When Leitrim met Roscommon in the first round of the Connacht Senior Football Championship in 1994, it was 27 years since Leitrim had last beaten their opponents. Both had spent the previous winter playing Division 2 football but despite Roscommon being relegated and Leitrim finishing comfortably above them, the expectation was still that Roscommon would prevail.
In front of a crowd of over 10,000 at Hyde Park, on 6th June, the teams lined out as follows:
Leitrim:
Martin McHugh
Joe Honeyman, Seamus Quinn, Fergal Reynolds
Noel Moran, Declan Darcy, Gerry Flanagan,
Mickey Quinn, Pat Donohue
Jason Ward, George Dugdale, Padraig Kenny,
Aiden Rooney, Colin McGlynn , Liam Conlon
Roscommon:
Brian Morkan
Joey Connaughton, Pat Doorey, Sean Staunton
Damien Donlon, Enon Gavin, Tommy Grehan
John Newton, Seamus Killoran
Derek Duggan, Eammon McManus, Tom Ryan
Shane Curran, Don Connellan, Dermot Washington
This is how Tom O’Riordain reported the game in the Irish Independent:
Glory days are few in Leitrim. Yesterday they defeated Roscommon in the Connacht SFC for the first time in 27 years — no-one could begrudge the joyous scenes which followed at Dr Hyde Park.
And it was fitting that Leitrim captain Declan Darcy was to have the final say when he drove a ’45’ — somewhat dubiously awarded — over the bar, securing a semi-final berth against Galway in Carrick-On-Shannon on July 4.
Yet they had to endure an anxious closing five minutes as Roscommon battled bravely but vainly in search of an equaliser. Enon Gavin was closed down, Damien Donlon shot wide and then it was left to Derek Duggan but his free from 51 yards sailed wide of the posts.
COMMANDING
It looked for a long and agonising 28 minutes of the second half as if it might be the same old story for the underdogs. That is how long it took Leitrim to add to their score at half-time, at which stage they held a commanding six points lead of 1-8 to 0-5. They opened splendidly. Points flowed from the boots of Jason Ward, Aidan Rooney, Liam Conlon and George Dugdale hit a magnificent goal after 14 minutes following a wonderful pass from Colin McGIynn.
But Roscommon Upped a gear after the break and the Leitrim forward division was continuously closed down.
Up front Roscommon’s attack took on a responsibility which had been absent before the break with Eamon McManus engineering matters, Duggan finding hjs range from frees and substitute, Lorcan Dowd, having an immediate effect from the moment he came on.
To the credit of the Leitrim defence they held their discipline as Joe Honeyman twice blocked down shots by Shane Curran, while Fergal Reynolds, Seamus _Quinn, Darcy, Noel Moran and Gerry Flanagan denied the home attack-goal chances, except just before the break when Martin McHugh made a great save from Don Connellan.
It was little Dermot Washington who started the Roscommon revival with a point. John Newton lifted his game at midfield despite the presence of a resolute Pat Donohue and Duggan pointed a variety of frees, one from 58 yards, landing another effort from play. Then Eamonn McManus placed Tom Ryan for the equaliser after 22 minutes.
During that five minute spell Roscommon were so much on top that the outcome was almost inevitable for after Ryan’s point, Connellan, who actually kept Roscommon in the game with three excellent first half points, shot narrowly wide for the lead.
KICK-START
Leitrim looked beaten, the machine which was motoring in the first half looked ready for the scrap heap. However, Darcy was on hand to kick-start the engine. He made a great run up the left side and won a free. The angle and the distance looked too difficult for Rooney, scorer of four first half points, but he calmly, slotted it over for the lead again.. McManus, taking the final pass from Dowd, quickly had Roscommon level at the other end but Darcy again took responsibility with the 45 and Leitrim were not going to be denied. Final Score: Leitrim 1-10, Roscommon 0-12
This was John Connolly’s reaction to the game in the Leitrim Observer:
Incredible seems to be the only word that can adequately describe seventy-four minutes of pulsating and nerve tingling football which finally ended Roscommon’s recent Championship hoodoo over Leitrim in the Connacht Senior Football Championship in Dr. Hyde Park last Sunday afternoon when John O’Mahony’s men finally destroyed their neighbours supremacy.
Incredible also describes the mysterious transformation in the second half which almost left Leitrim with very red and disappointed faces as they went from a match dominating, cohesive unit into one that struggled desperately and almost lost a game that seemed all over bar the shouting at halftime!
Incredible also describes Leitrim’s only scores of the second half as Aiden Rooney, making a rapid habit of grabbing vital scores on the big day, sent over an incredible free from a very tight angle near the sideline while captain Declan Darcy followed the example with a monster of a fifty that deservedly won the day for Leitrim.
Incredible is probably the only word for the scenes of wild celebration as years of pent-up frustration, after so many near misses, finally exploded in a tidal wave of joy with Leitrim supporters invading the pitch to fete their seventeen heroes.
But once the euphoria subsided, the reality of Leitrim’s great escape came crashing home as thoughts rapidity turned to Galway and the next round of the Connacht Championship — Roscommon had enough chances to take at least a share of the spoils and probably now know what Leitrim supporters felt like over the past four years!
But for once luck, which was so often missing in the past, was on Leitrim’s side as Derek Duggan’s injury time effort — from roughly the same spot where he had easily equalised earlier in the game — went booming wide to the palpable relief of Leitrim’s supporters.
Mickey Quinn said after the game that Leitrim had often played great football in the second half and lost— a point that won’t be lost on John O’Mahony as he prepares for yet another challenge on July 3rd as Leitrim’s first half platform set them up for victory.
To use the cliche, it was an all-round display but unfortunately, it came at two different times — in the first half, the forward line showed what they were really capable of as they found it almost impossible to miss during the first half where everything went right.
With Pat Donohue cleaning up at midfield and Colin McGlynn inspired at full-forward, Leitrim looked unbeatable during the first half as only Don Connellan seemed capable of breaking free of the shackles of John O’Mahony’s men.
In the second half, it was the turn of the defence to shine as they harried, hunted and hustled Roscommon’s forwards time and time again, forcing them back time and time again. If Martin McHugh’s first half save was vital, so too was Joe Honeyman’s incredible block on Shane Curran when it seemed as if Leitrim’s defence would be finally breached.
But perhaps what was most instrumental in Leitrim’s victory was their utter self-belief that was never more evident than in that nerve wracking second half — with Roscommon coming forward with all their might, with Derek Duggan suddenly finding his scoring touch and with all looking lost, Leitrim’s players kept their heads.
It was evident in the way they never panicked and took their time over every move — how else could Declan Darcy have so calmly slotted the ball over the bar from fifty yards out with less than three minutes of normal time remaining? How else could Aiden Rooney have converted that spectacular free after missing one almost straight in front of the posts?
It was this belief that saw Leitrim finally score after being held scoreless for twenty-eight minutes of the second half as they produced their finishing sprint exactly when it was needed and it was something that Roscommon just couldn’t counter.
But a lot of work will need to be done if Leitrim are to progress any further in the Championship —Roscommon were a beaten team after a barnstorming first half from Leitrim and then were almost allowed to snatch a game they would have scarcely deserved to win.
Leitrim met Galway in the semi-final and won 0-11 to 0-10. They then faced Mayo in the final and won the Connacht title for the first time in 67 years on a 0-12 to 2-4 score-line. The lost the All-Ireland semi-final to Dublin, 3-15 to 1-9. It was to be seven years before Roscommon won the Connacht title again.
FINAL SCORE
Leitrim 1-10 (Aiden Rooney 0-5, George Dugdale 1-0, Liam Conlon 0-2, Jason Ward 0-2, Declan Darcy 0-1)
Subs: Paul Kieran for Kenny (60 mins), Brian Breen for McGlynn (68mins).
Roscommon 0-12 (Derek Duggan 0-6, Don Connellan 0-3, Eammon McManus 0-2, Dermot Washington 0-1)
Subs: Bernard Butler for Grehan (51 mins), Lorcan Dowd for Washington (55mins).
Referee: Brian White (Wexford).
Sources: Tom O’Riordain, Irish Independent 6th June 1994, John Connolly, Leitrim Observer 8th June 1994, Michael Commins, Connaught Telegraph 8th June 1994, Anglo-Celt 9th June 1994.
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