Dejected O’Kane reflects on Leitrim loss

TYRONE manager Sean O’Kane cut a dejected figure as he sought to get his head around the shock Ladies All-Ireland Intermediate Final loss to Leitrim at Croke Park on Sunday afternoon.

The Red Hands stormed back down the home straight, holding their opponents scoreless in the last ten minutes, and hitting 1-3 themselves, but a sloppy insipid showing earlier in proceedings was to catch up with them.

In the end the unfancied Connacht girls took the honours on a 3-11 to 3-10 scoreline, leaving O’Kane and his stunned charges perplexed as to why things had gone pear-shaped.

While giving Leitrim, and their manager Jonny Garrity (a Fintona native) full credit for their triumph, O’Kane admitted that Tyrone really should have got the job done.

“Good luck to Leitrim. I said to Jonny that it was some achievement. I don’t like to say it’s embarrassing but at the end of the day we are going into Division One next year and we were just beaten by a Division Four team. Maybe if there had been another five minutes we could have pushed on again but that’s the way it was.”

Asked to pinpoint what exactly had gone wrong on the day, the Tyrone boss stated that their lack of a clinical edge inside shooting range was key to the outcome.

“In the aftermath when you look back we hit something like sixteen wides and a few more dropped short. Our conversion rate was only like 38 per cent. Yes that was down to good defending, they harried in numbers and we just couldn’t get our big shooters going early on. There’s no point having an inquest, it is over for another year and that is the reality.”

O’Kane accepted that Leitrim got their tactics spot on and especially their running ability down either flank, which forced Tyrone on the back foot and opened numerous scoring opportunities.

“It caused us absolute havoc. They played it very wide and broke in numbers. It’s not that we didn’t know what they were going to do but we just couldn’t match it for whatever reason. Whether it was the occasion or not who knows. I thought we should have been down by more at half-time, we brought off two great saves.

“So at two points down it wasn’t too bad but they racked it up to four or five after the break.

In fairness we never gave up and showed that bit of fight but the reality was that the best team won overall.”

With Tyrone having had the benefit of a run-out at Croke Park in the League Final against Kildare, the manager was at a loss as to why their play was so ragged and disjointed on the big stage yet again.

“I don’t think it was nerves. I just don’t know. They were moving the ball quicker. We were going into contact because we were trying to find gaps. We were slower doing things than they were. So you can’t take anything away from them, Jonny has them well-organised. They are a small county and they have had their day in the sun, it’s brilliant for them.”

Sunday’s defeat capped a disappointing week for Ladies football in the County coming on the back of the Minors All-Ireland final loss the weekend before. Sean hopes it doesn’t set the game back too far in Tyrone.

“No doubt today and last week were significant dents, there is no point saying otherwise. We thought we had everything covered and expected to win here today. Yes we showed character and resilience.

“At the end of the day we are in Division One next year and whoever is in charge, because my time is up, they will find this year has been a big help to prepare for the next Intermediate Championship.”