Leitrim 0-08 Down 0-07 To the victor go the spoils; however the accolades in this outing definitely go to the tight marking defense of Leitrim that held free scoring Down to 7 points. The tight marking full back line of Alan Foley who completely dominated Paddy Cunningham, (who surprisingly was left on him for the hour), Aiden Power and Michael Mulcahy were the foundation for the win. . James Mitchell never let Mark Dobbin become a factor in the game and Conor Burke was also a positive aspect of the back six. After Down opened the game with a four point to one lead after twenty minutes it was all Leitrim on the scoreboard. Albeight in a low scoring manner. The first twenty were also marked by their physically nature with late, high, deliberate tackles across the field. Amazingly the teams stayed at fifteen each but that is a different discussion. Leitrim did not do well in the first half as they went in one down but they put four unanswered points on the board to open the second half Donal Hartnett had three with two coming from frees while Michael Travors in his second game of the day chipped in with a point from play. Down responded with two Kevin Anderson frees when Fergal Shannon and Paddy Cunningham were fouled but Dan Doona had a point to again put two between the sides. Shannon did add a spark to Down when he was introduced of the bench but it was temporary. Anderson had the final point of the afternoon with another free but time ran out on last seasons Senior B Champions. As stated Leitrim will thank their defense, Foley was brilliant and is now the premier marker in NY. Power, Mitchell and Martin Slowey played a physical game but it worked to great effect and slowed down the vaunted attack of Down. Michael Slowey showed in patchs that he will be a great pick up for the squad, Dodo chipped in with five points in what was not a great shooting day and he is on line to start for NY against Galway later in the year on this form. Mike Creegan and Mickey Travors did a lot of work around the forty. Down will not be happy with their attacking performance. The backs held their own with Eugene O'Hagan, Brian Murray, and Brendan McArdle to the fore. Paul Higgins was the best of the four midfielders, Sean Munnelly was a huge loss when he went off with a bad face injury after a high tackle, and Kevin Sanderson and Fergal Shannon were the only attackers to get the better of their direct opponents. Scorers Leitrim Donal Hartnett (0-05) Michael Travors (0-02) Dan Doona (0-01) Down Kevin Anderson (0-04) Paddy Cunningham (0-02) Michael Sloan (0-01) Referee Phil Sheridan (Cavan) Man of the Match Alan Foley (Leitrim) Tweet

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