Hurling captain Martin Feeney wants Leitrim to finish the job off in League Final

Barely having time to throw a few clothes on after Saturday's Allianz NHL Division 3B Semi-Final victory over Longford in Shane McGettigan Park, Drumshanbo, captain Martin Feeney and the Leitrim hurlers were already setting their sights on Final opponents Cavan.

Leitrim's 2-16 to 1-12 victory sees them face Cavan next weekend in the Division 3B Final and the hurling captain was very much aware of the significance of the victory, particularly with the Mens and Ladies teams chasing places in League Finals on Sunday!

"That’s the first one done now," remarked Martin before adding "hopefully the mens and ladies can finish it off and get to the league finals and we want to wish them luck as well. We’re going straight to the recovery room now to get the bodies right and try to prepare for Cavan, that’s our focus."

Hurlers do their part to keep Leitrim's League Final treble hopes alive

LEITRIM 2-16 LONGFORD 1-12

The hurlers certainly didn't take Longford for granted and they won't do the same either for Cavan: "We just needed to get over the line today and then worry about Cavan. If we can get a performance, I think we can come out of it victorious. Our focus was this semi-final, we had no mention or no worry about the final so we’re very happy to be pushing on to the final next week, wherever it is."

Admitting he was "over the moon" with Leitrim qualifying for the Final, Martin feels that the loss to Cavan in Kingspan Breffni Park showed the resilience in the Green & Gold squad: "Extremely positive now to bounce after that performance against Cavan, it wasn’t good enough on the day but we showed how good we are today and we really did dominate the game.

"Hopefully we can push on and focus on the next game against Cavan and get that win we need. We took a lot of learning from that game, we underestimated how good Cavan were - they got a lot of good lads back in. We can regroup, reset and refocus on Cavan now - they’re in our line of sight now."

Two tough games against Longford will help the hurler's quest for League glory: "I think so - these huge games against Longford have been hugely beneficial. Cavan have been sitting off for the last two weeks so it has been hugely beneficial to us heading into next weekend, I think we’re ready and hungrier than them so we can’t wait now."

Three might be the magic number

THE LAST POINT

The fact that Leitrim and Longford know each other so well and face each other so often in club and county added to how tough the games were: "Both teams know each other inside out, even managements are too - there are lads from past managements for Leitrim as well with Longford so everyone does know each other, every player knows each other so it makes it tougher, the battle harder but it makes it sweeter when you win at the end of the day.

"It felt like a fresh obstacle today. We all knew we had our strongest 15 out there today and every single player knew their job, knew the routine we were going to go through and it came off to a tee - fair play to Olcan for all the planning and prep for it."