It’s like winning Sam Maguire
A happy Enda Williams and Lorraine Brennan give the thumbs up for Leitrim after last Saturday's Qualifier victory over Wicklow in Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada. Photo by Willie Donnellan
Enda Williams may not be too long in the colours of the Green & Gold but the Clonguish clubman summed up the feelings of every Leitrim follower in Pairc Sean last Saturday when he said “It is like winning Sam Maguire.”
Williams knack of summing up a situation is fast becoming legendary but even he was lost for words temporarily after the victory over Wicklow – “I cannot actually put it into words so soon after the match how much it means to us, it is hard to describe so soon after the game.
“Just standing on the field and take it all in, you don’t have too many days like this, it is fantastic.”
If fortune smiled on Leitrim at times last Saturday, Enda felt that Leitrim’s efforts earned them that fortune – “I think we worked very hard for our bit of luck today, I know Wicklow kicked a couple of scores wides today but I think we worked hard enough for our luck.
“Every one of the Leitrim people playing for each other, fighting for each other is a great thing. “e got a bit banjaxed there in the first half, Darren Sweeney had to go off and coming near the end, Shane Moran had to go off.
“So it was great credit to these lads, the way they kept fighting to the end and we pulled it out of the bag. There is not much you can say about James Glancy, he was on fire today, he was immense.”
As for the Qualifiers, Enda doesn’t care who comes out of the hat – “Don’t matter, just once we won that game. I’d go to Killarney and play Kerry so I would.
“To win that game, to take the monkey off our back of having no wins in the Qualifiers. Especially after the Mayo game, I don’t think we did ourselves justice. I know Mayo were better than us but I don’t think we did ourselves justice.”
Leitrim keeper Cathal McCrann down-played the significance of his save from John McGrath just before halftime last Saturday, prefering instead to joke about it and praise his fellow defenders - “I was sort of sick of looking at them going by me in the Mayo game so I had to do something!
“After that, the backs were super. They had loads of chances but they were being put under so much pressure, it was phenomenal work, it is great.”
Ever the realist, Cathal is looking for a kind draw in the next round – “If you want another week, you could get Tipperary or Limerick and if you could get them hear. I know Limerick beat Longford but I’d rather have another crack at it with a weaker team than draw a big team.”
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Weather for Carrick-on-Shannon, Ireland
Sunday 19 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 10 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 8 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: North west
