Leitrim dig deep for Lancashire victory

Led by the dynamic Brendan Delaney, Leitrim put in a strong second half performance to overcome a brave Lancashire side in Saturday's Allianz Division 3B clash in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada.

Lancashire led by a point at the break of an entertaining contest but Olcan Conway’s side dug deep to turn the tables on an excellent Lancashire side to record their second win of the 2023 campaign.

Weather conditions were good for the clash of Leitrim and Lancashire with the result that the standard of hurling was quite good which enabled this game's very competitive edge to come to the fore from start to finish. 

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Lancashire drew first blood in the opening four minutes with Shane Nugent firing over and Robin Spenser converting a free. Leitrim responded well to get on level terms after Michael Derwin and Gavin O'Hagan split the Lancashire posts in turn.

The Exiles again grabbed the initiative to go two points up once more by the ninth minute thanks to a point apiece scored by Robin Spenser and Shane Madden. In response Leitrim took the lead when Brendan Delaney hammered home a goal on the 11th minute mark after an inch perfect long range pass from Joe Murray.

Sean O'Riordan increased Leitrim's advantage with a point two minutes later. But Lancashire regained the lead when Conor Kennedy drove to the net after being put through from Robin Spencer's sideline cut. Kennedy and Spencer (free) gave Lancashire a three point advantage by the 20th minute when each added a point.

But the tide turned back in Leitrim's favour when Jerome Fitzgerald pointed and then after intercepting a misplaced Lancashire  puck out Brendan Delaney immediately struck an opportunistic goal, which put the home team back in front by a minimum margin. 

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The Leitrim lead was short lived with David Burke finishing a Lancashire effort to the Leitrim net some 24 minutes into the action.

Three minutes later Michael Derwin reduced Lancashire's advantage to a single point when converting a Leitrim placed ball. After David Burke increased Lancashire lead with a 28th minute point Sean O'Riordan hit a similar Leitrim score some two minutes later, to keep his side on their opponent's heels.

Two Michael Derwin frees cut Lancashire's advantage  over the next four minutes. Then a Shane Madden 33rd minute goal increased the Lancashire lead to four points

In the closing action of the half Leitrim reduced the gap to a single point after Michael Derwin tapped over a '65' and added a point from play while Martin Feeney also pointed  with Robin Spencer hitting back with a point for Lancashire to give them a 3-9 to 2-11 interval lead.

After the restart Lancashire continued to dictate matters and led by 3-13 to 2-12 by the 41st minute mark thanks to two points from Conor Kennedy and one each from Eoghan Kelly and Robin Spencer (free). Following that and within the space of two more minutes Leitrim surged with Michael Derwin pointing and sub Stephen Goldrick firing home a game changing levelling goal.

Three Brendan Delaney points, one of which was from a placed ball, plus another point by Conor Hackett gave Leitrim a four point lead by the 50th minute. Lancashire's Robin Spencer cut his side's deficit  from a '65.'

But Leitrim kept the upper-hand  with points from Michael Derwin (free), Stephen Goldrick, Brendan Delaney and Joe Murray while Robin Spencer answered with two pointed Lancashire frees in this period to keep his side in the hunt.

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LEITRIM

Scorers: Brendan Delaney 2-6; Michael Derwin 0- 7, 3f, '65'; Stephen Goldrick 1-1; Sean O'Riordan 0-2; Gavin O'Hagan, Jerome Fitzgibbon, Martin Feeney, Conor Hackett & Joe Murray 0-1 each

Team: Clement Cunniffe; Paul Lenehan, Aaron McLoughlin, Kevin Clerkin; David McGovern, Jerome Fitzgibbon, Martin Feeney; Conor Hackett, Gavin O'Hagan; Sean O'Riordan, Michael Derwin, Peter Poniard; Joe Murray, Conor Beirne, Brendan Delaney. Subs: Cian Mallon & Stephen Goldrick for O'Riordan & Poniard (HT); Michael O'Brien for Derwin (71)

LANCASHIRE

Scorers: Robin Spencer 0-8, 3f, '65'; David Burke 2-1; Conor Kennedy 1-3; Shane Madden 0-2; Sean Nugent & Eoghan Kelly 0-1 each

Team: Ray Dooley; Liam Burns, Bryan Slattery, David Fitzell; Andrew Morgan, Shane Nugent, Darragh Carroll; Eoghan Kelly, Conor O'Shea; Eamon Kearns, Finn Henry, David Burke; Shane Madden, Conor Kennedy, Robin Spencer. Subs: Stephen Grace, Padraig Mallon & Stephen Treacy for Slattery, Fitzell & Burke (HT); Conor McCormick for Kearns (43); Shane Nugent for Madden (68)

REFEREE: Aidan McAleer (Donegal)