O’Flynn still got his shot away, but his effort trailed wide and no free was called to ensure that Clare held on for a one-point victory in extra-time after one of the greatest All-Ireland SHC finals in living memory.
“I most certainly did (pull the jersey) and I’d do it again anyway!” Leen told RTÉ’s Marty Morrissey. “As a back, you kind of play on the edge. You get away with it sometimes, sometimes you don’t, and I did yesterday and I’d do it every day if I could.”
The Corofin clubman emerged as a Banner star in his breakout season, crowned by a superb performance against Cork which saw him named on The Sunday Game’s Team of the Year at corner-back.
“At the start of the year, all I was hoping to get was some league time. Honestly that was the plan from last year,” the 22-year-old revealed.
Clare fans react to Banner win after All-Ireland Final
“I just took the opportunity. Thanks to management for giving me those opportunities really. To have senior lads around me made it much easier as well. They’re able to teach me what to do – John Conlon in front of me, Conor Cleary beside me and Eibhear (Quilligan) in goal.”
Leen was joined on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, from the winning team’s hotel, by Quilligan and David Reidy.
The latter offered a revealing pitch-side insight into the brilliance of Clare’s third goal from skipper Tony Kelly – and the deafening reaction that greeted his sublime 51st minute strike.
“When Tony was on the run, it was actually David Fitz that passed to him – he was about to go for a shot but he dropped it, and he had no choice then but to pass it,” Reidy outlined.
“But in fairness, the movement and the skill execution from Tony, the little flick over the head, he couldn’t catch the ball again, touched it on the hurley and a great finish.
“But I went out covering his position then when he was coming back into centre-forward, and the noise – it was nearly giving me a headache running back out with the noise! It was crazy. It was very hard to describe … no one will experience something like that again. It’s out of this world.”
The Éire Óg man first joined Clare’s senior panel in the aftermath of their 2013 All-Ireland triumph.
“Looking back at it, the team that won in 2013 was a young team and you might have thought that there would be a lot of success,” he reflected.
“But we kind of soon found out that wasn’t the case, and there was a lot of barren years and a lot of ups and downs. But to win yesterday, it’s just unbelievable. A lot of people say you can’t put words or put emotions on it, and the ‘unbelievable’ word comes out but it’s probably true.
“A lot of emotions yesterday. Some good, some not so good! The heart was pumping at times. But overall it’s just magical.”
Reidy added: “It’s a credit to both teams and the preparation that both teams put in. You saw lads going down with cramp, but that’s after running 10-11km … that’s after an intense battle. So yeah, the bodies are sore but again, this morning we won’t mind how sore the bodies are.”
Quilligan described the victory as “very special. It will probably be later in the week when it really sinks in. As a child you dream of this – and even as an adult you dream of this.”