Garrity wasn't going anywhere until Leitrim won promotion from Lidl LGFA NFL Division 4

Never one to make the occasion  about himself, Jonny Garrity did make a startling admission that such was his determination to see Leitrim finally  escape the Lidl LGFA NFL Division 4, that he and his management team made a vow not to leave their roles with the county until the long held ambition was finally realised.

Speaking after Sunday’s dramatic and heart-stopping 2-10 to 1-11 extra-time semi-final victory over Sligo, Jonny told the Observer that his first reaction was relief: “One of relief - somebody's just told me seven years that the girls have been trying, four of them now under our management, and when it came down to finally getting out of this division, it wasn't going to be easy.

“Today was a war and we've come out on the right side of it. So, just hugely relieved and hugely proud of the girls. It really was a collective effort today and it was always going to take that so just thrilled for them.”

For Garrity personally, it must have meant a great deal for Leitrim to finally get over the heartbreaking runs of defeats in finals and semi-finals? “Look, it's hard to put into words because I haven't really allowed myself to think too much about that, about what it would mean. 

“Every time we've been met with a disappointment in the league, it's been very much focused on the next competition and when the next league has come around, it's been very much we've got a job to do here and I've never allowed myself to think really about what it would be like to get out of it or finally achieve that aim.

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“But now that it's been achieved, it means a great deal because I want to make sure that Leitrim Football is in a better place for having us as a management. We simply weren't going nowhere until we got over this line, we weren't going as a management and it's funny several players said to me as well ‘I'm not retiring, I'm not going anywhere until we get out of Division 4’. 

“There was a real refusal within this group of players and management to say that we are accepting this and if it had taken another five years, we would have been here until we'd done it so I'm just over the moon to get this particular monkey off my back.”

That naturally prompted an enquiry to the Leitrim manager if was considering his future with the Green & Gold? “No, certainly nothing that I've thought about would be imminent at all. I'm thoroughly enjoying my time here and today is another real highlight so we're just enjoying today.”

At times, it looked to most of us along the sideline as if Leitrim were about to suffer another semi-final heartbreak so did Garrity experience any doubts that Sunday was not going to be Leitrim’s day? “No, genuinely there wasn't any doubt, although at one stage, probably with eight or nine minutes out in the second half, I did turn to Dermot and say that if we are going to do it, we're going to need a goal very soon.

Jonny Garrity anxiously watches the action in Elphin Picture: Willie Donnellan

“By the time I turned around again, we had got the goal. We left it with small margins and it was a tense affair but I had full belief that we had the firepower, that we had the players and it took every single one of them and there's other girls there that could certainly have contributed as well and they're certainly good enough too so, it's taken everybody.”

Leitrim got a huge impact off the bench with Kate Gormley and Ailbhe Clancy contributing on the scoreboard but Garrity, as is his nature, was keen to stress the importance of the entire squad: “Absolutely and not just them - Dearbhla Rooney who I thought was absolutely fantastic, Sarah Reynolds who hasn't had her problems to seek either in terms of fitness, Shaylyn Ward coming to it and Chloe Dolan, I thought was exceptionally good as well and really effective at the role we wanted her to play.”

On good days and bad, the Leitrim manager has always looked at what could have been done better. So what caught his attention against Sligo? “Probably in the first half, we had hit the post twice in a row in two attacks, one for a goal and one for a point, and we could have come out of the first half maybe a bit better than a two-point deficit but at the same time I felt that it was a game without any flow. 

“It was erratic and chaotic but I felt that we could have had a little bit more control over the game and I think from the second half on and certainly an extra time, you've seen us exert that control a bit better and that probably was the difference in the end up. 

“The first half, it just felt like we weren't in great control of the match and there was plenty of rearguard action as well - we've did what we had to do and I thought we were getting stronger as the game went on, so we were learning lessons in the heat of the battle which is a really good sign.”

Neither was Garrity surprised by Sligo’s near dominance of the kick-out battle: “We knew that was going to be something they would go after. It's an area of their game that they improved greatly probably in the aftermath of the last time we played them so we had to come up with solutions and we did. 

“That was one of the parts of the game which really demonstrated our bravery because of the way they set up and the ferocity of the press, nobody was getting their hands on easy balls so everything was a dogfight and we got our hands on the ball enough to get us out as many times as was required in the end up to get the scores that we needed so fair play to the girls.”

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Leitrim now face Carlow in the Final on Sunday April 12, in Birr and Garrity sees no reason why the Green & Gold cannot add to their trophy cabinet: “There's no reason why we can't. Of course we appreciate that Carlow are another good team. I think ourselves, Carlow and Sligo, and Offaly for that matter, they're all very, very good teams. 

“The two teams that come through, it's always going to make a very competitive final so we'll look forward to it. That match against Carlow is still fresh in our mind against them last time we'll look to find the improvements that we can and it'll be a new day but we're very determined now that we're in a final.”

If anything, Garrity is relishing the next few weeks with a Connacht Intermediate Final against Roscommon on May 3, yet to come: “Our next two matches are two finals. It's absolutely fantastic. This is what you want as a manager. It's what you want as a player. There's a fantastic buzz and belief in this group and we feel that this season can be anything that we want it to be so certainly we look forward to that. We can't wait.”