Nobody getting carried away after Wee victory
LOUTH fired their opening salvos of 2017 with a deserved win against Westmeath in the O Byrne Cup on Sunday.
The margin of victory was just the bare minimum, but Colin Kelly’s side were by all accounts full value for the two points on offer.
With two successive Leinster final appearances, Westmeath have been, on paper at least, the second best team in the province for the past two seasons. Therefore a successful visit to Mullingar cannot be under-estimated.
However, the midlanders will be plying their trade in Division 4 for the upcoming league campaign, so nobody will be getting carried away with the result either.
Sporting the jersey of new sponsors Statsports, Louth welcomed back several familiar faces to their line-up in Cusack Park.
Ronan Carroll, Derek Crilly, Pepe Smith and Tommy Durnin all made returns to competitive action, with the latter trio all getting their names on the scoresheet. Indeed, it was the Gaels player who contributed the decisive score of the contest as he netted the game’s only goal just before the interval.
There were also some new faces on view, with Conor Martin from county champions O’Mahony’s starting at centrefield and Newtown Blues youngsters Kevin Carr and Ross Nally also getting some game time.
There is no doubt Conor Grimes’ ball-winning ability will be sorely missed in the full forward line, but with Andy McDonnell, Eoin O’Connor, Jim McEneaney and Ryan Burns all still to come back in, I think Colin Kelly’s attacking options are stronger than in his two previous campaigns in charge.
Maynooth University are up next on Wednesday night in Darver, before Carlow come to the Gaelic Grounds next Sunday.
A couple more wins could mean a semi-final joust with our near-neighbours Meath who enjoyed a facile 19-point victory in Navan against Wicklow in Andy McEntee’s first competitive game in charge.
A few words on the county’s new main sponsor Statsports, the Dundalk-based sports analysis company who have come on board as part of a three-year deal in succession to Morgan Fuels.
They boast a very impressive client list which includes 15 English Premier League teams, Barcelona, Juventus, the Irish and English RFU and many NFL, NBA and MLS sides in the United States.
The company was set up in 2008 by local men Alan Clarke and Sean O’Connor and both come from very strong GAA backgrounds.
Alan won a Minor Championship with Clan na Gael in 1988, scoring a goal in the final against Ardee. I played alongside his tough-tackling father Jim many times, including our 1985 county final win over Roche, and his granduncle Tom (Tit) McArdle was one of the club’s founder members.
Sean O’Connor played minor football with St Patrick’s and Paddy Oliver remembers him as being a very tidy forward and free-taker. His brother Danny has been a Louth regular in recent seasons.
Finally, it was great to see former Dundalk player Daryl Horgan making his Preston North End debut in their FA Cup tie against Arsenal at the weekend, although his 10-minute cameo ended in defeat.
Meanwhile another former Dundalk player, Richie Towell, made a rare start as Brighton beat MK Dons 2-0.