GAELIC GAMES:JAMES CLANCY stands in the middle of Markievicz Park. This match was shaded by the death of his father, a well-known Leitrim football official, just two weeks ago. Still out of breath, he tries to try to offer some perspective on these hectic minutes.
“I don’t know what to say. There are so many emotions going through my mind but to put it coldly it is six years to the day since we beat a Connacht team. Mickey Moran has always put faith in us. We stood up for Mickey today. This win was for a lot of people: It was for Philly (McGuinness), it was for my father but it was ultimately for Mickey. He is the one who travels 300 or 400 miles to train us.”
Just yards away, the same Mickey Moran is fielding body-slamming hugs from normally reticent Leitrim men. “There were battles won across the field,” he declared. “Roscommon are one of the best teams in Connacht. We have met this last couple of years and they have beaten us. It will be a tough one. But let Leitrim players and people enjoy this because RTÉ had scheduled Roscommon and Sligo for three weeks’ time. It is nice to see the sun shine on Leitrim people after a match. We worked hard and they bought into training. It did help because they had an open mind to training.”
A few minutes later, Kevin Walsh emerges from the Leitrim dressingroom. He is asked about that period when Sligo, after falling into 0-6 to 0-2 hole after 23 minutes, slowly restored parity in the second half. “I dunno. We controlled all the game to that period . . . Then Leitrim had a good point against the run of play and the goal went on. So with the wides, it was hard to pull back that four-point deficit. But we didn’t push on and find leaders.”
Walsh never bought into the idea of a callow young team there for to be picked apart by Sligo. “We knew in the last two games of the league they were getting better. This crack of emigration and seven new players: there were four or five players on the bench who were there from last year and couldn’t make the Leitrim team so we knew they were unearthing some good talent down there.”
