Louth's ladies endured a difficult 2006. Rocked by injuries and clearly punching above their weight, the Wee County girls failed to win a match in either championship or league but it certainly wasn't for lack of effort. Manager Noel Brady and his players gave it everything but were unable to make any impression against a succession of strong opponents. On the up side, there's plenty of promising young talent coming through, with encouraging progress made on that front in '06. Sometimes, you have to concede that the opposition is better. There's no shame in this. It's to everybody's benefit if teams are competing at a level that suits them. This didn't appear to be the case for Louth's ladies in 2006. The Wee County lasses were beaten in all four of their outings in Division 2A of the national football league and withdrew from the Leinster senior championship after being soundly thrashed by would-be provincial champions Meath in the first round. Thus, it was a disappointing year for all concerned. However, the players and team management cannot be faulted. They gave their full commitment and played their hearts out, only to find that there was no pot of gold - just a booming thunderstorm - located at the end of the rainbow. It's almost a decade now since Louth ladies football exploded onto the national stage with victories in the All-Ireland junior and intermediate football championships of 1998 and '99 respectively. The Wee County acquitted themselves reasonably well at a higher level for some time but they are now in transition and don't seem to currently possess the strength in depth to cope against the leading lights in the game. While counties like Armagh and Sligo seem to have progressed rapidly in recent seasons, Louth need time to find the right balance and bring through a new team. The county's younger players impressed greatly at various levels during the year and these girls can go on to form the backbone of a decent first team in the future. Without doubt, the talent and desire exist in the nation's smallest county so it's really just a matter of ensuring that the team is afforded every possible opportunity to develop and grow. Heavy defeats won't help their cause, so Louth probably need to be regraded. This looks like an obvious solution to their woes… Though 2005 had ended on a negative note when the team was forced to pull out of the league, the girls went into the '06 season full of hope and determination. They prepared diligently under manager Noel Brady and hoped to make an impression in both league and championship. However, the senior provincial knockout proved way too difficult and four successive heavy defeats in Division 2A of the NFL represented poor preparation for the championship. Louth's opening game of the 2006 national football league culminated in a 6-9 to 2-4 defeat to Laois at Stradbally on Sunday February 5. The result left the Reds in no doubt that they were in for a tough campaign in 2A. In fairness to the losers, they produced a spirited display on the day and the final scoreline flattered the midlanders. A 17-point differential does not even come close to telling the real story of the game. The O'Moore County went into the match as favourites and confirmed this rating when registering 3-4 without reply inside the opening 20 minutes. It was a dream start for the hosts and the Wee County were playing for pride for the reminder of the hour. Louth had enjoyed a decent amount of possession during those opening exchanges but were unable to put anything on the scoreboard. Kate Gerrard managed to fire a Louth goal before the interval and Laura McCartney was also on the scoreboard but the visitors still trailed by 6-5 to 1-2 at half time. It got better from here on, however, and at least they held their own in the second half, outscoring the victors by 1-2 to 0-4 during that period. Vicki McGinn got the goal in the second half and points were supplied by Orlaith Kirk and Laura McCartney. Louth were unlucky not to register more scores and the overall vibe in the camp after the final whistle was fairly positive. The Wee County's emerging young talent had performed reasonably well, particularly in the second half-hour, and they had demonstrated good spirit not to collapse entirely against a more seasoned outfit. As a first outing since Louth's withdrawal from the previous year's championship, it was a mild success. Probably Louth's best performance of the year came against Limerick in the second round of the league at Courtwood (County Laois) on Sunday February 19. The Wee County got on the scoreboard a respectable twelve times but lucklessly fell to a 5-8 to 0-12 defeat as the Shannonsiders displayed a greater knack for getting goals. The travelling Wee County party would have been confident of a first win of the year had they not been missing eight of the players who started the opening match two weeks earlier. As it was, their reshuffled pack performed remarkably well on the day and were gallant losers. Louth scored more times than the opposition in the opening 30 minutes but the concession of three goals meant they trailed by five points at half time: 3-2 to 0-6. Full forward Laura McCartney showed wonderful accuracy to convert six frees for Louth, who were also well served by defenders Karen Kane, Sandra Lynch, Jenny Agnew and Majella Agnew, midfield pair Orla Kirk and Ann-Marie Murphy as well as Sharon Drumgoole and Patricia Marmion in attack. Louth's third league outing was away to Sligo a week later. Depleted by injury, the Wee County put in a commendable performance against a team that would go on to win the All-Ireland junior championship some eight months later. The final scoreline of 6-4 to 2-3 gave some indication of the problems that disrupted the visitors' preparations. Shorn of a number of regulars. Louth battled admirably in the first half but ran out of ideas upon the resumption as the Yeats County ground them into submission. A Sharon Drumgoole goal and a point from Orlaith Kirk had the Wee County in touch at the interval and the team in red had further scores thereafter from Aoife Byrne (a wondergoal), Kim Lynch and Ann Marie Murphy. But Sligo got right on top and took full advantage of their weakened opponents. With no points from three outings, Louth went into the final match of their league programme on a real downer. With little to play for, they fell to a shattering 4-13 to 0-5 defeat to Kildare on April 5th. This was hardly ideal preparation for the Leinster senior championship and things duly went from bad to worse… The Wee County were patently out of their depth when they squared up to neighbours Meath in their first - and only - championship assignment of '06. The Royals had just contested the Division One final a week earlier and romped to a 4-25 to 0-0 victory at Philipstown on Friday May 12. Injury-ravaged and confidence-drained, Louth conceded a goal after just 15 seconds and trailed by 3-17 at the break. Demoralised and with Longford looming on the horizon a week later, Louth opted out of the competition. While the year ended in something bordering on turmoil, it must be noted that Louth fared much better at juvenile level in 2006 and have an abundance of exciting young talent in the pipeline. And the domestic competitions were a success. Sooner or later, Louth ladies will be back… Tweet

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