Sigerson success, Leitrim struggles and demanding schedule all part of the game for Tom Prior

CLOSE QUARTERS: DCU's Tom Prior and Darragh McElearney of UCD. Pic: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

In between an extra-time triumph over 2024 champions Ulster University and a Sigerson Cup final win against favourites UCD, DCU and Leitrim prospect Tom Prior was required for a county league match against Laois. It ended in a 23-point hammering.

This game careers wildly between joy and despair. It means in the space of a week, Prior played three matches, one period of extra-time, two different sets of rules and finished with three points in the decider on his way to a medal. What a whirl.

“It is unreal,” said Prior. “We’re from Leitrim. You don’t grow up dreaming about winning Sigerson. It is the first two medals to come back to our club. It is a special day for that.” Prior’s Ballinamore club-mate Paul Moran was in the DCU panel that triumphed on Wednesday. They had to overcome setbacks and struggle on the way. UCD beat them twice this season, in the league and earlier in the Sigerson. What they lacked in stars they made up for in spirit.

“There is resilience in the group. We’ve had a long year; we got to a league final and played every game possible in the Sigerson. We knew that we had that resilience behind us. We probably don’t have the star names that Jordanstown or UCD had. We just knew we had to outwork them. We had to be resilient and it paid off for us.” 

For Prior, it comes during a difficult spell with Leitrim. He scored an extraordinary 1-7 in the county final replay last October, but it wasn’t enough to see off Mohill who beat them on penalties. He returned to a senior squad that had lost several players and controversially, their manager. Steven Poacher has since taken over from Mickey Graham and their first two games of 2025 ended in defeat.

“It is a brilliant chance to get to play at this level. I was chatting to Ryan Donohoe during the week, I was in school with Ryan and he said, this is probably the biggest game we will ever get to play in. They are special days. It does give you a lot of confidence going back with Leitrim. We are probably struggling at the minute with Leitrim, but it is just about rebuilding again.

“It gives you a break from it I suppose. It is good that way. We are where we are with Leitrim. We have just lost a lot of men and it is about bringing the youth through. Look, it has been class to have games every Wednesday night with these lads.” 

There is no let-up. Leitrim are enormous underdogs for their meeting with Kildare this Sunday in Ballinamore. Prior cherishes the competition but found the demands challenging. For now, he will continue to do what has served him well and make the most of it.

“I think it is a brilliant competition. It is hard to play Wednesday then Saturday or Sunday. We played the semi-final last Thursday and played Laois on Saturday afternoon. It is tough on the body and it would probably be nice if we could get the competition on its own for six weeks. I know that Steven Poacher said before about running it off before Christmas. Look it means the world to us to play at this level, it is not something you get a chance to do every year so we’ll enjoy this while we can.”