Football is a simple game as Leitrim Schools boss Ward delighted to seal semi-final spot

They say football is a simple game and certainly the way Shane Ward describes Leitrim’s crucial victory over Colaiste Bhaile Chlair of Claregalway on Friday in the Mezzino Connacht PPS Senior A Championship, it seems very simple!

“It's very simple - we had forwards tracking back there, winning tackles and just turning the ball over,” Shane told the Observer after Friday’s 2-11 to 2-8, “But the calmness and the coolness of transitioning the ball from back to front then was, I suppose, something we had focused on and that's what kept us in the game.”

Leitrim’s ability to respond to big scores from the Galway school proved crucial in a tight contest: “We responded there. I just said to the boys that we conceded a score, we won the next kick out in kick two, and that's the kind of response you want.”

It means that Leitrim have now secured a place in the semi-finals and the former Leitrim Senior & U21 manager was undeniably pleased with his team’s performances: “Pleased with that. You know, starting off the year it was very much game by game, you can't look any further than that. 

“To win two games on the bounce gives us a bit of momentum going into the Christmas break. Obviously we have a third game coming up in January, which I look forward to, but top of the group, you can't fault that.

“I think the two performances deserved that. I think they were two complete performances and they worked extremely hard, both halves across both games. Definitely last week, that middle 10 minutes between 15 minutes and 25, when we drove on against Claregalway, definitely stood to us today when we were under pressure.”

After the historic win over Connacht and All-Ireland kingpins St Jarlath’s in the first round, Ward called for his players to repeat that performance and they certainly did that on Friday. But the emphasis against Claregalway was simply on Claregalway: “We never mentioned the win over Jarlath’s.

“We never mentioned it because we didn't want to overplay last week. We just said, forget about last week, let's just move on and take a fresh challenge. They knew themselves that they had a third game to go to if they wanted to qualify. They knew that themselves.

“These lads aren't silly. So we never mentioned it. We just said, listen, go out and let's play and see where we land and where we've landed was a good performance and a good win.”

The ability to give their all was also something Ward highlighted as Leitrim responded to everything Claregalway threw at them: ”You have to give credit for that. Colin McLoughlin, Jack Moolick had an excellent second half, Bailey McBride, Eanna McNamara. 

“You've seen them in the last five minutes - they were all out. I've talked to them about that, about maxing out and just giving absolutely everything they can and those turnovers are the difference, really, to winning games.”

Shane was quick to credit the work that is going on in the Leitrim Development Squads and at underage level for the emergence of this team as well as the buy-in from the players: “I think you always get the buy-in in Leitrim - like, you know, they're football mad and they're mad to progress.

“Those cubs are so resilient from coming through 14, 16, minors. You have the back-up of the Fr Manning Cup win, those youngsters coming in and they feel that they can compete with the other lads for places on the team, which has pushed us on. We started with some of the Fr Manning Cup team players on the team and we finished with some of them and for them to play at that level, it's great exposure. But it also shows how confident they are to be able to jump in.”

Looking at the game, Shane agreed that Leitrim found it hard to find their range from play but credited his players with finding the ability to find a way to win: “It was maybe something the opposite last week. I suppose the beauty of it is, and I spoke to them about this, is can you manage those situations when you're not getting a free flow from play?

“So can you get two marks? Can you draw two frees? They're starting to understand that it takes every sort to win a game. The first time we met them it was all it had to be brilliant, it had to be perfect but now they're finding out they have to grind it out, which is good learning for them.

“Two goals from midfielders and, you know, that last 5% of effort is what got both goals. And that's the difference. It's as good as six points when something happens like that.”

Leitrim’s next game is against Westport’s Rice College on Friday January 10, as Shane must plan for a training programme over the Festive period: “We'll have a think about it tonight and see where we're going. You know, there's no need to panic. The lads are in good shape. I have to say that, you know, the S&C and that and the support around the team at the minute is brilliant. 

“They'll do a lot of conditioning work for us and do a lot of work like that to support us over Christmas, I'm sure. We'll give the boys a break. They've had a long year. They're serving two school teams and they're serving club teams and county teams and that. So we'll manage that as carefully as we can and we'll stick together as a group.”