Louth manager can approach Meath test with confidence

Will Meath supporters be eager to make the trip to a stadium that has lots of negatives in the sense that parking is difficult and access to the venue and then away from it can be both slow and frustrating.

Meath Supporters Club will be running a bus to the game leaving Navan O'Mahonys car park at 12.45pm, fare €10. Contact Tony O Brien at 085-7364378 or Jack Kieran 046-9021465 or call into Jack's shop on Trimgate Street Navan to book a seat.

However, back to the venue - perhaps it’s time for the Leinster Council to intervene in what is surely a ridiculous on-going arrangement.

The simple solution is to schedule any future pairings that involve Louth at the venue of the opposition - in this instance Sunday’s game should be played at Pairc Tailteann in Navan.

Louth should not be drawn at ‘home’ anymore in the provincial championship until such time as they can provide an acceptable venue to host a championship fixture.

The Louth boss will not be overly-concerned and it also appears to be an arrangement that suits the Louth Co Board and the Wee County supporters in the continued absence of a suitable venue for championship football.

There are a number of advantages favouring the Louth men for Sunday’s Parnell Park showdown. 

They are taking some excellent form into the quarter-final following an impressive NFL Div 3 campaign that earned promotion and the possibility of a trip to Navan next year for a NFL Div 2 tie.

Compare that to the somewhat inconsistent performances that Meath produced in the NFL Div 2 as they once again missed out on promotion.

Then there was that O’Byrne Cup victory for Louth in Navan last January, they will surely take great heart out of that result.

And, finally, they have the benefit of a competitive outing in the championship at Parnell Park two weeks ago when, as expected, they negotiated Wicklow.

Manager Kelly admitted his Louth team struggled to deal with the tag of favourite against Wicklow.

He accepted that they were far from their best as they shaded the verdict against a team that will play in the NFL Div 4 next year.

Nevertheless, the five-point (1-19 to 1-14) victory will provide Louth with an opportunity to avenge last year’s championship defeat by Meath.

“When you go into a match as overwhelming favourites - and this happens in club football and county football - you often struggle, but we have time to put that right,” commented Louth’s astute manager.

“When we came in and looked at the stats at half-time our GPS numbers were down, it was the lowest we had this year, including the O’Byrne Cup,” added Kelly.

Looking to the next test is all that matters now for the Louth boss who is well aware that Meath will pose a much sterner test for his players.

“Meath will be a different animal, we will probably go into that match with the same underdog tag as Wicklow had against us, so we will be comfortable 
with that,” he suggested,

“Against Wicklow, we always knew that we had 19 or 20 scores in us and when you are putting that up it always pressurises the other team,” he added.

INJURIES
Kelly had to deal with a number of absentees from his starting 15 due to injuries, but he was able to call on the likes of Jim McEneaney, Declan Byrne and Ger McSorley in the second-half and if they are available to start next Sunday it will be another major boost for the prospects of victory.

Louth captain Padraig Rath is pleased that the team has a championship game and a victory in the bank ahead of facing Meath next Sunday.

“The 70 minutes is a bonus and it was a great test, this time last year we played Carlow and probably thought we were doing well, then we lost to Meath,” he stated.

“We just didn’t perform that day so maybe the Wicklow game will be a wake up call, maybe it happened at the right time, we wouldn’t want to be performaing like that against Meath,” he added.

Louth will be looking to players of the calibre of Tommy Durnin at midfield as well as full-forward Eoin O’Connor, who scored the crucial goal against Wicklow, and St Fechin’s man Bevan Duffy.

The free-taking ability of Ryan Burns could also be a factor, but what will be worrying Kelly and his selectors most is the tally of 16 wides that Louth registered against a Wicklow team they were expected to beat without too much difficulty.

Maybe the Louth boss is right to be playing down the chances of his team for Sunday’s encounter?