Leitrim's surprise victory over Roscommon in Dr Hyde Park on Sunday was marked by a tremendous display from Paul Kieran at centrefield. A member of the 1994 Connacht title-winning side, Kieran hadn't played championship for the county since 1995, when the then champions were agonisingly beaten by an injury-time point against Galway.

His performance in winning possession, kicking frees and adding a crucial score from play late in the match was central to the team's success.

"I thought we would be up against it," he says. "On league form, Roscommon had done well and reached a Division One semi-final. People say they didn't play well against Derry but they only lost by a few points and that to me is doing well.

"We were in Division Two and not making much progress. We felt that if we could knuckle down we could put up a good performance."

He feels much of the credit for the sensational result should go to team manager Joe Reynolds. "The management never let us believe we weren't able to beat Roscommon and we were always focused on that.

"I've great admiration for Joe. He was pointing out that Roscommon aren't unbeatable, that we could do it, that they did have weaknesses and that we could catch them on the back foot. He had us very well organised."

For a team which was little fancied, Leitrim endured a disastrous first half. Having established an early lead, they conceded three goals in seven minutes to trail by seven points.

"For three goals to go in so quickly looked very bad, like Roscommon were running through us. We still had a fair bit of possession but trailing by seven was very disheartening. We were lucky to pull three points back and we went in at half-time feeling we still had a definite chance.

"When we cut the margin to three points in the second half, I began to think `yes, we have a good chance here'. When we got a goal, I felt we were on the pig's back."

A doctor, he has had difficulty combining the twin demands of career and training. For a couple of years in the mid-1990s he was working in England and at other stages he had struggled from night shift to evening sessions and back to nights a day later. Now working in general practice, he feels the benefit of nine to five work.

Still, five years is a long time to be absent from championship football and Kieran knew that it would be difficult to pick up the threads of his playing career.

"I was sceptical about whether I'd be able to last the pace, particularly because I'd been playing in the forwards up to then. "I'd done that before although centrefield is my best position, but it was a surprise when I was told that I was starting there. But Roscommon had new midfielders and I felt my experience would help. That would mean that I would be able to cover ground more efficiently." Now Leitrim move on to a provincial final, a rare event in itself. Six years ago the county won their first Connacht title in 67 years, - a second in all - but it had been 27 years since the previous final.

"I was talking to Joe (Reynolds, manager) on Sunday night and said it's going to be very, very difficult now. He said he hadn't thought about it.

"We were so geared up to play Roscommon that it will be hard to build up the same focus and determination. But I've no doubt that Joe will devise something."