GAA: Carlow too strong for Leitrim in 2-14 to 0-13 win
By Declan Rooney
Last Updated: 08/07/17 6:14pm
The wait goes on for Leitrim's second qualifier win of all time as second-half goals from Paul Broderick and Ciaran Moran secured a 2-14 to 0-13 victory for Carlow and a place in Round 3B of the All Ireland SFC qualifiers.
This is Carlow's third win of the summer as Turlough O'Brien's side claimed their place in the last 16 of the football championship, but they were made to work hard for the win after a poor opening 20 minutes.
Both teams finished with 14 players after Chris Crowley from Carlow and Brendan Gallagher from Leitrim were both shown straight red cards three minutes from time, which will rule Crowley out of next Saturday's next round tie.
Despite their provincial championship woes, Leitrim made a bright start to the game to lead by two points at half-time, but Benny Guickan's side came out firing early on at Cullen Park as they looked to put that defeat behind them.
Carlow opened the scoring through Paul Broderick after a good team move but Leitrim rallied as the visitors knocked over five points without reply.
Conor Cullen brought the teams level before Ryan O'Rourke added a second point to give Leitrim the lead after five minutes of play.
The home side could have had a goal in the opening exchanges but John Murphy's effort flashed across the face of Brendan Flynn's goal, and at the other end, O'Rourke and Brendan Gallagher stretched the Connacht side's lead to four points after 13 minutes.
Carlow struggled in the opening, but Gary Kelly slotted their second point of the afternoon much to the relief of the home crowd and despite Ronan Kennedy's pointed free for Leitrim, Broderick landed two frees of his own to close the gap to two points in the 22nd minute, while Gallagher and Kennedy notched further scores for the visitors to go in at half-time 0-9 to 0-7 in front.
After a sluggish 35 minutes, Carlow performed brilliantly in the second half and captain Darragh Foley slotted a long-range effort to narrow the gap to just a single point before Broderick tied the match at 0-9 apiece with a long range point of his own in the 42nd minute.
Two minutes later, Borderick popped up with the first of Carlow's goals to give the hosts the lead. Sean Murphy charged through the Leitrim rearguard and Broderick provided a superb finish from a narrow angle to put Carlow in the driving seat.
Sean Gannon and Foley tagged on further scores to make it an unanswered 1-4 for Carlow until Leitrim finally managed a second-half score as O'Rourke raised a white flag after 56 minutes. Substitute Darragh Rooney added to O'Rourke's effort as Leitrim looked to make a comeback.
But Carlow were not fazed and they turned the screw late on as Kieran Nolan, Ciaran Moran and Shane Clarke rattled over points before Moran rounded off the match with his side's second goal of the afternoon seven minutes of time.
Carlow: R Molloy; C Crowley, S Redmond, BJ Molloy; D Moran, D St Ledger; G Kelly (0-1); S Murphy, S Gannon (0-1); A Kelly, D Foley (0-2, 1f), E Ruth (0-1); P Broderick (1-6, 3f), C Moran (1-1), J Murphy.
Subs: S Clarke (0-1) for A Kelly (h-t), M Rennick for Molloy (h-t), K Nolan (0-1) for G Kelly (57), D O'Brien for Broderick (67), J Clarke for Moran (67), C Lawlor for S Murphy (72).
Leitrim: B Flynn; O Madden, P Maguire, M McWeeney; J Rooney, G Reynolds, R Gallagher; S Moran, D McGovern; B Gallagher (0-2, 1f), C Gaffney, C Cullen (0-1); R O'Rourke (0-4), R Kennedy (0-4, 4f), G Plunkett.
Subs: N McGovern for D McGovern (35, black card), D Rooney (0-1) for Plunkett (45), D Moran for S Moran (45), N Plunkett for R Gallagher (51), K Keegan for J Rooney (58), K Beirne (0-1, 1f) for Kennedy (68).
Referee: Padraig Hughes (Armagh).
