Clinical shooting needed if Louth Ladies are to retain their Intermediate status

The Louth Ladies are set for their biggest game of the season on Saturday afternoon as their Intermediate status is on the line when they face Roscommon in Kinnegad (Throw in 4PM).

The Wee County exited the race for the All-Ireland crown two weeks ago after a bitter defeat at the hands of Kildare, two second half goals crucial as they fell to 11-point defeat in Hawkfield, 2-8 to 0-3. Having lost a week earlier to Leitrim, this was the killer blow to their championship aspirations.

Despite the final scoreline, the Wee County were right in this contest at half time, soaking up the pressure and staying in touch as they trailed by 0-6 to 0-2.

However, a mix of conceding an early second half goal from Lara Curran, coupled with the loss of the influential Niamh Rice to a yellow card soon afterwards proved decisive. It let the Lilys take control of the contest, before a second goal left the result beyond question.

“To be fair to Kildare, they are good side” reflected Louth Manager Kit Henry when speaking exclusively to the Democrat.

“They are well groomed and polished, but I still won’t let that take away from our girls who worked hard to try and get something out of the game.

“That first goal came at a bad time in the game for us and was a real turning point, but we missed a few opportunities too. Maybe six or seven points were left out there on the field, so we need to work on our shot conversion rate and composure.”

While it has been a tough campaign for the Girls in Red, they have at least shown plenty of battling qualities all year, be it in Division 3 of the league or in the Leinster and All Ireland Championship.

They have now taken on a formidable Kildare outfit three times, alongside Westmeath in Leinster. Plus, there were dates with Clare and Wexford in the league. Those four sides make up half of the teams in this year’s Quarter Finals.

Henry is hopeful these big encounters will be a huge help, ahead of what is a vital game in the long-term development of ladies’ football in Louth. But only if they can start turning big performances into results.

“Those matches will stand to us” he exclaimed.

“We played Kildare three times; we had a chance to play Westmeath too who are another strong team. These girls really wore their hearts on their sleeves all year and they battled hard again in Hawkfield, but we just not converting that work rate on the final scoreboard.

“We’re losing games by just a couple of points all year, like the Leitrim game which I felt we deserved something from. But it is what is, and we need to man up and drive on as much as we can to see if we can salvage something from this season and retain out intermediate status.”

This looks to be a really interesting tie, especially when you look back on the last meeting between the sides, last year’s All Ireland Quarter Final clash, which was also staged in Kinnegad.

The Wee County didn’t look outclassed by the Girls from the West, far from it, but were sadly their own worst enemies on an afternoon where they only converted six of their 22 scoring opportunities.

Neither side looked comfortable up top for significant periods of the match, but a late flurry of 1-2 without a score in the five minutes leading into half time was the difference.  It created a deficit Louth was never able to peg bag, despite working extremely hard to do so. It ended 1-10 to 0-6.

However, the Rossies are not in the same form as they were a year earlier. They finished bottom of Division 2, having just picked up a single point from seven matches.

Come championship, the results weren’t much better as they lost out to Monaghan and Wexford to leave them in the relegation play offs.

Having both been in the fight for the All-Ireland last year, they will be desperate to avoid the drop. Supporters in Westmeath on Saturday should expect a tough game as result. One which could play out just as cagey up front as it did a year ago.  

Hopefully Louth can be more clinical, as it seems to have been their Achille’s heel all season. The prospect of having to play Junior Football next year is hopefully enough to rile this team back to their best.