Lennon conscious of serious Leitrim threat
Roscommon intermediate ladies' football manager, Ollie Lennon, and team captain, Niamh Feeney, at the Connacht LGFA Senior and Intermediate Championships launch in the grounds of the Abbey Hotel, Roscommon Town, last week. Picture: Gerard O'Loughlin
The real stuff starts now.
Roscommon took care of business against Sligo last in what was ultimately a dead rubber that proved more entertaining than, maybe, Ollie Lennon and his management team would have wished.
After all, Roscommon saw a six-point half-time lead turn into a four-point deficit in the early stages of the second half. But the home side dug in as a young side, without key players Helena Cummins, Ellen Irwin, Rachel Fitzmaurice, Laura Fleming and Aisling Hanly who were at the Lidl Team of the National League awards, struck late goals from Lauren Shanagher and Shauna Walsh — scores that saw them rebound from last month’s league final reversal to Clare.
In the immediate aftermath of Friday evening’s seven-goal thriller, it was hard to avoid the prospect of Roscommon and Leitrim squaring off in this afternoon (Sunday) Connacht LGFA intermediate championship final in Kiltoom (throw-in at 4 p.m.).
Roscommon will be aiming to secure successive titles, and while they will be operating two divisions above Leitrim next season, the manager is very conscious of the threat that the visitors will pose.
“They were unfortunate that Division Four was the only division that had semi-finals. They would have been promoted only for that. We have played Leitrim a few times in my tenure here and we have got nothing easy against them. I don’t expect anything easy against them next Sunday either. It is always a good battle between us.
“Usually there is very little in it. We are certainly not taking our eye off the ball," he warned.
Roscommon enjoyed a fine spring campaign, but they appear to be feeling the impact with a lengthy injury list. Caoimhe Lennon, Róise Lennon, Orla O’Neill and Millie Hagan are suffering with long term injuries, while Aisling Feely hobbled off early doors in the Division Three League final defeat to Clare after only just returning from a knee injury.
The Pádraig Pearses clubman believes that next Sunday will be too soon for his absentees. However, he stated that the injury toll could ease slightly if Roscommon progress deep in the championship.
“Those girls are long term. We won’t have anybody else ready for next Sunday that hasn’t been with us already. Maybe looking further down the road to championship, we may have one or two girls back but, for Sunday, it is who we have at the moment,” he explained.
In what was a makeshift side, Leah McCawley enjoyed her first outing in senior championship combat. It was, no doubt, a proud evening for McCawley and her family, especially with her home club St. Michael’s hosting the game.
Lennon praised the goalkeeper for stepping between the sticks while the Roscommon manager also believed that the outing was important in helping his group rebound from their league final defeat almost a month prior.
“She (McCawley) has come in with us the past couple of weeks. She is our minor goalie. That game against Sligo would have been a great experience for her and that will only stand to her.
“Everybody wants to win a title. It doesn’t matter what it is. We wanted to win a league title but, unfortunately, we didn’t. Once that was over, our next priority was the Connacht title and that is still the priority. We absolutely want to go out and win the Connacht title,” he concluded.
