Gutted Barry McNulty says Leitrim have to focus immediately on Longford

Emerging Leitrim star Barry McNulty believes that he and his teammates have got to park the disappointment of their last gasp loss to Carlow and set their sights on taking on Longford next Sunday in Glennon Brothers Pearse Park in what is now a huge Allianz NFL Division 4 clash.

The bitter feeling of succumbing to a last gasp goal in the 2-14 to 1-16 defeat dominating the conversations of Leitrim fans on Sunday afternoon in Netwatch Cullen Park but close behind was the growing appreciation of the performance of the young Glencar Manorhamilton who hit three superb points and turned in another excellent display.

For Barry, however, there was some tough self-analysis and a determination to get back to winning ways as soon as possible as he spoke to the Observer: “We came out in the second half ….. we were poor in the first half, a very poor first half but we stepped it up and we were very close, just the last kick of the game kinda. 

“We got our chance, we just didn’t take it - we’re gutted but we have next week to put it right. It is a League - it is not like it is over, we just go out there and next week is all we’re focussing on now. We’ll sort it out, we’ll look at the video tomorrow night and all focus is on Longford.”

After winning the decisive penalty against Wexford, Barry ruefully admitted that luck wasn’t with the Green & Gold against Carlow: “We had our luck last week, we didn’t get it this week but a lot of things were in our control that maybe we didn’t take. You make your own luck as the saying goes, we’ll go again next week.”

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Barry suffered what looked like a serious ankle injury before halftime, limping through the closing stages of the first half with major strapping over his boot but emerged for the second half without the strapping and full of energy. However, the Leitrim man downplayed the injury: “Just a wee bit sore but in fairness to the boys, Eanna and Doc, they looked after me so I was happy enough to get out there.”

Part of that is down to the conditioning of the Leitrim players with Barry singing the praises of the effort being put in behind the scenes: “We did a lot of work strength & conditioning wise, Darragh is coming in now and every man is putting his shoulder behind the wheel, no man is opting out, every man is giving the same amount of work. 

Barry McNulty chats after Leitrim's loss to Carlow Picture: Willie Donnellan

“It is beginning to show and I think our conditioning has stepped up big time this year and hopefully we can keep it going.”

As for the rest of the campaign and Leitrim’s promotion push, Barry promises he and his teammates will put the head down and push on again: “There’ll be no resting on our laurels, we have to pick it up again, we have to go again but that is the way it is. If you keep looking back, the League will be over very soon!”