In a season that was severely disrupted by the foot-and-mouth crisis, few can claim to have been more affected that the Louth hurlers, writes Eunan Whyte. A season that started off in such optimistic fashion came to an abrupt halt in March, and aside from two outings in the All-Ireland Junior Championship, that was that, as far as the squad was concerned. What made the disruption even more disappointing was the fact that having won promotion the previous season, manager, John Kennedy, and his team were anxious to build on that success. One of the best preparations had been put in over the early weeks of the season ahead of what was hoped would be another fruitful season for the county. "We began the year with a team meeting at which everyone involved decided to make a big effort to bring Louth hurling up another step. Training started the first week in January and with no football commitments at that time, everyone could give 100%. I have to say it was the best commitment given by any hurling team in the county I have seen, with regularly 25 players training at Dowdallshill, Termonfeckin and Monasterboice", said John, who has since stepped down as manager following the end of his three-year term. As a result of such efforts there was a great sense of optimism going into the season, and the signs early on were encouraging. "We really prepared very well and I was delighted with the way things were going. We had a number of good challenge games against strong opposition in which we showed up well. The first outing of the new campaign was in the Kehoe Cup with Louth given a difficult task with a trip to Newbridge to take on a rapidly-improving Kildare side. Louth's good form continued in the first half and despite leading 0-5 to 0-3 after twenty minutes, they were still very much in contention at the break, trailing by just 0-8 to 0-6. The Wee County did bring the deficit back to a point in the second period, but Kildare's experience told in the end as they produced the only goal of the game before running out winners on a flattering 1-15 to 0-9 scoreline. Louth scorers: David Dunne (0-3), Paul Dyas (0-2), Collins Connolly, Tony Corcoran, Eddie Quigley and Trevor Hilliard 0-1 each. Two weeks later, Louth were back in Newbridge for the start of the National League campaign, and although it was another good performance, the outcome was the same with Kildare winning by 0-14 to 0-6. Despite some good approach play, the visitors missed a number of chances and at the break were struggling when trailing 0-9 to 0-2. Louth had better reward for their efforts after the break, but couldn't pull back the deficit. Louth scorers: Tony Corcoran (0-4) and David Dunne (0-2). Despite losing the two games, Kennedy was happy with the display which gave hope for the upcoming games. "Although we lost on both occasions, I was pleased with the performance and the efforts made by the players. Kildare are a strong team, but the main thing is that we were able to compete with them." The next outing was always going to be the most difficult, with a trip to Killarney to take on a Kerry side who had been relegated from Division 1 the previous season. The home side were always expected to come out on top and there was to be no shock as they recorded a 5-16 to 0-12 win. At half-time it was 0-10 to 0-3 in favour of Kerry, but the game really went from Louth in the opening minutes of the second half when they conceded 2-3 without reply. The Kingdom went on to add three further goals despite an excellent performance from goalkeeper, Eddie McArdle. Louth scorers: David Dunne (0-4), Sean Byrne (0-3), Paul Sharkey (0-2), Collins Connolly (0-2), Padraig Murphy (0-1). "Kerry was a big test for us, and while they beat us well, again I was delighted with the way the players performed. Even at the end when the game was well beyond them, everybody was trying their hardest. I was also happy with our return of 12 points against such a good opposition", said John. The manager's optimism despite three defeats certainly wasn't unfounded as they proved they had learned much from those outings when it came to the crunch match against Armagh. "Although it was only our third game of the season, the clash with Armagh was seen very much in terms of being a relegation battle. Fortunately, we turned in another good display at Knockbridge and came out on top by a couple of good points." Louth needed a strong second half display before coming out on top on a scoreline of 0-15 to 0-13 in a very entertaining game. At half-time it was 0-8 to 0-4 in favour of Armagh, but inspired by Man-of-the-Match, David Dunne, Louth hit back and held on in a tense climax. Louth scorers: David Dunne (0-8, all frees), John Murphy, Collins Connolly, Trevor Hilliard, Gerry Connolly, Sean Byrne, Tony Corcoran and Joe Kennedy 0-1 each. That win set Louth up nicely to really test themselves over the remainder of the season to see exactly how much progress they had made. However, it was then that the foot-and-mouth intervened to bring their season to an abrupt halt. "The real test for us was then to try to secure a mid-table position as we felt we were in with a chance of defeating London and Roscommon. The trip to London was next up, and we had all our flights booked and everything planned when the game was called off. Everyone chipped in to make sure that a number of players on the fringe of the panel could go, so it was a real disappointment for us all. "Unfortunately, the league didn't resume for us with only the top teams playing to decide who would win the division. It had been decided that there would be no relegation due to a restructuring of the league", continued John. What was even more disappointing was the fact that the remainder of the league was to be used as a preparation for a serious assault on the Junior All-Ireland Championship, which Louth had come very close to winning in the previous two years under Kennedy. "When it did come the time to resume playing, it was virtually impossible to pick things up again. It was nobody's fault, but due to the clutter of games in both hurling and football, we only had two training sessions before the competition started." Despite those difficulties, Louth turned in a good performance in their first outing for four months at Enniskillen in July to score a 3-11 to 1-8 win over Mayo. The first half proved to be very close, with the Wee County edging ahead by 0-8 to 0-4 at the break. However, in the second half Louth took over with two goals from Tony Corcoran and a third from Paul Dunne to seal victory. Louth scorers: Tony Corcoran (2-1), Paul Dunne (1-1), Joe Kennedy (0-4), Collins Connolly (0-3 all frees), Trevor Hilliard (0-1), Sean Byrne (0-1). Next up was the All-Ireland semi-final against Roscommon in Tullamore, but the lack of preparation caught up with the team on what proved to be a very disappointing day. Roscommon came out on top by 1-8 to 1-5, but the real story of the game was the amount of chances missed by Louth after dominating the game. In total, there were 18 wides as the Wee County failed to recover from a 1-2 to 0-2 interval deficit. Louth, Collins Connolly (0-3), Paul Dunne (1-0), Joe Kennedy (0-1), Niall McEneaney (0-1). Louth: Eddie McArdle, David Black, Aiden Carter, Diarmuid McCarthy, Ray Kelly, Barry Murphy, Diarmuid Murphy, Collins Connolly, David Dunne, Paul Dyas, Joe Kennedy, Seamus McDonagh, Conal O'hUalachainn, Paul Dunne, Tony Corcoran. Subs: Niall McEneaney for P. Dyas, Ger Collins for S. McDonagh, Padraig Larkin for C. O'hUalachainn. "We won the quarter-final against Mayo quite easily, but against Roscommon just couldn't score. You would have had to have been there to believe it. We were so superior but ended up losing the game. To make matters worse, Roscommon went on to win the title with a very easy victory over Donegal in the final. It really was a shame that we weren't better prepared because we really felt we could have won it." Following that game, Kennedy decided to step down as manager after three successful years at the helm. He can look back on his time with pride, and also sees a healthy future for the game in Louth. "Managing a team takes up a lot of time and with a lot of family and work commitments, I have to take a step back. I really enjoyed my three years and got great reward from it. They are a great bunch of lads and gave me great respect, while the County Board gave us every support. I really hope they win the Junior All-Ireland and I believe they will because the talent is there. "Overall the standard is improving in the county, particularly at under-age level. With Termonfeckin and Collon now fielding under-age teams, there are six in the county. Hopefully they will go on to form adult clubs, so in a couple of years the standard in Louth will be very high", concluded John. Tweet

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