Maguire looks to Tailteann Cup to get Leitrim back on the road after New York defeat

After the trauma of their historic Connacht SFC defeat at the hands of New York, long serving Leitrim defender Paddy Maguire is hoping that this year’s Tailteann Cup can bring the Green & Gold team together.

Leitrim face Antrim in Corrigan Park in Belfast next Sunday (1pm throw-in) in the opening game of group 4 of the Tailteann Cup and the former Leitrim captain believes that the new format can help Leitrim overcome the disappointment of Gaelic Park.

Speaking to John Harrington of GAA.ie, Paddy said “The Tailteann cup can really bring a team together and going forward to next year it’ll keep players and teams together because they have a second option  and they won’t have that fear of being beaten by a division one or two team in a qualifier. That went on for a while in my career where we got right hammerings and it can be very disappointing and morale is not great.

Leitrim's clash with Fermanagh set for GAAGO coverage on Saturday May 20

“The Tailteann Cup, the beauty of it is it’s a good group there and any team has a chance of beating each other. We have played Wexford a few times and it’s been win, lose with them and we are evenly matched I think. There’s Antrim as well and a home game against Fermanagh…whoever is hungrier on the day will take it.”

Paddy, who has over 100 appearances for the Green & Gold, feels that Leitrim have reacted well to the loss to New York: ““It obviously got a lot of media attention, but we couldn’t have done any more in terms of preparation and on the day we just weren’t clinical enough. There was no wild abuse thrown at players or managers or anything, it was just ‘how did we lose?’ 

“We ticked all the boxes going into that game, it was just on the day we didn’t take our chances and we came out the wrong side. We created a lot of chances, New York had a decent team and on paper when you saw it, you were thinking ‘these boys mean business.’

“As the game went on they kept digging deep and there was only a point or two in it, and I knew when we didn’t take our goal chances they would go to the very end and they came out the right side of it. Unfortunately we took the loss, but like any game there’s more important things in life and we got over it, and we’ll look forward to the Tailteann Cup.”

Improved Leitrim left frustrated by Mayo

LEITRIM 1-13 MAYO 1-17

You can read all of Paddy Maguire interview with John Harrington of GAA.ie HERE.

The Tailteann Cup offers a chance of redemption for the @LeitrimGAA footballers according to experienced defender, Paddy Maguire. #GAABelong

— The GAA (@officialgaa) May 9, 2023