Nothing pretty but Graham happy to get the job done

GAA news

For Mickey Graham, this was a case of ‘job done’ – no more, no less.

Páirc Sean MacDiarmada was no place for fancy football, nor for the faint of heart, and Graham’s team were forced to dig deep in order to go take the points. They did as much and the manager was pleased that they had accomplished their aim.

“We came to get two points and we are going home with two points. It wasn’t a day for football, it was a day for rolling up the sleeves and grinding out the result. We are just delighted that we are up and running,” Graham said.

“The wind was difficult, there were heavy showers of rain and underfoot conditions were very greasy. There were lot of mistakes by both teams and it was about just making sure that any opportunity you got today, you took because they were hard come by.

“I suppose there were a couple of tough frees against the wind there in the first half which Raymond nailed. We would have been disappointed maybe that we let Leitrim back into it coming up to half-time, we had possession and maybe forced the thing a small bit.

“We had possession and at that stage we’d have been 6-3 up at half-time but it was only 6-5. Then Leitrim came out and came at us strong, which we knew they would, but I thought we just stepped up at the right time and the lads got a couple of big scores when it mattered.”

Graham was happy with the performance of his young full-forward Patrick Lynch.

“Look, that’s in Paddy’s locker, we all know that from the club scene, I’m just delighted now that he’s getting to show that on the inter-county stage. Cormac O’Reilly kicked a massive score when it mattered. As I say, those scores were hard to come by today and we needed special players to take them on and the boys did that.

“And it’s great to see two young lads like that taking the responsibility when we hadn’t got Gearoid today.

“We have lots of lads chomping at the bit, especially forward-wise. We could have brought on another couple of forwards today but we thought that the other lads that were there were doing well. You know, they will get the opportunity.

“As we go along, we’ll be picking up injuries, I’ve no doubt, but we also have lads returning over the next number of weeks which is going to create a great intensity at training and competition for places and that’s what you want.”

Any win on the day that was in it was worth savouring, he said.

“To be honest with you, that’s probably the worst conditions we’ve played in or trained in since we started back at the beginning of December. It was tough out there, there were lots of mistakes, there was a lot of fumbling going on and that’s an area that we’d be disappointed with but it was tough and it was a matter of just getting the result and getting out the gate.”

Next up are Wexford this Sunday at Kingspan Breffni.

“Cavan have a target on their back, every team seems to rise their game for when they play Cavan so we just have to try and correct a lot of things from today, get ready and get our mindset right for Wexford who I’ve no doubt will be coming with all guns blazing.”