First half the problem as Leitrim manager Andy Moran proud of second half display in Wexford

Describing it as two dropped points, Andy Moran pinpointed Leitrim’s failure to make good use of the wind at their back in the first half in Chadwicks Wexford Park as the source of the Green & Gold’s woes against Wexford in the third round of the Allianz NFL Division 4 campaign.

With Wexford out-scoring the visitors five points to one down the final stretch to take victory on a 0-19 to 0-15 scoreline, the Leitrim manager felt the damage was all done in the first half: “It is tough to take -  I don’t hold any kind of regrets about the second half at all, the first half was the problem. 

“You have a wind like that -  in fairness, I think you have to explain that we played against a gale force wind in the second half and did really, really well to get to 12-10 but we couldn’t see it out, the energy levels were gone. The first half was where we lost the game - we probably won the game over in London in the first half by being so strong willed but today we lost the game in the first half.”

Ballinamore Community School celebrate Connacht title success - GALLERY

Ballinamore Community School are celebrating after their Junior Footballers defeated St Jarlath's of Tuam to win the Mezzino Connacht PPS Junior C Final at the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence on Thursday and Observer photographer Willie Donnellan was there to capture the images of the Ballinamore fans enjoying the action and celebrating their victory

Despite the first loss of the campaign, Andy took a lot of positives, particularly with Leitrim’s second half performances: “There are huge positives there. The second half to me, I don’t think there is any negative to be perfectly honest with you. Yes, they ran away with a few scores at the end but the workrate was just insane but we need to be able to produce that workrate in the first 20-25 minutes, we can’t be waiting until halftime to say let’s go here. 

“Yes, huge positives in kicking a few before halftime and really going after them in the second half but the thing for me is that our first half performances need to be stronger.”

It means Leitrim have to pick themselves up for the visit of a Carlow team who pushed Division leaders Laois all the way on Sunday but Andy stressed the focus will quickly shift to next Sunday: “That’s what we said to the lads, it is now time to, I suppose in the next ten minutes, to turn the focus. These guys behind us need to turn around and say 'I need to show this fellow I need to be on the team'.

“The guys in there need to analyse what they did wrong and get moving for next week. You literally just have to concentrate on your own performances, concentrate on your own results and that is why we’d be disappointed today. I said after London that I think London will take a scalp or two as well. That goal is ten points that everyone is aiming for and today we left two behind us.”

The pace of the game also had an effect which the Leitrim manager felt was down to the strong wind blowing straight down the field: “It did -  we tried  to introduce a bit of legs with Paul Keaney and Diarmuid Kelleher coming on, Diarmuid’s debut which was a really cool thing for him to do but we just didn’t have enough.

“Poor old Jordie Reynolds and Riordan O’Rourke, both half-backs, must have carried the ball, if you were putting metres on them ....  the amount of times they carried the ball was huge. They just ran out of steam, Shane at centre-back and Mark at full-back, just ran out of steam. 

“Nothing else you can do - the wind doesn’t win you the game or lose you the game but when you have it, you can’t be going in a point down at halftime and when we went in a point down, it was just too big of a hill to climb.”

Leitrim's Keith Beirne named on GAA Team of the Week for third week in a row

Wexford return of points from placed balls also proved crucial and the concession of frees is an area Andy wants to look at: “It is where the principle amount of scores come for Wexford, we knew that before the game. I think Rossiter scored ten points in the game before and we knew that if we fouled, that’s on us. They were fantastic kicks, don’t get me wrong but we shouldn’t be fouling as much as we were.”

Moran once again lauded the impact made by Tom Prior as a second half sub when discussing Leitrim’s problems holding onto the ball in the first half: “As an inside forward, I would say that you can make it very easy for outside guys as well - their running has to be stronger, you have got to be willing to go through the ball,  the delivery has to be good so there is a lot of elements that go into that. 

“To me, when we had the ball, we weren’t working hard enough to hold onto the ball and I think that was the problem. Absolutely, I think Tom Prior helped with that, he is a fantastic little player, a great guy to show for the ball and it probably helped having Jordie and Riordan both sides of the field there to deliver that good ball.”

Looking over the injury situation, Ryan O’Rourke remains out as a long term absentee but Aidan Flynn could make a miraculous return on Sunday against Carlow: “Ryan is long term obviously, Aidan Flynn, would you believe it, will be back next week - he wanted to be back this week which is huge for us. 

“Donal Casey is close, I don’t know if he will make it for Sunday but he is very close to getting to where he needs to be. Cillian McGloin, a slight hamstring, getting back into it - a lot of them played against Longford last week but you need everyone, not everyone will pull through this game but hopefully we will have as many available as possible next week.

Wexford hit late burst to consign Leitrim to first League defeat

WEXFORD 0-19 LEITRIM 0-15

“Not having Paul today was an issue, he did well when he came on but it is good that the third level is finished, they probably need to do something with that but that’s a story for another day but I thought Darragh and Donie did very well, I couldn’t fault them. Adam Reynolds was sick for the last week so we couldn’t play him so that is why he only came on and Conor Reynolds has a slight hamstring.”