Leitrim v London, Allianz Football League Division 4, Sunday March 22, Carrick on Shannon, 1pm throw-in
THOUGH London have suffered four Allianz Football League defeats on the spin manager Paul Coggins remains heartened by the manner in which his team are performing.
Despite being beaten by Offaly, Carlow, and Antrim London were highly competitive in those tussles; the only display which didn’t satisfy Coggins was the Longford loss at Ruislip.
“We were in real contention last time out in Antrim,” Coggins told the Irish Post. “We started off very well, the lads adapted well to the conditions. It was a great response from the players following the Longford match.
“We were disappointed with how we played against Longford even though we were missing some top quality and key players. We don’t want to use that as an excuse at all, we still didn’t achieve what we set out to do in that Longford match.”
Coggins is looking forward to Sunday’s tussle in Carrick-on-Shannon against a compact Leitrim outfit who drew with Offaly in their last fixture.
“Every county has one bad day. Look at last weekend seeing what happened to Mayo against Dublin even the top teams suffer.
“Hopefully the Longford one was our blip, it was a setback for sure because we have been playing well and we are satisfied with how we have performed overall.
“Our best performance of the year so far was in Antrim. To think that we restricted them to only five points from play gives us plenty of encouragement going forward. It showed us what can be achieved when we are right.
“Had we been a little better disciplined, and that is something we’ve spoken about since, we could have earned a win.
“In Leitrim we will be looking to tidy up a few parts of our game, hopefully we can create a few more chances in attack and we are looking forward to playing them. Leitrim put in a good performance against Offaly so it will tell us where we are.”
Coggins is optimistic regardless of the cruel fact that London haven’t taken any points from their four contests in the spring so far. “Nobody wants a situation where we are looking at no points. That isn’t what we want at all.
“Still we have to take a number of things into consideration. We’ve a new management team in place bar myself and things take time.
“In my time I feel that some of our recent performances in the League have been among the best we’ve put in, we just need to get a win. I think we are very, very close to getting a victory.
“Injuries to key players have disrupted us. We will probably be missing Greg Crowley (arm) and Conor Sheridan (head) for the rest of the League and that is a blow. Other guys will get a chance to impress and it is up to them to make the most of their chance.”
“But it is good to have the likes of Shane Brosnan, Padraig McGoldrick, Stephen Curran, and Tony Gaughan involved with us again. Tony mightn’t be available for the Leitrim game, but he is an important player for us.”
