Leitrim manager Shane Ward believes that there were many positives to take from this year's campaign.

Their year came to an end last weekend when Louth defeated them in the All-Ireland SFC qualifiers, but Ward told the Leitrim Observer that they are very much a work in progress.

"There are positives, massive positives," stressed Ward. "I'm really, really enjoying it, enjoying working with the boys because they are absolutely doing everything they can.

"To take a guy out of the U21s, who train twice a week and have one championship game a year, in last year's case two, and that has been the limit of their inter-county experience and to put it into a set up where they are 24/7 working, recovery sessions, gym sessions, it is a massive, massive step up.

"This is one of the advantages that the bigger counties have, their younger players are playing top, top level consistently so when they step up, it is a seamless transition. It is not an excuse, we have to work especially hard with the younger guys, they don't get the exposure to the high level stuff."

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