Lennon backs ladies to up the ante

Caoimhe Lennon is backing the Roscommon intermediate ladies’ footballers to come good as the business end of the season appears on the radar.

Roscommon travel to Heartland Credit Union Páirc Seán MacDiarmada on Sunday next for a Connacht final meeting against Leitrim (throw-in at 1 p.m.). The vice-captain acknowledges that the home side have enjoyed the better of the exchanges in recent years, but she’s confident in her side’s ability to eke out the improvement needed to be championship contenders this season.

“We have girls coming back from injury, like Ria Lennon and Sally O’Hara. We’ve had a break between the league and the Connacht final, so we have been able to put in the hard yards at training and hone in on tactics.

“The last couple of weeks have been a great chance to regroup and rebuild, and push on. Since the league, we’ve really upped the standards at training.

“No more than in the league when you don’t get that momentum, it’s important that we do push on and make sure that the hard work at training pays off. Some silverware would give us a boost to tackle the next stage,” she suggested.

“It’s going to be a difficult challenge. Leitrim are a great team and have that experience from playing at senior level (in 2025). We’re just going to have to dig deep, follow the gameplan and show that we want it more than them. Hopefully, we can work that bit harder on the day,” she continued.

Roscommon never got going in the league, and while they were never in danger of relegation, there was disappointment within the group that they didn’t challenge for promotion to Division Two.

“You need some momentum early on. We had a good build-up and training was tough. But we didn’t get across the line a couple of times.

“We had a few injuries and we picked up a few more knocks, including Kate (Nolan) and Mia (Macken). It was a big setback because we have a small panel. There are pros and cons to that, but when you pick up knocks to key players, it’s hard to get a settled team,” she explained.

Alongside captain Helena Cummins, Lennon — who was one of Roscommon’s chief scorers in Division Three — is one of the more experienced players in the group. She feels that she has an important role to play on the field when the tide is going against the team, but she highlights that every player is showing leadership qualities on and off the pitch.

“Every team have experienced players — girls who have been there for a couple of years and newer players. But it’s not just one person that drives on the team.

“In terms of myself on the pitch, it’s about calming down all the noise when heads drop or when things aren’t going your way. You have to say, ‘right, stick to the gameplan’, and have that clear communication on the pitch.

“It’s easy for the forwards to take all the glory but the backs have to win the ball and work it up through midfield. We’re the ones that get ourselves into fortunate positions and pull the trigger when the time is right.” 

The Clann na nGael forward also stressed the importance of downtime when she’s not training or playing matches.

“When you’re training, you’re 100 per cent zoned in. You can’t do that if your mind is constantly thinking about football. You need to take that step back so that when you do show up, you are 100 per cent focused.” 

Hopefully, that focus translates into silverware next weekend, which would see Roscommon grouped with a Leinster preliminary round loser and beaten Ulster semi-finalist for the All-Ireland Series.