Leitrim players don't get enough credit as proud Moran reiterates pride in development of squad

Leitrim’s players don’t get enough credit for their performances and commitment to the jersey believes manager Andy Moran after Wicklow ended the Green & Gold Senior Men’s inter-county season last Saturday in Glennon Brothers Pearse Park in the Tailteann Cup preliminary quarter-final.

Wicklow turned in a powerful second half display to run out convincing 2-15 to 1-11 winners but for Moran, looking back on a year that included promotion in the League and reaching the knockout stages of the Tailteann Cup, perhaps there is a reluctance among Leitrim supporters to celebrate what has been achieved.

Referencing his native county, Moran said “This year has been, and I do feel in Mayo we probably over-celebrate stuff but in Leitrim, we definitely under celebrate stuff. I do feel in Leitrim, we don’t give our lads enough credit, we’re coming from a really small playing base and these lads, and I know every manager says this, but they’ve literally put their lives on hold and they’ve gone after it. 

“Today we had 20 guys who went on the pitch and literally gave it everything, what more could you ask for? If this game was in Pairc Sean tonight, maybe it might have been a different story but it was here, I thought we played really well. I think the people on GAAGO will see the progress that is being made with the team.

“I put that down completely to the players and buying into strength & conditioning, buying into training, knowing the fitness levels that we need to get to and to be honest, I’m very proud of them.”

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Citing the examples of Ryan O’Rourke and joint captains Mark Diffley and Donal Wrynn, Moran gave an insight into the dedication behind Leitrim’s performances: “Ryan O’Rourke probably played 14 or 15 competitive games this year if you include everything that we’ve played, that’s down to the work he has done since last July in the gym, working, working, working.

“For us to get promoted, to get promoted, to get to the knockout stages of the Tailteann Cup, I think it is amazing. Mark Diffley today pulled up in the warm-up with a strain on his hamstring and played 77 minutes of football so i think you know the character that Mark Diffley is. 

“Himself and Donal Wrynn have been outstanding captains and they’ve brought in Ben Guckian, they’ve brought in Jack Foley and if I came to you before the year and said Jack Foley is going to play every single minute of every single game he was available for, you’d have told me I was mad. 

“But it was the likes of Diffley, the likes of Wrynn that brought these guys in and made a huge difference to these guys - showed them the way and allowed them to be themselves. Darren Cox, Arek, Ben Guckian, Barry McNulty, Jack Foley owe an awful lot to the likes of Mark Diffley and Donal Wrynn.“

Neither was the Leitrim manager inclined to blast Tyrone referee Kieran Eannetta for not showing Wicklow talisman Dean Healy a second card, even if he felt a foul midway through the second half merited a sanction from the official: “I’m not going to sit here and give out, I thought Kieran, the referee, had a fine game if I’m being honest. 

“I thought he was probably wrong on that decision and it was probably more influential because Dean Healy was a guy involved in the situation. I would be disappointed with the two goals. Let’s concern ourselves with the two goals - we’re trying to get better and not give away the ball at silly moments and we did it today and it cost.”

The former Footballer of the Year felt that the Wicklow game was the first where the absence of Pearce Dolan and Donal Casey was truly felt: “Today was the first day when we didn’t have Pearce and if we had Donal Casey to mark Healy, he could have made a big difference. In the third quarter, they came out of the traps really well.

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“We just couldn’t get the ball out of our half, they put a huge press on us and we just couldn’t get out of our half and that’s it. They got the energy and we couldn’t bring it back. Part of it was, it is funny, we looked during the week and we saw Padraig O’Toole coming back and a few other guys getting back into shape. Unfortunately, we’ve been losing just one or two over the last couple of weeks and that advantage just makes it.

“You saw O’Toole there, we tried two or three on him, we tried two or three of Healy and you know that Pearce and Donal are such big guys for us and unfortunately we’ve lost a few guys over the last few weeks and they gained a few.”