Challenge for Leitrim Schools team is to put back to back performances together says Shane Ward

Leitrim Schools may have taken down the giant of Connacht Schools football but manager Shane Ward immediately challenged his players to reproduce their performance when they face Colaiste Baile Chláir from Claregalway this coming Friday.

Leitrim's historic 2-18 to 1-15 victory over Tuam’s St Jarlath’s was worth celebrating but manager Shane Ward instead challenged his players to back up their superlative display against a strong Claregalway team.

“The challenge from being here previous is can you put it back to back?” mused the former Leitrim Senior and U21 manager, adding “You know winning one game and not qualifying and the hard luck story isn't enough - it's about going back to back now. Those boys will have to produce the same again and more next week and they'll have to remember that going back home on the bus today.”

In the second year of the Leitrim schools project, it was the Green & Gold’s first win but Shane wasn’t inclined to focus on the past but the future and what it might do for Leitrim football: “It is nice to get the win, just to get the boys obviously to, not so much to buy in, but just to focus on the fact that it is another progression for them.

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“A lot of those boys came out of the county minor set up last year, it's just about just trying to get them exposure to higher level games and the win has certainly helped the momentum now for the next couple of weeks coming into Christmas.”

Key to Leitrim’s victory was the way they reacted to Jarlath's pressure  and for Shane, attitude and intensity was key to the victory: “I think that's important in games, you know, reacting to negative things. They worked so hard for 29 minutes and you could just see Jarlath’s building, the space opening at the back and it was a good goal, well taken. 

“But we've spoken about that - that things will happen and go against us but the steel they showed in the second half when things went against them in the middle 10 minutes, the way they went back and tackled, the way they turned over the ball, blocked the ball, that's the difference. 

“It was certainly a focal point because in the two challenge games we had, we didn't do that but they really dug in. A couple of key players up the middle there, Colin McLoughlin had a super game, Bailey McBride a super game and Eanna McNamara at centre back, they really dug in when it was needed which was ultimately the difference.”

Pulling together a Schools team drawn from Leitrim players from the county’s seven Post Primary Schools may seem like a logistical nightmare but for Shane, Leitrim’s small size actually worked in their favour this time: “We have a niche in Leitrim and I said it before and I'll say it again is the fact that those boys are the boys who started off U14 together so they know each other inside out. 

“The county is small but we make the best of that scenario in that we can pull boys together very quickly and they know each other and they play together for many years so it's not like you're pulling 15 or 18 or 20 new fellas together, you're pulling boys who play together year in, year out. 

“So it's just a matter of putting the logistics around them, putting a bit of support structure around them and just giving them the best possible chance moving forward.”