Harsh Galway lesson will pay off if Leitrim learn says manager Jonny Garrity

What Leitrim endured last Saturday hasn’t happened very often during Jonny Garrity’s term in charge of the Ladies team but the Green & Gold manager believes his charges can learn some valuable lessons from Galway’s 2-22 to 0-5 victory in the TG4 Connacht LGFA Senior Championship.

Garrity firmly believes that Leitrim’s heavy loss at the hands of last year’s All-Ireland Senior finalists in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada does not accurately represent what his charges are capable of: “Our priority is looking down the line another few weeks towards the All-Ireland series but in saying that, I felt that there was a great opportunity to get a senior final in Connacht. 

“Today, obviously, we were well off it but we showed last week against Mayo that we can challenge at this level. But we're going to need to be a lot better than we were today. Galway showed their class today. They're a fantastic array of players and scorers all over the field. We might look at ourselves and ask was there adequate pressure put on the kicks and the answer invariably would be no. We were lacking energy all over the field today and aggression unfortunately.”

Learning lessons from the game is the first priority for the Leitrim manager: “It's a harsh lesson but it's going to be a worthwhile one if we can learn from it and that'll be our intention. With a break to the All-Ireland series, it is five weeks where we can certainly reflect. There's a lot of work to do but at the same time we don't want to cloud our judgment on today's performance. 

“On last week's evidence, there's not that much work to do. There's lessons to learn from today and if learned, I think we're still going to be in a decent position. The challenge that's in front of us is going to be a really, really big one because of the group that we're drawn into but there'll be other teams there that we feel we can challenge and get wins off.

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“If we can do that then even maintaining senior status will be an unbelievable achievement this year. But who knows, we could go in and shock somebody in the first couple of group games and if we do that we could have an All Ireland quarter final to look at and then who knows what could happen so we're going to go in determined and optimistic and give it our absolute everything.”

Galway’s blistering start that saw them score 1-8 to no reply inside the first ten minutes left Leitrim chasing the game and their status as All-Ireland finalists was reflected in their performance and Garrity believes the Tribeswomen are a formidable outfit: “They were certainly ready. They had us lined up and they were ruthless and it's a harsh lesson.

“But it's one that we will endeavour to learn from and aspire to reach the level that  Galway team is at. They won their seven National League games in their group, conceding one goal and went on and won the final. So, eight wins out of eight coming in today. 

“They had their homework done, absolutely but last week was a difficult one for us because it was a game we probably left behind in terms of the chances missed. Had we won, it would have changed the whole mentality coming in this week. Unfortunately, to come so close but to get nothing out of that game and then have the All-Ireland finalists waiting for you, it was going to be a difficult task. Nevertheless, I had high hopes for the girls.”

Garrity was also critical of the scheduling of the Connacht championship that saw Leitrim face two games in six days: “I really would question why in an eight-week turnaround between the National League final and the first round of All-Ireland fixtures, why in those eight weeks we have to play two games in six days. It's utterly crazy. 

“Galway had the luxury of the best part of a month off running into today and the advantage of watching us against Mayo six days ago. We lost a couple of more players to injuries and they joined a growing list of players that are unavailable to us through injury. And that didn't make things easier.

“When you come up from intermediate to senior, you're looking for any advantage you can get. Unfortunately,  disadvantage was placed at our door, because Mayo had the luxury of playing first and last with a week in between. Galway had the luxury of watching both teams and having eight days between their two games whereas we had six between ours. 

“Sometimes it mightn't affect you too badly, especially if you're off the back of a win. But whenever you're off the back of a really disappointing defeat and you're losing players through injury, it just doesn't help the matter.”

Garrity agreed that Galway’s blistering start had an effect on Leitrim’s mindset: “You could make that argument today. We've done a lot of work on our mentality and dealing with adversity. We showed that last week when we were behind so many times, only to keep coming back. 

“That's the trait of this team over the course of the last number of years. Today it didn't look like it would happen at any point because, as I say we were leggy, we were lacking energy and aggression. I think that start that Galway made certainly did take the wind out of us. Even over and above what it looked like, I think what was really disappointing from our perspective as a management is it changed how we played.

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“It changed the decision making process with ball in hand where instead of doing what we've been coached to do, we reverted to panicking and booting the ball. Very unlike us and I think when you do that then girls will lose faith in the decision making process. So they'll be less likely to go and support runs. 

“Why bother to support a run if we're just going to kick it away? And then when that happens you're in a world of pain because you don't have the numbers up the field to maintain possession and you're going to be defending and that's what happened today.”

Leitrim now face a five week break before the start of the All-Ireland series where Leitrim will face the Leinster champions and Munster runners-up but Garrity plans on releasing his players back to their clubs: “Over the first couple of weeks I think the girls are released back to clubs now and it'll be an opportunity for a wee detachment and a breather and when we come back it'll be a very focused three week run in and we're looking forward to that.”