If any Leitrim fan had been offered a shot at London for a place in the Connacht final, they would’ve bitten hands, arms, shoulder, torso and more off.
Leitrim got the date they wanted, yet in the lead up to today’s match, a sense of pessimism has returned and dissipated the optimism that had been building up over the past few weeks.
With our comfortable win over New York, coupled with London bringing Sligo to their knees, a semi-final conquest in Carrick on Shannon over the exiles seemed to be the most realistic conclusion for us.
Since Leitrim’s place in the semi was confirmed, four players have been dropped and an injury to Paddy Maguire has also dented confidence.
The South Leitrim Four: Brothers Conor and Tomas Beirne (Eslin), Wayne McKeon and Shane Moran (both Sean O’Heslin’s) were dropped for indiscipline by joint managers Brian Breen and George Dugdale.
This is not the place to dredge up the rights and wrongs of the decision that have been vigorously debated over the past few weeks.
But the loss of those players is a huge blow for Leitrim who are not blessed with a deep panel due to the small population.
Man of the Match against New York, Tomas Beirne is a talented midfielder. His younger brother Conor has made a decent impact since making his senior debut in 2011 and McKeon is a key man with a decade’s worth of experience.
In one sense the upheaval may help unite the players that remain on the panel and could also make complacency far less likely. But you’d rather have as many of your best players to choose from especially when the opposition have an unprecedented opportunity to reach a provincial decider and shocked Sligo in Ruislip.
Even without the South Leitrim 4 and London’s own improvement, the lads should still have just about enough to win with the home advantage of Carrick on Shannon.
But of the 30 eyes that start the match, even if a single iris and lens begins looking beyond London towards the challenge of Mayo, it could be fatal. Fortunately with Breen and Dugdale that will probably not be an issue.
Tomas 'Mossy' Beirne during his Man of the Match display against New York ©INPHO/Ed Mulholland
