Disappointing ending but Leitrim vice-captain Darragh Rooney sees plenty of positives

Defeat may have Leitrim’s lot last Friday evening in the University of Galway Connacht GAA Air Dome but top scorer Darragh believes there were plenty of positives in the 2-18 to 1-17 defeat at the hands of Galway in the FBD Insurance Connacht League Semi-Final.

Galway’s finishing burst of 1-1 undid a ferocious Leitrim fightback that saw them recover from a seven point deficit to draw level deep into added time yet despite the loss, Darragh saw plenty to enthuse about! “It is disappointing, the classic ‘you’re most vulnerable when you score’ so something we have to work on.

“I think maybe we should have dropped out to the 45 although when we had the momentum, we had just got the goal so you’d say push on and try to get the win. It is a good time to get a lesson like that, at least it is not the league so plenty of learning that we can take onto the next game.”

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Leitrim’s resilience stood out and the former Melvin Gaels clubman, now starring for Dublin powerhouse St Jude’s, pointed to the impact of new selector Mickey Graham in that regard: “Definitely - there is a resilience there. Mickey Graham has brought a lot of that in this year, he has been there and done it with the likes of Mullinalaghta and Cavan.

“So he has brought that belief into us and I suppose we have a mantra this year that we’re not going to take any backward steps and we’ll stand up to any team. We showed that in the second half because Galway got a good run on us in the second half, I think they were six or seven points up at one stage, we did well to come back so it is a good positive.”

Galling as it may have been to let victory slip from the grasp, Darragh’s eyes are firmly on the League on Sunday week: “I think the main thing we can take out of today is the performance and that is what we were looking for, not necessarily the result so plenty of positives to bring on for the first round of the League.”