THE LEITRIM FOOTBALLERS were the biggest winners in the Allianz football league today as they clinched promotion to Division 3 after today’s five-point success at home to London.
A fifth consecutive win sealed Leitrim’s promotion from the bottom division and they will face Derry, who clinched one of the top two spots yesterday, in the league decider at the end of March.
It will mark Leitrim’s first tie in Croke Park since losing out in the Tommy Murphy Cup final in 2006 against Louth.
'You can see it means a lot to the people of Leitrim' - Terry Hyland after a nervous 70 minutes in Carrick-on-Shannon #RTEGAA pic.twitter.com/p1iQi18uRS
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) March 3, 2019
Terry Hyland’s side bagged the only goal of the game in the first half through Shane Quinn as they went in front 1-4 to 0-4 at the interval. In a low-scoring game they pushed on in the second half to close out the match with Gary Plunkett, Ray Mulvey and Ryan O’Rourke all finishing with 0-2 apiece. Liam Gavaghan hit 0-4 for London but could not prevent the home side from celebrating at the final whistle.
In Division 3, Sligo’s relegation was confirmed after they lost out 3-12 to 1-10 to Westmeath in Collooney. Their fifth straight defeat confirmed they will play in the bottom division next year while Westmeath went second on seven points, just a point behind league leaders Down.
Westmeath were in front 0-9 to 0-7 at the interval before second-half goals arrived from John Heslin, Ger Egan and Noel O’Reilly to clinch an ultimate eight-point victory.
Allianz Football League Results
Division 3
Westmeath 3-12 Sligo 1-10
Division 4
Leitrim 1-9 London 0-6
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