Sunday May 28

Connacht Senior Football Championship Quarter-Final

London v Leitrim, McGovern Park, Ruislip, 3pm

An important occasion for London GAA at McGovern Park with Ciaran Deely’s developing team keen to deliver on the pitch too.

Deely served as a selector under Paul Coggins for the 2015 campaign and has managed London for the past two years.

During that time London have contributed several gutsy displays, but they faced Roscommon and Mayo in the Connacht Championship.

This time around Leitrim, who must play without the injured Emlyn Mulligan are the visitors to Ruislip, but Deely is adamant that Brendan Guckian’s team will treat the Exiles with the utmost respect.

In 2013 London defeated Leitrim in a Connacht SFC Semi-Final after a replay. It means there won’t be any complacency from Leitrim, who include five debutants, according to Deely, who is fairly satisfied that the turnover in the London panel has been slightly lower than normal.

“Generally it is with the same group,” Deely says about the make-up of a London squad, that has included former Tyrone star Owen Mulligan in training recently.

“At times over the last few years players came in very late to the set-up and played. We've tried not to do that because we are trying to implement a normal inter-county environment.

“If people heard me saying that they would wonder because it is an inter-county team, but you have to remember that London traditionally isn't a normal environment or set-up, it is a different set-up.

“Training venues change, players come and go. You can get a phone call tomorrow morning saying your best player is moving back to Ireland, that has happened to us in the last few years, but we have tried to implement different structures and environment and a spirit within the group to keep them close together to compete. It is the same group of players we are coming back to.”

A talented core exists within the London camp including the homegrown trio of Liam Gavaghan, Philip Butler, and Adrian Moyles.

Leitrim won four of their seven Allianz Football League matches in 2017, but they weren’t consistent enough to make a serious push for promotion.

Donal Wrynn, Leitrim’s impressive 23 year old captain, expects a demanding match. “There is going to be pressure on them too to perform,” Wrynn says.

“They'll be expecting to put on a good show with their new pitch and new stand, the new facilities. There is pressure on both teams, they are obviously going to be up for it, whether they had a new pitch or whether they'd a new stand or whatever, that wasn't going to be their motivation. They are going to be looking at Leitrim as an opportunity regardless of what pitch it is played on.”

Guckian is a well respected figure in Leitrim, who investing heavily in younger players, but London will offer a tricky test.

**LONDON: **Gavin McEvoy; Philip Butler, Colin Dunne, Conor O'Neill; Marc Jordan, Ryan Jones, Ciaran Dunne; Cathal Og Greene, Liam Gavaghan; Eoin Murray, Mark Gottsche, Jarlath Branagan; Rory Mason, Conor Doran, Killian Butler.

**LEITRIM: **Brendan Flynn; Michael McWeeney, Ronan Gallagher, Paddy Maguire; James Rooney, Donal Wrynn, Oisin Madden; Shane Moran, Damien Moran; Jack Heslin, Brendan Gallagher, Ryan O'Rourke; Keith Beirne, Conor Gaffney, Darragh Rooney.