David Jordan on his playing days, near misses, and going again

Born to a Mayo mother and a Roscommon father, David Jordan is a full scale Leixlip man in his own right and, after 20 years of playing for the club, was at the helm for their run to this year's Intermediate county final.

“I played football and hurling growing up in Leixlip. Even where the pitches are now in Gleneaston where I live, I remember when it was only pitches and the development has been unbelievable. The kids these days have unbelievable facilities and coaching at their disposal,” David explained

“It is just great to have those facilities and you need that to cater for the amount of volume we have coming through.”

The development of the club between those two points has been enormous with Leixlip’s exponential population growth since David’s senior football debut in 1996.

“I was on a decent underage team coming through and had won at U14s, U16s, Minor and even at U21s. There was a good crop coming and Leixlip were going well at the time, Jack O’Shea was playing at that time along with Ronan Quinn and Enda Murphy,” David recalled.

“It was a strong senior team, we won a couple of Division 1 leagues in 1998 and 1999, but unfortunately that was the height of it. Kildare was very competitive at that time, the senior team was flying and Clane and Sarsfields were very strong. We played in six semi-finals I think, but just never got over the line to get into a county final.”

Kildare football was at its modern peak in the late 90s with Mick O’Dwyer at the helm The Lilies reached an All-Ireland final while Clane and Sarsfields dominated the club scene with seven Senior Championships across the decade.

A run to a senior county final never quite materialised for one of the best ever Leixlip’s crops. The club had won eight Minor Football Championships between 1987 and 2001, meaning they took home over half of the titles in that 15 year stretch.

“Ronan Quinn and Brian Fahey were on one (Minor team). Sean O’Toole managed a team to three in-a-row. At that stage you had a certain quality of player coming through all the time so things were very competitive to even get on the senior squad.

We never thought it would be automatic that we would go on to win things, but you always hoped with the quality of players coming through that we would take that next step,” David said.

“Unfortunately we never made that breakthrough and those league wins were good, but it was the Championship we were after. But it didn’t materialise.”

David himself was a corner-forward and made his first senior appearance for his club in a quarter-final cameo against Athy in ‘96. The nearest Leixlip got to the Senior county final during his playing days was in 2004 when they faced St Laurences twice before the sides could be separated.

“We drew with St Laurences in a semi-final the first day and I think we were beaten by a point then. Sean O'Toole was the manager then and that was probably the one just because we were so close to making that next step,” David recalled.

“They came up short themselves (in the final), but showed great character to get back to another final and then eventually win it (2009). I felt we had a really good side at that time, but then again it was all fine margins.”
As momentum fell away, semi-finals turned to much earlier exits and Leixlip maintained their presence at senior level until 2018.

“When you’re up there and contesting it is a lot easier to motivate people. When your sole focus is to maintain Senior status (it’s difficult), even when everybody wants that, it is a lot easier to be in a realistic contention for something. You always live in hope, but the reality was that the purpose of the season was to stay Senior. All you are hoping then is that a crop will come along to take over and build things up again,” David explained.

“We haven't contested Division 1 underrage finals for a while and there is a crop coming through now at U14s and U16s that are playing Division 1 level, and with that there will be a few coming through. We are probably down the divisions at underage which then reflects at senior level. We hope from a Leixlip point of view that improvements in that department will reflect for the club in the next couple of years.”

David hung up his boots in 2016 after a knee injury and had little plans for his own management stint, but came in as a selector soon after to be in and around the squad.

“I genuinely didn’t (consider managing), when you are playing you are so focused on just playing. I know some players you might earmark as someone who will get into it, but I didn’t think of it. It was just the closest thing to remaining involved,” David said.

“When you do sit back and stop playing you reflect on the managers you played under, Jack O’Shea who was over us, Sean O’Toole, David Beggy, John Crofton and many more. You then try to think about what you learned from them and bring that into the team. There is also that natural progression after you get involved in the setup.”

After a stint as a selector with his home club, David took the leap into senior management proper by taking over at Straffan in 2020.

He explained, “I went down there for two years and I had the bug then. It is good to immerse yourself into another club and you learn a lot more about yourself. You have got to get to know people, Leixlip was different because I knew everybody around. When you land somewhere else, it is challenging for them to take you in so you have to get to know people really well.”

Despite the change of scenery, David’s first year at Straffan would nonetheless bring him back towards Leixlip as his new side faced his home club in an Intermediate Championship quarter-final.

“When I took over I didn’t envisage having to play Leixlip, even though it was always a possibility. That was strange, but when you are involved in a team and you have gotten to know the lads in Starffan, who were a great bunch, you wanted it to work out. Leixlip went out on top anyways and beat us by a few points that year,” David recalled.

Fast forward to 2024 and the year represented David’s first in charge of Leixlip. The club maintained their Division 1 status and reached the Intermediate Championship final, losing in a wind-swept encounter to now Leinster champions Caragh.

David said, “It was a good year, but when you do get that far you are hoping it will go the way you want it too. Over the last couple of weeks especially, we have felt the hurt of losing a final like that and we have to learn from it and use that bit of hurt next year.

“I thought the hurt might go away, but it's getting worse as time passes so the sooner we are back on the field the better,” he laughed. “It was a massive occasion to experience a county final with all your family and friends, so we just want more of that. Especially because we feel like we underperformed on the day. I know when I was playing all I wanted to do was get onto the Leixlip senior team and if we can keep getting to these finals it will be the same for young people coming through.”

He concluded, “Watching Caragh, and it is fantastic to see a Kildare team doing so well in Leinster, there is an element of thinking that could have been us. We want to experience that, so it is important that we learn from this year and improve again next year. You have St Laurences coming down and plenty of teams that will be looking to improve who didn’t get to the business end of things. We want to get back there again.”