O’Brien calls on Louth to show a more clinical edge

LOUTH manager Philip O’Brien is confident that if his side show a more clinical edge on Saturday they can claim the Division 3A title and secure promotion to hurling’s second tier.

The Reds face Warwickshire in Trim on Saturday in a final pairing that few would have predicted at the start of the year, but Meath man O’Brien feels the two best teams in the division will battle it out for silverware.

A 1-16 to 1-16 draw in the round-robin group-stage would suggest that there’ll be very little between the teams again this weekend, but O’Brien (pictured below) feels his team have left some room for improvement.

‘We should have beaten them on the day to be honest, but they’re a super team and you have to give them great credit for getting to the final.

‘They have some quality hurlers from places like Tipp, Galway and Antrim that have played at a very high standard.

‘But we don’t fear any team; we have a serious bunch of players here ourselves and I’d expect it to be a real ding-dong battle.

‘Up to now we probably haven’t been clinical enough. There were games where we had 60-70% of the possession, but didn’t put teams away, so that’s something we have to work on.’

Like Louth, Warwickshire’s form has raised a few eyebrows, but O’Brien knew they were a serious outfit after that draw in Darver.

And their win over Roscommon in the final round, which helped Louth secure second place, came as no surprise.

‘We played Roscommon in our first game and we had a pretty weak side out and still competed with them for three-quarters of the match. Tyrone turned Roscommon over too, so Warickshire’s win last weekend wouldn’t have surprised me at all. They are the best we have played by some distance.’

The big difference between Louth’s opening-round defeat to the Rossies and their subsequent improvement has been largely down to the recruitment of the Arthur brothers, Niall and Gerry, and Philip was delighted to snap up the Clare brothers.

‘You’re allowed three players who don’t play their club hurling in the county or aren’t from Louth and a number of players approached us.

‘But John Joe Conneely taught in Donacarney with Niall Arthur and Niall and Gerry had decided to leave O’Toole’s to go back to their club in Clare and were looking for a team to train with and it sort of went from there. I saw them for O’Toole’s and knew they were really good hurlers so I was delighted to get them.

‘You’re allowed three, but I feel it probably should be four. It’s not about taking a jersey off Louth lads, it’s about making hurling stronger in the county and every one will benefit from that in the long run. The other lads are delighted to have players of that quality.’

The focus is entirely on Warwickshire and Saturday’s showdown, but Louth’s form has raised hopes of a decent championship showing and O’Brien insists his team have nothing to fear in the Nicky Rackard or Division 2B for that matter.

‘Donegal went up and competed very well, they more than held their own. It’s a higher level alright, but not a huge gulf and you just have to raise the bar. We worked a lot on fitness this year and you’d have to move up again. These guys have the skillset, it’s just a faster pace, and maybe teams are a bit fitter. One thing I would welcome is that I think the standard of refereeing is higher in Division 2.

‘You just take it one game at a time especially when you have a final in front of you, but we’ll be giving the Nicky Rackard a good go too.

‘Other than the teams in our division you have Donegal in there too and I think Leitrim. We certainly wouldn’t be taking anything for granted against the teams we’ve played in the league and obviously Donegal have been operating in Division 2B. But you’ve no Derry or Armagh in there, who would have been very strong in previous years.’