No stand-out performers in red - but a win is a win

THE predictions in the build-up that this game was going to be a close, tight, messy affair were spot-on.

A biting east wind along with the heavy Drogheda sod meant we were never going to see a repeat of the previous week’s open and expansive football.

The most important thing for Louth was to pick up two more points. Our league campaign was kick-started with an excellent win in Portlaoise, but it would count for nothing if we failed to back that performance up with a home victory over Longford. And to put it simply, that’s just about what we did.

It was never pretty at any stage on Sunday and there were no outstanding performers in red, but we still grinded out the win. Sometimes you just have accept that there will be days like this when things don’t go according to plan. Accept it, say thanks and move on.

There’s not a whole pile of learning to be gained from that performance and I doubt Colin Kelly will spend too much time analysing it. There’s no question we were the better team, but we found it extremely difficult to shake off our opponents and in the end we were thankful for the referee’s premature full-time whistle.

We didn’t take full advantage of our wind-assisted dominance in the opening 35 minutes and I felt a scoreline 0-7 to 0-3 was a fair bit shy of what we needed turning around to face the elements.

Sufficient first-half opportunities were created for us to be a lot more comfortable at half-time, but poor decision-making in front of goal proved costly.

A recurring theme of balls dropping short and below-par shooting is beginning to creep into the side and must be rectified if we are to continue on this current upward trajectory.

The game looked to be in the bag on 55 minutes when another Ryan Burns free stretched the lead out to five points, but this was to be our final score of the contest. A combination of good Longford play and some poor refereeing decisions allowed the visitors to close the gap to the bare minimum with time running out. The sparse home crowd then breathed a collective sigh of relief when €20 on Dustin Johnson to win the Genesis Open Golf at 9/1 Monaghan referee Niall McKenna called a halt to proceedings with a minute of injury time still to be played.

Longford management and players remonstrated with the Emyvale official afterwards, but it was a point they hardly deserved. The few Longford supporters on the bank beside me took no notice of the error and hastily headed for the exits. Like me, they seemed just to be glad the game was finished so they could get in, out of the bitterly cold wind. It was probably the coldest day I’ve ever stood in the Gaelic Grounds.

This performance was far from perfect, but don’t underestimate what a hard-fought victory like this can do for team building and morale. The mood in the camp will be very positive this week and hopefully Kelly and his management team can build on this for the Offaly game on Sunday week. Another gritty performance will be required in Tullamore.

I was in Croke Park on Saturday evening for the Division 1 clash of Dublin and Tyrone where the inclement weather was also a major factor.

Tyrone matched their opponents in every facet of play and would have come away with victory but for some poor first-half shooting.

Mickey Harte’s side showed little respect for the All-Ireland champions and took the game to the Dubs right from the off. They tracked the Dublin runners coming from deep and a swarmed white defence denied blue attackers their usual time and space.

Despite the deteriorating conditions, the pace of the game was relentless. Reduced to 14 men for the final quarter, Tyrone tired, but Dublin were still very impressive in forcing the game to a draw.

If it was Tyrone’s intention to lay down a marker on the night, then the objective was achieved, but there will be more important games to come later in the year. Dublin and Jim Gavin have now been forewarned. Ireland bounced back from the disappointment of Murrayfield with a 63-10 demolition of the Italians in Rome.

The performance was so good it was almost wasted on Italy. Ireland’s nine tries included hattricks for Man of the Match CJ Stander and second-half replacement Craig Gilroy, along with two for Keith Earls and one from Gary Ringrose. Out half Paddy Jackson slotted over all nine conversions.

Next up for Joe Schmidt’s side are the French in Dublin on Saturday week.