McKeever desperate to prove Louth belong among the elite
Nine days ago, the Louth Footballers were set one their hardest championships tests to date. In desperate need of a victory to reignite their bid to stay in the race for the Sam Maguire Cup, the Wee County travelled west to face Mayo in Castlebar.
Very few people expected the visitors to be competitive in this fixture, let alone push the reigning league champions all the way. The bookies had Mayo winning by around 8-10 points, but in the end only a point separated them. If more injury time had been awarded, a shock may have happened.
Their late purple patch included a sublime team goal which was finished off by Conall McKeever. Looking back on this tie, he ended up feeling plenty of disappointment, but noted how well their fitness held up, plus the growing options from the bench that sees them finish so strongly.
“It was a funny one, looking at it on reflection” noted the forward when speaking to the Democrat. “I think we were right there at the end, so in many ways you have to be a little disappointed. Five was the furthest we went behind, but I do think that fighting was engrained in the attitude of the team.
“We never feel like we are out of games. That probably comes down to the conditioning as I don’t think there is any team better conditioned then us, so we are well capable of kicking on at the end.
“Being able to bring on the likes of Craig Lennon, Liam Jackson and Ryan Burns, that is serious energy that you can bring in and not every team can do that. It helps us to always kick on.”
Playing teams of the calibre of Mayo is something new to most of the Louth players. Over the past few years, as the team dropped down the grades in the league and found themselves exiting the championship early, there was never a chance to test themselves against the best of the best.
That is not the case in 2023. Be it their results in Division 2 this season, where they were one victory away from promotion or their recent championship ties with Mayo and Cork, Louth are closing in on the big time again.
Yet McKeever believes it is time they proved they belong amongst the elite, a showdown with Kerry in Portlaoise this Sunday (Throw in 2PM) their next opportunity to turn a moral victory into an actual positive result.
“We played Dublin twice this year, who are one of the top teams and we played Derry too. Leinster final aside we have been there for large parts of those games, and we know we can mix it with these teams. It is just about trying to get a result against one of them now.
“This is championship football and Mickey (Harte) and Gavin (Devlin) will have us set up well, like they have in every other game. We will go into it with a plan, which we’ve worked on over the last two weeks. If we can execute that plan it will leave us there or thereabouts.”
One thing that has been present throughout this season has been the vocal support from the Louth fans. From Ennis and Castlebar, to Navan and Newbridge. O’Byrne Cup, the National League or the championship. No matter the competition or opposition, they have come in large numbers.
The Clan na Gael clubman was full of praise for the level of support his team have gotten this year. He knows Kerry is going to be a huge challenge, but he is still confident Louth Gaels will be out in force on Sunday to cheer them on and they are desperate to reward that support with a positive result.
“With the support we’ve had this year, be it the Leinster Final, which was unbelievable, or the other games in Mayo and Navan, it would be great to get a result against a big team for the fans. Being in the mix is something, but a victory would be fantastic.
“I think we will have another big crowd against Kerry. We haven’t had too many long trips, Castlebar being the furthest and there was still a great Louth crowd there.
“When we got that goal and when we pushed up on the Mayo kickouts, the roar of the Louth crowd was great, and you can hear it from the pitch. It can be a massive advantage for us.”