by Declan Rooney

Leitrim manager Shane Ward says no matter the gulf in the league standing between the teams, Leitrim are always ready to take on their rivals Roscommon.

Sunday sees Leitrim take to the field for the first time since their Division 4 national league campaign saw them finish in second last place. Since then Roscommon have played a Division 1 league semi-final and also edged past New York in the first championship game of the summer.

But Ward says that the local rivalry will also fuel his side to reach new heights to level the playing field.

"Yeah, definitely. For whatever reason, within Connacht, the biggest rivalry for Leitrim is Roscommon and they really, really build to that. 

"The people themselves are really competitive against Roscommon and when the game comes there's going to be nothing else talked about for the week before and the week after in Leitrim or Roscommon due to the rivalry.

"They can say about the rivalry with Leitrim and Sligo but there's no comparison here. They really want to play Roscommon and they really feel they can compete against them every single day they go out. 

"Division One and Division Four to these guys is irrelevant. So the motivating factor for us has been really, really easy and really straightforward," said Ward, who is looking for his first championship win as Leitrim manager this Sunday.

Despite notable away wins over Cork and Kerry in Division 1, Roscommon's difficulties in having Hyde Park fit to play saw them lose to Monaghan in Kiltoom, Mayo at the Hyde and against Dublin at Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada - Sunday's venue.

After a heavy beating at the hands of Kerry in Croke Park, they then went to Gaelic Park in New York, and despite having an eight-point lead in the final quarter, they were delighted to escape with a one-point win. Ward is reading nothing into their sporadic recent form.

"No I don't think about it either way because as a manager you can swing it around to any way you want it to be. So I haven't really considered it. 

"I would give huge credit to New York for their performance over there. For a team that doesn't get the opportunity to compete and to train against maybe similar opposition in challenge games and so on, they really, really put in a good performance. 

"Roscommon, they're a Division 1 team, they're looking to mix with the Division 1 teams in the championship, the last eight and last four of the All-Ireland series. They're training at this time of year would be with that in mind, their loadings and so on, and they take a risk with their performances in the early stages of the championship.

"In years gone past Leitrim have always competed really well against Roscommon. It probably does bode a little bit towards the derby and the fact that there's a motivating factor there, there'll be an electric atmosphere in Carrick-on-Shannon. 

"Both supporter groups will come out because they'll know each other and will be familiar with each other a lot and they'll want to compete against each other on the day themselves so that will carry the players a lot of the way through the first 20 minutes of the game and then it's all to play for."

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