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Leitrim GAA thread

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With Leitrim playing the first round of the championship 8 days later it would be hard to believe they were going all out against Laois especially when they already had been promoted which was probably their main objective at the beginning of the season.

Galway4ever (Galway) - Posts: 217 - 01/04/2024 16:50:59    2535024

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Hard luck yesterday. We've taken our fair share of heavy defeats in HQ the past few years and it's not nice viewing. Win against Sligo and it'll all be forgotten. I see a good bit of criticism regarding your s and c. I think it's misplaced. We've the same problem in Roscommon and it comes down to numbers in my opinion. Basically all the same teams are doing more of the less thing. I trained with a couple of Leitrim seniors a few years ago and they weren't doing anything different than the Roscommon lads and that's when we were winning Connacht titles. Eye probably have only three athletic freaks and we have about 6. The bigger counties are hitting 12/13 of starting panel. Dublin have had 20 and that's why they are champions

Ros2013 (Roscommon) - Posts: 521 - 01/04/2024 18:13:07    2535041

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Replying To Ros2013:  "Hard luck yesterday. We've taken our fair share of heavy defeats in HQ the past few years and it's not nice viewing. Win against Sligo and it'll all be forgotten. I see a good bit of criticism regarding your s and c. I think it's misplaced. We've the same problem in Roscommon and it comes down to numbers in my opinion. Basically all the same teams are doing more of the less thing. I trained with a couple of Leitrim seniors a few years ago and they weren't doing anything different than the Roscommon lads and that's when we were winning Connacht titles. Eye probably have only three athletic freaks and we have about 6. The bigger counties are hitting 12/13 of starting panel. Dublin have had 20 and that's why they are champions"
This is a very good point. I don't doubt the S & C work and I don't doubt the lads aren't working hard on it, but I think we don't have the "athletic freaks" as mentioned in this post. Unfortunately you need them in the modern game!!

3rdmidfielder (Australia) - Posts: 337 - 01/04/2024 21:53:06    2535080

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Replying To Ros2013:  "Hard luck yesterday. We've taken our fair share of heavy defeats in HQ the past few years and it's not nice viewing. Win against Sligo and it'll all be forgotten. I see a good bit of criticism regarding your s and c. I think it's misplaced. We've the same problem in Roscommon and it comes down to numbers in my opinion. Basically all the same teams are doing more of the less thing. I trained with a couple of Leitrim seniors a few years ago and they weren't doing anything different than the Roscommon lads and that's when we were winning Connacht titles. Eye probably have only three athletic freaks and we have about 6. The bigger counties are hitting 12/13 of starting panel. Dublin have had 20 and that's why they are champions"
S & C is very much over rated. If you have a chap who is 5'10, no amount of S& C will make him 6'2. Therein lies the problem. The counties with the bigger number of players have a lot more players coming through the ranks, players who are physically stronger but can also play football. There is no point in being a big lump of a lad who can knock players left right and centre if you can't kick a ball over the bar.

eoinog (Sligo) - Posts: 1964 - 02/04/2024 00:32:03    2535094

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I'm astonished how everyone is writing us off based on the aberration that was the last 23 minutes plus injury time of the game against Laois. In the game last year and this year and the first 47 minutes of the final, the aggregate score was Leitrim 3-36, Laois 2-39, and then we went off the boil for whatever reason. We had a good league campaign (i.e. 10 points and promotion), along the way beating a team who beat everyone else, and already people are saying they're done for, they won't do anything on the Tailteann Cup and they're going to get relegated in 2025. We're going to be second seeds, for god's sake! We're going to have two teams from next year's Division 4 in our TC group, and we're already doomed in the minds of the naysayers here based on one huge blip in one game (the other league defeats weren't blips). I call billshut.

Tacaí Liatroma (Leitrim) - Posts: 1126 - 02/04/2024 00:45:22    2535098

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Replying To Tacaí Liatroma:  "I'm astonished how everyone is writing us off based on the aberration that was the last 23 minutes plus injury time of the game against Laois. In the game last year and this year and the first 47 minutes of the final, the aggregate score was Leitrim 3-36, Laois 2-39, and then we went off the boil for whatever reason. We had a good league campaign (i.e. 10 points and promotion), along the way beating a team who beat everyone else, and already people are saying they're done for, they won't do anything on the Tailteann Cup and they're going to get relegated in 2025. We're going to be second seeds, for god's sake! We're going to have two teams from next year's Division 4 in our TC group, and we're already doomed in the minds of the naysayers here based on one huge blip in one game (the other league defeats weren't blips). I call billshut."
I don't think you are doomed. You could stay up in div3 and could go on a run in the TC. At the same time your post is a bit disrespectful to the other div4 counties. Most of the div4 counties were of a pretty similar standard and ourselves, Longford, Carlow, or Tipp if they get their injured lads back, are not going to have any fear of playing ye in a neutral venue. Any game between the 5 of us could go any way.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 13920 - 02/04/2024 09:01:05    2535112

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If you were given a choice last Friday.

Which would you have been more satisfied with BEFORE last weekend. ======
======

Croker loss. (Although a tighter margin.)
Or
Defeat the Yates County this weekend.

I'd have be more satisfied with a win in Carrick this weekend.

Bookies have it
Leitrim 3/1
Sl8g9. 1/3 .
To me them odds have Sligo too much the hot favourite.
Sligo will be favourites but not that hot.

My odds would be more inclined
Leitrim 7/4
Sligo. 4/9

Anyway defeat last Sunday.
Or
Win this weekend.

Which would you have rather happen BEFORE last Saturday? =======/
========

Shannonview (Leitrim) - Posts: 73 - 02/04/2024 10:51:02    2535136

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The only green shoots of hope from the Croke Park debacle was the honesty of Mickey Graham in admitting that Laois were complacent in Portlaoise. It was nice to see some of us having a day out but if you're idea of a good day out is spending it around the North inner city then you need to get out more often.

We could do with a hell of a lot more honesty and, let's be honest, we got lucky in getting promoted.
What's seldom is wonderful and for once luck was on our side in terms of other results. Should we have been dependent on others? No, particularly three years into this "project". If we're honest we will struggle badly in Division 3. We should be ready for it at this stage but we're not.

Do I blame this current panel or anyone playing the last 15 years? No. Their performances in that time are symptomatic of how the show has been run. Do I place all the blame on Andy Moran, Benny Guckian, Shane Ward etc etc. No I don't. They worked with what they got.

I will repeat this ad nauseam. It will not get better until we fix what's causing it. Our club structures are 30 years behind where they should be. We have stood still whilst almost everyone else continuously evolved. Five years is a long time in terms of the evolution of football. We're still doing the same stuff from 20 or 30 years ago and expecting different results.

That won't prevent people reminding of us of when we'd play Kildare in the early 90s and were able to compete with them and therefore we'll be able to compete now. It'll be right up there with reminiscing about playing Monaghan in Cloone.

ThePowerhouse (Leitrim) - Posts: 141 - 02/04/2024 10:57:37    2535139

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Replying To Viking66:  "I don't think you are doomed. You could stay up in div3 and could go on a run in the TC. At the same time your post is a bit disrespectful to the other div4 counties. Most of the div4 counties were of a pretty similar standard and ourselves, Longford, Carlow, or Tipp if they get their injured lads back, are not going to have any fear of playing ye in a neutral venue. Any game between the 5 of us could go any way."
Apologies, no disrespect intended. You're right. Between Leitrim, Wexford, Longford, Carlow and Tipperary, anyone could beat anyone. Indeed, so it proved in this year's league.
. . . . . . . . . P W L Pts
Wexford. . 4 3 1 6
Leitrim. . . 4 2 2 4
Longford. 4 2 2 4
Carlow. . . 4 2 2 4
Tipperary. 4 1 3 2

Not sorted by scoring difference.

C beat T
T beat Ld
Lm beat W
C beat Lm
W beat C
Ld beat Lm
Ld beat C
W beat T
W beat Ld
Lm beat T

That makes it look even worse for Leitrim in some respects as our late penalty deprived ye of a clean sweep in this little minileague minus Laois, Waterford and London.

My point about having two teams from Div 4 in with us was from a technical perspective. Anyway. It promises to be very competitive, and that's across all the groups. The reality is there's a group of teams containing about 60% of the teams in Divisions 3 and 4 that could all beat each other.

Tacaí Liatroma (Leitrim) - Posts: 1126 - 02/04/2024 14:24:37    2535189

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Replying To Viking66:  "I don't think you are doomed. You could stay up in div3 and could go on a run in the TC. At the same time your post is a bit disrespectful to the other div4 counties. Most of the div4 counties were of a pretty similar standard and ourselves, Longford, Carlow, or Tipp if they get their injured lads back, are not going to have any fear of playing ye in a neutral venue. Any game between the 5 of us could go any way."
Agree - don't think poster meant to be disrespectful. Everyone, inside and outside Leitrim considers us lucky to get up, fixtures went our way too, even with the 4 away matches. Not just the 5 of us, Antrim, Offaly in Div 3. plus Limerick, and our old friends in Wicklow - makes it 9 teams to me who could all beat each other on a given day.

So for Tailteann Cup - making a few assumptions here i.e. Clare get to Munster final, and Kildare don't get to Leinster Final. I'd group the contenders this way..... Down clear favourites out on their own.

Favourites: Down
Contenders: Sligo, Kildare, Fermanagh, Laois
Competitive : Antrim, Offaly, Leitrim, Wexford, Longford, Tipperary, Carlow, Wicklow, Limerick
Outsiders: Waterford, London

Anyway - here's hoping some of those "competitive" teams aren't in it and cause a shock by getting to a final!!

Solo_Run (Leitrim) - Posts: 217 - 02/04/2024 17:20:12    2535231

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Replying To Galway4ever:  "With Leitrim playing the first round of the championship 8 days later it would be hard to believe they were going all out against Laois especially when they already had been promoted which was probably their main objective at the beginning of the season."
Even if they wanted too it wasn't possible to go all out last weekend. The scheduling hand dealt towards Leitrim is ridiculous

March 16th must win games against Laois and used up all energy to win by 1 point
March 24th Another must win game against Tipp
March 30th Div 4 league final
April 7th Sligo in the championship

If the men in suits up at HQ think all of that is fine? with that schedule anything but a Sligo win this weekend will be a big surprise.

Drax_the_destroyer (UK) - Posts: 250 - 02/04/2024 18:07:45    2535241

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Replying To Tacaí Liatroma:  "I'm astonished how everyone is writing us off based on the aberration that was the last 23 minutes plus injury time of the game against Laois. In the game last year and this year and the first 47 minutes of the final, the aggregate score was Leitrim 3-36, Laois 2-39, and then we went off the boil for whatever reason. We had a good league campaign (i.e. 10 points and promotion), along the way beating a team who beat everyone else, and already people are saying they're done for, they won't do anything on the Tailteann Cup and they're going to get relegated in 2025. We're going to be second seeds, for god's sake! We're going to have two teams from next year's Division 4 in our TC group, and we're already doomed in the minds of the naysayers here based on one huge blip in one game (the other league defeats weren't blips). I call billshut."
Leitrim played the occasion and not the game which is why they got their arses handed to them

totalrecall (Leitrim) - Posts: 995 - 02/04/2024 21:33:42    2535271

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Replying To Solo_Run:  "Agree - don't think poster meant to be disrespectful. Everyone, inside and outside Leitrim considers us lucky to get up, fixtures went our way too, even with the 4 away matches. Not just the 5 of us, Antrim, Offaly in Div 3. plus Limerick, and our old friends in Wicklow - makes it 9 teams to me who could all beat each other on a given day.

So for Tailteann Cup - making a few assumptions here i.e. Clare get to Munster final, and Kildare don't get to Leinster Final. I'd group the contenders this way..... Down clear favourites out on their own.

Favourites: Down
Contenders: Sligo, Kildare, Fermanagh, Laois
Competitive : Antrim, Offaly, Leitrim, Wexford, Longford, Tipperary, Carlow, Wicklow, Limerick
Outsiders: Waterford, London

Anyway - here's hoping some of those "competitive" teams aren't in it and cause a shock by getting to a final!!"
Think that's a fair assessment. I'm looking forward to it.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 13920 - 02/04/2024 22:55:19    2535291

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Replying To Shannonview:  "If you were given a choice last Friday.

Which would you have been more satisfied with BEFORE last weekend. ======
======

Croker loss. (Although a tighter margin.)
Or
Defeat the Yates County this weekend.

I'd have be more satisfied with a win in Carrick this weekend.

Bookies have it
Leitrim 3/1
Sl8g9. 1/3 .
To me them odds have Sligo too much the hot favourite.
Sligo will be favourites but not that hot.

My odds would be more inclined
Leitrim 7/4
Sligo. 4/9

Anyway defeat last Sunday.
Or
Win this weekend.

Which would you have rather happen BEFORE last Saturday? =======/
========"
Just as well you're not a bookie so with those odds. Ye got hammered at the weekend, were lucky it wasn't by annother 7/8 points in all honesty and haven't won a Connacht Championship game in donkeys years so it's no wonder Paddy Power have Sligo as red hot favourites and I see Leitrim have actually drifted to 4/1 now and the handicap is 5 points. Had the game remained in Hyde park it would be larger I would say.

And before the usuals come on and tell me to clear off back to sligo page, I actually would have liked to see Leitrim win the league but tbh I think Leitrim will do well to win any game in Division 3 next year unless there's serious improvement made based on Saturdays performance. 10 points more often than not is not enough to get out of Division 4. I know Wicklow did it last year but look how they fared out in Division 3!

Sligoman1234 (Sligo) - Posts: 430 - 02/04/2024 22:59:00    2535293

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Replying To 3rdmidfielder:  "This is a very good point. I don't doubt the S & C work and I don't doubt the lads aren't working hard on it, but I think we don't have the "athletic freaks" as mentioned in this post. Unfortunately you need them in the modern game!!"
Our S& C is improving but as Laois showed we still have to reach another level to compete. However this current squad are stronger and fitter than last time we were promoted. We are rarely pushed off the ball when in possession.Despite their commitment & efforts we are not strong across defence and we got caught out by Laois packing midfield denying us possession. Up front we have as good an attack force as any we will face in Div 3.we didn't fire in Croke Park but will reset for Sligo. It was unusual that only Ryan O'Rourke was our best functioning forward & he was doubled marked by Laois. Will Sligo have the players to keep our lads quiet up front will be one of the many questions on Sunday! While I want our lads to win the reward of a meeting with Galway who are going for Sam could end up in a rout which would not be great preparation for the Tailteann Cup.

leitrimabu1 (Leitrim) - Posts: 141 - 02/04/2024 23:34:45    2535298

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When was the last time Leitrim won a Connacht SFC match other than London or New York? 2011? 13 years ago. In between were a fairy hairy moments with New York and London and then last year...

Still, I admire the optimism on here to win this weekend? This was a sligo team who beat Westmeath so if they had picked up another 2 point they would have been promoted on head to head.

The handicap at 5 points is generous....

veterngaa (Monaghan) - Posts: 665 - 03/04/2024 08:21:11    2535316

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Replying To leitrimabu1:  "Our S& C is improving but as Laois showed we still have to reach another level to compete. However this current squad are stronger and fitter than last time we were promoted. We are rarely pushed off the ball when in possession.Despite their commitment & efforts we are not strong across defence and we got caught out by Laois packing midfield denying us possession. Up front we have as good an attack force as any we will face in Div 3.we didn't fire in Croke Park but will reset for Sligo. It was unusual that only Ryan O'Rourke was our best functioning forward & he was doubled marked by Laois. Will Sligo have the players to keep our lads quiet up front will be one of the many questions on Sunday! While I want our lads to win the reward of a meeting with Galway who are going for Sam could end up in a rout which would not be great preparation for the Tailteann Cup."
I agree on S&C I think there is a marked improvement and I think that is testament to Andy Moran ability to keep a panel together. The team is young but another couple of years we will be on a par with most teams in Div 3.
Unfortunately tactically we are very poor. We have mustered good counterattacking scores this year but is that plan a, b and c for attack. Everything else is passive with ponderous passing in the middle third. Under hyland we had a lovely direct attacking game which has seemed to have disappeared. Our forwards are not working to make themselves available as very little direct ball going in. Hard to watch. Defensively we have improved this year slightly. But the inability of the line to offer some sort of support to the full back line after 20 minutes last Saturday is worrying.

All in all promoted to division three hopefully we can keep making minor improvements stay up and our manager learns quickly.
Leitrim Abu

Backheel (Leitrim) - Posts: 171 - 03/04/2024 11:40:28    2535350

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Replying To veterngaa:  "When was the last time Leitrim won a Connacht SFC match other than London or New York? 2011? 13 years ago. In between were a fairy hairy moments with New York and London and then last year...

Still, I admire the optimism on here to win this weekend? This was a sligo team who beat Westmeath so if they had picked up another 2 point they would have been promoted on head to head.

The handicap at 5 points is generous...."
Having yourselves as favourites versus Cavan is also very generous. Cavan at 15/8 underdogs is definitely worth putting €20/30 on it. Don't forget where your own county came from before you come onto our forum throwing digs. I'm sorry to say once McCarron and McManus retire ye will be back down playing us in div3/4.

Leitrimforliam (Leitrim) - Posts: 326 - 03/04/2024 12:46:53    2535358

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Replying To Leitrimforliam:  "Having yourselves as favourites versus Cavan is also very generous. Cavan at 15/8 underdogs is definitely worth putting €20/30 on it. Don't forget where your own county came from before you come onto our forum throwing digs. I'm sorry to say once McCarron and McManus retire ye will be back down playing us in div3/4."
Well I assume it's on merit as the bookies very rarely get it wrong. In an all Ireland semi final last year, reaching an all Ireland minor final last year as well Ulster minor titles in 2018 and 2019 has led to a drip of players coming into our senior team. Save that money for a few pints Sunday night.

McManus has barely played this year and we are trying to blood new talent. We have put huge emphasis on our schools football and underage to ensure we compete at the high levels after recently been relegated. I believe McCarthy was our top scorer from play last year. We can only comment on facts and previous years competition. I stated some facts to you, home truths... you are speculating.

veterngaa (Monaghan) - Posts: 665 - 03/04/2024 14:16:08    2535379

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Replying To veterngaa:  "Well I assume it's on merit as the bookies very rarely get it wrong. In an all Ireland semi final last year, reaching an all Ireland minor final last year as well Ulster minor titles in 2018 and 2019 has led to a drip of players coming into our senior team. Save that money for a few pints Sunday night.

McManus has barely played this year and we are trying to blood new talent. We have put huge emphasis on our schools football and underage to ensure we compete at the high levels after recently been relegated. I believe McCarthy was our top scorer from play last year. We can only comment on facts and previous years competition. I stated some facts to you, home truths... you are speculating."
You came onto another county's forum to put in a dig that we lost the league final, and that we haven't won a connacht sfc game besides beating NY or LN since 2011. Yes these are facts thanks for stating them to us. Not like everyone in this forum isn't already aware of the state of Leitrim football over the past 15 years.

There is no reason Leitrim can't be optimistic ahead of Sunday. Recent games between us have been extremely close. Albeit we have lost a significant amount of players to emigration since then.

Leitrim and Monaghan haven't crossed paths in years so I don't understand your bitterness towards us. Did some leitrim folk wrong you? That can be the only reason as your input on our forum is very strange indeed. I look forward to meeting Monaghan in division 3 in 2026.

Leitrimforliam (Leitrim) - Posts: 326 - 03/04/2024 15:08:25    2535385

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