AFTER playing in a high-scoring shoot-out last week in the AirDome, it was a very different type of game for Letterkenny IT on Tuesday evening.
Oisin Langan was part of a LYIT defence that shipped 2-23 against UL last Tuesday.
However, they were much meaner at the back in Convoy.
It wasn’t that the conditions were bad or that the pitch was in a poor state, it was more a case of both sides leaving their shooting boots at home.
“It was very different to our last game,” said Langan after the win over UCD.
“It was low-scoring. We had a lot of missed opportunities.
“If we had put them away we could have been well in front. We made it hard on ourselves.”
It took LYIT 23 minutes to register a score, but there were no alarm bells ringing for Langan at that stage.
He is a seasoned club player with St Michael’s, and he and his teammates just stuck with the plan.
“I think we kind of knew that if we kept ball, and waited for the gaps that we would get the scores eventually.
“We didn’t get all that we wanted but we got there in the end up anyway.
“We just fought to the end and stayed in the game and we got there in the end.”
There was some good fortune attached to Letterkenny’s win as well as UCD had a goal disallowed at a crucial time.
Brian McLoughlin hit the ground in frustration when his three-pointer was ruled out and it was a pivotal moment.
However, Langan feels his team still would have found a way to get the win even if that goal had stood.
“It would have been a sucker-punch but I think we still could have come back from it.
“We have a good group of lads there that are all playing for each other.
“It was clearly in the square but even if the ref had given it, we would have bounced back.
“It’s a big Donegal group really, and that’s definitely a benefit to us.”
Langan, who is in the final year of his Quantity Surveying degree, was a member of the LYIT team who were narrowly beaten in the semi-finals in 2020, and he would love to get back to the last four stage this term.
Letterkenny IT have been drawn against NUIG in the quarter-finals, with the game set to take place next Tuesday at 6.30pm in Dangan, Galway.
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