Joe Carroll: Lots to look forward to on the local and international fields
There’s reason to be excited about the year ahead. There are majors at global and continental levels on the schedule, and, as always, the national and local calendars are bulging.
Soccer and rugby will not only have a European flavour, but also have us watching Ireland games in which the opposition is provided by teams from other parts of the world.
Louth senior footballers’ and the vast number of Dundalk FC’s outings won’t have supporters travelling beyond these shores; and it will be within the county’s confines that Gaelic club matches, as nearly always, are decided. Then there’s the glance to the year which follows.
Olympics and Paralympics
Huge interest will be focused on Amy Broadhurst over the next 12 months, as she readies herself for what is hoped will be a place on the Ireland team for the 2024 Olympics.
And for the same reason, more than ever before, the results from athletic meetings around the country, and maybe further afield, will be scanned to see if Israel Olatunde is not only winning, but also lowering the clock to get to within the Olympic qualifying time for the sprint distances, the 100 metres in particular.
The Dundalk lad is not far off it as it is, having recorded the fastest ever 100 time for an Irish athlete.
Let’s hope wearing green blazers once again is the ambition of Eve McCrystal and Katie George Dunlevy. Paris, to where followers of Team Ireland, regardless of the sport, could be making several visits over the next couple of years, hosts the Paralympics in 2024, and it would be hard to imagine the girls not being part of the travelling party.
Rugby
The tag of favourites for the World Cup has been hung around the Ireland rugby team’s neck for quite some time. And along with that they’ve been ranked the globe’s top team, mainly due to significant success in pre-Christmas Tests.
We’ll have a fair idea if that rating is justified when the Six-Nations comes along. It’s the first major international event of the year, and if, say, there’s a clean sweep, or even the loss of points in a championship win, there could be reason to believe that a dismal World Cup record on never having made it to the quarter-finals can be bettered, at least.
There’s always good cause to beware of the French, especially this time, as the competition is being played in their backyard; Warren Gatland is back running the show in Wales and has made no secret of his desire to pull one over the Ireland team he had once charge of; and it will be interesting to see if England’s sacking of Eddie Jones, and the appointment of a new coach, brings the bounce the many who agreed with the decision forecast it would.
Soccer
The Ireland ladies soccer team make the journey Down Under for the World Cup, with games to be played in Australia and New Zealand. It surely is a visit to the unknown, because never before has the green jersey been worn at this stage of a competition, which has the USA as its most prolific outfit.
The arrival of the astute Vera Pauw as coach, and a greater recognition by the authorities of the ladies’ team – and football – has been largely responsible for this change in fortune.
The team’s form in the preliminaries was solid, but it’s obvious more will be required if there’s to be a victory on the greatest stage of all.
The Aviva sold out for Norway’s visit for a friendly with Stephen Kenny’s Ireland team just before World Cup hostilities began in Qatar last November. The majority of ticket-buyers, while wanting the home side to win, would have been mainly there to see Erling Haaland in action.
Unless you only use newspaper sports pages to light the fire, or never watch BBC’s Match of the Day, or switch to Sky’s 401, you would know that Haaland is shaping like the greatest-ever goalscorer to grace England’s Premier League.
He’s playing for Man City and is hitting the back of the net for fun. He didn’t turn up at The Aviva, and that disappointed the onlookers.
The chances of another world star being at the same grounds in March are much better. As those who took in the World Cup will know, Kylian Mbappe plays for the France team that was beaten by Argentina in an epic final.
He scored a hat-trick over the regulation 90 minutes and extra-time, and another in the penalty shoot-out. This Aviva match is in the opening round of the European Championship, and as they bid to atone for missing out on a second successive World Cup title, France will want to have the PSG clubman included along with the others who starred in Qatar.
Stephen Kenny couldn’t have asked for a more difficult opener. Nor would he have hand-picked two of the other three teams in Ireland’s group had he been given the choice.
Like France, Holland and Greece have won the Euro title in recent years, with Gibraltar the only one of the quintet with absolutely nothing to their credit.
The qualifying campaign runs throughout the year. Interest here being maintained through to November will depend in Kenny’s side being able to dethrone one or two of the former champions.
The club team the Ireland boss guided to unprecedented success also face a tough assignment. For France and, say, Holland, read Shamrock Rovers and Derry City.
Here are the teams Dundalk FC have most to be concerned about, going on 2023 form. Rovers won the league in a hack canter, and Derry lifted the FAI Cup. But Dundalk were far enough up the table to earn a place in Europe.
How the season will unfold is hard to predict. Stephen O’Donnell has yet to name his panel. When he does, it will have to include a number of new names, and prominent ones at that.
While last season’s group were good enough to eke out a place in Europe, having at one stage looked as they might end in a relegation battle, informed Oriel Park opinion is that there’ll have to be fresh faces on show.
GAA
There’ll be huge interest in the Louth panel Mickey Harte plans to go to war with this season, or at least in the early part of it.
The Reds are back in Division Two, and while winning promotion to the highest echelon would be a magnificent achievement, retaining Division Two status is a more realistic target.
Look no further than Dublin for the calibre of the opposition. The multiple All-Ireland champions of recent years had a fall from grace at the beginning of last season but made up some lost ground by retaining the Leinster championship.
The panel has since been strengthened by the return of former stars – and will it be the first time for two men who led their county to All-Ireland glory – Dessie Farrell and Pat Gilroy – to figure on the same management team.
It was back in the mid-1950s that Ardee St Mary’s last won back-to-back Louth senior championships. Can they repeat the feat this year? Can their great rivals of former years, Stabannon Parnells, take a further step up the ladder after their win in last year’s junior championship?
Will we see a bounce back from Naomh Mairtin after relinquishing the Joe Ward? Can Newtown Blues be there or thereabouts once again, atoning for their near miss in last year’s final?
These are just a few of a multitude of questions to be answered in a season that, like the many before it, has hope springing eternal in clubs throughout the county. Good luck to sportspeople in whatever games they play or follow.