Watching the final round of the Premier League got me wondering what exactly constitutes success in the sporting arena these days. If winning a trophy is the most obvious, you only had to look at the scenes in Old Trafford and St James' Park last Sunday to realise it isn't that straightforward.
Liverpool are the Premier League champions for the 2024 - 2025 season but if we are to judge the celebrations in Newcastle and Chelsea, then there is a fair case to be made that finishing fourth or fifth and qualifying for the Champions League is regarded as a much bigger prize than, for say, Crystal Palace winning the FA Cup and that in a competition regarded as the most prestigious Cup competition in world football.
It all comes down to the riches bestowed upon the teams competing in the Champions League - qualifying for the competition earns a club a veritable fortune, a fortune that means it is far easier to qualify for the competition next year, staying ahead of your domestic rivals in a cascading effect that means it is virtually impossible for anyone outside the game's elite to qualify for the Champions League.
It is why Tottenham's Europa League victory over Manchester United wasn't important so much for the trophy but for the financial impact it will have on both clubs - Spurs will now have the luxury of shopping at a high-end market when it comes to new recruits while the Red Devils could be in financial dire straits given the loss in potential revenue.
I'm not saying winning the trophy is meaningless - any Spurs fans I know are thrilled to bits, one good friend Clive Glancy sure to have been doing virtual cartwheels last Wednesday evening but in the back of their mind, qualifying once more for the Champions League strengthens their future ambitions in a way that Crystal Palace' FA Cup triumph simply doesn't.
[**THE LAST POINT: TIME FOR FAITH TO BE REWARDED**](https://www.leitrimobserver.ie/news/gaa/1811468/the-last-point-time-for-faith-to-be-rewarded.html)
I'll wager Eagles fans won't care, winning the FA Cup is probably the greatest day in the Club's history but qualifying for next season's Europa League doesn't bring the financial rewards to the same extent that Chelsea, without a trophy this season, are certain to enjoy - that is particularly important because Chelsea are one of those clubs who are apparently skirting a fine line of the Financial Fair Play guidelines.
Qualifying for the Champions League eases those burdens for the Pensioners as it does for Newcastle who spent a fortune to become a force in the English game over the last three years but who have become hampered by those self-same FFP guidelines. Now the Champions League coffers are open to them, the shackles are going to come off.
It is why Newcastle's final game last Sunday was such a fascinating affair -as an avid Everton fan, I was thrilled to see the Toffees win with a typical David Moyes display full of intense commitment and immense resolution, a sort of defiant backs to the wall display against one of the big guns that used to be the hallmark of the Toffees and one that bodes well for the future.
But watching the game was a fascinating exercise - Everton's goal, the only one of the game as it turned out, threatened to dump the Geordies out of the Champions League and the silence in St James' Park spoke volumes. What started out as an optimistic day for Newcastle threatened to become a day of horror that might have long lasting catastrophic effects as Aston Villa were poised to pip them to the lucrative fifth place.
That's when the footballing Gods decide to take the mickey - Villa, already down their inspirational keeper Emiliano Martínez who had been sent off, took the lead only for the referee to make a howler of a mistake, blowing the whistle before the goal was scored and denying Villa the chance to take the game to VAR.
It is a decision that could cost the Birmingham club literally millions and mean they have to sell some of their best players in order to balance the FFP books - qualify for the Champions League and that might not be necessary. But after Man U scored two late goals, that decision might turn out to be an era-defining call.
That decision could, down the line, cost Unai Emery his job and curtail Aston Villa's hopes of breaking the ceiling imposed upon them. It is why Everton have left the magnificent Goodison Park for the Hill Dickinson Stadium on the banks of Mersey - the stadium was old and badly in need of repair but the driving force behind the move was the need to increase revenue, all just to give the Toffees a chance of competing at the top level.
The financial imperative driving the Premier League and the absolute necessity for some clubs to reach the Champions League could be said to be an outlier but in professional sport, financial investment leads to success. Irish Rugby are culling the Olympic Men's 7s programme to redirect resources where they feel they might be better used but even in rugby, the financial might of Leinster is leaving the other Irish provinces in the shade and yet Leinster find it hard to match the English & French behemoths.
It is now why finishing fifth in the Premier League is a bigger prize than an actual Cup so it got me thinking, has the revolution that has transformed the landscape for virtually every sport you can think of actually warped our perception of what constitutes success? Can we even recognise it when it is there in front of us?
[**THE LAST POINT: WEE COUNTY'S STRUGGLES AN INSPIRATION**](https://www.leitrimobserver.ie/news/gaa/1803599/wee-county-s-struggles-an-inspiration.html)
You mightn't realise it but Leitrim GAA underage teams have won two Cups in 2025 - both were Provincial Shield titles but for our U20 and Minor footballers, they are altogether rare pieces of silverware that represent a tangible return on what has been invested - yet afterwards, both managers called for resources to keep their squads together and to develop further in a bid to keep up with Connacht's powerbrokers.
Some will deride the B titles, dismissing them as irrelevant in the larger scheme of things but for a County unused to success, any small breakthrough can be the harbinger of more success, an incentive and encouragement for young footballers to continue the good fight against all the odds.
Those odds tell us that Mayo & Galway and even Roscommon will routinely snap up most of the titles on offer but Sligo and Longford have proven that success is possible if you are prepared to put in the work and investment. Both the Minors and U20s ended with big defeats in their campaigns which, on the face of it, is a failure but the players on both teams had their horizons broadened and ambitions sharpened.
There's a lot yet to be done for Leitrim GAA to win a Nestor Cup but maybe, using the Premier League analogy, finishing fifth and not winning a trophy is still a very good reason to celebrate.