Garrity retains belief as Leitrim search for elusive consistency

Leitrim may be heading into one of their greatest ever challenges when they start this year’s TG4 Connacht LGFA Senior Championship next Sunday against Mayo in Swinford (1pm throw-in) but Jonny Garrity believes the Green & Gold can compete with anyone, once they find a consistency of performance that has eluded them so far this year.

For the first time since 2009, Leitrim will take on Mayo in the Connacht Senior Championship and while history and the pedigree of both counties might suggest a big win for the home team, it is clear that Leitrim’s manager is relishing the thought of taking on Mayo in Swinford Amenity park.

“It is a challenge but one that we relish,” Jonny told the Observer, “One that we've been looking forward to since that day in Croke Park last August when we won the All-Ireland Intermediate title. It'll be tough, we're well aware of the quality of the teams we'll be up against, but it's a brilliant place for us to be to face off against that challenge.

“We are really focused on ourselves actually, mainly because we haven’t managed to get the level and consistency of performances that we would have liked up to this point. We've got loads to do without looking over the fence at the next door neighbours. We're very determined to get our own performance right and that's all we're focused on right now.”

In many ways, Leitrim are going into this year’s Championship in much the same way as they did last year’s Intermediate competition, coming off the back of a demoralising and disappointing Division 4 League semi-final defeat and their manager believes the experience of last year will be a huge help as they take on Mayo and Galway.

ANTRIM HAD TO WORK A LITTLE LESS HARD FOR THEIR SCORES SAYS GARRITY

“It is very similar in that respect and we're well aware that we went into almost every game last year as underdogs. This year, that probably will be accentuated further - nobody will give us the slightest chance in any match that we're up against, everybody will expect us to finish bottom of our Connacht group and everybody will expect us to be relegated from the All-Ireland. 

“For us, it is almost a case where the pressure isn't going to be an external one. It'll be just trying to hit the heights that we know we're capable of and the pressure will come from ourselves.”

Interestingly, Garrity points out that Mayo were relegated from Division 1 of the League this year alongside a team very familiar to Leitrim! “Ironically Mayo went down alongside Tyrone as well in the National League.”

But for now, the focus is very much an internal one in the Leitrim camp with Garrity’s belief in his troops rock solid: “We don't listen to what other people say outside the group anyway. We've got a belief in ourselves. We know that if we were to play to the highest level of our ability that we will give any team in Ireland trouble. 

“We've got full belief in that. As a management, we're absolutely so full of faith towards these players. We believe in them so much and as I say that performance has been elusive so far this year, but we still believe we can get it out of them. Hopefully that'll happen this Sunday and if it does happen this Sunday I don't think the result is a foregone conclusion by any stretch of the imagination.”

A disjointed League campaign that ended with defeat  at the hands of Antrim saw the dream of promotion dashed for yet another year and Garrity felt that Leitrim must put their disappointment behind them ahead of the championship: “We know we could have and should have done better  but that's gone now. 

Claire Owens pictured with Mayo's Danielle Caldwell and  Galway's Eva Noone at the launch of the TG4 Connacht LGFA Championships

“Even the game that was cancelled in Wicklow, when we were down there, took away our break so we literally were on the go eight weeks consecutively and that was very mentally and physically draining. So there were a fair few factors that transpired against us getting into the rhythm that we wanted to get into, but ultimately we can't use any of those things as an excuse.

“Looking forward, it's a case of using the learning that we achieved from the National League to see if we can enhance our performance and if we can, then it will be reminiscent of last year because we used the hurt of that semi-final defeat in particular to go and reach a new height of performance and of consistency. That's the challenge in front of us again and it's one that we're very keen to live up to.”

Jonny also felt that little mistakes here and there cost his team in the League: “I think that's fair because ultimately we had been working extremely hard to show an improvement in our all-round performance. I think we certainly did that. I think with the ball in hand we were as good as we'd been in the whole campaign. 

“Unfortunately we were susceptible to making a few unforced errors over the course and that haunted us again. So the challenge now will be, as I say, trying to get through the performance without the mistakes. Even allowing for a few mistakes, we have to be quick to let that go and concentrate on the next play. We've got belief that we're in a good place now to do that, whether that will result in a victory or not will be down to the day and down to the performance. We've prepared well and we're looking forward to it.”

Injury wise, there are a few concerns but Jonny is giving players as much time as possible to be ready: “We've got a few injury concerns but we're waiting on later on in the week to really assess it because we've got a few reports due. We're giving three or four players every chance to be fit because they're big players for us. At the minute we do have a few concerns but hopefully they will be minimised by the end of the week.”