it might have been 10 or 15 years ago.”

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