Leitrim look to bounce back after Lowe point

ROB LOWE scored the first goal of the 2013 football championship at Gaelic Park, in the heart of the New York’s Bronx borough. He hardly remembers it now, though, so disastrous did Leitrim’s year turn out to be. All the promise of an FBD Connacht league title back in January evaporated in a few summer weeks, when, decimated by injuries, they lost to London in the Connacht semi-final and then conceded a record 8-13 to Armagh in the qualifiers.

As he joined up with his county teammates for training recently, the aim of each player was clear: ‘The primary reason I came back for another season is to restore some pride in the Leitrim jersey.

‘I don’t want my career with Leitrim to be known for what happened last summer. Unfortunately, there will be a stigma associated with this group of players, until we erase it. The fact we lost to London in a Connacht semi-final and got hammered by a record score by Armagh is going to hang over us.’

As Lowe (pictured) points out, seven weeks before that qualifier defeat, Leitrim had beaten Armagh in a challenge game. ‘After we played New York, we got a serious bout of injuries. We were losing corner-backs, wing-backs, corner-forwards and down to the bare bones. We had to call lads up to make up a subs bench.

‘All our sights had been on making the Connacht final. When that didn’t work out, it took way too much out of the team, emotionally and we couldn’t pick ourselves up.’

He can look forward to the New Year, with new management, and sees promotion from Division Four as a realistic target.

‘I want to play for Leitrim at Croke Park. The most realistic way of doing that is getting to a Division Four final, so that has to be our priority. One of the perks for London (in winning Connacht) was they got a day out in Croker.

‘The best way for us to progress is to target Division Four. If we build a bit of momentum, there’s no telling what might happen. Once you get into the habit, winning seems to come easier but it is difficult to break a losing streak,’ says Lowe, a cousin of Tyrone legend Peter Canavan.

Leitrim will benefit from some Tyrone input in the new management team with Aidan McCarron, an All-Ireland medal winner in 2008 under Mickey Harte, installed as a selector and fitness coach.

‘It is the one time of the year when every county player is thinking that maybe this is the season when we’re going to do something good,’ Lowe continues.

‘It’s really enjoyable until you get stuck back into playing matches and you realise that all the other players are thinking along the same lines!’