Leitrim pull plug on London league trip

LEITRIM GAA face the wrath of Croke Park for refusing to travel to London this weekend to complete their Allianz FL Division 4 campaign.

Given that the game means nothing to either side and that they travelled to London already this year only to have the match called off due to a waterlogged pitch, they don’t see the point in an expensive repeat trip.

“We’ve broken the rule but it was a collective decision,” said secretary Diarmuid Sweeney.

“Basically we just didn’t have the finances to justify the trip. It would cost between €16,000 to €18,000. “We’ll just get on with our club fixtures.”

The Connacht side were not in the running for promotion to Division 3, with Roscommon and Longford already in the final, and this played a large part in the county’s decision.

“Obviously, there are no league consequences now, because it’s only a game of football,” Sweeney said.

“I don’t think there’ll be repercussions as such. Our own people understand. The clubs in the county know the need to be prudent and look after the euro. If it was a home game (in Ireland) obviously we’d fulfil it. We went to a game in Roscommon last Sunday, even though it wasn’t going to affect anything. We could have been in a situation where we had to go to London for points difference or anything like that and that would have been a different situation. We would have gone then.”

Having gone over already though, the board had nothing left in the budget for the extra trip.

“Our budget for the year provided that we go for one trip and it didn’t happen. You couldn’t justify it. And at the end of the day lads can get on and play club fixtures, given that some of them haven’t had a club game this year.”

Most football managers would love a competitive game at this time of year but the economic climate has not allowed Mickey Moran’s men take up that option.

Instead they must concentrate on travelling to nearby Markievicz Park on May 22 to face Sligo in the championship opener, but do so with an air of confidence.

“There are positives in the league. Some teams beat us by a point or two but we’re just not taking our chances,” said Sweeney.

“There’s a lot of new lads in the panel since last year.

“We were there or thereabouts in the league so you would be positive going into the championship if we could just pull the trigger.”