‘We just weren’t clinical enough’

Cian Smith has highlighted the need for improvement ahead of his side’s Connacht U-20 football semi-final against Galway in Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, Castlebar, on Wednesday evening.

In dreadful conditions at King and Moffatt Dr. Hyde Park, Roscommon scraped a two-point victory against Leitrim, thanks mainly to a solid defensive showing and John Curran’s personal haul of 2-4.

But, overall, Smith described it as a performance that wouldn’t be good enough to trouble next week’s opponents.

“We got over the line, that was the objective. The conditions were horrendous. The pitch held up as well as could be expected.

“It was a mad game. Lads were slipping, the ball was like a bar of soap, and it was hard to keep your feet. We were wearing the right boots but we were still all over the place. It was the same for Leitrim.

“We got the goals (in the first half). John McGuinness got a fortuitous deflection but it was like a lot of other games. We created a load of chances but we just weren’t clinical enough.

“We conceded two goals that we wouldn’t be happy with at all, particularly one of them. But I felt that we defended well as a unit. I was very happy with the defence at half time. I don’t know whether lads tightened up because, at the end of the day, there’s a lot at stake to get to a semi-final.

“There was a bit of pressure on to hold out because Leitrim came at us with nothing to lose. They had to go for it. We started making loads of mistakes, stuff we’re trying to get out of them. But they’re young lads, they’re learning, and we still got over the line,” he dissected.