Blues defeat a concern for Louth football
NEWTOWN Blues boss Ronan Phillips feels Louth football may need to take stock after his side were humbled by Carlow champions Eire Og at the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday.
Two first-half goals put the visitors firmly in the driving seat and the Blues never really looked like landing a blow on a disappointing afternoon for the Louth kingpins.
But after dominating Louth football for the past 18 months or so and contributing around five players to the county set-up, Phillips admitted the signs aren’t good.
‘Even apart from the goals I didn’t think we were good enough,’ he reflected. ‘Physically they seemed a lot stronger all over the pitch. We thought we learned something last year but maybe we didn’t.
‘In terms of Louth football we probably all have to look at each other now because we went through the year more or less unbeaten and we were well bet out there today and we had no excuses really.’
It’s been a frustrating year for Louth sides facing Carlow opponents after both the county seniors and U20s suffered Leinster Championship defeats to the Barrowsiders.
But while Phillips wasn’t getting too carried away by the defeat, he said it should provide everyone with some food for thought.
‘It’s hard to call I suppose, because there are other teams in ththe county that have bigger men thanth us and that game might have suited them better, but that’s no good to us. We have to get up to that level, whether it’s getting lads into the gym or just becoming more streetwise.
‘That’s twice it’s happened to us and hopefully we’ll come back stronger, but we do have to look at ourselves, as a management team and individuals and come up with another plan. We thought we learned something last year [against Rathnew] but we obviously didn’t learn as much as we thought.’
Elsewhere, St Mochta’s also exited the provincial stage as their brave, late comeback fell narrowly short against Courtwood of Laois.
But Louth will have one representative in the semi-final stages affter Dundalk Young Irelands impressive 15-point win over another Laois outfit, Annanough.
The Seatown outfit will now face Kilkenny side Tullogher Rosbercon away on Saturday week bidding for a home Leinster final date with either Milltown (KIldare) or St Brigid’s (Offaly) on Saturday, December 8th.
Meanwhile, Wayne Kierans’ first match in charge of Louth will be against old rivals Meath on November 25th. The clash will be the showpiece for the official opening of Oliver Pulunketts new clubrooms.