In a momentous year that combined playing, coaching and a liaison role with the Australians, Leonard's bowling excelled, it hasn't always been plain sailing though as he explains to Cover Point.

Returning from a four year hiatus from the game that took him to Vegas, via Australia and Glamorgan, the leg spinner established himself in Pembroke's first team. The usual distractions that beset many young men behind him, he set about fulfilling his undoubted potential when he returned two years ago. 

Having gone to university in Wales he dropped out and moved to America to pursue a career in professional poker which culminated in the three World Series tournaments.

''I went off the rails a bit,'' he says honestly, '' but I came back got my head down and worked hard in training. I'm passionate about the game. I just wanted to get back to playing and performing consistently.''

That hard work clearly paid off, with Leonard finishing runner up in the O'Grady Cup with 33 wickets and season's best figures of 5-18. All this in a campaign which saw Pembroke promoted to the top division, 'where we belong', as Leonard puts it.

Talking to him reveals a love for the game that began in childhood. He says, 'for me cricket came from my brothers, I literally was 4 or 5 in the front garden, both my elder brothers played. We used to play with a tape ball and a stick. I wasn't big enough to bowl fast and knock them over, but I was able to turn the ball and make them look silly. I think that's where I developed an interest in leg spin.'

''I was able to play schools cricket, there weren't that many interested, but we still managed to get a team out. It was joining Pembroke that really established me as a cricketer, I was 8 or 9 and my brothers heard about it.''

Leonard is a gifted youth coach. As a part-time Cricket Ireland coach he works under the guidance of Brian O'Rourke and Reinhardt Strydom in developing grassroots cricket in Leinster.

 ''You might get a kid who has got little ability in other sports, if we get a cricket bat in his hand, for the first time he feels like somebody. He hits that ball over the school wall, we give him a big high five and say well done, you can see him visibly growing.''

By introducing the game to children, often in less advantaged areas, he hopes their work will leave a lasting legacy. He says, 'the real thing is getting a through put. It's all well and good us going in, but what we need to do is get one of the teachers on-side, leave them with a quick cricket set and get them to do it themselves.''

In response to the question of whether enough is being done to develop the grassroots game he observes that, 'Cricket Ireland is in a very tough position. We need to keep churning out the good results at the top so we can keep knocking on the glass ceiling, so they get as much funding as they can for the elite set-up. At the same time that is no good if no one is coming through, it's a really tough balancing act.'

Peter Shilton once said that he went to bed with a football such was the passion for his vocation. Leonard must retire fully kitted out with pads, bat, and a set of stumps for good measure such is his enthusiasm. In truth, that is an essential quality for anyone who hopes to carve a career out of playing or coaching. 'Lenny' as he is known has it in bucket loads. You cannot help but respect him for it.

If reward were necessary it came in the form of an invitation to work with Cricket Australia during their visit here. As an unpaid liaison to the team he was their 'go to' guy and spent the week looking after them 'hand and foot.'

''It was the hardest weeks work you can imagine, a lot of people came up to me saying, 'how did you get that one, it's a great gig.' I was like, yes it is but I haven't slept for two days.''

Admitting to 'not knowing what he was doing at first' he soon settled into things. He said, ''my job was to look after every part of their day. I didn't know whether I'd done a good job or a bad job, I know I'd worked hard.''

Confirmation that he had indeed performed well came when Tim Nielsen took him to 'one side' and said, 'that was an exceptional job you did this week, would you like to come back over? We'll get you back over for the test matches. We'll look after your flights and hotel.'

''I thought he was having a bit of a laugh, but the next day I got a call from the team manager Steve Bernard saying, have you booked your flights yet?''

In what he describes as a 'living the dream' scenario, Leonard sat on the balcony at Lords, took part in warm up sessions, sat on the bus and went out celebrating a 'fantastic' victory over Pakistan.

''It's like a drug, you want more, I have probably never been as depressed as I was getting off that plane coming back to Dublin.''

Never mind, just the small matter of establishing himself as one of Leinster's most talented leg spinners, to assuage those cold turkey moments.

It should not be forgotten that outside his coaching aspirations 'Lenny' remains a player, and a good one at that.

The challenge will be for him to continue that form next season in a more demanding league and put himself in the international frame. He hopes to play some games for Ireland A next season.

The continuing struggle to eek out a living in coaching will continue, but if there are greater rewards for enthusiasm and dedication he will succeed.

Andrew Leonard was in conversation with Rupert Heather.