Joe Carroll: Dublin defeat shouldn’t detract from Louth’s epic league campaign
There are two stories inspired by the Louth senior footballers to be perused, one from Croke Park on Sunday, the other from over the past few months.
The first tells of gallantry, a genuine effort to create history as well find a place in the highest echelon of league football. The other is an epic.
There is no other way to liken a Division Two campaign which, before a ball was kicked in late January, had Louth firmly among the relegation candidates. That they have ended with enough points to easily retain a place in the second tier, and be assured of a place in the summer’s All-Ireland championship, is a tribute to the players and the management.
The team guided by Mickey Harte and put through their paces by Gavin Devlin – two proud sons of Tyrone, but committed to the cause they took custody of three years ago with the enthusiasm of people born anywhere from Omeath and Drogheda – were bracketed with two other minnows, Clare and Limerick.
The rest included two 2022 provincial champions and three teams with serious ambitions, one of them guided by a newcomer to the inter-county sideline, but carrying a huge profile honed on the football pitch and then further embellished in the TV studio.
When Louth fell at the first hurdle, brought to ground by Clare, and were then beaten in their second match, this time to Derry, there were more backward glances than thoughts of being at the same high level in twelve months’ time.
There was no talk of history being created, Louth the first-ever to win promotion three years running.
It wasn’t the way Harte would have wanted it, of course. But he had found himself in a similar situation soon after taking over, his team beaten by Antrim in the opening round of the 2021 Division Four league, and managed to turn defeat into promotion.
It was the same in last year’s higher grade, Louth beaten by Laois first time out. Again there was a turnaround, the Reds not only winning promotion but taking the Division Three title, beating Limerick in the final at Croke Park.
This time it was going to be more difficult, even though third up were Limerick, at the time struggling badly to find their feet in higher company than last year. But a win was eked out in Ardee – with some difficulty. No-one, not even the most optimistic, could have envisaged what was to follow.
It was good to begin with, and what followed was even better. Meath were shown the way home at Navan, Kildare looked a pale shadow of the team that had stretched Dublin in the opening round and were soundly beaten.
After that, a Cork team set foot on Ardee’s Pairc Mhuire for the first time, but couldn’t find a winning formula, this despite having sent emissaries to the mid-Louth venue to measure every inch of the pitch and check out the facilities.
Now sitting on eight points, not only free of relegation worry but with a chance of winning promotion, Harte brought his team to Croke Park on Sunday for the final showdown. Dublin, multiple All-Ireland champions of the past decade, would provide the opposition.
By now last year’s leader, Sam Mulroy, was on the easy-list, sitting alongside Ciaran Byrne, who, before the competition got underway was one of Harte’s preferred choices for midfield, but saw less than a half-hour of action having picked up an injury in the Clare match.
The game ended with seven points dividing the sides, Dublin having to wait until well inside the second half to put the seal on it. The scoreline, however, is unkind to Louth. There were just three points between them inside the final quarter, and it had only been a point game at the break.
How different would it have looked at the change-over had Conall McKeever’s shot gone in instead of coming back of the upright after 15 minutes. This was hard luck, rather than a bad miss. Same in the second half, Conor Grimes missing out this time.
This was a game in which Louth had to do near enough everything right to get a result. They played as instructed in on the training ground and had done throughout the league, putting a heavy emphasis on defending. This had Dublin in some bother in the opening half, especially. It’s just a pity it wasn’t decorated with more scores.
But, wait, this is the Dublin team that included several of those who played in the championship meeting of the sides four years ago in Tullamore. We trooped out of O’Moore Park that day, heads bowed low after a 26-point drubbing.
Dublin may have gone into reverse since then, but there’s every reason to believe that Louth have improved. Of course they have, and it doesn’t require last Sunday’s gritty performance to underline that.
This has been as a good a campaign as a Louth team has been involved in for years, and nothing should detract from it. Okay, so the football being played is not to everyone’s liking, but how different are Louth to most other counties in that respect?
Eyes are now firmly focused on the championship. Westmeath are first up in the Leinster, and if this game – to be played at a venue yet to be announced on April 23rd – results in a win, there’ll be a semi-final with either Meath or Offaly.
Can we say it? It could be back to Croker for a repeat of Sunday in the final.
But even if the provincial series doesn’t work out, there’ll be All-Ireland championship football to look forward to, this involving four mini-leagues to decide the teams to go forward to the knock-out.
Heady times ahead, all the result of the best spring a Louth team has enjoyed in quite some time.