Leitrim in the box seat for promotion with that win this afternoon.

Gaa_lover (USA) - Posts: 3496 - 18/02/2024 17:51:05    2526730

Yellaman (Wexford) - Posts: 126 - 18/02/2024 18:09:41    2526737

Leitrim@1960 (Leitrim) - Posts: 15 - 18/02/2024 18:24:06    2526743

Square_B (Leitrim) - Posts: 1030 - 18/02/2024 18:42:55    2526748

masseyferguson (Leitrim) - Posts: 107 - 18/02/2024 18:57:24    2526754

We are from being in the box seat for promotion.

3 away games on the trot now, one of them against Laois who look to be the class of the division. Leitrim, Wexford (despite today), Carlow, Longford and Tipperary are all well in this thing.

That was going to be a sore loss for whoever lost today - as both teams could have won it.

Leitrim carrying the ball in too far in the first half looking for more goals when there were simple points for the taking. I thought Leitrim should have been 5-6 points up, not just 3. Also the 2nd Wexford goal was terrible from O'Donnell in goals - hesitated when he was clearly going to get there before Wexford forward.

Wexford slowly but surely over-hauled Leitrim to be 2 points up in added time. It was definitely a penalty - when the ball went in we were shouting McNulty, knew he had a great chance of winning it, but was held down, couldn't get his jump off. Fella with me and a guy behind, both shouted "penalty" instantly. I said "he won't give it", refs often let that go in a crowded area. Bit panicky on Wexford's behalf - even if McNulty did catch it where could he go.

Interviews on radio, O'Rourke, McNulty, Moran you could get the sense that they felt the performance was "patchy"

Solo_Run (Leitrim) - Posts: 217 - 18/02/2024 18:57:25    2526755

Great to get the win in the end when all seemed lost very rarely a Leitrim team gets the rub of the green so we'll take it and the 2 points also. Winning games like that despite playing poorly will bring this team on so much Barry McNulty and hat trick hero Ryan were outstanding with Riordan o Rourke and Jack Foley showing well at times also.
However it must be said we were very lucky to win this game ,didn't see the penalty incident ( from talking to other people there we got the rub of the green there) even allowing for that if Ben Brosnan especially had his shooting boots on Wexford would have won the game their power and pace in the middle third wore us down as the game went on, they squeezed up on our kickout and forced O'Donnell to go long from where they dominated clean ball and breaks giving them a big platform, pace around the middle third is a worry for me the two goals we conceded were terrible Wexford ran through us although for the second one keeper should never have hesitated as he would have got there first. We seemed nervous, flat footed for long parts turned over a sight of ball needlessly, pressure of a big game maybe but they may get used to it as every game from now on will be the same. A lot of goal chances butchered also we need to be more clinical there .
One game at a time now starting in Carlow next Sunday. They will be smarting after Laois game and will be fighting for their lives. A performance like today won't do, we need a huge improvement we're far from being in the box seat for promotion but we've given ourselves a good chance but we're going to have to up it a few levels now. Whether we can we'll see the next few weeks

JimmyNail (Leitrim) - Posts: 247 - 18/02/2024 20:05:53    2526783

masseyferguson (Leitrim) - Posts: 107 - 18/02/2024 20:08:15    2526785

Solo_Run (Leitrim) - Posts: 217 - 18/02/2024 20:15:24    2526789

joeman123 (Leitrim) - Posts: 509 - 18/02/2024 20:37:36    2526802

Brilliant 2 points today, we stole it at the death but overall a result we just about deserved. If Wexford converted from easy missed chances in the 1st half we could have gone in behind at half time.

A few concerns which have bitten us before (New York) is being clinical in front of goal, 4 missed chances is too many and too common from us. If a player is baring down on goal and 10 yards out they should be taking a shot themselves, a pass should only be done when coming in on an angle. It's too easy for the deferners otherwise.

I though O Donnell has a good game apart from being hesitant for the goal. It seemed we had no kickoff strategy, we go man for man on our own kickouts with 1 or 2 players making a half hearted run to come short. Compare that to Wexford where they had a cluster and spread out, each time finding a player no problem. Do we have no strategy to gain possession?

One more thing was our lateral passing, seems there is not many players willing to break the line and carry the ball forward or link to the half forward line, most of our players want to receive the easy ball and pass it around, we have loads of pace in this team and need to use it better by hard running and breaking quick.

Big one next week vs carlow who will be looking to bounce back after today defeat!

FamilyGuy (Leitrim) - Posts: 37 - 18/02/2024 20:50:39    2526811

Great to points for Leitrim today and hats off to the lads who stuck at it right until the last whistle. Prob could have had the game won earlier especially a goal chance at the very start of the second half which should have been converted. Next weekend is huge obviously but at this stage every game is. The plus for today is Darragh Rooney didn't have a good day and we still won. Pearse Dolan and Cillian McGlion still to come back and can't be far away. Hopefully Shane Quinn is ok because I'd be surprised if they took him off for another other reason only he took a knock. Would have like to have seen Niall Walsh get a few minutes to see what he is about. Leitrim are in the mixer for promotion but big improvement needed but they will know that themselves. Tipp drawing with London could be huge come the end of the league

lugdrum (Leitrim) - Posts: 357 - 18/02/2024 22:12:53    2526824

https://x.com/panthero84/status/1759329955094110433?s=48&t=0sVo3P3GExLtyfdpuuiCVA

Very hard to see a penalty in that lads.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 13905 - 19/02/2024 04:52:56    2526842

Zucker (Leitrim) - Posts: 156 - 19/02/2024 09:05:19    2526858

I was at the game yesterday lads. If I'm honest I thought it was a very poor performance by ourselves and Wexford deserved to win the game.

We were very naive at times. I myself would think of myself as having a modern football brain. I am more accepting of defensive football than some and understand that some managers focus on retaining possession and work the ball through the hands. There was a fella near me who kept roaring "just kick the ball in". Normally I would label this fella as a dinosaur and not up to date with modern football. But he was right. Every time we kicked the ball we created chances and scores. Yet for vast stages of the game we seemed very reluctant to do this. Continuously passing the pall around the middle and not making any forward runs.

Jack Foley was excellent I thought. He worked very hard tracking back and done well going forward and took his point very well. Barry McNulty was also brilliant he has some eye for a pass. One issue I would have was twice he was in on goal, for one he passed off to Foley who was in a tight angel and the keeper saved it and the other he done something similar. Next time hopefully he will finish them himself.

Ryan O'Rourke was excellent. Rooney was very quiet but the Wexford lad he was marking is a very tight man marker, who has also kept Keith Beirne quiet in previous years.

Defensively we were very poor again. It has been a problem now for a few years and doesn't seem to be getting any better which is concerning. Pearce Dolan is a big loss. I didn't think Wrynne and Gilheany had any real impact on the game (Gilheany did put in two good double hits in the middle but second one should've been a free to Wexford) and were beaten for most of the kick outs. The bench made no real impact either but in my opinion the changes were made too late in the game. Paul Keaney really has to bring the same work rate and performances he has had in the Sigerson to Leitrim. He's had lots of chances now in the green and gold jersey and should really be kicking on. It was good to see Mark Plunkett on as well.

The penalty was very dubious and I would be very annoyed if it was given against us. We got out with a win though and that's the main thing. The rest of our opponents are probably at a higher level than Wexford so we really have to lift the performance from here on.

Leitrimforliam (Leitrim) - Posts: 326 - 19/02/2024 09:05:44    2526859

Backheel (Leitrim) - Posts: 170 - 19/02/2024 09:10:37    2526862

Irish Independent article about the game calls the penalty one of the most controversial decisions he can recall over 33 years. He mentioned that it was the ref's first game at this level. It's not an easy job and we wouldn't have games without people brave enough to withstand constant criticism as a ref. I felt that he gave everything to Wexford when Leitrim were winning and then everything to Leitrim when Wexford were winning and then soft free at the end to Wexford when Leitrim were winning again. In such a close game though, I don't think either team could blame the ref for losing. If Leitrim didn't get the penalty and lost, it would have been because of a few missed goal chances, some where maybe points should have been taken and the defence being softer in 2nd half. Wicklow lost because they hit far too many wides and you could also argue that their tactics to tightly mark Rooney instead of O'Rourke was the wrong choice. As mentioned above, Wexford effectively marked Beirne last year and they obviously targeted Rooney as his replacement as key forward based on being Leitrim's top scorer in 1st two games. It worked on Rooney but they weren't prepared for O'Rourke.

b.o.b. (Leitrim) - Posts: 18 - 19/02/2024 10:55:57    2526896

My initial feeling was it wasn't a penalty. Looking at that video I still don't think it was.
Look the lads gave it all, never stopped fighting to the end and hard endeavour, you'd have to commend them for pride in the jersey. But they were some very worrying signs. Wexford's number 8 single handedly wiped us out around the middle. Long kickouts were all won by Wexford. We'd no option but go short. Our goalkeeper seemed to be the best option to drive forward out of the backs. When Wexford got their game together they looked like they could score at ease with half the play we needed. No two games the same, Carlow below will be another dogfight.

Grey_Wolf (Leitrim) - Posts: 236 - 19/02/2024 11:43:42    2526910

Leitrimforliam (Leitrim) - Posts: 326 - 19/02/2024 12:06:12    2526918

Boxtyeater (Leitrim) - Posts: 715 - 19/02/2024 14:07:04    2526973