Leitrim Lay Down Marker

Irish Voice Sport

Leitrim Lay Down Marker

July 16, 2008

By Eugene Kyne

Leitrim 0-8 Down 0-7

LEITRIM knocked Down of the top of the senior football league table with an impressive defensive performance that shut down an attack that had been averaging 2-12 a contest to this point.

The physical nature of the game suited the Leitrim squad far more than the Mournemen, and it helped them nullify the running aspect of their opponents. The win placed Leitrim in a driving seat for playoff spaces as the season intensifies.

It was a bad tempered start to this encounter, with no fewer than three players deserving early showers in the first 10 minutes and scores as hard to find as a quarter on the beach. Paddy Cunningham and Donal Hartnett did finally have a point each, but at this point Mark Dobbins, James Mitchell, Martin Slowey and Aiden Power were in Phil Sheridan’s book.

The game continued in this light with stoppages for injured players all across the Gaelic Park turf. One point that must be stated was the faking of injuries that became apparent, with the object to try and get a player booked or to pull the wool over the ref’s eyes after a serious tackle was made. Both teams were guilty of this, but there were some very serious incidents, not least of which was Sean Munnelly leaving the field with a nasty facial injury.

Leitrim had five wides by the 15th minute of the game, while Down had added three points to their total from Cunningham, Michael Sloan, and a sublime effort from the sideline by Kevin Anderson.

By the 20th minute the majority of the players were now concentrating on the game; alas it still had not generated any further scores for either. Final passes were awry, both teams being guilty, before finally Leitrim had a brace to end the half. Dodo and a free from Michael Travers at the buzzer left the minimum between the sides.

It was Leitrim that came out of the gate in shooting form, and they had four unanswered points against three wides for Down. Hartnett had three of the four, but his last should have, indeed could have been under instead of over the bar.

It did put them into a three-point lead with 12 minutes gone, and their back line was holding the vaunted Down attack. With the introduction off the bench of Fergal Shannon they had further options up front, and Cunningham and then Shannon were fouled.

Kevin Anderson punished the infractions with his free taking. But to this point Alan Foley, Power and Michael Mulcahy were dominating.

When Dan Doona chipped over for Leitrim’s eighth point the two point lead looked like a mountain to climb for Down. It was as they could only pull one back as time ran out with Anderson getting their final score.

Leitrim will take the display of the full back line as superb and rightfully so. Foley was tremendous on Cunningham, James Mitchell won the battle with Mark Dobbins hands down, and it was a battle in all senses of the word. Martin Slowey did a lot of work in the middle, while his brother Mickey also had his moments and will only do more damage as his season goes on.

Mike Creegan and Michael Travers did a lot of running over the hour, with Donal Hartnett getting five hugely important points.

Down will be content with eight points given up. They had a decent defensive performance. Eugene O’Hagan, Brian Murray, Dermot Hayes and Brendan McArdle all won their possessions despite Dodo’s five points. Mike Turley may be better suited to a central role, however. Munnelly was a major loss, Higgins had his moments, and Kevin Anderson was the only forward to win his position.

Down: 1 Mark Kelly, 2 Brian Murray, 3 Eugene O’Hagan, 4 Dermot Hayes, 5 Michael Turley, 6 Brendan McArdle, 7 Gary Cornyn, 8 Sean Munnelly, 9 Paul Higgins, 10 Seamus Kelly, 11 Mark Dobbins, 12 Kevin Anderson (0-4), 13 Michael Sloan (0-1), 14 Liam Farrell, 15 Paddy Cunningham (0-2). Subs: Ruiri Galligan, Packie Downey.

Leitrim: 1 Pa Ryan, 2 Alan Foley, 3 Aiden Power, 4 Michael Mulcahy, 5 John Goldrick, 6 James Mitchell, 7 Conor Burke, 8 Robbie Moran, 9 Martin Slowey, 10 Mike Creegan, 11 Mike Travers (0-2),12 Michael Slowey, 13 Donal Hartnett (0-5), 14 Dan Doona (0-1), 15 Kieran Keaveney. Subs: Tony Cullan.

Referee: Phil Sheridan.

Man of the match: Alan Foley (Leitrim).

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