21-Mar-13 by Gerri Mulhern – PRO – Coiste na nÓg

Leitrim 0-8 Sligo 0-8

Leitrim Minors began their Connacht Minor League Campaign last Friday night in Kiltubrid and after a dramatic finish Leitrim secured a draw against Sligo with final score Leitrim 0-8, Sligo 0-8.

For much of the game it looked like it was going to be Sligo’s night as they looked the better team in the first half with Sligo’s Kyle Carty opening the Scóring in the first minute.  However two frees from Evan Ward and Luke Murphy gave Leitrim the lead slightly against the run of play. Sligo continued to bring the game to Leitrim but four wides meant they failed to reflect their dominance on the scoreboard. Sligo drew level when Cathal Henry pointed but Leitrim came back when Plunkett easily converted a 45 to regain the lead before Sligo’s Kenneth Gavigan levelled the game by converting a free.

Sligo dominated the final stages of the first half and scored four unanswered points by McDonnell, Gavigan (free), Peter Murray and Dylan Kilgallon to give Sligo a score of 0-7 to Leitrim’s 0-3 points at half time.

Leitrim began the second half much better than they had in the first half and points from Cathal McCauley and Plunkett who both converted frees within the first 3 minutes of the half reducing Sligo’s lead. Ten minutes into the 2^nd half Sligo’s Dylan Kilgallon converted a free and incredibly that proved to be Sligo’s final score of the game. Kevin McWeeney and Declan Daly came more to the fore in midfield and Bertie Cunningham who worked extremely hard was hugely important in terms of getting a foothold in the game. Michael Clancy was moved from defence to a forward position and within seconds of being moved he scored a point from play which left 2 points between the sides.

As the moments ticked by it seemed Sligo had it won until Luke Murphy struck a fine point in the second minute of injury time giving Leitrim some hope that all was not lost and with Sligo’s lead down to one point Leitrim had all to play for. In the 4th minute of injury time Leitrim got a 45 when a Sligo defender put a ball wide of the goal after Michael Clancy flashed a powerful shot across the face of the Sligo goal. Plunkett converted the free which brought the teams level and proved to be the last action of the game.  Final score Leitrim 0-8, Sligo 0-8.

Leitrim

Darren Kenny,  Michael Clancy (0-1), Enda Fowley, Liam Ryan, Shane McGowan, Mark Plunkett (0-3),  David Mulvey,  Kevin McWeeney, Declan Daly, Evan Ward (0-1),  Cathal Keegan , Bertie Cunningham,  Michael Lavin, Conor Gaffney, Luke Murphy (0-2),

Subs: Cathal McCauley (0-1)  for Ward (26 mins), Kelan McHugh for Keegan (45 mins), Aaron McLoughlin for McHugh (51 mins)

Sligo

Kevin Kelly, Stephen Keenan, Pearse Gorman, Liam Henry, Kyle Carty (0-1), Cathal Henry (0-1), Eoin Kent, Kevin McDonnell (0-1), Kevin Henry, Padraig Mitchell, Peter Murray (0-1) Jamie Gillen, Kenneth Gavigan (0-2), Dylan Kilgallon (0-2), Stephen Kerins.

Subs: Joey Farrell for Gavigan, Matthew Cosgrove for Murray, Conor Heraghty for Kent, Ciaran Stenson for Carty.

20-Mar-13 by Gerri Mulhern – PRO – Coiste na nÓg