Injuries to key men Colm Judge and Mick Fanning helped ensure that Louth's stay in the 2007 Leinster U21 football championship was a short one. For the second successive year, it was Laois who spoiled the party; this time by the minimum margin at Portlaoise. Louth came up against a very strong Laois team in the 2007 Leinster U21 football championship and could well have scored a stunning victory at Portlaoise. However, they managed just a solitary point inside the first 20 minutes, despite playing with the wind, and it was this failing that ultimately came back to haunt them. The Wee County's preparations were also hampered by the lack of a pre-championship tournament to play in, and Laois' extra sharpness and guile proved decisive in the final analysis. Having said that, Louth could well have prevailed had they gained even the slightest rub of the green. But - as we seem to say at this stage every year - it just wasn't to be. The quarter-final encounter was originally due to take place on Sunday March 4 in O'Moore Park, but Louth agreed to a request from Laois to postpone the game by a week. The situation arose as the midlanders had players - including senior star Michael Tierney - taking part in Trench Cup weekend in Belfast. Louth named a 27-strong squad for the rescheduled game, which took place on Saturday, March 10 in Portlaoise. The straight knockout fixture had a 3.30 throw-in and the Wee County were quietly confident after their high-flying seniors scored a draw at this same venue in the NFL a fortnight earlier. But the Reds couldn't have asked for a more difficult opener as the midlanders were reigning provincial champions (having beaten Louth at the same stage of the 2006 competition), and there were injury worries surrounding Colm Judge in the run-up. Still, Louth boss Eamonn McEneaney was hopeful his side could advance to a Leinster semi-final meeting with Westmeath on March 18. Speaking ahead of the tricky trek to Laois, he said: "They have a strong team and are Leinster champions, but we will travel under no illusions. We have nothing to lose in what could be the last U21 championship, with all the talk there is about scrapping it at the moment." As things turned out, it was ironically a point on the stroke of full-time from Michael Tierney that helped Laois to a narrow 1-9 to 0-11 win. Though it's a familiar story for recent Louth U21 sides, this really was a desperately unlucky defeat. The visitors carved out a series of scoring opportunities for the entirety of the match but the crucial breaks went against them and Laois somehow emerged with victory. Laois took an early lead playing against the wind but James Murray levelled with an exceptional Louth point, beating his man to the ball before slotting over expertly. However, it seemed like an eternity before the visitors raised another flag. Derek Crilly and Trevor O'Brien both passed over opportunities to put the Wee County in front and Murray was off target before Laois struck the crossbar twice within seconds. The wake-up call wasn't heeded and Louth were caught napping at the start of the second quarter, allowing danger man Donie Brennan in for a soft goal. When the full forward pointed immediately, Louth suddenly trailed by four. Murray and Tierney swapped points but Louth finished the half strongly with four unanswered points to go in level at the short whistle. Crilly (two frees), substitute Cian Matthews and Aoghan McGuinness supplied the scores that made it 0-6 to 1-3 at the break. Laois pointed twice within a minute of the restart, but Louth were ahead five minutes later thanks to Crilly, Murray and O'Brien. Unbelievably, it was the O'Moore men who grabbed the next three points and they held a 1-8 to 0-9 advantage with only three minutes of normal time left. Louth equalised again with points from Hugh McGinn and Crilly but - just when a replay looked likely - an error in defence gifted Laois the lead right at the death. The losers had centre half back Keith White dismissed for an off-the-ball incident two minutes into added time and Louth's goose was cooked once McGinn's speculative 64th-minute shot went outside the posts. A number of factors worked against Louth. Perhaps the most pertinent was the loss of Mick Fanning through injury at an early stage of the match. Though Derek Crilly performed well when he moved out, Louth certainly missed the presence of the Naomh Mairtin man in the vital midfield sector, and Brendan Quigley revelled in his absence. Another factor was the disparity between the teams' preparations. While Laois had the benefit of a first-round run-out against Wicklow, Louth came into the quarter-final cold and there was no Shamrock Cup competition this year either, which made it more difficult for management to get the side tuned. Thus, the Wee County went into their biggest U21 match of the year with only one win under their belt - achieved in their very last challenge match against Antrim in Belfast on Saturday March 3. On that occasion, Trevor O'Brien's second-half goal and four points from Hugh McGinn helped Eamonn McEneaney's side to a morale-boosting 1-10 to 0-9 victory. But the absence of Colm Judge, who had injured his hamstring in a club match against Sean O'Mahonys, was noticeable against Antrim and it was a big blow when the Blues man was unable to start in Portlaoise seven days later. Though they had a rusty and unsettled look about them at times, Louth gave a spirited display in what would be their only championship outing of the year and they were definitely unfortunate to come out the wrong end of a tight scoreline YET AGAIN. In the end, failure to take full advantage of wind backing for the first half-hour cost the team dearly and the disappointment was palpable as the manager addressed the media to give a rueful post-match reaction: "I'm sick for the lads. They put in great effort. Unfortunately, we lost it in the first half when we had three or four great chances and didn't take them "It's just very hard to take. I'm sick for those lads because they are just a really good bunch and I don't think they deserved to lose it on the day. I thought the loss of Mick was huge because we missed his influence in curtailing Brendan Quigley. Had he stayed on the field, it could have been a different outcome." Louth: Brendan Nash; Craig Owen, Peter Osborne, Richard Brennan; Padraig Rath, Keith White, Daire Englishby; Sean Brassil, Mick Fanning; Adrian Reid, Hugh McGinn, Aoghan McGuinness; James Murray, Derek Crilly, Trevor O'Brien. Subs: Cian Matthews, Colm Judge, Bernard Osborne, Ed Smith Tweet

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