Louth's minors played twice in the 2009 Leinster MFC and were beaten on both occasions. Mickey Matthews' charges showed up well in challenge matches all year but were soundly thrashed by Dublin in the first round of the provincial competition at Drogheda. A few weeks later, the new back door format came into play and the Reds redeemed themselves somewhat with a spirited performance against Offaly at Tullamore, only to lose narrowly by 1-15 to 0-16. Thus, in the heel of the hunt, it was another very disappointing year for the Wee County at underage level.

Without wishing to sound like a broken record, the year promised much for Louth at minor level but 2009 produced nothing in the way of success in the under 18 grade. It was a familiar story as a fairly talented crop of players crashed out of contention at the first and second hurdles. The Leinster MFC introduced a back door for the first time and the new-look format provided the Wee County with a second bite at the cherry, but - despite a gallant effort second time around - they managed only successive defeats.
The harsh reality is that Louth failed to produce on the big stage. Two competitive games played; two defeats; it makes for typically grim reading. In truth, the county's record at minor level is now nothing short of an embarrassment. We've talked about it before on many occasions, so no point re-treading familiar ground in this year's publication.
What positives can we extract from the year? Firstly, the battling performance against Offaly was a vast improvement from the insipid display against the Dubs. This was a strong Offaly side (having pushed Meath all the way in their first-round encounter) and the young Reds put it up to them big time on their own patch. Ultimately, Louth were quite unfortunate to lose a thrilling match in the dying embers of injury time, and their tally of 0-16 would have been enough to win most intercounty football matches at any level. So they deserve credit for that.
As a group, the players certainly got plenty of match time together. As well as the two major knockout games, they participated in a number of challenge matches and acquitted themselves exceedingly well in these. Okay, the Wee County's exile from the Ulster minor league was arguably a blow and we all know that results from challenge matches don't count for an awful lot, BUT the performances in those games were impressive nonetheless and hopefully the players can take something forward with them from their campaign as a whole, and from the whole experience of representing their county.
There aren't many other straws to clutch at…
Louth exited the 2009 Leinster MFC for once and for all when they lost by 1-15 to 0-16 to Offaly at Tullamore on Sunday May 10. The Faithful County had wind assistance in the first half and they started this back-door affair brightly, rattling over four points inside the opening ten minutes and missing a glorious goal chance into the bargain.
Midfielder Eamonn O'Neill got the Louth boys up and running from a free and they closed within a point - 0-6 to 0-5 - thanks to further efforts from full forward Shane O Hanlon, Niall Devlin, Eoin O'Connor and O'Neill. Much to the Wee County's obvious frustration, Offaly struck the game's decisive score just two minutes before the interval. Anton Sullivan's goal gave the hosts a five-point half-time cushion, 1-8 to 0-6, with O'Neill closing his side's first-half account.
Louth were unfortunate when corner forward Devlin hit a post shortly after the restart, but O'Connor pounced for a point from the rebound. However, the winners quickly restored their five-point advantage. It was nip and tuck for most of the second half, but Louth to their credit managed to reduce the deficit to four points with five minutes left. Then came their gallant late rally: two Brian Berrill frees and a point from Alan McKenna saw them close within the minimum and set up a truly grandstand finale.
Incredible drama unfolded during the six minutes of injury time. (Though many were wondering where these six minutes actually came from.) Louth goalkeeper Kevin Brennan did what was asked of him when called upon to keep his county in the provincial championship and substitute Berrill stroked over another free four minutes into added time to tie the scores up. What a comeback! Having trailed for the entire match, Louth were level and their tails were up and they now started to think about finding a winner. Cruelly, it was Offaly who picked off two late, late scores to secure a quarter-final date with Wicklow.
Louth had contributed enormously to a magnificent match at sunny O'Connor Park, but there was nothing there for them in the end and they went home with their championship dreams in tatters. They had restored pride in the Red jersey, though, and the defeat was one they can take a lot of credit from.
Louth, 2009 Leinster MFC qualifier V Offaly: Kevin Brennan; Darragh Matthews, Richie McDonnell, Tiernan Hand; Cathal Bellew, Nicholas O'Connor, David Quigley; Shane Devlin (0-1), Eamon O'Neill (0-4); Paudi Clarke, Eoin O'Connor (0-2), Rory Moore (0-1); Barry Hamilton, Shane O'Hanlon (0-1), Niall Devlin (0-1). Subs: Brian Berrill (0-5), Dean Byrne, Alan McKenna, Conaill Hoey, Eamon O'Neill.
Though defeat was their lot, it was the kind of reaction manager Mickey Matthews had wanted from his players. The team had showed up impressively in their pre-season challenges but endured a nightmare evening against Dublin. The manager stood by his squad after the Dublin defeat, insisting: "We should have some sort of academy and maybe at U16 identify the best 30 players and get them on a weights programme. There is an awful lot of talk still going on about whether we were prepared. The lads prepared fantastically and I feel sorry for them. You can't legislate for a night like that. I would love to be playing in the Ulster league but, at the end of the day, it wouldn't have made any difference. I know there is a bigger game in these lads."
Reactions were less favourable at national level, with Leinster chief Michael Delaney going public on his dismay at the scale of the defeats suffered by Louth, Wicklow and Kilkenny in the first round of the Leinster MFC. Those three counties lost by an aggregate tally of 71 points and Delaney blasted: "The Kilkenny result was par for the course, but certainly the scores involving Wicklow and Louth were shocking. It is surprising because I know firsthand the huge amount of work that's being done in those counties. We could pretend that these are freak results but there is absolutely no point in putting out heads in the sand. We will have to address this and I know our officials were talking about it as soon as they heard the results. We will have to dig deep, much deeper than these scorelines, to see what caused them."
Harsh words, those. In fairness, Louth don't have the resources of Dublin and they redeemed themselves against Offaly. Still, there appears to be a need for some sort of inquiry into the county's minor woes.
After the Offaly game, the Louth manager was in proud and defiant form as he spoke to the local media: "After the Dublin match, we felt we left something behind. We let people down, let ourselves down, but at the end of the day I felt we galvanised against Offaly. I thought we gave ourselves a chance and it's tough on the lads that we've lost. I'm sorry for them but I'm thrilled to have known them. Whatever was written in the paper, you try and tell me Development Squads aren't working after watching that." Matthews went on to point out that six of the 2009 team will be available to the minor selectors again in 2010.
The less said about the 4-15 to 0-5 defeat to Dublin in Drogheda on Saturday April 18 the better. Suffice to say Dublin had the ball in the home county's net within 45 seconds and never looked back. Louth went into that game as total outsiders, without a Leinster title at this level since 1953. Having been refused entry to the Ulster minor league for failing to fulfil a fixture the previous year, the Wee County minor class of '09 had done really well in the challenge matches leading up to the Dublin game and had a settled look about them.
Apart from the unavailability of long-term absentees Stephen Reidy and Andrew Cluskey, Mickey Matthews drew from a full panel, but he was aware of the magnitude of the task at hand, commenting in the lead-up to the Dubs clash: "With respect to all the other counties in Leinster, it doesn't get any bigger than Dublin in your own back yard. The lads are looking forward to playing them and measuring themselves against the best. They showed up well against Tyrone and Galway. I know they weren't competitive matches, but our lads approach every game they play for their county wanting to win and show themselves up well, so I'd hope the teams we played did the same - they're playing for places too, after all. They're a great bunch and have really applied themselves - not just this year, but since we came together at U14"
The team that took to the field against Dublin was: Robert Samson; Richie McDonnell, Dean Byrne, Tiernan Hand; Mark Neary, Nicholas O'Connor, David Quigley; Shane O'Hanlon, Eoin O'Connor; Alan McKenna, Cathal Bellew, Eamon O'Neill (0-3); Niall Devlin, Shane Devlin (0-1), Barry Hamilton (0-1). Subs: Brian Berrill, Paidi Clarke, Sean Cairns, Darragh Matthews, Conaill Hoey.
Before a ball had been kicked in anger, there was no end of confusion over who would manage the Louth minors in 2009. Originally, a decision was made to advertise the role, much to the surprise of everybody, including the man who had overseen the U17 Development Squad in 2008. Disgruntled Oliver Plunketts clubman Matthews then pulled out of the race. Then the other three candidates did likewise. Matthews was then offered the position - as most people felt he should have been in the first place. It was quite an eventful few weeks, with plenty of action before the season had even started!
Louth showed up exceptionally well in challenge matches against the likes of Longford, Galway, Tyrone, Tipperary, Monaghan and Offaly but the demands of Leinster championship fare proved just too much for them. Good, then, but not quite good enough. Tweet

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