Carlow                                      0-6

Leitrim                                   1-12

Allianz Football League Division 4 Round 7

At Netwatch Cullen Park, Carlow

By John Whelan

Carlow have seen their promotion hopes ended today by an impressive Leitrim side. Leitrim scored 1-11 in the second half to Carlow’s 0-1.

The wind was a big factor in the first half and Carlow played into it. Leitrim goalkeeper Cathal McCrann was finding it very hard to land his kickouts beyond his own forty five metre line. Ed Finnegan caught one of these kickouts early on and it led to Carlow opening the scoring with a point from Ciaran Moran after two minutes. Brendan Murphy pumped a ball forward and the wind caught it, it travelled all the way from just inside the Leitrim half between the posts to give Carlow a two point lead with four minutes gone.

Leitrim denied Carlow a goal when David  Bambrick’s shot was blocked on the line. Shortly after Kevin Conlan got Leitrim’s first and only point of the half from a free.  It wasn’t all bad today for Carlow. Shane Redmond got out in front of his man and volleyed the ball clear in front of the Carlow goal. He combined with Kieran Nolan to move the ball forward and when the ball returned to Redmond to the left of the Leitrim goal he made no mistake in sending the ball over the bar. Alan Kelly was on the pitch mere seconds when he got a point with his first touch on seventeen minutes. Carlow wouldn’t score again for seventeen minutes when Sean Gannon pointed from a free in the closing minutes of the first half.

Carlow didn’t make hay as the sun shined and the four point lead at half time wouldn’t be enough to get them over the line even though the wind did die down in the second half.

Carlow saw their four point lead disintegrate to just one after Ronan Kennedy got two points thirty seconds apart and then Kevin Conlan added another to blitz Carlow. Conlan had levelled Leitrim by the ninth minute and Ronan Kennedy got his third in six minutes to give Leitrim the lead. They would never relinquish the lead. Brian Murphy got the only score of the second half for Carlow in the fifty third minute when Eoghan Ruth smartly took a free quickly.

Leitrim hit the post in the sixty first minute but it didn’t stop their relentless drive to find scores. Conlan added another point shortly after to give them a four point lead. Conlan got his sixth point of the day then Fergal Clancy put the tie to bed when he was all alone in the Carlow half. Clancy received the ball and had a fifty metre area free in front of him and he ran all the way and sent the ball to the back of the net to sink Carlow. The game finished Carlow 0-6, Leitrim 1-12

Carlow Scorers

Shane Redmond              0-1

Sean Gannon                     0-1(f)

Ciaran Moran                     0-1

Brendan Murphy             0-1

Alan Kelly                            0-1

Brian Murphy                    0-1

Carlow Team

Robbie Molloy, Barry John Molloy, Shane Redmond, Kieran Nolan, Mark Fitzgerald, Daniel St Ledger, Benny Kavanagh, Sean Gannon, Hugh Gahan, Ciaran Moran, Brendan Murphy, David Bambrick, Ed Finnegan, John Murphy, Darragh O’Brien Subs: James Clarke, Alan Kelly (for Bambrick 17 mins), Brian Murphy (for John Murphy 48 mins), Cormac Mullins, Danny Moran, Darragh Foley (in for Gahan at Half Time), David Kinsella, Declan Kelly, Derek Hayden (in for O’Brien 30 mins), Eoghan Ruth (in for Moran 42 mins)