Leitrim 1-18
Warwickshire 1-15
It looks like the prospect of an ‘All-Britain All-Ireland final’ will have to wait for another year after Saturday’s Lory Meagher clashes involving Warwickshire and Lancashire ended in disappointment as both Leitrim and Fermanagh went home with the spoils.
It means that for Warwickshire manager Paddy Hoey's side trip to Markievicz Park to face Sligo this weekend is a must win encounter: “We still have a chance with the last two games, the Sligo match will be one hell of a game. We were disappointing here against Leitrim, it was a game that was there to be won, but we were poor in the first-half and gave away too many frees.
"We were better in the second-half where Sean Hennessy and Kieran Courtney did really well for us, but we just didn’t get going. Still, we remain hopeful and are aiming to have a few players back for the Sligo game.”
Looking to bounce back from defeat to Fermanagh on the opening weekend, Warwickshire needed a good start to boost their confidence. Emmet McCabe’s opener hinted at that promise, however Leitrim were not about to follow the script and what followed was a dominant first-half which saw them well worth their six-point advantage.
An early goal chance for David McGovern required a smart stop from Michael Cremin, but with Leitrim moving through the gears they found the back of the net midway through the half when Padraig O’Donnell drilled a low shot which squirmed under the Warwickshire 'keeper.
O’Donnell landed nine frees for Leitrim, demonstrating a clinical touch all afternoon. At the other end Warwickshire chased down their opponents with a couple of frees from Sean Hennessy and McCabe, but the threat was largely with the visitors who continued to rack up the points. Two scores from corner-forward Colm Moreton, adding to his earlier free, were abruptly followed by his dismissal when he collected a second yellow six minutes before half-time.
The home side would have hoped that dismissal might have heralded a change of fortune, but in truth the loss of Moreton was hardly noticeable for the remainder of the game as Leitrim slugged it out, Zak Moradi in particular providing the class in the forward line to ease the pressure on his side’s defence - almost bagging a second goal when he broke down the right wing only to be denied by a tremendous save from a diving Cremin.
Between Moradi’s pace, O’Donnell’s conversions and a general sharpness in reading the game, Leitrim looked the more likely winners. Nonetheless, the final quarter of the game proved to be Warwickshire’s best as they took the game to their opponents. Hennessy’s third free started a run of scores that included Colin Moran’s goal around the hour mark, the St Declans corner-forward cutting inside to hit a shot that deflected off a Leitrim defender.
When McCabe followed up with his sixth point, John Reddan landed a superb strike from the left hand touchline to reduce the deficit to four and add an element of doubt to the visitors that could have been heightened had Moran's snap shot bounced the right side of McKiernan's upright.
Yet they were unable to draw that gap in to less than three, John Ryan’s excellent run and strike over the bar sandwiching two thunderbolts by Warwickshire centre-back Kieran Courtney.
Man of the match:
Zak Moradi (Leitrim)
Worth the weight of two players for Leitrim when they went down to fourteen men - an energetic threat.
Score of the match:
Take any long range free from Padraig O’Donnell, the full-forward simply wasn’t missing with his distinctive fade strike.
Turning point:
Warwickshire threatened, but it never came; in the second-half Leitrim simply refused to yield their advantage.
Interesting aside:
The fantastic sight of the new electronic scoreboard at Pairc na hÉireann, another milestone in the development of the main pitch.
Wides: Leitrim (8) 13 Warwickshire (4) 7
Frees: Leitrim (6) 12 Warwickshire (7) 13
Yellow Cards: Leitrim 2 (Colm Morton 23 and 29), Warwickshire 4 (Shane Conlon 5, Kieran Courtney 11, Kieran O’Leary 21, Emmet McCabe 39).
Red Cards: Leitrim 1 (Colm Moreton 29), Warwickshire 0.
Scorers for Leitrim: P O’Donnell 1-9 (9fs), C Moreton 0-3 (1f), Z Moradi 0-3, J Ryan 0-3.
Scorers for Warwickshire: E McCabe 0-6 (4fs), C Moran 1-1, S Hennessy 0-4 (4fs), K Courtney 0-2 (1f), J Meagher 0-1, J Reddan 0-1.
Leitrim: P McKiernan; P Earley, M Domican, J Earley; K McGrath, J Glancy, V McDermott; L Moreton, C Cunniffe; Z Moradi, J Ryan, D McGovern; F Earley, P O’Donnell, C Moreton. Subs: P McWeeney for L Moreton (52),K McDermott for McGovern (65), K O’Connor for J Earley (67).
Warwickshire: M Cremin; K O’Leary, D Kennedy, C Brough; D Sheedy, K Courtney, J Quinn; S Conlon, J Meagher; E McCabe, J Reddan, S Hennessy; C Moran, J Bergin, D Millea. Subs: C McBride for Millea (29), P Crehan for Bergin (48), T Kelly for O’Leary (49).
Referee: C Cunning (Antrim).
