Tonight on Off The Ball, we look back at my own county's famous Connacht title triumph twenty years on with two of the main protagonists.
On July 24th 1994 lovely Leitrim got its hands on the Nestor Cup in one of the great fairytales in GAA history.
It was only the second time that our wee county had lifted a senior provincial trophy and that day in Hyde Park contained a bit of poignant symmetry with the first time Leitrim won Connacht, encapsulated in this famous photo:
Declan Darcy (Leitrim) lifts the cup with Tom Gannon ©INPHO/Tom Honan
The gentleman with whom 1994 captain Declan Darcy lifted the trophy happened to be Tom Gannon, the captain of the team that brought Connacht home for the first time in 1927.
That year, a Leitrim side managed by Jim O'Hehir (father of legendary commentary Michael) got their Championship started against great rivals Roscommon in Carrick on Shannon, winning 1-3 to 0-2.
But Roscommon objected to the result and a replay was ordered, which Leitrim still won, this time by 0-7 to 1-0 over in Ballinamore - with Roscommon reportedly down a few players following mechanical trouble en route.
Without New York or London in the Connacht Championship, one win could be enough to reach the provincial final and so it proved for Tom Gannon and his team-mates as they met Galway in Roscommon town.
That decider saw Leitrim rack up 2-4 (incidentally the exact same score Mayo would manage in the 1994 final) and that proved enough to beat the Tribesmen who scored just 0-3 to give us our first Connacht title!
But who would have thought a 67 year wait was on the cards before the county tasted Connacht glory again...
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