Leitrim 'set-up' nicely for Antrim admits Mark Doran after soul searching following Longford defeat

Leitrim were set-up nicely for Antrim’s ambush in last Sunday’s Allianz NFL Division 4 clash  according to manager Mark Doran who pointed to a ‘lot of soul searching’ in the Saffrons camp following their 13 point defeat to Longford.

Antrim certainly didn’t perform like a team who had no points to their name and the Antrim boss felt that Leitrim’s status as favourites played in his team’s favour: “We knew Leitrim was  coming with a wee bit of momentum, they had a big win last week in London. We were written off coming here today - sometimes you go in  low-key and you get a performance.

"It probably was set up a wee bit nicely for us with the fact that Leitrim were coming in with two wins and everybody was tipping Leitrim to win. Leitrim were probably thinking they were going to win, looking at promotion but we still had to go and execute the plan and I thought we did that to the letter of the law.”

The aftermath of their 1-27 to 1-14 loss to Longford saw some harsh truths spelt out: “There was a lot of soul searching done - even though the scoreboard tells a different story, I don't think we're as bad as the scoreboard tells. We conceded six two pointers,  dropped eight into the goalkeeper's hands and missed four goal chances. I know we didn't take them but we're creating the chances. This week there was a lot of looking in the mirror and maybe tough questions asked.

“I'm not the sort of guy that sugarcoats stuff - if I think something's not good enough, they're told straight up. We knew coming here we needed a reaction and I thought that we controlled the game from start to finish and that was the most pleasing thing.”

REPORT: ANTRIM STUN LEITRIM IN CRUCIAL ALLIANZ NFL DIVISION 4 CLASH

Relegated last year from Division 3, Mark stressed that Antrim need  momentum and that is why Sunday’s win was so important: “Sometimes when you are beaten in a few games, you're not as bad as everybody thinks you are but also when you win, you're not as good, so you're somewhere in between. But, make no mistake, we needed the two points for momentum -  remember Antrim have only won one of their last nine competitive games.

"Antrim have been in the habit of losing games. It will build confidence but that win's no good today unless we back it up next Saturday against Wicklow. But it makes the bus journey home a wee bit sweeter this evening. 

“We got a lot of criticism last week, rightly so but once we sat down and analysed it, it wasn't just as bad as the scoreboard suggests. We scored 2-20 today but we could have easily scored 2-20 against Longford. We had a wee meeting, went through the video, analysed stuff and we asked them to go and back each other to the hilt and, to be fair, they went and did that. 

“We knew we were going to get a performance. It was just as if we could get enough scores, take our chances because these last few games we've been creating chances but simply haven't been putting them away. Today we got them but it's no good coming here today and winning if we don't go and back it up next week. But, the most pleasant thing was how well we controlled the game from start to finish.”

Doran finished off with lavish praise for the work Steven Poacher is doing with Leitrim: “To be fair, Stevie's got them going. Last year was probably a tough year but this year he's got them motoring the right way and you can see that. At halftime, you knew they were never going to give in. I think they got it back to seven and we went up the field and got a goal. They were fighting and fighting but we knew coming to Carrick, it was always going to be tough.”

Antrim manager Mark Doran was also full of praise for the surface in Heartland Credit Union Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada as, unprompted, the Saffron boss spoke of his admiration for the Carrick-on-Shannon venue: “You have to say it's a fantastic stadium. It's a brilliant pitch to play on and the conditions were horrible there for a while but you look at that surface there, it is the best pitch we've played on this year by a country mile and it actually suited us. 

“A couple of times we've played in pitches that just maybe didn't suit us as much because we are a running team. We like good skills but, look, we're delighted with the two points and it makes our bus journey up the road a wee bit nicer this evening.”