Leitrim's league campaign ended in disappointment this afternoon, with a heartbreaking loss to Sligo ensuring that Andy Moran's side would be playing in Division 4 once again next season.
A victory in their final fixture against their Connacht rivals would have been enough to ensure promotion to the third tier for 2024, although that prospect looked unlikely for much of the game.
Sligo led for the vast majority of the contest, finding themselves ahead by eight points at one point in the second half. However, a Leitrim comeback would actually see them pull ahead in the final five minutes or so. Unfortunately Moran, their opponents would remain in the game and ultimately kick the winning score in injury time.
The result means that Sligo will face Wicklow in the Division 4 final next weekend.
Andy Moran hammers GAA scheduling
Leitrim would have aimed for promotion at the start of the year, meaning to miss out on the top two in such dramatic circumstances will be a big blow. In saying that, the fact that they are not in a league final could benefit their championship campaign.
Sligo will only have a one-week turnaround from their league final to their Connacht championship opener in London, a situation Leitrim could have found themselves in ahead of their own trip to New York on the same weekend.
It is an incredibly quick turnaround, with the GAA coming in for some heavy criticism over the way this season's calendar has been arranged.
Speaking to Off The Ball after the Sligo game, Andy Moran hammered the Association for the demands they are putting on players.
What I would say is that the scheduling is an absolute joke. It actually helps us that we didn't win, in terms of scheduling for New York.
We really wanted to win because we were prioritising the league, maybe a bit more so than the New York trip.
You look at those Sligo boys, they've to go up to Croke Park next week and then have to jump on a plane over to London on Thursday or Friday to play a championship match on the Saturday. It leaves them wide open.
I'm not talking for (Sligo manager) Tony McEntee, but if we were in the same situation we would have been jumping on the plane to New York.
It's not fair on players in terms of trying to prep. Michael Duignan came out last week and said about the amount of injuries. When I was in college back in the 00s, all the studies were about burnout and what we were going to do.
Now we just absolutely flog our young and elite players with games upon games upon games.When this is all over, they have to go back to their clubs and play again.
Someone just has to shout 'stop'. I hope with the amount of injuries now, someone like Tom Parsons or these guys are going to step and say 'we're not allowing our players to do this again in 2024'.
It is clear that the amount of injuries in the GAA seems to be on the rise, something that is far from ideal when you consider the condensed nature of the summer calendar this year.
Hopefully we won't see too many players fall victim to the injury bug as a result of the fixture list.
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