Kilkenny's late withdrawal from the O'Byrne Cup peeved Louth manager Peter Fitzpatrick.

The Wee County were due to host the Noresiders in their season opener at Drogheda this weekend but Kilkenny's withdrawal from the competition means that match will not now go ahead. Instead, the Reds must sit idle for an extra week, awaiting the winners of Sunday's Meath V Wexford game.

'Fitzer' told The Sun: "It is disappointing that Kilkenny have pulled out so late because it has left us with very little time to arrange something else.

"All the county teams are playing over the weekend so in that regard it is difficult. The Kilkenny game was one we were looking forward to because it was an opportunity for us to give some new lads a run-out and have a look at them.

"It is a pity perhaps that a college side could not have replaced Kilkenny so that we still would have got a game on Sunday.

"But nobody died; we'll just have to get on with it and prepare for next week." Tweet

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