AFTER two years away from Derrygonnelly, Leigh Jones is hoping he can add another Senior championship medal to his collection on Sunday.

Work commitments brought him to New York, with his last involvement with the Harps being part of the side which made it four Senior championships on the bounce in 2018.

But he is back in Harps colours for 2021, and has been part of a side that has already claimed the Division One League title while they are back in their seventh consecutive championship decider.

Having two seasons away from the club, Leigh is happy to be back: “I did play over in New York, but one of the years was a Covid year, so there was nearly a full year where I only played about five full games of football.

“Coming back into the ultra-competitive environment that we have took a bit of time to get adjusted to again, but it has been going well lately.

“We have big competition in our squad. There are younger fellas who have come through and really pushed on, and there’s massive competition for places, and that is only a good thing.

“The level of training is really good and really competitive, and that is what you want.”

Despite not being involved in the 2020 decider which they lost to Ederney, Leigh knows from talking within the squad that there is motivation to right the wrongs of that final.

And the four games they have been played in should stand to them, Leigh said. “Things are going well; we are enjoying the build-up.

“It was a tough journey with two replays and four games in four weeks, so it’s been nice to have two weeks into our last game and going into training and working on things.

“But at the same time, it is hard to beat those games, those tough Championship games, to bring you on.”

2021 has been a difficult year for Leigh, his family and the entire Derrygonnelly community following the sudden death of his father, Peter.

A familiar face in GAA circles, Peter was a stalwart of the club.

An emotional time for all

Sunday’s final will be an emotional time for all involved with Derrygonnelly Harps as they look to complete a league and championship double.

“You always want to do well for the club and we were hoping to go on a bit of a run to sort of lift the spirits around the club.

“In a way, for myself football is a good distraction from whatever else is going on in your life. You go out to training or to play, and for that two hours, the only thing you are focused on is football. It’s been good that way.

“We are well up for this game, and we’ll hopefully do our best and put in a good performance and that will be enough.”

And if Derrygonnelly do come out on top, winning it playing alongside his brother will make it even sweeter.

“It has been good to get playing with him. There was too big of an age gap to play with him at underage, so it has been nice to play with him.

“He’s a bit of a different player than myself – Aaron is a defender, I never really got into that.

“Aaron very much takes after my father. When dad played, he was a teak-tough corner back and Aaron is in a similar mould.

“It’s what club GAA is all about – friends and family,” added Leigh.