ANDY MORAN HAS hailed an “emotional” day for Leitrim football after his side’s promotion to Division 3 of the Allianz Football League.
A 0-15 to 0-9 win over Tipperary in Carrick-on-Shannon yesterday sealed Leitrim’s escape from the bottom tier — and a decider against Laois in Croke Park next Sunday.
“Division 4 is so competitive and it really kind of preps you with the teams being so even,” Moran told RTÉ Radio’s Sunday Sport. “You see how well Sligo are doing since they went up to Division 3.
“We won a game with a last-minute penalty [against Wexford] and lost a game after a last-minute goal against Carlow. Last week against Laois they got a free that hit the post with the last kick of the game. It such a tight division; we are just delighted, delighted for the people of Leitrim and for the players that we came out on top today.
“We’re going to Division 3 and I heard a lot of noise during the week about killing league finals; they can kill them all they want for Divisions 1 and 2 but they won’t be killing them for Divisions 3 and 4.
“Páirc Seán at the end of the game was amazing. It was emotional. Leitrim is a football-mad county and to bring them people to Croke Park, well it’s going to be an amazing day.
“The week is going to be green and yellow around Carrick-on-Shannon and all the towns around Leitrim.”
It will be the county’s first appearance at GAA HQ in five years, while it is redemption for their 2023 promotion bid which fell just short after a final day defeat to Sligo.
Moran, who is in his third year in charge, also reflected on his time at the helm.
“We’ve had a tough run,” the former Mayo star said.
“Covid was really hard on the smaller counties. They didn’t have the resources in terms of the strength and conditioning, physical work, and all that.
“The last three years we have been building. Obviously we lost to New York famously last year which got a lot of headlines. The key things is that the lads stuck at it and they didn’t shy away from it. They kept up the work during last year’s club championship, kept lifting weights, kept doing the strength and conditioning.
“It really has paid off for us. It’s all about the players, those that have represented Leitrim over the last three years. Some players stepped away but played for a year or two to bring younger fellas through and those younger fellas showed what they could do today.”
“There are plenty of footballers in Leitrim,” he added. “There is real talent in terms of forward play. It’s just keeping a hold of them into their twenties, till they are 24 or 25. A lot of them travel to Australia and do whatever travel stuff, but it is hard to keep the depth.
“When we were playing for Mayo it was all about trying to win that All-Ireland. In Leitrim there are different objectives and we have to balance all them. I got a lot of advice from Colm Collins on how you do that. It’s been great but a huge learning curve as well.”
