2024 Tailteann Cup Football – Leitrim 0-17 Waterford 0-12

Leitrim defeated Waterford by 0-17 to 0-12 in Round 1 of the Tailteann Cup Football on Saturday May 11th at Seán O’Heslin, Ballinamore.

Leitrim finish with a flourish to deny battling Waterford

Tailteann Cup: Leitrim 0–17 Waterford 0 – 12

Report by PJ Leddy for the Irish Examiner newspaper

Leitrim, who had only a one-point interval advantage, upped their game in the second half to earn a hard fought win over a battling Waterford side who ended the game with 14 players at Ballinamore following Liam Fennell’s 67th minute second yellow offence.

Leitrim got off to an impressive start when they grabbed an 0–3 lead in the opening three minutes with Ryan O’Rourke, Darragh Rooney and Tom Prior splitting the Waterford posts. After Billy O’Keefe got Waterford’s account opened with a 4th minute point the scene was set for a nip and tuck encounter up to break.

An eight-minute Jason Curry Waterford free conversion cut Leitrim’s lead to the minimum. Waterford goalkeeper Aaron Beresford denied a clear cut Darragh Rooney Leitrim goal chance two minutes later.

Leitrim extended their advantage to a three-points margin by the 16th minute after Rooney and Ryan O’Rourke shot over. But Waterford stayed right in contention when Tom O’Connell and Stephen Curry answered with a point apiece during the next two minutes.

Leitrim responded to double their lead by the 28th-minute mark with two Ryan O’Rourke points and one from Pearce Dolan. But Waterford reduced the deficit with Leitrim to the minimum again at half-time with points hit over Tholom Curry, Liam Fennel and Stephen Guiry.

Before the interval Leitrim’s Darragh Rooney and Waterford’s Stephen Curry traded points at opposite ends to leave the home-side with a 0–9 to 0–8 lead. After the restart Waterford goalkeeper Aaron Beresford pulled off a top drawer save when he deflected a Barry McNulty’s point blank 37th minute goal bound effort out for a ’45.’

Following that Leitrim surged to extend their advantage to six points in the next 14 minutes with goalkeeper Niall O’Donnell putting over two ‘4’s’, one of which resulted from Beresford’s fine save, while Ryan O’Rourke, Aidan Flynn and McNulty chipped in with a point each.

Meanwhile Waterford didn’t get their second-half account opened until Tom O’Connell tapped over a 58th-minute free. Two minutes later Leitrim’s Aidan Flynn answered with a well hit point for the home side.

In the remaining minutes of the action Waterford rallied to outscore Leitrim by 0 – 3 to 0 – 1 after Alan Dunwoody, Donie Fitzgerald (free) and Tom O’Connell (free) shot over in turn while Nevin O’Donnell answered with a converted a free for the home-side in this period. Following that Leitrim held out to win the game by a five point’s margin.

Scorers for Leitrim: R O’Rourke 0 – 5; N O’Donnell 0 – 3 2 ’45’s’ f; A Flynn, D Rooney& Barry McNulty 0 – 2 each; Tom Prior, Pearce Dolan & Riordan O’ Rourke 0 – 1 eac.

Scorers for Waterford: T O’Connell 0 – 3 2f; T Guiry ’45’, A Dunwoody & Stephen Curry 0 – 2 each; Michael Curry, Liam Fennell & Donnie Fitzgerald f 0 – 1 each.

Leitrim: N O’Donnell; A Reynolds, M Diffley, A Flynn; C McHugh, R Oberwan, J Foley; J Gilheaney, P Dolan; B McNulty, R O’Rourke, D Wrynn; Riordan O’Rourke, D Rooney, T Prior.
Subs: J Flynn and E Sweeney for A Reynolds and Dolan (inj) (HT); C Reynolds for McHugh (53); S Quinn for Oberwan (66).

Waterford: A Beresford; R Browne, C Walsh, L Fennell; R McGrath, B O’Keefe, D Ryan; M Curry, J Curry; J Walsh, B Hayes, J Kinsella; T Guiry, T O’Connell, S Whelan-Barrett.
Subs: M O’Brien for J Curry (47); A Dunwoody for Walsh (56); D Fitzgerald for S Curry (58); M Cummins for O’Keefe (65); C O’Cuirrin for McGrath (72)

Referee: N Cullen (Fermanagh).

Team News

Leitrim: Nevin O’Donnell; Adam Reynolds, Mark Diffley, Aidan Flynn; Jamie McGreal, Mark Plunkett, Jack Foley; Jack Gilheany, Pearce Dolan; Barry McNulty, Ryan O’Rourke, Donal Wrynn; Riordan O’Rourke, Darragh Rooney, Tom Prior.
Subs: Killian Gaffey, Cathal McHugh, Kieran Clancy, Stephen McLoughlin, Shane Quinn, James Rooney, Radek Oberwan, Jack Flynn, Ben Guckian, Darren Cox, Evan Sweeney.

Paul Shankey has named the Waterford Senior Football Team to play Leitrim in the Tailteann Cup on Saturday May 11th at 6pm in Ballinamore, Leitrim.

Tickets: https://t.co/81oHENkb0B#SuirEngineering #DéiseAbú pic.twitter.com/F3Ev5r7Be1

— Waterford GAA (@WaterfordGAA) May 10, 2024

Waterford: Pauide Hunt; Ross Browne, Caoimhín Walsh, Liam Fennell; Robbie McGrath, Billy O’Keeffe, Dermot Ryan; Michael Curry, Jason Curry; James Walsh, Donie Fitzgerald, James Power; Stephen Curry, Tom O’Connell, Seán Whelan-Barrett.
Subs: Aaron Beresford, Alan Dunwoody, Billy Hynes, Conor Ó Cuirrín, Michael O’Brien, Tommy Martin, Niall McSweeney, Jason Sheehan, Joe Booth, Mark Cummins, Tholom Guiry.