Lennon: ‘Hard luck stories don’t win matches’
Lidl Ladies National Football League Division Two (Round 4): Roscommon v Westmeath at Kiltoom on Sunday at 2 pm.
Roscommon Ladies football manager, Ollie Lennon, has said his charges are fully focussed on turning their faltering league campaign around ahead of Sunday’s National Football League Division Two showdown with neighbours Westmeath.
Roscommon have lost all three of their games in this division so far despite some impressive performances, but Lennon insists management and players aren’t feeling sorry for themselves.
Speaking to the Roscommon People this week, he said: “Listen, hard luck stories don’t win you football matches. Yes we’re playing nice football and we’re being competitive in matches against good opposition. That’s all great but it doesn’t put points on the board in terms of the league table”.
While Roscommon are currently rooted to the bottom of the table with no points, Westmeath have managed one win in three, albeit a facile victory over Laois. Lennon senses an opportunity in Kiltoom this Sunday.
“It’s a local derby and that brings out the best in players. Our performances have shown that we’re not too far off the mark in this division and are capable of holding our own,” he says.
“Westmeath have one win and they were unlucky in their two other games so they’re there or thereabouts too.
“These games can take on a life of their own but we’ll be approaching Sunday’s match in much the same way as the previous three. We’ll focus on ourselves and how we perform and hopefully that will be good enough to get us over the line”.
This Sunday, Lennon and his Roscommon Ladies go in search of badly needed league points. There’s no doubt that on the evidence of their three previous matches they are capable of competing at this level, but they have now reached a critical juncture in terms of their Division Two survival and winning is a must.
Westmeath, who are rarely short of scores, were narrowly beaten by Tipperary (1-13 to 1-11) in their opening game before their demolition job on Laois (7-8 to 0-11) in round two. The Lake County suffered another narrow defeat to Cavan (2-8 to 3-4) in their most recent outing but will be confident of climbing further up the table with victory this weekend.
