Two-thousand-and-eight produced a mixture of good and bad for the Wee County senior ladies. The downside was that they failed to make the desired progress in either league or championship; the positive aspect of the season was that they blooded some exciting young talent and appear to have strong structures in place for a productive campaign in 2009. Team stalwart Lyn Savage is optimistic that the Louth ladies can turn the corner next season. From their four games in Division 3A of the 2008 Suzuki national football league, Louth's ladies won two and lost two. They opened up with a 3-12 to 1-2 defeat to Cavan at Nobber on February 2 but bounced back with a thumping 3-14 to 0-3 demolition of Carlow at Darver three weeks later. They beat Offaly away but lost their final group game to Roscommon. Alas, promotion was out of their reach. The Wee County girls also contested the final of the Leinster junior football championship, but the concession of five goals proved extremely damaging to their prospects as they crashed to a 5-8 to 0-16 defeat to Wicklow at Carlow's Dr Cullen Park on July 13. They led at half time despite leaking three goals in as many minutes, but the Garden County got the better of the second half. Ten years on from Louth's landmark 1998 All-Ireland junior triumph, it was a disappointing end to their year but full forward Lyn Savage can draw many positives from the year: "We brought some good youngsters through and that is promising," says the long-serving Cooley Kickhams player. "At the start of the year, things looked good for us. We had a strong panel, a new management team [of Brian Carroll from Ardee, Teresa Hanratty from Stabanon, and Gabrielle Clarke from Ardee], and the right structures were in place. We had high expectations that we could go all the way in the junior championship but it just didn't click on the day. "The real positive is that we have brought some great new talent through and I can see a really bright future for these girls. The structures are also better than they have been in a few years. We were hoping we could do it again to mark the tenth anniversary of the 1998 victory, but it wasn't to be." The eleventh-hour withdrawal of Carlow meant that Louth had no semi-final in Leinster and progressed directly to the provincial decider. In hindsight, this was far from ideal "Carlow pulled out two days before the semi-final was due to take place and that didn't help us," Lyn confirms. "Wicklow had a few games under their belts and those outings were a big advantage to them in the final. We'd had a pretty decent league campaign as both teams we lost to were intermediate sides, but the lack of match practice between the league and the Leinster final didn't help our cause. "There was a more professional approach in 2008. In previous years, to be honest, the players had held the whole thing together ourselves, but this year the training was good and the attitudes were right. We had a strong panel of 25 girls and the County Board rowed in behind us, which we really appreciate." Though traditional giants Cooley and Naomh Malachi contested the Louth senior final again in 2008, there are four senior clubs in the county now, with (league winners) Stabannon and Roche closing the gap on the Big Two. There are also four intermediate and four junior clubs, not to mention a welcome outbreak of juvenile activity all over the county. "It's great to see so many clubs popping up, particularly at juvenile level. When the Gaelic 4 Girls programme was held in Dundalk, it was attended by 89 girls who had never played before, which is very encouraging." Lyn has been a member of the county panel since 1997. She won a junior All-Ireland in '98 and an intermediate All-Ireland the following year. Since then, she has stuck with the team through thick and thin, even remaining involved whilst she suffered a two-year lay-off through injury. Her life is football. She works full-time as Development Officer for Ladies Gaelic Football in the Dublin region, with the brief of making the game more accessible to girls through clubs, schools etc. For development purposes, the nation is divided into five regions - the four provinces plus Dublin. She took on the position of Development Officer in October 2007. Prior to then, Lyn spent three years as Games Promotion Officer for the men's game. "I focus more on participation than competition," she notes. "The aim is to get girls involved. Ladies football is growing so fast and we want to bring in as many girls as possible. We focus a lot on disadvantaged areas and it's brilliant to get the girls involved from all backgrounds. I'm lucky to be working with a lot of great people and it's a dynamic position as the sport is growing so rapidly and there are always new challenges." Can Lyn bring part of what she learns back into the Louth camp? "I'd like to think I can bring something back but we have our own development officer covering Louth and I try to stand back and let her do her work. She's a former Dublin footballer called Tanya Allen and she's doing a great job." Lyn is a manager's dream in that she can play anywhere from goalkeeper to full forward and has served her county in a variety of positions. Though she always plays up front with her club, she was between the posts for Louth as they won the 1998 JFC. She also won an All-Ireland junior club crown in '98 and Cooley were pipped in the '99 intermediate final by a single point. "The great thing about that team is that we were all Cooley born and bred. We won eight championships in a row and those were wonderful times but there's been a bit of a lull and the Malachis have got on top. But the players from both clubs get on like a house on fire these days and it's great to see so many good young players coming through in Cooley, taking more and more responsibility away from the older heads. It's also good to see the other clubs improving and putting us under pressure. Increased competition at club level can only benefit the county team." Returning to Louth, what's a realistic target for the Wee County ladies in 2009? "We put so much into it this year. We must have been the first ladies team in the country to go back into training... We started back in October and the aim was to be involved in the All-Ireland final at Croke Park on September 28. When we missed out, it was bitterly disappointing and the girls were absolutely gutted. They know they are good enough to do it. Next year, maybe we'll take shorter steps and focus more on one game at a time. Our first aim will be to earn promotion in the league and then we'll go for the championship." A 20% improvement would probably be enough to see Louth land the All-Ireland junior ladies football championship for a second time. They are more than capable, with lots of young talent coming through from successful underage sides. Tweet

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