"We weren't that far" as Alan couldn't have asked any more of St Mary's players

Deep though his disappointment was, a reflective Alan Flynn felt that St Mary’s Kiltoghert weren’t that far away from accomplishing back to back Connacht Gold Leitrim SFC titles but the failure to take goal chances came back to haunt his team.

The St Mary’s manager was quick to praise Mohill for their 2-10 to 0-14 victory, pointing out that fate had swung his team’s way in 2022 just as it went Mohill’s way last Sunday: “ It was just one of those days and it was just going to fall for Mohill a little bit this year - we had that last year. There wasn’t going to be an awful lot between us and they’ve been knocking on the door for the last few years, fair play to them - they stuck at it and got their reward today.”

Agreeing that an inability to drive home their dominance in the first half cost them, Alan stressed that he couldn’t have asked any more of his players: “When you look back, you would definitely say there were a couple of goal chances there that another day you’d put them away. We didn’t strike them as we’d like. In fairness, I thought they played exceptional football, it was a great game, there was a lot of really good stuff in it. 

Check out Willie Donnellan's fans photos from Sunday's Connacht Gold Leitrim SFC Final - GALLERY

Fans were out in force in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada for Sunday's Connacht Gold Leitrim SFC Final with Mohill regaining the title as they triumphed 2-10 to 0-14 against defending champions St Mary's Kiltoghert. Observer photographer Willie Donnellan captured a lot of fan shots from before and during the game .... see who you can spot!

“Both teams had their purple patches and it really went down to who was going to be in front in the last few minutes and that is the way it turned out. Our lads showed great character when it looked as if there was no way through and they worked a couple of scores. We nearly went  one up again so I can’t really ask any more of them.”

The former Tuam Stars player was pleased with how his team reacted to the concession of two somewhat fortunate goals: “They’re disappointing goals to concede - when you cover off on other things, they’re just sucker punches but they fought back from them. It is not the day for reflecting on those things but we will look to see how we can do those things better. 

“In fairness, you are always talking about how you respond to things and I couldn’t really ask for any more from them, they never dropped the heads, they kept at it and we’re just second best together.”

Neither did Alan feel that the weight of defending the title came against his young side: “To be honest,  in many ways, it didn’t really come into it because you know that the game is going to be tight and the competitive nature in us and the understanding that this game is going to be really tough. 

“That was the focus really but I do have to say that last year’s experience and two years ago stood to them as well in terms of their composure, they were more relaxed. They were very nervous last year and that’s understandable but they were a more relaxed team this year and that was reflected in their performance in the first half. 

“In many ways, they played their best football of the year in the first half and I just felt if you compared that to the first half last year, there was an awful difference compared to their use of the ball and some of the scores we kicked. But it was just those goals that really made us work awfully hard to get back into the game.”

Mohill stop St Mary's two in a row bid to reclaim Fenagh Cup with superb second half display

MOHILL 2-10 ST MARY'S KILTOGHERT 0-14

If anything, Mohill’s victory showed just how hard it is for a team to retain the title in Leitrim but Alan felt his team were not that far away from doing just that: “They’re not far off but it shows you how hard it is to win it. But I think most clubs would rather be in Mary’s shoes with all the good stuff they are doing, they are doing an awful lot of good stuff as a club.

“It is a setback today but there were two teams in the final and there were plenty of teams who would have loved to have been there today. We weren’t far away, we performed well on the day but we were just second best.”