All is lovely in Leitrim as Hyland’s charges close in on an elusive promotion

AT THIS time of year, Leitrim can usually be assured that they will be left to their own devices.

Since the league restructuring in 2007 into the current format, they are generally already listed as also-rans at this time of year.

Just once back in 2009 did they make a run at promotion when they finished third. Since then fifth has been their most regular rung on the ladder. In terms of the national picture, they are usually not so much off Broadway as out in the Bronx.

So in the normal course of things, their clash with London in Carrick-on-Shannon on Sunday wouldn’t attract much attention. However, this time things are different. Promotion is on the line.

Since Carlow’s ascension to Division 3 last year, it left just two counties that had never contested a league final since the shake-up in 2007, and those two teams meet this weekend.

London may have missed out on a league final but to their credit they contested a Connacht decider after that brilliant run in 2013. Leitrim are effectively an army of one.

But a rip-roaring start to life under former Cavan manager Terry Hyland means they stand on the precipice of that small bit significant piece of history.

There’s a dizzying amount of permutations and combinations but two points this weekend should all but secure them a spot in Division 3 and the first outing in Croke Park for the county since the 2006 Tommy Murphy cup final.

Manager Terry Hyland (pictured) reckons he could see the potential in his side from early in the year. “We’d a good FBD game against Mayo which we probably should have won in normal time and I think that built a bit of confidence in lads in their own ability and where they could be if they applied themselves in a certain manner,” Hyland said. “So that’s what we would have gotten more out of that more than anything else. The Wexford game (where Leitrim ran out 13-point winners) was the opening round of the league and you just don’t know where you are with that. “Wexford would have been coming in as one of the teams tipped to get promoted so we needed to be on our toes to make sure we got a start.

“The subsequent games have been tight but we have pulled them over the line in the end and I think that goes back to the psychological side of things, maybe that perhaps other years they might have lost those games. I keep that referencing that FBD game (against Mayo) but it gave them a good reference point to start from.”

Hyland himself is looking to complete a clean sweep of promotions, having guided Cavan out of both Divisions 3 and 2 but he’s unsurprised by Leitrim’s unbeaten start.

“I felt there might have been something to work with. There was a qualifier game last year against Monaghan. On the rack wouldn’t be the term to use but they gave them a first half and into the second half

where they created goal chances.

“Any group who can do that against Monaghan, particularly last year when they were going very well, it showed they had something about them.”

And now London come to Carrick and a massive carrot dangles before his side. Expectation is not something a Leitrim footballer has to deal with often but it’s something he wants his side and the Leitrim public to embrace – in the right way.

“If you haven’t got expectation in life I think you really haven’t got anything. And it’s about how you carry that expectation.

“Expectation isn’t a heavy load to carry if you believe in your ability and perform to that ability and give respect to the opposition you are playing against and expect

‘It’s good for Leitrim people to be optimistic and happy about their footballers’

them to come at you. It’s about the balance of those factors. Expectation shouldn’t be a burden and it shouldn’t be cockiness either. That’s how I would treat it.

“I don’t (hear much talk about promotion) to be honest. I hop in the car and go home from training. Okay, I’ll hear a little bit about it, a little bit of banter, I’m sure that they are (talking about it) and rightly so they should be.

“Probably the players do at the weekends, two-thirds of our players are away, most of them in Dublin and couple of them in Limerick, a couple in Galway.

“So they may get a bit on a Friday night but it’s good for Leitrim people to be optimistic and it’s good to see them happy about their footballers.”