Leitrim manager Terry Hyland said that the county's promotion to Division 3 of the National Football League means "an awful lot" to the people of the county.
Victory over London was Leitrim’s fifth win out of five in the league this year and their rise has captured the nation's attention.
But Cavan native Hyland believes that the pressure of finally achieving promotion from Division 4 affected his side’s performance today.
"We had a very nervous 70 minutes to be honest. That’s what I said to the lads at half-time. We got into the mindset that we were going out to not lose a game, rather than to win a game," Hyland told RTÉ Sport.
'You can see it means a lot to the people of Leitrim' - Terry Hyland after a nervous 70 minutes in Carrick-on-Shannon #RTEGAA pic.twitter.com/p1iQi18uRS
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) March 3, 2019
"Our shot selection and finishing were poor today, and they hadn’t been up until today which was a bit surprising, but maybe the pressure got to us a little bit. We were forcing the thing a little bit as well," he continued.
Next year, Leitrim will compete in Division 3 for the first time since 2008, but Hyland believes they have nothing to fear in the higher division.
"I think they’re quite capable of stepping up and playing in Division 3. We played a number of challenge matches against Division 3 teams and the lads acquitted themselves quite well. I think there’ll be a bit of upping of the pace and they might have to make their thought process faster," he said.
"If we can develop that side of the game I think we’ll have no problem in Division 3."
Captain Michael McWeeney said that the promotion and a return to Croke Park, their first since 2006, had been a long time coming.
"It still hasn’t sunk in, but there are players here like Emlyn (Mulligan) and Gary (Plunkett) and myself have been around the block a long time and we thought we’d never see this day, but today thankfully it has come through and we’ll get a run out on the big stage."
