Tough learnings says Moran for Leitrim U20s after Roscommon defeat

Leitrim’s young footballers learned some tough lessons on Wednesday night according to manager Andy Moran after Roscommon crushed their dreams of glory in the Eirgrid Connacht U20 Championship clash before a packed Pairc Sheain Ui Eslin in Ballinamore.

Moran didn’t try to disguise his disappointment after he emerged from a long debrief with his players: “Hugely disappointing, no more so than for  the players, it is them I feel sorry for more than anybody else. They’ve been brilliant in terms of their attitude towards training, their attitude towards this but tonight, it just didn’t happen. A lot of our boys got a lot of learnings there tonight but we will learn from it.

"We played a round robin, we went up to Ballinasloe four weeks ago, got beaten by Galway, the championship would have been over for us. Thankfully with this set-up, we’ve played three more games, we’ve beaten Mayo, we drew with Sligo in a game we should have won. Today unfortunately we came up against a team that is a bit better footballers than us if I’m being honest, a bit more physical and a bit hungrier for the game and they thoroughly deserved their victory by a wide margin.”

Overcoming that disappointment in time for next Wednesday’s meeting with Mayo in the Philly McGuinness Cup Connacht B Final is going to be tough admitting the former Footballer of the Year: “To be honest, it is going to be hard, there is no doubt about it but the boys had a chat there in the dressing room.

BARRY MCNULTY BELEIVES LEITRIM DIDN'T DO THEMSELVES JUSTICE AGAINST ROSCOMMON

“We went through the physicality of Roscommon and they admitted that Roscommon were fairly much ahead of them. We expect a lot of these guys to not only play in the B Championship next week, we expect a lot of them to play Tailteann Cup later in the year - that’s where we want to bring them, get them on their weights programme during the year, make sure they have a really good club season and then drive on.”

That physicality was an element that Moran felt Roscommon had a big advantage while a reluctance to wary an attacking approach may also have played into the winners’ hands: “I think from the get-go, Roscommon won both throw-ins, they just got a step on us. We pulled it back momentum wise but the amount of turnovers we had in the tackle, which we didn’t have in the last two weeks, was just huge. 

“We kept carrying the ball up the centre, kept going after the same route - highly frustrating but these boys are young boys, we have young Honeyman who is 18, Eanna who is 17, Arek is only 19, they have a lot of learning, the guys I really feel sorry for, the Barry McNultys, the Jack Caseys, Paul Morans who this was their chance to maybe go and play in a Connacht Final and they just haven’t fulfilled that promise we had two weeks ago.”

For all that, the Leitrim manager was full of praise for his U20 squad: “They’ve been brilliant, we’ve had a great run, we’ve had the highs and lows of every sort of thing over the last couple of months. We beat Mayo, which is a big achievement, and the team we’re really trying to chase is Sligo because we’re trying to follow their model and to go down to Markievicz and give them a right test was testament to the boys as well.”

REPORT: ROSCOMMON OVERPOWER LEITRIM IN EIRGRID CONNACHT U20 FC FINAL ROUND

“Our big thing at the start of the year was Division 3, to get up to Division 3, Sligo are there, Roscommon, Galway and Mayo are up higher - no Connacht team is in Division 4 next year which is a huge achievement for the county. We haven’t done it too often, we need to take that as an achievement.”

Yet the overriding feeling was undoubtedly one of disappointment: “Huge excitement tonight but when you get into that mode, you want to grasp it and take the people with you but unfortunately tonight, we didn’t do that.”