WITH APPROPRIATE timing, TnaG got around to showing the 1994 Connacht final on Thursday evening. For Leitrim, the historic win over Mayo would have been a pleasant blend of nostalgia and inspiration before tomorrow's Bank of Ireland Connacht semi final which reunites the counties for the first time since that day three years ago.

Although the undoubted high point of his career, that Connacht medal is one of many milestones on which Mickey Quinn can look back on over the course of what may well be the longest inter county career of any player in this year's championship.

With his first competitive start of the year in Castlebar tomorrow, Quinn, at the age of 37, will be embarking on his 20th season in the Leitrim colours. Even John O'Leary's apparently timeless career ended recently after 18 years in the Dublin goal.

Remarkably, Quinn's years have been spent in the middle of the field, either as an orthodox centrefielder or on the wing as an auxiliary. His physical strength and stamina have facilitated him all those seasons as a consummate high fielder and controller of play.

In the 94 Connacht final he even chipped in two points from play during a fine performance wholly commensurate with the occasion.

Playing with one of the football's most disadvantaged counties has had ups and downs - predictably more of the latter - but his sheer longevity is staggering. In 1983, nearly seven years into his intercounty career, Quinn nearly had an All Star. Seven years later he did get one, Leitrim's first. Seven years on, he lines out tomorrow against last year's All Ireland finalists.

"I'm still enjoying the game," he says. "Looking back before PJ Carroll (Leitrim manager 1989-92) came in, things were so bad that if I'd had the championship success 15 years ago, instead of in 1994, I might have given up.

After a winter's rest during which the county rallied well to retain its Division Two status, Quinn returned to training this spring. Four weeks ago, he came on as a substitute in the championship match with London, a fixture that nearly created an unpleasant historical symmetry.

A year before Mickey Quinn made his debut, in 1978, London beat Leitrim. It was the last time London won a match in the Connacht championship. Earlier this month, again in London, Quinn's Aughawillan clubmate Declan Darcy found himself in as pressurised a situation as any county footballer could dread.

He was squaring up to a penalty award with Leitrim needing a goal to tie up the match. The prospect of defeat by London was enough to make even spectators feel they couldn't go back home. Darcy spared everyone's blushes and Leitrim pulled away in extra time.

"London are a better team than people give credit for," says Quinn. "They were training three and four nights for the Leitrim match. They couldn't give much of a commitment to the League. Anyway, you can't judge anyone from the League. It was my fourth trip to London and in every game they led Leitrim at some stage.

The landscape has changed for Quinn and his county in recent years. For a long time, Leitrim's taste of summer football was short and sour. The routine of defeat was occasionally broken by close run things such as running Galway to a late two point victory in 1983, a year when Galway reached the All Ireland final.

There were also personal playing disappointments and after the 1986 defeat by Galway, a local reporter said of Quinn's centre field alliance with Jimmy Ward: "It was pathetic ... (Leitrim) must find a completely new midfield pairing". Eleven years on, Quinn survives.

This year John O'Mahony has been succeeded by Seamus Bonner, a selector when Donegal won the AllIreland. He has brought in the expertise of his Civil Service (Dublin) clubmate Dr Pat O'Neill who managed Dublin to the All Ireland two years ago.

"Seamus is in the same League as John O'Mahony," says Quinn. "He's been there with Donegal and trained club teams in Cavan and Dublin. He's had the guidance of Pat O'Neill as an adviser and he's (O'Neill) coached us, been at most the sessions and given us things like diet sheets. At meetings he gives his opinion of where we're going, he's a serious man when it comes to giving a speech."

About tomorrow, he is sanguine but realistic. "Outside of Leitrim, we're the outsiders, but we're going to play in their back garden and the pressure's all on them."

After this season? "We'll see how the body feels. I couldn't say at the moment."