St Mary's manager Alan Flynn reasonably happy but sees lots to work on for Connacht Gold SFC semi-finals

Managers tend to see the glass as half full when it comes to their team’s performance and Alan Flynn was now different after St Mary’s 2-12 to 1-10 victory over Leitrim Gaels last Saturday in the Connacht Gold SFC Quarter-Finals in Ballinamore.

“Reasonably happy I suppose, I thought we left a few scores behind us,” reflected Alan when asked by the Observer to sum up the game, “We did a lot of good things and it is not easy, there are a lot of men back and it is a very patient and slow play so it is just trying to click into when you get that opportunity, that you put it away. We did with some and we left a few more behind us and we’ll just have to tighten up a bit on that.”

The Galway man pointed to Cian Singleton’s goal as a crucial score in opening up a gap on their fellow parishioners: “That goal before halftime was a very important score and just gave us that bit of a cushion. In fairness, Leitrim Gaels had to come out and attack us a little more and in fairness, they did very well in the second half, I thought they were quite good.”

St Mary’s strength in depth was tested in the tough conditions even in the absence of established performers like Jack Casey and Sam Barnes: “That was a tough game for us, it was very tough conditions, it was very warm - a big change from what we’ve been playing in recently and that is why I thought the lads off the bench made a big difference.

“Jack Barnes, Cillian Hanratty and Gavin Reynolds obviously made a big contribution there and I suppose we were bearing in mind the fact that we’ve an Intermediate team playing on Sunday so that had an impact too in terms of contributions. Jack Casey and Sam Barnes are both losses to us upfront but as you know yourself, everybody gets injuries and we have to deal with that.”

REPORT: ST MARY'S SEE OFF LEITRIM GAELS FOR SECOND WEEK IN A ROW TO BOOK SEMI-FINAL SPOT

Alan had special words of praise for Brian Keaney and his fellow forwards: “Brian is a great bit of stuff and has done very, very well. You have Ben and Paul and Conor Hackett, Oisin played well today.”

The praise didn’t end there with Alan fulsome in his praise for the playing surface in Pairc Sheain Ui Eslin: “It was great to get a run out in Ballinamore today, it is a beautiful pitch and I have to compliment them on an absolutely fantastic pitch and great facilities and we were delighted to get a run out there today.”

As for the semi-finals and speaking before the draw was made, Alan simply said “There are four strong teams in the semi-finals and I suppose we’ll see how it goes.”