Easy to take Leitrim defeat after positive Longford reaction - Christie

It is a sign of the damage Kildare did to Longford that manager Paddy Christie talked of the fight his players displayed in abundance in Glennon Brothers Pearse Park despite suffering a heartbreaking 2-12 to 0-17 defeat in the second round of the Tailteann Cup.

With Barry McNulty kicking an injury time winner, it would be easy to talk of regret but after a 20 point hammering at the hands of the Lilywhites, Christie saw a lot of positives for Longford: “It is tough to take but the only thing about it is that it is easier to walk away from this having given it a good crack rather than last Saturday. 

“We were playing a much superior team last Saturday but that being said, I felt that we rolled over easy enough in that game and there were fellas showing a bit of fight but not enough. There today, you had everyone on the pitch and anyone who came off the bench showing a serious level of intensity. That is reward, difficult as it is at the moment - it is hard to think that we probably could have got a draw out of that.”

With Leitrim fans complaining bitterly about some of the decisions of Mayo official Liam Devenney, Christie felt that a few decisions also went against the home side: “The refereeing decisions at the end, there’ll be arguments on both sides - I think Leitrim will feel the second half, there was a couple of very physical challenges that we put in, that we got away with. 

“Now, I would have felt they were ok but that being said, if you just take them out of the equation, I suppose the key turning point of the game was the goal that we conceded and that was from our own attack, ball dropped into the keeper’s hands and went straight down the end of the field and ended up in the net.”

GALLERY - CHECK OUT WILLIE DONNELLAN'S FAN GALLERY FROM PEARSE PARK

It is that aspect where the former Dublin star wants to see a major improvement as he felt his team more than matched Leitrim in most departments: “That’s where you have to really tighten up because everything else, we were as good if not better and obviously we beat them here in the league. We’re there or thereabouts at this level but those sort of things really hurt you.

“The only thing I would say is that when you pick out all the mistakes, you have to pick out an awful lot of good passages of play and an awful lot of effort. I thought Brian Masterson playing in the full-back line was superb.”

An outstanding display from Dessie Reynolds, who landed five points, didn’t surprise his manager: “We got a lot more out of Dessie Reynolds than we have on other days, he’s been ok other days but not the Dessie Reynolds I would have had in DCU, we weren’t getting enough out of him. He was fine but today was the real Dessie Reynolds and it is great to see.”

Looking ahead, Longford need a big win over Waterford to have a chance of grabbing a third place spot but Christie warns to the pitfalls of taking the game from granted: “They are positives but it still doesn’t take away from the fact that we could struggle to make it into the playoffs. We still have to beat Waterford and we need a big win. 

THE LAST POINT: DEALING WITH GREAT EXPECTATIONS

“The danger with the Waterford game is that you just have to be careful not to start thinking about scoring differences because realistically speaking the fact Kildare beat them so well yesterday, Kildare really shouldn’t be in this competition in the first place, I think they’re too good for everyone. 

“You have to disregard that, Waterford is going to be a real challenge - for us, we have to take the positives from this and there was such a difference in the attitude today and the way we applied ourselves, that is heartwarming.”