Leitrim performance against Longford doesn't deserve semi-final spot says Conway

Olcan Conway doesn’t tend to soft soap his reaction to the poor performances and it was no different last Saturday after he said Leitrim wouldn’t deserve a place in the Allianz NHL Division 3B Semi-Finals based on their display in the 2-15 to 1-7 loss to Longford in Glennon Brothers Pearse Park.

Asked about Leitrim’s fate being in the hands of Warwickshire and Lancashire, Olcan bluntly said “On that performance today, you wouldn’t really deserve a semi-final spot, let’s be honest about it. We were well below par again, that’s twice in four games that we just haven’t been on the ball. If we make the semi-final, we make the semi-final, if we don’t, we just have to sit back and prepare for the championship.”

Olcan’s words were spoken with resignation rather than anger, disappointment that Leitrim had again failed to produce on the day: “It is not the first time that they’ve underperformed and hopefully it will be the last time this year but we just have to pick up and go again, that’s just what it is.

“A lot of wides in that first half, ten or 11 very scoreable chances that we didn’t score and if you are not going to take them against Longford, you’re going to be in big trouble regardless. We came down here with the mindset that our destiny was in our own hands and if we performed, we’d be in the semi-final and if we didn’t, we’d be waiting on other results. 

“That’s how it is now - we just have to sit back and see what happens but these boys are tough, they’ve had knocks for years and they’ve bounced back.”

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The dismissal of Martin Feeney on a straight red card almost on the stroke of halftime didn’t help Leitrim’s cause either: “I didn’t see it either, I’d have to go back and look over the video to see what it was. Apparently grabbing the face-guard or something like that, look you can’t do that. If he did it, he did it - if he didn’t, we’ll appeal and that’s the way it is.“But you can’t go down to 14 men against Longford, they were fit to control the ball, take their scores. I will say they won a lot of very easy frees but that’s how it goes.”

The hurlers are in somewhat of a transitional phase, having been robbed of players like Enda Moreton, the McDermott brothers while David McGovern was also unavailable, meaning a lot of young talent has been introduced to the squad this year. And while it might bode well for the future, Olcan understands Leitrim need to perform in the here and now.

“We have a great young squad, we’ve ten or 11 U20s on our squad, training fierce hard and they bring great energy to training and hopefully, that will stand to Leitrim for the next number of years. At the minute, we still have to keep winning matches - you are judged on your performances, you are judged on your results.

“People don’t want to see a team getting beaten and saying it is great, you have young fellas on. It is part and parcel of it, a juggling act.”

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Part of Leitrim’s difficulties may stem from an inability to get out on the training pitch together with Olcan revealing that the hurlers’ session last Thursday was their first collective effort since before Christmas: “We’ve had a lot of trouble getting collective training sessions over the last six or seven weeks, pitches are waterlogged.

“Just a lot of problems where lads aren’t getting training collectively. We’ve had to do a lot of individual stuff but the first time we got a mid-week session since before Christmas was last Thursday night down in Athlone, the first time we got together and that’s a problem on its own but we have to keep battling on.”