Leitrim opened their National League campaign with a draw after a tough away assignment in Ballyshannon.

Leitrim started well registering the first score as Ciaran Duignan placed the ball firmly between the posts. More were to follow from Ciaran as he clocked up a total of 4 points in the first half. Donegal responded to the Leitrim attacks and they levelled matters with 5 points of which Michael Doherty was the main contributor. Leitrims other point was from full forward Declan Maxwell leaving the half time score 0-5 points each.

The second half has been Leitrims downfall in recent games but this time the attitude was different. Leitrim applied pressure from the start and following several attacks a high ball from Michael Foley lead to Declan Maxwell punching the ball across the goal mouth. Had there been another forward there thenÓgoal may have ensued.

Barry McWeeney was taken off injured and replaced by Francis Holohan who played in the corner with Dermot Reynolds taking the number 6 position.

Ciaran Duignan scored twice again for Leitrim and finished the game with a personal tally of 7 points.

Over the half the half forward line was eventually replaced as Colin Regan was the first to go as his nÓggling injury caught up with him. He was replaced by Emilyn Mulligan. Leitrims Johnny Goldrick was replaced by Daniel Beck with 8 minutes to go and Michael Foley was replaced by Darren Duignan with 5 minutes to go.

Within 1 minute of Darrens entrance the two Duignans clicked together and a pass from Ciaran was caught by Darren who kicked a fine goal. Leitrim were now leading by the goal 1-08 to Donegals 0-08

Donegal replied with 2 points with the second scored by Frank McGlynn who brought down Leitrims advantage to 1 point.

Cathal McCrann caught 3 Donegal balls that are dropped short as the clock moved into injury time. The Leitrim backs were under considerable pressure and with 2 minutes to go Donegals Adrian Sweeney leveled the scores with a point from play.

In the last kick of the game Donegals Michael Doherty had an injury time free about 50m out but hit it out.

Great work by Leitrim in putting it up to a much fancied Donegal and holding on to share the spoils.

Final score: Donegal 0-11 Leitirm 1-08

ScórERS –
Donegal:
M Doherty 0-5 (5f)
A Sweeney0-2
C Toye 0-2 each
S McDermott 0-1
F McGlynn 0-1

Leitrim:
Ciaran Duignan 0-7 (5f),
Darren Duignan 1-0
Declan Maxwell 0-1

Donegal – M Boyle; N McGee, R Sweeney, K Lacey; E McGee, B Monaghan, S McHugh; B Boyle, S McDermott; C Toye, C Bonner, M Caulfield; L Thompson, A Sweeney, M Doherty.

Subs: P Durcan for Boyle, C Dunne for Caulfield, F McGlynn for McHugh, R KavanÓgh for Thompson, P McNulty for Bonner.

LEITRIM – C McCrann; D Reynolds, J McKeon, M McGuinness; D McHugh, B McWeeney, S Foley; G McCloskey, C Carroll; J Goldrick, C Regan, M Foley; B Prior, D Maxwell, C Duignan.

Subs: F Holohan for McWeeney, E Mulligan for Regan; D Beck for Goldrick; D Duignan for Foley.

Leitrim are home to Clare next Sunday while Donegal must travel to Carlow.

05-Feb-06 by Brendan Doyle

[b]Foireann Sinsir Liatroma[/b]

In aghaidh: D?n na nGall
Com?rtas: Sraith Naisiunta
D?ta: 05 Feabhra 2006
L?thair: Baile an tSionnain

1 Cathal McCrann
2 Dermot Reynolds
3 John McKeon
4 Michael McGuinness
5 David McHugh
6 Barry McWeeney
7 Shane Foley
8 Gary McCloskey
9 Christopher Carroll
10 Johnny Goldrick
11 Colin Regan
12 Michael Foley
13 Barry Prior
14 Declan Maxwell
15 Ciaran Duignan
16 John Prior
17 Francis Holohan
18 Derek Kelleher
19 Michael Greene
20 Ciaran Kennedy
21 Fergal Meehan
22 Daniel Lowe
23 Brendan Guckian
24 Daniel Beck
25 Dara Mc Kiernan
26 Shane Canning
27 Gavin McWeeney
28 Darren Duignan
29 Donal Brennan
30 Emlyn Mulligan

Bainisteoir: Des Dolan
Roghn?ir?: Pat Prior, Declan Bohan

03-Feb-06 by Brendan Doyle – PRO

This weekend sees the opening of the Allianz League with Leitrim travelling to Ballyshannon on Sunday to face Donegal. This game is scheduled to start at 2:30pm.

Donegal are inÓgood form at the moment and will be a tough opening encounter for the Leitrim team who are still in an experimental stage.

In the Ulster?s McKenna Cup tournament Donegal played St Marys in their opening game and finished victorious.

In Round 2 Donegal were away to Down and finished the game well in the second half to win by smallest of margins – Donegal 0-11 Down 1-7.

Their final encounter was against Tyrone in Ballybofey. Donegal opened well and lead at half time 0-5 to 0-3. In the second half Stephen O Neill emerged as the hero for Tyrone as his five-point contribution helped the All-Ireland champions past Donegal and into the semi-final of the Dr McKenna Cup. The final result Tyrone 0-11 Donegal 0-9.

Based on this performance Donegal will be very much up for this opener against Leitrim.

Likewise Leitrim are on a par with Donegal as we have 2 wins out of 3 in the FBD League.

Other games this weekend in our division include Longford?s trip to Ruislip and Roscommon?s away game to Limerick and Clare are home to Carlow.

The fixtures are as follows:

London v Longford – in Ruislip at 1.00pm
Clare v Carlow – in Cusack Park at 2.30pm
Donegal v Leitrim – in Ballyshannon at 2.30pm
Limerick v Roscommon – in P?irc na nGael at 3pm

31-Jan-06 by Brendan Doyle – PRO

Leitrim presented themselves in a Jekyl and Hyde fashion in Carrick yesterday to win by one point in what turned out to be a very tense affair. Leitrim?s first half performance was hard to fault with much determination and grit shown. The second half proved to be a less savoury effort with Sligo making a comeback and they clawed to within a point. The final 10 minutes proved tense as Sligo clambered for the vital draw to see them through to the FBD home Final. However a stoic Leitrim held their ground and maybe with a better performance across the field Leitrim may have made it to the final.

In the first half Leitrim started with pace and really put it to Sligo as Ciaran Duignan was in blistering form with a personal tally of 7 points in the first half. Ciaran opened the Scóring with a free in the 4th minute. 2 more points followed from play in the 7th and 8th minutes. A point from a free in the 12th minute followed on by a point from play in the 15th minute. In the 20th minute Ciaran scored another point from a free. Declan Maxwell got on the score board with a point from play. Sligo?s captain Mark Breheny scored Sligo?s only score of the half with a point from play. Ciaran Duignan replied again with a point from play and Barry Prior finished off the half with a point in the 30th minute. Earlier on the half Declan Maxwell had a fisted goal disallowed as he was judged to have been in the box before the ball. Leitrim had one wide during the half to Sligo?s two wides. Unfortunately for Leitrim their influential captain Christy Carroll received an injury and was replaced at half time. Half time score Leitrim 0-9 Sligo 0-1

The second half was Sligo?s half in terms of possession and the Leitrim defence was under a lot of pressure throughout the half. Sligo registered the first score from Sean Davey in the second minute. Leitrim?s Barry Prior replied with a 4th minute score from play. Sligo registered another point from play which was answered by Leitrim?s Johnny Goldrick with a fine shot from a tight angle on the stand side. This was Leitrim?s last score and all the traffic was one way as Sligo midfield and half forwards dominated. Sligo slotted over 6 points unanswered to get to within one of Leitrim. Their final 2 points being in the 29 and 30th minutes. The Leitrim defence held out in the last tense minutes to prevent a Sligo appearance in the home final. Unfortunately from a Leitrim perspective and with news from Galway two more points were all that were needed to see Leitrim into the FBD Home Final, they weren?t to be however. Other incidents in the final quarter saw Leitrim?s John McKeon sent off for a rather innocuous second yellow and 1 minute later the numbers were levelled with Sligo?s Padraic Doohan also receiving his marching orders with a second yellow.

Final score – Leitrim 0-11 Sligo 0-10

ScórERS ?
Leitrim: C Duignan 0-6; B Prior 0-2; M Foley 0-1; D Maxwell 0-1; J Goldrick 0-1.

Sligo: M Brehony 0-5; S Davey 0-3; B Curran 0-1; S Stenson 0-1.

LINEOUTS –

Leitrim – C McCrann; D Reynolds, J McKeon, F Holohan; D McHugh, B McWeeney, S Foley; G McCloskey, C Carroll; J Goldrick, S Canning, M Foley; C Duignan, D Maxwell, B Prior.
Subs:
N Doonan for C Carroll (ht)
D Lowe for S Canning (39)
D Duignan for N Doonan (57)
D Beck for M Foley (61)
L Ferguson for D Lowe (62)

Sent off: J McKeon (2nd yellow).

Sligo – P Greene; R Donovan, N McGuire, J Feeney; C Harison, J Rolston, J Davey; K Tuffy, P Doohan; P McGovern, M Brehony, T Taylor; B Curran, S Davey, A Marren.

Subs: D Kelly for J Feeney (ht)
M Munds for K Tuffy (37)
S Stenson for A Marren (49)
D Sloyan for T Taylor (52)

Sent off: P Doohan (2nd yellow).

23-Jan-06 by Brendan Doyle – PRO

Leitrim?s second game in the FBD League proved to be a sterner test against a Galway team that got the lead in the second half and maintained it to win by 2 points in Carrick-on-Shannon.

The first half was Leitrim?s best half however Galway opened the Scóring from the throw-in with a point from David Ward after 40 seconds. Leitrim replied with a goal from Michael Foley on the 3rd minute. Leitrim hit a bad patch and registered 4 wides to Galway?s 1 wide. It was the 18th minute before Galway?s Brendan Og O Callarain scored their 2nd point from play. With 2 more wides for Leitrim it was on the 24th minute that Dara McKiernan scored Leitrim?s first point from play. Padraig Joyce kept Galway in touch with a point from a free and indeed should have put Galway in front with a goal chance which was saved by Cathal McCrann. Michael Foley replied at the other end with a point from a free on the 31st minute. Half Time score Leitrim 1-2 Galway 0-3

The second have saw a change in the attitude of the Galway team and a tactical switch of moving Padraig Joyce out from the full forward line to the centre field area proved Leitrim?s downfall. Joyce ruled the roost for the first 10 minutes and it was sufficient time for Galway to register 4 points unanswered. Michael Foley clawed back a point form a free on the 13 minute for Leitrim but this was followed by 2 points from Galway in the 20th and 22nd minute. Michael Foley again registered what would be Leitrim?s last score of the half on the 23rd minute. Padraig Joyce received a straight red for a striking offence and even with the numerical advantage Leitrim could not settle down and take the game to Galway. In fact it ended with Galway blasting the last 2 chances wide in the 27 and 28th minute.

By not taking the scores and wrapping up the game in the first half and the lack of composure in the second half when having an extra man proved to be Leitrim?s downfall in a scrappy encounter.

Full Time score: Leitrim 1-4 Galway 0-9

ScórERS ?
Leitrim: M Foley 1-3 (3f), D McKiernan 0-1.

Galway: P Joyce 0-3 1f, B Og O Callarain 0-2, C Bane 0-1, N Coleman 0-1, A O Donovan 0-1, D Ward 0-1.

LEITRIM – C McCrann; D Reynolds, J McKeon, C Kennedy; M Greene, B McWeeney, S Foley; G McCloskey, D Lowe, B Prior, S Canning, M Foley, C Duignan, D Maxwell, D McKiernan. Subs: D McHugh for M Greene; C Carroll for D Lowe; D Beck for D McKiernan; D O Donnell for C Duignan; N Doonan for S Canning.

GALWAY – P Skelly; V Feeney, K Fitzgerald, R Fahey; D Marley, R Gibbons, M Comer; N Coleman, D Burke; C Bane, C Blake, D Ward; B Og O Callarain, P Joyce, A O;Donovan. Subs: D O Carrain for D Ward, D O Malley for C Bane.
REF – C Collins (Mayo)

16-Jan-06 by Brendan Doyle