Leitrim let the shackles off believes captain Michelle Guckian

Leitrim put the disappointment of their shock League semi-final loss well and truly behind them on Sunday to claim the TG4 Connacht LGFA Intermediate title with captain Michelle Guckian revealing that the squad had decided to "let the shackles off" as they triumphed over Division 3 finalists Roscommon in Kiltoom.

“The last couple of years we’ve kind of been on the hard luck side in that we’ve lost by a point or two points,” said Michelle after lifting the Gift of Life Cup thanks to Leitrim’s 3-12 to 0-19 victory over the defending champions, adding “It’s nice to be on the other side, everybody needs a bit of luck now and again.”

Picking themselves up after a couple of seasons where they have fallen short in League finals and semi-finals and last year’s provincial decider was down to Leitrim just going for it! “Last year, we were in hard luck in the League Final and we never performed in the Connacht Final, we never showed up and it was really disappointing for ourselves and our management. 

“This year again, we had a little flop in the League semi-final but we knuckled down after that - we had a meeting, we all knew what we had to give and we did it and came out the better side of it. I suppose some people had us written off after the League performance against Limerick but we knew we had to bounce back from that. There is a small bunch of girls there but it is a talented bunch and that is what we did.“

Going in as underdogs probably helped with the advice of Assistant manager Dermot Feely crucial; “100% - we had nothing to lose today, we were underdogs today, let's be honest. Dermot said at a meeting on Friday ‘the shackles are off, go and play the way you can play, there is no pressure on you’ and that is when we play our best football.”

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Michelle also highlighted the performance of the Leitrim defence in the win over Roscommon: “It was very close, two points in the end, just nip and tuck. We always knew it was going to be a tough game against Roscommon, always is. I have to give credit to our defence today, absolutely outstanding. 

“There was not one goal chance Roscommon could have got, they parked the ship and worked so hard but not only that, they worked the ball out through the hands and got it up really quickly and that is what led to our scores.

“In fairness, in most of our games, the defence is the absolute rock and the way they work the ball out, get the ball up to us forwards - we’ve the easy job of just finishing it off. They were working their arses off - we’ve the easy part!”

She might term it the easy part but Leitrim’s goal scoring ability was crucial but the Leitrim captain also stressed the importance of the running game employed by Jonny Garrity’s troops: “When you have forwards that can run at pace and so much different variety of our game play.

“That speed coming in from Elise Bruen and Laura O’Dowd and then you have Aine Redican, another engine, a powerhouse like Muireann and Ailbhe and Leah - it is hard to stop everyone. That’s part of our game, a running game to get up as quickly as we can.”