A good start isn't necessarily half the battle
December 30, 2009start is handy, it's not even quarter of the battle…
For two years now, Louth football has slipped steadily backwards, towards a precipice. One step forward and two steps back? No, more a case of three steps back. Giant steps, too. Big, long, lumbering leaps in the wrong direction…
How has it come to this? Where has it all gone wrong? More to the point, has it ever been right since 1957? Remember, it'll be 50 years next year since Louth last contested a Leinster SFC final. Few counties in the country boast a record as dismal as that. While the likes of Sligo, Leitrim, Westmeath, Limerick, Fermanagh, Antrim and Tipperary have all emerged from the woodwork in recent years, Louth remain submerged in total obscurity. The question that needs to be asked is this: is there a fundamental flaw in the structure of Louth football, or are the county's footballers simply not good enough?
Are there really not 15 footballers in the county who can put it up to a distinctly average Laois side (subsequently slaughtered by Kildare) in Leinster or beat Tipperary in the Qualifiers IN DROGHEDA? Should an O'Byrne Cup win and avoiding relegation to Division Four be the height of our ambition? Has Louth's stock sunk to an all-time low? Are Louth one of the worst five or six teams in the country?
Alas, more questions than answers unfortunately. But these debates are for another place and time. As the purpose of this piece is to reflect on the season that was 2009, that's what we'll do. Everyone in the Wee County will have strong views on Louth football, however, and it's hard to imagine anyone being happy with the current state of affairs. Let's leave it at that and look back on the facts…
Two-thousand-and-nine was the fourth and final year of Eamonn McEneaney's scheduled five-year term at the helm. Despite the fact that silverware was gleaned in the shape of the subsidiary provincial competition (Leinster Council's equivalent of the Community Shield), it was also the most disappointing year of the Blackrock resident's tenure at the helm as Louth flirted with relegation to the basement grade of the league and slipped to humiliating championship defeats to Laois and Tipperary after a routine elimination of a terrible Carlow team at Parnell Park.
O'Byrne Cup
With the controversial, ill-fated experimental rules in place, Louth's year began with a 2-14 to 1-2 O'Byrne Cup win over UCD at Drogheda's Gaelic Grounds on Sunday January 4 and ended exactly six months later with a 2-10 to 1-12 defeat to Tipp at the same venue on Saturday July 4. In between, the team struggled for form and lost its way badly after an impressive early-season innings. The Reds fielded some new faces for the UCD match - which was played two days after a draw with Monaghan at the opening of Inniskeen's grounds - and Dreadnots clubman Paraic Smith got both goals.
That victory set up a date with Longford the following weekend and Louth progressed to the last four with another impressive win - 4-12 to 0-5 - at Pearse Park. The goals this time came from Shane Lennon (2), Adrian Reid and Darren Clarke. Wicklow provided the semi-final opposition at the Gaelic Grounds on January 18 and, after turning around level on 1-6 apiece, the Reds produced a strong second-half display to prevail by 2-19 to 1-10. Shane Lennon (1-6) and Darren Clarke (1-4) were scorers in chief for the Wee County, who progressed to a rare final appearance against the students of DCU.
Though this represented an encouraging start to the year, in hindsight the euphoria should be tempered by the fact that both counties eliminated by Louth - Longford and Wicklow - were still in the championship for Round Two of the Qualifiers, while the Reds had departed at the first hurdle. Which begs the question: was anyone else taking the O'Byrne Cup seriously? Remember, the enforced winter lay-off meant all teams were rusty and raw… Are other counties preparing better for the championship?
Louth went on to make history by winning the O'Byrne Cup for the fourth time, adding to their victories of 1963, '80 and '90. DCU had beaten Kildare in the second semi-final - a result which tells us all we need to know about the esteem in which the subsidiary competition is held. The final was played in Drogheda on Sunday January 25 and the game represented Louth's first final appearance in the competition in ten years. With an industrious effort, they chalked up a fine 1-17 to 1-10 success in reasonable conditions considering the time of year. Midfielder Brian White scored seven points, while Darren Clarke got five and the unfortunate Paddy Andrews put the Louth goal into his own net.
Captain Shane Lennon accepted the silverware and all seemed well in the Louth camp as their Division Three campaign approached. Their support play, teamwork and general morale had been impressive during the O'Byrne Cup and - with some fresh blood bedded into the panel - there was every reason to believe that Louth's year could go from strength to strength…
Louth 2009 O'Byrne Cup winners: Stuart Reynolds; John O'Brien, Dessie Finnegan, Benny Mc Ardle; Padraig Rath, Michael Fanning, Gerard Hoey (0-1); Ronan Carroll (0-1), Brian White (0-7); Adrian Reid, Shane Lennon, David Reid (0-1); JP Rooney, Derek Crilly, Darren Clarke (0-5). Subs: Paraic Smith (0-1), Aaron Hoey, Derek Maguire (0-1), Kevin Rogers
NFL
The good times continued to roll when Louth opened their NFL Division Three account with a fantastic 1-14 to 0-6 victory over Mickey Ned O'Sullivan's Limerick at (Louth's version of) the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday February 1. Points from Brian White, Ronan Carroll and Darren Clarke got the hosts off to a perfect start and JP Rooney's 20th-minute goal secured a 1-5 to 0-5 interval advantage. The winners had wind advantage upon the resumption and dominated from there to the finish. Dessie Finnegan and Derek Crilly were outstanding at the back, while the midfield pairing of Carroll and Brian White contributed five points between them. The result set Louth up perfectly for their perennial joust with neighbours Down, which took place in Newry on Valentine's night.
Louth suffered their first defeat of the year when Down pipped them by 1-13 to 1-12 in a real thriller at Pairc Esler on February 14. Down led by four at the break, but Paraic Smith goaled early in the second half and the sides were level with 13 minutes left. Points from JP Rooney and Brian White placed the visitors in the ascendancy but Down mustered a late, late goal before Shane Lennon had his last-gasp penalty saved by Brendan McVeigh. A luckless defeat, but a decent performance nonetheless.
At a wintry O'Connor Park in Tullamore on Sunday March 8, the first sign of the wheels coming of the wagon was apparent as Louth fell to a second successive one-point loss (1-10 to 2-8). A Rory Guinan free deep into stoppage time proved decisive after Darren Clark had fisted the levelling goal. The game was lost in the first half when Louth played against the elements and managed just a solitary point. It was a disappointing result as Offaly football was in turmoil at the time after the furore surrounding the removal of Richie Connor as boss, and this was new manager Tom Cribben's first match in charge. With three of the remaining four matches to be played at home, promotion was still very much on the agenda, however.
Seven days later, Louth shipped a third defeat on the bounce when Roscommon came away from Drogheda with a 0-13 to 0-10 victory. The result effectively put paid to Louth's promotion chances.
Back to Drogheda on March 22 and this time Eamonn McEneaney's charges delivered a supreme second-half display to thump Longford by 0-18 to 0-12, having tailed by 0-9 to 0-4 at the break. Midfielders Brian White and Ronan Carroll (who moved into the edge of the square) fired nine points between them.
A 0-18 to 1-11 defeat to Tipperary at Thurles on Sunday March 29 plunged Louth back into the relegation quagmire. Darren Clarke's 24th-minute goal saw the visitors assume a 1-5 to 0-5 half-time lead but the Premier County - the surprise packets of 2009 - stepped it up after the resumption to take both points and assure themselves of promotion to Division Two. Tipp went on to capture the Division Three title outright and they confirmed the form over the Wee County when knocking them out of the championship at Drogheda on the first Saturday evening of July.
Cavan provided the opposition in Round Seven and Louth simply had to win to preserve their Division Three status. A campaign that had once harboured genuine hopes of promotion now threatened to end in total humiliation. Colin Goss and Shane Lennon returned to the starting XV and the match ebbed and flowed for 70 minutes before the Wee County finally nailed down a 2-16 to 2-13 victory to preserve their third-rung status. All the goals arrived in the first half with Ronan Carroll and Darren Clarke finding the net for the hosts, who led by 2-5 to 2-3 at the short whistle.
As sighs of relief spread around the county, all eyes could now turn to the impending May 17 championship opener against Carlow. Louth had been drawn in the easier side of the draw for the 2009 Leinster SFC and the intention was to push hard for a place in the provincial decider…
Carlow
At Parnell Park in atrocious conditions in mid-May, without scaling any great heights, Louth did just about enough to get past Carlow on a 1-13 to 1-11 scoreline and into the quarter-final stage of the Leinster senior football championship. As it turned out, this would be their only championship win of the year.
In the run-up to the game, the Louth manager warned that there was no room for complacency: "We have stood back and taken a good look at Carlow and they have a number of players who have been to a Leinster minor final and an All-Ireland Colleges final with Knockbeg. They are a relatively young side and Luke Dempsey is only starting to make his mark with them. He's only been there a few months, but they improved an awful lot over the course of the league."
The return to competitive action of Colm Judge from the horrific injury sustained while training with Leinster was tempered by a hamstring tear suffered by ace attacker Aaron Hoey, which ruled him out. With underfoot conditions extremely treacherous, Louth had wind advantage in the first half and opened impressively with points from Shane Lennon and Darren Clarke.
Carlow battled gamely but their late goal from sub Simon Rea wasn't enough to get them back into the game. Ray Finnegan's goal at the midway stage in the first half was sufficient to ensure Louth of a 1-5 to 0-5 interval advantage. The winners controlled the opening ten minutes but led by just 0-2 to no score at the end of this spell. Luke Dempsey's men then sprang to life to lead after 15 minutes: 0-3 to 0-2.
At the end of the first quarter, wing forward Finnegan turned the tide emphatically back in Louth's favour when he blasted a low shot to the back of the net after a bad clearance by Carlow 'keeper James Clarke. The buoyant Wee County led by 1-4 to 0-3 when David Reid drove over a super point from play seconds later. Clarke's free brought the Reds' unanswered scoring run to 1-3 and Louth's lead remained at double scores - 1-5 to 0-4 - as Clarke and Lennon registered their team's fifth and sixth wides of the afternoon respectively.
There were five scores in the first twelve minutes of the second half. Three of those went to Louth, who had back-to-back efforts from Clarke and Finnegan. Apart from that, the rest of the scores were swapped as Louth now led by four, 1-8 to 0-7. An Eric McCormack free kept the game alive but Ronan Carroll replied instantly with a Louth point - the Ardee man's first of the match putting four between the teams again: 1-9 to 0-8.
Carlow had Derek Hayden sent off at the three-quarters stage and, after an exchange of points from Bradley, veteran Louth substitute JP Rooney, Carlow full forward Daniel St Ledger and Clarke, Louth led by 1-12 to 0-10 with seven minutes remaining. McCormack knocked over a 32nd-minute free but Carroll pointed a minute later as the sides continued to exchange scores and Louth maintained a comfortable cushion. Substitute Simon Rea rattled the net for Carlow in the last minute of normal time but it was too little, too late for the brave outsiders as only one minute of injury time was called. Louth held possession from there to the long whistle and held out for a fortunate enough win, 1-13 to 1-11. The winners knew they would have to improve dramatically if they were to go any further in the '09 provincial knockout competition.
After the match, a relieved Eamonn McEneaney pointed out that the result was all that mattered: "It was all about getting the result. That's probably the worst day for championship football I've seen in a long, long time. It's always all about getting through. If it was a lovely day for football, you'd expect good quality but today was just a war of attrition. We played better in better conditions. I think both teams fought well."
Louth, Leinster SFC V Carlow: S Reynolds; P Rath, D Finnegan, J O'Brien; D Crilly, M Fanning, G Hoey; B White (0-1), P Keenan (0-1); R Finnegan (1-1), R Carroll (0-2), D Reid (0-1); C Judge (0-1), S Lennon (0-1), D Clarke (0-4). Subs: JP Rooney (0-1) for Judge, A Reid for D Reid, P Smith for Lennon.
Laois
Going into the Laois game, the Louth manager was relishing the underdog role: "We're already written off and I haven't heard our name mentioned by anyone. The pundits are already lining up Laois against Wexford or Kildare so this is a game where we can go out, express ourselves and really go for it. There's not huge expectation on our shoulders and that's a great way to be going into any championship match."
Unfortunately, it appears that the so-called pundits got it right…
Even though Louth had the benefit of a work-out at the same venue a fortnight earlier and Laois went into the game comparatively cold, the Reds fell to a 1-15 to 1-11 defeat at Parnell Park on Sunday June 14. Starting with the same XV as the previous round, the Wee County were steamrolled in the early stages and their brave fightback proved too little, too late.
The O'Moore County appeared to be coasting to victory when they led by ten points (1-13 to 0-6) midway through the second half. But a goal from substitute Aaron Hoey as well as points from Darren Clarke, Shane Lennon and Hoey saw the margin reduced to just three points as the clock ticked towards 70 minutes. Indeed, Eamonn McEneaney's men had every reason to feel aggrieved as a penalty appeal saw some hesitation from referee Michael Duffy, who, having looked likely to award the penalty, eventually gave the decision Laois' way.
The victors had made the most of wind advantage before the break to take an eight-point lead into the half-time interval. Their goal, which arrived in the fifth minute, owed plenty to good fortune, when a long-range punt for a point from Padraig Clancy evaded Louth goalkeeper Stuart Reynolds (who was being impeded) to nestle in the back of the net. After the final whistle, Eamonn McEneaney was fuming over the penalty decision - or rather the lack thereof: "We got it back to three points and we should have had a penalty according to everyone that was in the place. It was fairly conclusive - even the Laois boys coming into the dressing room admitted it was a penalty. We never really got going in the first half. Laois were all over us and we were at sea in so many positions it was hard to believe. When we did start to play, we cut them open and had it back to three points."
Louth, 2009 Leinster SFC V Laois: S Reynolds; P Rath, D Finnegan, J O'Brien; D Crilly, M Fanning, G Hoey; B White (0-3), P Keenan (0-1); R Finnegan, R Carroll, D Reid; C Judge (0-1), S Lennon (0-2), D Clarke (0-3). Subs: A Reid for D Reid (30), A Hoey (1-1) for Crilly (44), JP Rooney for Judge (47), P Smith for White (68).
Tipperary
Thus, Louth went once more into the bowl for the draw for the first round of Qualifiers and they couldn't really have asked for a better draw than Tipp at home. The match provided them with a perfect opportunity to set the record straight against John Evans' improving side -and the fact that it was in Drogheda was a major plus. Though it looked like a 50/50 game on paper, confidence was high in the Louth camp and Darren Clarke summed up the mentality when pointing out pre-match:
"We have a lot of points to prove to people. A lot of people have written Louth off but we know we're better than what we showed against Laois and we know that, when we get a run going in the Qualifiers, we can be a match for anyone. We're looking forward to the Qualifiers now. When you lose a match like we did against Laois, you just want to get straight back out on the field to try and get back on your feet straight away, and hopefully we can do that. Tipperary will be a tough game for us. They beat Down in the Division Three final, which shows how good a side they are, and they play a very quick brand of football, but we won't fear them and we have our own points to prove."
Ironically, Clarke missed the game after picking up a four-week ban from the Central Hearings Committee for his part in an off-the-ball incident against Laois, and Louth were dealt a further blow when Mick Fanning hurt himself in the pre-match warm-up and was forced to withdraw. JP Rooney got the nod for his first championship start of the year and Adrian Reid was also named in the starting fifteen. There were calls in some quarters for the inclusion of some of the county junior team, who had impressed during the Wee County's run to the Leinster JFC title, but the manager resisted the urge to call in the likes of David Devaney, Colin Goss, Derek Maguire and Hugh McGinn. He was also content to leave Aaron Hoey, who still wasn't fully fit, on the bench.
There were two red cards, two penalties and a spirited comeback from the home side at Drogheda on Saturday July 4 but, in the end, Tipperary held out for a narrow and dramatic first-round Qualifier victory. The Premier County appeared on course for a comfortable evening when they led by seven points in the second half but they fell over the line by a single point, 2-10 to 1-12.
Barry Grogan caused the Louth defence all manner of problems in the first half as his 1-4 helped the underdogs to a 1-8 to 0-5 interval lead. Louth conceded the first three points of the match but pulled level with scores from Ronan Carroll, Colm Judge and Shane Lennon before Brian White's free had them in front for the first and only time. Just before that score, Paddy Keenan's goal effort flew narrowly wide and one could almost tell that it wasn't going to be Louth's day. When Shane Lennon got injured in the 20th minute, he was replaced by Aaron Hoey, who slotted over a point and then had to retire himself with a shoulder injury two minutes after the restart. It was that kind of day / year for the Wee County.
In the 43rd minute, Tipperary goalkeeper Matthew O'Donnell was sent off for a dangerous foul on Colm Judge inside the large parallelogram but the normally-dependable JP Rooney stroked the resultant kick wide of replacement netminder Paul Fitzgerald's post. Louth were also reduced to 14 men minutes later, with centre back Derek Crilly red-carded for a second bookable offence. When Philip Austin raised Tipp's second green flag, the writing was on the wall for the home side.
To their credit, Louth then produced a spirited revival in the closing stages, with Rooney leading the way. After points from White and substitute Derek Maguire, the Naomh Mairtin dynamo held his composure to net a second penalty and also scored two points. White closed the gap to the minimum and extra time looked a certainty, but time ran out and Tipp marched on as Louth were left to ponder so many ifs and buts...
Louth - 2009 SFC Qualifier V Tipperary: S Reynolds; D Finnegan, J O'Brien, P Rath; R Finnegan, D Crilly, G Hoey; B White (0-3), P Keenan (0-1); A Reid, R Carroll (0-1), D Reid; C Judge (0-1), S Lennon (0-1), JP Rooney (1-3). Subs: A Hoey (0-1) for Lennon (20), P Smith for Hoey (37), B McArdle for R Finnegan (60), D Maguire (0-1) for Reid (60). Tweet
