Moran excited by developing Leitrim as Green & Gold set their sights on Ruislip

One thing Andy Moran can’t be accused of not possessing is enthusiasm so when you hear the Leitrim manager talk about how excited he is with the development of players over the past 12 months, it is wise to sit up and take notice.

Leitrim opened with a comprehensive 3-18 to 0-11 victory over Waterford last Sunday in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada in the opening Allianz Division 4 encounter, a victory tougher than the scoreline suggests. But for Moran, it was seeing work away from the public glare bearing fruit that left him most enthused.

“That is why year two is way more exciting if you ask me,” said Andy when talking about the development of players, adding “Some fellas mightn’t have been where you want them to be last year but all of a sudden, you can work on them for 12 or 14 months and they can become big players for you so fingers crossed it pays off.”

Leitrim turn on the second half jets to cruise past Waterford

LEITRIM 3-18 WATERFORD 0-11

Andy made his comments when chatting about the impact Jack Heslin had on the game and his manager was full of praise the Gortletteragh clubman and his teammates had put in during the off-season: “We’ve been waiting for Jack - we saw him last year in flashes but he has put in enormous work since the Summer when we finished in June. He never stopped, lifting weights, running, he did his work and he is like a new signing this year. 

“Aidan Flynn was the other one and just unfortunately, Aidan has sustained a big injury today. But the goals were massive - young Prior coming on and getting his goal, Jack getting his goal and KB’s goal at the end was the icing on the cake.”

Overall, Andy was very happy with the performance and result: “There are massive positives if you ask me. Obviously in the first half, we didn’t play the way we wanted to play. Anyone who was at the ground knew it was a nasty enough wind. We went five-two up but then they got six on the bounce to go eight-five up which was very, very disappointing. 

“We readjusted a few things in the second half, obviously we had the wind but Darragh Rooney’s two points before halftime were huge for us and he kicked another straight after so he kicked three on the bounce to give us a bit of confidence to kick on and eventually we scored a few goals.”

In fact, the former Mayo star believes Waterford will cause other teams in the division quite a few problems: “Waterford, make no mistake about this, will take points off teams. They had a huge tragedy on Friday night but they came up here and gave it to us for 35-40 minutes, it was really tough. 

Crowds out in force for Leitrim's victory over Waterford in Allianz NFL - GALLERY

Leitrim fans were out in force as Andy Moran's side opened their 2023 Allianz NFL Division 4 campaign with a 3-18 to 0-11 victory over Waterford on Sunday in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada. Observer photographer Willie Donnellan was a busy man with his camera .... see who you can spot from Willie's photos of fans enjoying the action!

“To get the League off to a good start is absolutely vital, you saw last night and two draws. I don’t know how Laois and Sligo got on but we get our two points and we’re away. Last year, we were here against Cavan, we didn’t really know where we were, how good we were, did we go after Cavan enough, probably not. But at least today, we knew our team, knew how good we can be and we pushed on.

“Honestly when there is no relegation, every game is massive. There are seven, eight teams there vying for promotion. If you talk to people from Carlow, they’re saying ‘we drew with Wicklow, the keeper made one or two mistakes’ and they feel they have a real chance and everybody is in the same boat. Sligo Laois today, I’m sure whoever lost or won is talking about the same thing we’re talking about. Every game, every two points is massive.”

The negatives were the injuries to Aidan Flynn and Donal Casey and Andy revealed that he and his management team were concerned about the workload on young players involved in Sigerson Cup games as Casey is with the University of Limerick: “I don’t know if you saw the Galway Mayo game last night, Rob Finnerty pulled his hamstring, Sigerson during the week. 

“We were saying we would try to pull Donal off after about 50-55 minutes if we can because they have a game on Tuesday and we were talking about it in the car coming down today. When I started college, everybody was on about burnout, now we’re on about split seasons and if there is more from today of Sigerson boys injured, don’t be surprised.”

Leitrim's Keith Beirne named on GAA's Team of the Week

Next up is London with a burgeoning rivalry between the teams with the Exiles puncturing Leitrim’s promotion hopes last year while the Green & Gold got revenge in the championship. 

So is there a bit of rivalry there and a sense of wanting to put right what happened in Bekan last year? “I think, to be honest, it is a fair question. The London boys came out after the championship saying they felt they should have won, I think we felt we should have won in the League so there is going to be a tiny bit of rivalry there and it is great.”