Composure key to Ballinamore’s second half surge says Graham

For a game that was on a knife’s edge at halftime, Sunday’s deferred Connacht Gold Leitrim SFC Quarter-Final turned into a procession as a previously wasteful Ballinamore Sean O’Heslins started to convert some of those chances they had been missing to kill off a stubborn Glencar Manorhamilton.

O’Heslins 4-13 to 1-13 victory was fuelled by three second half goals but rather than put it down to some sort of miraculous halftime time team talk, manager Mickey Graham asked his players to keep doing what they had been doing but with just a little bit more composure in its execution.

Speaking to the Observer after the game, the newly confirmed Leitrim Assistant manager said “We felt that in the first half, we were creating opportunities and we just weren’t clinical when we got those opportunities and in fairness to Manor, every time they attacked they were very efficient in their play and I don’t think they missed too much in that first half. But we just felt we had to show a bit more composure when we were creating the chances, just to get that scoreboard ticking over and we got a couple of good goal chances at the right time.”

Andy Moran hails Graham appointment to Leitrim Senior management team

"He ticks all the boxes for us for what we’re looking for and we’re just delighted he is willing to come on board. It has given us a great lift and I hope it gives the players the same"

So it wasn’t an inspirational team talk at the break that did the trick but more reminding the Ballinamore players that they were creating the chances already: “We felt that we were creating the chances - we’d have been more worried at halftime if we weren’t getting those opportunities.

“But we just felt that if we kept working and kept running, making those hard runs and getting up in support, the opportunities would arise and they did and we took them in the second half.”

Glencar Manorhamilton’s attacking play in the first half was superb but Mickey felt that the north Leitrim men were not being pressurised enough around the middle of the field and with the quality of forwards at their disposal, Manor would take advantage if it wasn’t halted: “We were disappointed, we felt there was enough pressure applied in that middle third in the first half.

“There was too much easy quality ball inside to their forwards. We tried to get a bit more pressure on the ball further up the field and stop the supply going into their inside forward line in the second half. 

“I think we definitely put a wee bit more of a press further up the field and trying to stop that supply line because any forward trying getting the supply they were getting in the first half would cause damage. We were happy with the way the boys did that job in the second half.”

The big learnings Mickey and his team will take from the game is to cut out errors with a semi-final clash next Sunday against St Mary’s Kiltoghert looming large: “Probably cut out a couple of silly mistakes they were making in the first half, there was a lot of unforced errors there, that is something we need to look at because to be honest, that first half performance against St Mary’s next week wouldn’t be good enough.”

Ballinamore had a good history against the champions but Mickey is aware of the scale of the task ahead of his team on Sunday: “I haven’t seen much of St Mary’s, I’ve heard great things about them. Obviously they are the reigning champions, they’ve a lot of talent at their disposal and they’re the team to beat this year. 

“I suppose them and Mohill and Fenagh are the top three teams and we’d be fourth or fifth in line and we know that performance today won’t be good enough today to put a game up to St Mary’s next Sunday - we’ve a lot of work to do this week.”

Ballinamore Sean O'Heslins eventually find the target to see off Glencar Manorhamilton

BALLINAMORE SEAN O'HESLINS 4-13 GLENCAR MANORHAMILTON 1-13

With just a week between the victory over Glencar Manorhamilton and the semi-final, recovery is important but the Ballinamore manager feels the benefit of a hard game for his players far outweighs any negatives: “To be honest, the game was good for us this week - unfortunately last week was outside our control but there is nothing like a good competitive game going into the semi-final of a championship. 

“To be honest, I felt that getting to the quarter final was a good thing because we needed more games, we felt that had lads coming back from injury and an extra game would be more beneficial to us so we were delighted to get that quarter final.”

Asked if Ballinamore were hitting form at just the right time, Mickey laughed as he said “I’ll tell you that after next week.”

Speaking to GAA.ie after his appointment as Leitrim’s new Assistant Manager, Graham said he was looking forward to the challenge: “It's a new challenge and I'm really looking forward to it. I'd know quit bit about Leitrim and I'm really looking forward to getting to work at it and working with Andy and the rest of the backroom team.

“Andy and myself would be talking over the last number of years on various things so we'd know each other quite well. There's a lot of talent in Leitrim. Like any county, it's about getting your best players playing and getting them on the field. “They were unlucky last year with a few injuries and things like that, but they were always competitive. 

“A lot of work has gone in the last couple of years and there's a good foundation in place from talking to Andy. There's a lot of good things in place at the moment and it's probably just about trying to build on that and keep moving the thing forward. I know there's great plans in place for not just the year ahead but for future years as well.”

BREAKING: Stunning news as Mickey Graham named as new Leitrim Senior team Assistant Manager

Former Ulster Championship winning manager stepped down as Breffni blue boss this Summer and is currently managing Ballinamore Sean O'Heslins in Connacht Gold Leitrim SFC Semi-Finals

Graham told GAA.ie that he was looking forward to a hands on coaching role instead of the administration that comes with inter-county management: “Inter-county management is a full-time job. An awful lot of stuff goes on behind the scenes that you don't see so from that point of view it's nice to not have the headaches of organising and getting things done behind the scenes and dealing with media and stuff like that.

“It'll be nice just to go in and do a bit of coaching and try to bring a bit of knowledge and hopefully the players will learn something off me even if it's one or two nuggets of information.”