We can’t down tools now vows Leah Fox after Galway defeat

They say you learn more in defeat that you do in victory and it is a message that Leah Fox and her teammates will be taking to heart after a demoralising defeat at the hands of Galway last Saturday in the TG4 Connacht LGFA Senior Championship in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada.

The Glencar Manorhamilton clubwoman generously agreed to chat to the Observer despite the deep disappointment she and her teammates felt and Leah vowed that the Green & Gold would learn from the 2-22 to 0-5 defeat at the hands of the Tribeswomen: “You can't down the tools now. You need to learn from this and really push on over the next few weeks.

"We'll have a tough group, but I think if we keep going and play to our game plan, we can give anyone a game on any given day. Today is going to give us a lot of learnings. It's just about using them in the right way and moving forward for the next few weeks.”

Galway’s blistering start gave them an immediate advantage as they hit 1-8 without replay in the first ten minutes: “We know how good Galway are, the first ten minutes there really proved that. We kind of struggled to get to grips with them. I suppose we were in Croke Park the same day last year, two different divisions, so that probably showed there today. 

“I think we'd kind of be disappointed with some of our game plan and how we went today. Galway are a great team, definitely. We know the Kilkerrin Clonberne players from the club championships, they're excellent footballers.”

Yet Leah believes that Leitrim showed they can compete at this level given their display against Mayo six days previously: “I think last week it told two stories - it told us that we can't compete when we're at it and that we need to take our chances. We probably didn't at the end today, but I think Galway were a few levels above last week, you could really see that today. 

“We were disappointed with Mayo last week but we should have had chances to win that game. But at the same time, Mayo were competitive in Division 1, so we need to really learn from this and make a good goal for the next few weeks and see where it takes us.”