New Louth boss Eamonn McEneaney is a Monaghan football legend but if he steers the Wee County to success, his legendary status will be two-fold. Kevin Carney reports. A cold mid-November evening at Monasterboice provided a dim backdrop to Eamonn McEneaney's first get-together with the Louth footballers. A trial game involving some 50 players eased the new Wee County boss into his new role, six years after departing his post as team-manager of his native Monaghan. In contrast to the cold and dark tapestry engineered by the wintry weather, McEneaney's immediate response to the exercise was bright, illuminating and had a positive rin. "There's quite a fair amount of talent there; a good mix of seniors and under 21s and we're hoping to knit all the fellas together in time to be ready for the Leinster under 21 championship and the national league and to put together a few good performances in both competitions," the Castleblayney native tells us. As a date with Wicklow in mid-February next in the under 21 provincial championship comes racing rapidbly forward, Louth's football supremo has wasted little time in putting necessary structures and supports in place since he was formally appointed in succession to Val Andrews on November 21st last. Seamus O'Hanlon, Stephen Melia and Pat Mulligan have been invited on board by McEneaney as team-selectors as he plots the way forward for the under-achieving Louth. All three have distuinguished themselves with Louth down the years and are viewed as 'safe pairs of hands' along the sideline as they were as on-field players in their prime. O'Hanlon is arguably Louth's best known player from the modern era; Melia, arguably the most dedicated having worn the Louth colours for nearly 20 years; and Mulligan was one of the stars of the Louth team from the 'eighties. All three make for a backroom team with a fair pedigree in the game. Bringing such erstwhile county luminaries along with him is seen as a shrewd and popular move by the former Castleblayney, Monaghan and Ulster attacker which should immediately help endear him to the notoriously demanding Wee County support. "It wasn't with a view to getting the supporters on my side that I asked the three lads to get involved. "Everything I have tried to do as a manager is for the betterment of the players, first and foremost." "They were all good players with Louth and they know what it takes to be a county player and they won't need any introduction the supporters. "They weren't nobodies; the players around now will know about them and they'll have the players' respect and we'll do what's right by the players. "I played against the three of them over the years and they weren't easy opponents - they didn't ask or give any quarter. "They were the first three men I asked to join me and they fact they all said yes is, I feel, a great endorsement to me." McEneaney promises to do everything in his power to deliver success for Louth and, as a self-confessed "bad loser", he aims to instill a winning mentality in the players. "I grew up in Castleblayney where it was a diet of winning you were fed on and where it wasn't acceptable to be a loser. "I think it hurts every player to lose but it's how much it hurts and how hard you fight in trying to win that tells a lot about the player. "If the Louth players come off the field having done their best and done everything I have asked of them then I'll be happy." A winner of NFL and Ulster SFC medals with his native Monaghan and an Ulster senior club championship medal with his home town 'blayney, the primary school principal has been handed a five year term to turn things around for the county of his residence. He is confident that he will gain every possible assistance from the powers-that-be in Louth football as he bids to build on the improvements made by Val Andrews. "From speaking to the county board, they have assured me of their full support and I'm happy they endorsed my time in the job for a five year period with no review. "By taking the job for five years we are taking a very positive and bold stance which we wanted to send out to Louth supporters. "We honestly believe that it is going to take quite some time to build up the confidence of the players and get them into a winning frame of mind. "We also wanted to show everyone that this isn't a short-term thing we're doing; we're in for the long haul," the Blackrock resident explains. Those closest to the Louth boss are convinced that the Ulsterman will do his damndest to work as close to the model as crafted by the Tyrone and Armaghs of his world. Whether or not he will have similar talent or financial backing at his disposal as messrs. Harte and Kernan remains to be seen but McEneaney will set his horizon high. But going down the road of following such path-blazers is ambitious and even picking up where provincial neighbours Meath have left off under Sean Boylan is a big ask. One wonders what prompted him to want to carry the aspirations and ambitions of a success-starved county? "I honestly still don't know why I took it on," he answers. "It's six years since I was with Monaghan and in recent times I began thinking about going back into inter-county management. "Contrary to what some people might say, I don't think there's any more pressure on team-managers now than what was on them when I was with Monaghan. "Maybe the level of professionalism has increased but the time commitment is still the same." Before throwing in his lot with his adopted county, McEneaney had been managing Trim in Meath for the last two years and admitted it was difficult to cut his ties there. Under his guidance, the mid-Meath side had reached two successive SFC semi-finals and, all told, had won 16 out of 18 Meath SFC matches. "When I was first asked about the job, I was concentrating on preparing Trim for a championship semi-final against Blackhall Gaels but it wasn't a good time to jump ship. Known as a players' manager and a disciplined, skilful operator at his prime during Monaghan's golden era of the early 'eighties, the Castleblayney native has a particular liking for the cut and thrust of football at the highest level where top-notch skills, mental and physical, are most evident. "Managing a county has a great appeal to me and I'm glad to be looking after Louth now after a few years out of the game at that level. "Dealing with the best players in any individual county is a great challenge and provides a great opportunity to test yourself as a manager in a very testing arena. "There's a great buzz in trying to mould players into a successful unit and playing to a particular pattern and strategy. "You expect county players to all have the skills which allows you to work on making them into a cohesive bunch with a good team spirit and high level of morale." There's no doubt GAA chiefs in Croker would welcome a Louth football renaissance and most of Leinster would welcome a first Wee County provincial triumph since 1957. "I think there's quite a lot of goodwill outside of Louth football to the county but that won't get us far when it comes to taking on those very same counties. "My perception of Louth football from the past year was that they were wasteful and kicked themselves out of a few matches over the years, like the one against Meath. "But, realistically, Louth showed that they just weren't good enough but they had good performances against Roscommon and Monaghan and showed a lot of character." Clearly a man with the sort of confidence as a mentor now than he posssessed as an ice-cool freetaker, score-getter and score-maker, the 40-something is looking forward to pitting his wits and his tactical nous against some of the top managers in the game. He seems to have the 'right blend' along the line but in the months ahead time will tell whether he can create the right formula the far side of the sideline. No player will be excluded from being given the opportunity to force his way onto the county squads but the county boss reckons players playing other sports won't be able to give of their best to Louth's Gaelic football team so the choice will be theirs. There will be no public declarations of goals planned but he will be "very disappointed" if Louth aren't well cemented among the top ten teams in the country by the time his five year term has expired. Meanwhile, if there are moves to be made and hard decisions to be taken during matches or in the run up to those matches, he believes he'll be up to the task. An army of Louth fans hope so. Tweet

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