The Tipperary senior footballers went down to a Leitrim side that travelled to Thurles as underdogs but beat the home side by eight points in a game in which Tipp never found their rhythm.
After an even first thirty-five minutes Leitrim took control in time added on at the end of the first half, and kicked three quick points with the wind at their backs as the whistle approached go in 0-8 to 0-5 clear at the break.
The expected Tipperary fightback never materialized as Andy Moran’s side put in a convincing third quarter with Keith Beirne leading the way on the scoresheet with Tipp reliant on the boot of Conor Sweeney from frees for scores.
The Ballyporeen sharpshooter tried his best to inspire a lacklustre Tipp side as he scored a stylish goal on 57 minutes and then he had a hand in another goal helping a Sean O’Connell punt on its way to the net however the home side couldn’t find a way back and the westerners ran out convincing 2-16 to 2-8 winners.
After the game David Power said it was a disappointing result and his side never got to grips with Leitrim in the second half.
“We’re making silly unforced errors.
“In the first half I thought when we were moving it from side to side at pace I thought we had Leitrim actually in trouble. I thought Luke Boland in particular down our near side in the first half – we were causing Leitrim problems but we weren’t putting it up on the scoreboard.
“I suppose after Leitrim getting the goal we kind of pushed up – we put man-on-man. And I suppose with Leitrim, when you’re playing with a bit of confidence everything looks rosy but for us, look we have to get back to the training ground. It’s not simple.”
