Strange seeing sister Eilish in Dublin jersey but Leitrim's Laura O'Dowd just got on with it

One of the quirky tales around this year’s TG4 LGFA All-Ireland Senior Championship was the idea of sisters Laura and Eilish O’Dowd coming face to face on the field of play wearing opposite jerseys and that's exactly what happened last Sunday in The Naul.

Speaking to Laura after Dublin’s 8-18 to 0-7 victory at Clann Mhuire’s ground, Laura admitted that it was an unusual situation for the Ballinamore sisters: “It was a very strange situation, one we definitely didn't think we'd ever encounter or come across. It was strange seeing her in the blue jersey and me in the green jersey. But, at the end of the day, that's been her team now for the last number of years and she's been brilliant with them. Look, it's a strange one but I suppose you just have to get on with it at the end of the day.”

It must have been difficult for their parents, Brian & Sheila, given that both are great supporters of their daughter’s inter-county endeavours, something Laura acknowledged: “They were kind of hoping when the group stages were announced that it wouldn't be a case that we'd come across each other, especially this early in it. It's a tough one for them, they want the two of us to play as well as we can and that's all they can do.”

It was a rough day for Leitrim with Dublin administering a tough introduction to the All-Ireland Senior Championship and Laura admitted she and her Leitrim teammates were very disappointed by the result: “Dublin showed their class today and I suppose it introduced us to senior football and what senior football is all about. 

“We're really disappointed overall, I thought we'd put it up to them a little bit more, but just defensively they were really, really strong and we just struggled to finish the ball. I thought we transitioned well up to the forward line but I just think we struggled a bit at the end so, yeah, overall quite disappointed.”

REACTION: NO EXCUSES FROM GARRITY BUT SATURDAY'S POSTPONEMENT DIDN'T HELP LEITRIM'S CAUSE

The fact that Dublin had to chase scores to improve their scoring difference, after their first round draw with Waterford, made Leitrim’s day all the harder: “I suppose the fact they drew with each other was the worst possible outcome for us.

“They knew that they had to score as much as possible and they did rack up quite a high score there now so, yeah, that was their goal and unfortunately we just got a little bit loose in the back line at times and they punished us and they got the scores.”

Leitrim had actually started reasonably well, trailing the Dubs by six points after 21 minutes despite the home team having the strong wind behind them but the Leinster champions got a run on the Green & Gold just before halftime: “There was a strong wind there and we thought we started off well and we thought if we can just maintain this.

“But coming up to the end of the first half, they got in with a few late scores so that we went in a little bit under at halftime. We were hoping when we had a bit of a wind in the second half we might push on a bit but, unfortunately, that didn't happen.”

Leitrim weren’t helped by two journeys up to the capital over the weekend after Saturday’s original fixture was postponed due to an unplayable pitch at Parnell Park, a fact Laura admits did effect her team: “It was extremely tough, we were really unlucky that the game didn’t go ahead yesterday.

“We were really prepared yesterday but the fact we had to turn around and sit in a bus the whole way back to Leitrim and do the exact same again today, you feel absolutely wrecked, yeah, so I think it definitely didn't stand to us and I think we were probably a little bit more fatigued than we generally were.

“The biggest thing now is recovery. This game is done, we have to look at Waterford and, again, we have to try and pick up from training now and work on the things that didn't work today and try and improve and hopefully we can get a bit more of a performance in. It was just the very last product and I think that'll be something we'll probably be working on now over the next few days up to the Waterford game to see if we can improve on that and I suppose that's all we can do.”