Leitrim hurlers will have to take their medicine and move on says manager Olcan Conway

With injuries and illness taking a huge toll on his squad, Olcan Conway insisted that Leitrim hurlers will have to “take our medicine and move on” after last Saturday’s demoralising 21 point loss in the Allianz NHL Division 3B clash with Fermanagh.

“It was just one of those days,” said Conway, adding “We will have to take our medicine and move on. The efforts of the lads couldn't be faulted. They kept hassling and trying. We probably are a good bit behind where we should be at this time of the year.

”We have had trouble accessing pitches and team members have had vomiting bugs - all these things in the last week or two have not helped with our preparations. That's what is. You got to keep going. We will have to look at today's game and look at the negatives. 

“We will see if we can improve on some things. We have to win the next two games against Lancashire and Longford to get into the league semi-finals.”

That might seem fanciful after such a heavy defeat but Olcan believes that blooding young new players will pay off long term: “We were in a league final last year. We are probably not where we were this time last year. We are going to have to improve and do better.

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“We have used the league to blood-in a lot of young lads. We have blooded 18 year olds, 19 year olds and 20-year olds and some more today. That's good. We are going to need these boys later on in the championship. We are going to need them next year and in the following years. 

“Leitrim is going to need these lads for the Leitrim hurling team in the years ahead. They can look at today and hopefully learn good lessons themselves from it and see where they need to be as well as the standard they need to get to.”

As for Saturday’s game, Olcan said “I would give a lot of credit to Fermanagh as well. They were very good today. We got the first score but Fermanagh settled in a lot quicker than us. 

“We had a few injuries today and we had to make substitutions early. That upset the rhythm of what we were trying to do.”