If we win Saturday then I see no reason why we can't kick on and beat Sligo the following weekend, provided the lads stop drinking Sunday and go back training Tuesday. But one game at a time. Daft suggesting Saturday doesn't matter, we have next to no chance of beating Galway in a semi final unless they throw out their 3rd team from the fbd league. So none of this nonsense that the Sligo game is bigger, they're not that much ahead of us but they have the advantage of a weekend off after playing mostly better teams than we have.
gaelsboy (Leitrim) - Posts: 445 - 27/03/2024 23:13:29
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Replying To Leitrim1234: "Huge congratulations to the players and management and their families. A huge achievement. So many Leitrim teams have strived to get promoted before this and have failed. We need to enjoy the good days.
From my count there's approximately 9 players from the previous team that only lost to Derry by 4 points still involved. Ryan O'Rourke, Mark Plunkett, Darragh Rooney, Conor Reynolds, Pearce Dolan, Aidan Flynn, Cillian McGloin, Evan Sweeney, Shane Quinn. There may be one or two more that I'm forgetting. For them boys it's a tremendous achievement to keep the wheels turning when it might be easy to not make all the sacrifices they make especially after losing in New York.
Seeing the emotion in the faces of the likes of Donal Wrynn in some of the photos on the Observer shows how much it means to these players and why some of the talk about players can be disgraceful. For example this must be Wrynns and Shane Quinns 10/11 year representing Leitrim at Senior level - that's a phenomenal record without much reward.
Theres going to be a lot of people on here that need to reconsider their views of the management team.
The reality was when we were replacing Hyland (who the players were completely fed up of) the Leitrim job isn't going to be the most appealing. There were also 3 or 4 other jobs of the same standing on the go at the time.
On his own Andy Moran wouldn't be considered for the job with his lack of experience but when you added in Mike Sloan who had won an All Ireland u21 with Mayo and Barry McWeeney, James Glancy etc. into the backroom team you can see why as a package they were the best option available. It also took great humbleness and lack of ego for Moran to bring in Mickey Graham once Sloan left - You will now here people saying that this weekends results were due to Graham etc. Speaking to any of the players over the last few years they really enjoy the environment that's been created which is huge as apart from emigration we haven't seen many players just 'not commit'.
That's not saying Moran has ben perfect. Their choice of captains over the years including this year has astounded me. They should never have allowed the league game that we lost to London go ahead in Beakan - No other county would have been pushed into this. Their in-game substitutions can be extremely bizarre and make little impact. It also took them too long to make the change at centre back this year- Whether that was because they made Diffley Captain, I'm not sure but it was as clear as day to anyone who has been to games that either Gilheany or Plunkett had to be played here. I also feel like they enabled Keith Beirne after his lack of commitment around the London game which was completely unfair to the wider panel.
They have made hard decisions though they 'pushed' Paddy Maguire into retirement after he really let himself down last year and a few other players who aren't good panel members weren't recalled.
They've had to deal with Covid, wide-scale emigration and serious off-field issues that I'm not sure many management teams in the country would be equipped to deal with. Even their stubboness to stick with Nevin O'Donnell in goals has to be fair worked out okay - That was a completely left field idea that not many would have tried.
At the start of the year if anyone had told me we would get promoted without Pearce Dolan and Plunkett for the first few games and without Keith Beirne, Jack Heslin, Paddy Maguire, David Bruen, Jordan Reynolds on the panel I wouldn't have believed them. We've also lost other players that would be on the squad such as Michael McWeeney, Oisin Madden etc. That's a huge amount of players (Many whom would start) to not have available in a county with the second smallest pick in Ireland. The wider scale mass emigration has also affected the quality of our club football which can't help either.
What we do now have is brilliant forwards. Our rate of scoring over the last 5 years is huge for a Division Four team.
O'Rourke is the best forward I've seen in Leitrim in 30 years. You always have a chance when he's on form. John O'Mahonys team was built on defence and midfield and Des Dolans team was built on a back 6 that was as good as any in Ireland at the time. Darragh Rooney has now finally turned into the player he threatened to be when he broke through at 17/18. He's a real leader now and his move to Judes has worked our brilliantly. His success up there also shows to the rest of the players they would compete in any county. In Plunkett you have the ultimate Team Player who will knit everything together and do what the team needs to be done a member of the backroom team said the other day that he probably shouldn't be playing at the moment with his hip injury - Remember he was our best player against Derry that day in Croke Park.
The word is that there will be a few more significant players emigrating at the end of this year (just another reason to enjoy days like Saturday) but with the likes of McNulty, Foley, McGreal and the other promising u20s coming through hopefully we can keep the spine of this team together and push on.
I for one feel like they should prioritise winning this game and try secure some silverware and then deal with what comes with Sligo!" Well thought out post but would be optimistic that Andy will hold his Panel together. Getting promotion playing teams other than same same old Div 4 is a massive incentive. We also have some young talent transitioning from U20.also several players recovering from injury Cillian& Jordan among them.Winning on Saturday very important for morale of squad which is on a high after promotion. Good luck lads
leitrimabu1 (Leitrim) - Posts: 124 - 27/03/2024 23:54:46
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