Leitrim's Aidan Flynn delighted to get back into county groove

He may have described his two points against Waterford in last Saturday’s Tailteann Cup clash in Ballinamore as collector’s items but there was no happier man to be back in the cauldron of inter-county football than Aidan Flynn.

Recovering from the gruelling schedule of four back to back games including a League Final and the Championship defeat against Sligo, Aidan revealed just how much he loves being involved in the Leitrim set-up: “We took a little rest after the Sligo game, not much - to be honest with you, we’ve a great team here, a great management team and you get energy from being with everyone.

“Personally I was mad to get back into it after the Sligo game and you get energy from being around it. The evenings are starting to brighten up and coming to training is a bit more fun and craic. We train hard but we play loads of football, it is very enjoyable to me. I was just mad to get back into it and I think most of the lads felt the same. We didn’t do ourselves justice against Sligo and even the League Final so we were just glad to get back into it.”

That enjoyment was clearly evident as Flynn landed two points against Waterford. Quipping “They’re collectors items in fairness, I’ll take them when they come” when asked about his points, the Leitrim Gaels clubman added “Whatever you can add to the team - we’ve a couple of brilliant footballers and everybody has their attributes and that is what I try to do best.

“Some days it works, it worked once or twice in the second half with the way the game opened up. Maybe the great pitch here in Ballinamore helped me get off the shoulders of the lads. But the boys have to get you the ball when you get up that far and they did it very well in the second half.”

LEITRIM LOOKING FOR HOME COMFORTS

Aidan also expected the stubborn challenge from Waterford: “It was always going to be a tricky game - we’ve watched Waterford over the last couple of weeks and we watched their Munster championship game against Tipperary and they had improved massively. In fairness, it is always a test.

“In previous games, we may have pulled away from them but if you remember the game in Carrick last year, we were a point down at halftime and even this year down in Fraher Field, there were two or three points in it at halftime. Luckily we were able to have a good third quarter I think.”

Some of Leitrim’s struggles may have been due to the long layoff after the Sligo game: “I think we were trying in the first half but just a couple of weeks without a competitive fixture, we weren’t really at it the way we’d like in the first half but I think we organised that a little bit better in the second half.”

Next up is Longford and even with a heavy defeat for Leitrim’s neighbours against Kildare, Aidan expects nothing but a battle next Sunday: “Absolutely, we will go up there and give it our best shot but you know yourself, Longford are a different team in Pearse Park. They are very hard beaten there so we will have to go and study them, try and improve on our performance from the League and that’s all we’ll be focusing on over the next couple of days.”