Roscommon goals took the wind out of Leitrim sails says manager Garrity

Roscommon’s second half goals took the wind out of Leitrim’s sails according to a disappointed Jonny Garrity after Leitrim surrendered their Connacht crown last Sunday in Kiltoom.

“The goals took the wind out of our sails today unfortunately,” the Leitrim manager said after the game, “But we were competitive for such a long time in that game. It was anybody's game. In fact we were leading them for a good spell in the second half.”

The failure to build on a sin-binning for Roscommon was also disappointing: “During the sin bin, we lost our way a wee bit. It was disappointing as the finish line was coming into sight. We needed to kick on and get a few more scores on the board. But the opposite happened and that was a disappointment.”

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ROSCOMMON 2-13 LEITRIM 1-7

Turnovers from kickouts was also a factor with both teams doing well on the opposition kickouts: ““A kick out is not necessarily an advantage for a team unless you can get the thing out. Today we struggled. But the flip side is that we competed very well against their kick outs and created opportunities that way.”

Garrity also stressed that each player would have to look at their own performance in terms of Leitrim losing possession but that Leitrim were still “a work in progress. We will continue to work on things. It is the early stages of what we are trying to do here. I certainly saw some very positive things today and others from which we can learn.

“Every girl has to individually look at their own performance and look at the pass selections and executions. We coughed up a lot of very simple ball. Unless you can do the basics and do the basics well you are always going to struggle, especially against a Division 2 team. Unfortunately that's where we fell flat today. We will get back on the horse and we will go again.

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“This is a side that is improving all the time even though it may not show itself in any given game. We know there is development taking place. There is progress taking place. The understanding of the players how to implement the game system is improving. We know it will bear fruit down the line.”