Grit and never-say-die attitude praised by Henry
SLIGO 2-11 LEITRIM 1-14
SLIGO U20 manager Paul Henry said after his side bravely fought to get a late draw with Leitrim that it was a relief for the Connacht champions.
Sligo now have a huge game with Mayo in Castlebar, a win sending them through in what is an extremely tight group. Galway sit top on five points, with Roscommon, Mayo and Leitrim on three and Sligo on two. Regardless of the other permutations, Henry said Sligo have to get a win, it’s as simple as that.
He said his side left it very late against Leitrim but showed great courage to get the draw. “Sure look, we left it very, very late to come back there again. At times in the first half we thought we were going okay and next thing all of a sudden we got a few points up, maybe four points up and then we let them back into the game and in fairness Leitrim were very very strong there for the start of the second-half and put us under real pressure and ended up, probably deservedly, they went ahead of us then and thank God we got back in it at the very end and got a draw out of it.
“Pity from our point of view it didn’t play on there for another minute or two and see what would have come of that attack but that’s the way things go,” the Curry man said.
He said this team have a fantastic never-say-die attitude. “In fairness to the lads, they’re fighters and they keep going, they try and try so look I can’t ask for anymore from any lad other than that, but I suppose we have loads of things to tidy up on again now and wait and see what happens with the Galway Roscommon game and then see what we have to play for next week.”
Sligo went down to 14 men from a black card and Henry said it seemed slightly harsh. “I think we probably ended up conceding two or three points during that spell. I felt it was a bit harsh at the time be honest, I didn’t really think that there was an awful lot in that but we’ll look back at it again and just see what exactly the ref seen, but like that’s going to happen in games and we just have to get on with it.”
Henry said the Mayo game is a must-win and a huge performance is needed from his players, whose experience also showed in never giving up against Leitrim, who were five points up going into added time.
“It’s going to be absolutely huge, sure look, any time you get to go over there I suppose you get a chance just to pit against Mayo and see where we’re at , and at this stage it’s a must win now and we just see how it goes.”
He also praised the Sligo substitutes who came on and made a huge difference, including Dillon Walsh who was brought down for the penalty which was scored by fellow substitute Luke Marren. “They are great lads and they’ll work really really hard, and you know we can only put 15 on at the start and we know no matter how we play we’re going to need a bench to come back on and try and bring us over the finish line and in fairness to the lads, when they came on, they did that for us.”
The Sligo experience also showed he admitted. “Yeah, I suppose they’ve been in this situation before and know to keep fighting to the very end and like I said they’re a great bunch so look we have a week to knuckle down now and be ready for Mayo again next we have to win,” Henry added.