We trusted ourselves says Keith Beirne as Leitrim's top scorer sets sights on Sligo

When Sunday’s crucial Allianz League clash with Laois was in the melting pot, Leitrim’s players trusted themselves and trusted the process to get the job done and keeping their Division 4 promotion hopes alive.

Belief in their own talent and what they can achieve was central to Leitrim’s 2-14 to 0-18 victory over Laois believes top scorer Keith Beirne as he revealed that Andy Moran’s side trusted themselves and their process to keep their hopes of promotion alive.

“Laois are a fantastic team but we know ourselves how good we are,” said Keith in the dressing rooms after the game, “We stood off a lot against Wexford and Wicklow when we were winning and you could a small bit today that it crept in but we trusted ourselves, we trusted our process and we trusted our roles.

Leitrim have to concentrate on own performance against Sligo warns Moran after euphoric Laois win

“That is something we worked on, that we were kind of letting go near the end but once everyone stuck to their roles, we knew we could get the win there, especially with the crowd cheering us on.”

With fans cheering every tackle and every score to the rafters, it was quite a different scene after the final whistle compared to the devastation after the losses to Wicklow and Wexford but to Keith, Sunday just proved how tough Division 4 is to emerge from  - even if the criticism from fans was tough to take.

“It is hard - we had a great day against Carlow but when you see people going down to Wicklow and Wexford, people just got a bit emotional and thought that’s it done, giving out a bit but they’re back there seeing us today, cheering us on. 

“Wicklow beat that Laois team and there is nothing between any teams so it is just getting the result on the day.”

The win sets up another chapter in the rivalry between Leitrim and Sligo and Keith is definitely looking forward to it: “It is another massive game next week, Sligo are coming here, they had a good win against Carlow and there is a lot of rivalry between us. 

Leitrim fans celebrate vital victory over Laois in the rain - GALLERY

Leitrim fans wildly celebrated in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada as two injury time points from Mark Plunkett and Keith Beirne kept the Green & Gold's Allianz NFL Division 4 promotion hopes alive thanks to a 2-14 to 0-18 victory over Laois on Sunday. Observer photographer Willie Donnellan captured some great photos of the fans celebrating and during the match ..... see who you can spot!

Leitrim fans wildly celebrated in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada as two injury time points from Mark Plunkett and Keith Beirne kept the Green & Gold's Allianz NFL Division 4 promotion hopes alive thanks to a 2-14 to 0-18 victory over Laois on Sunday. Observer photographer Willie Donnellan captured some great photos of the fans celebrating and during the match ..... see who you can spot!

“We had a lot of meetings last year, a lot of meetings ahead of this year but hopefully we can get a result at home. I know Sligo won in Pairc Sean in the Tailteann Cup so please God, we can get a result.”

Leitrim’s League hopes hung on a thread at times on Sunday, something Keith was aware of but now he wants Leitrim to take their chance and push hard for promotion: “I was looking at the scoreboard and seeing we were only one ahead and I was worrying that if they get one last kick over the bar, it’s a draw and that sets them up for a win in London. 

“But thank God, we got the right result, we were second behind Sligo and we have a chance of getting promotion if we beat Sligo next week.”