Dream debut for Conor
AS full league debuts go Conor Branigan could hardly have asked for better, contributing handsomely to a first Louth win in 11 outings on the hallowed turf of Croke Park.
Only the outstanding Tommy Durnin outshone the Newtown Blues attacker, who has impressed in every outing since getting a call-up from Wayne Kierans.
However, while he enjoyed the Croke Park experience, Branigan is more interested in league points than individual recognition.
‘It doesn’t really matter where it is, the important thing is to get the win and get off the mark,’ he said.
‘It was my first time [playing at Croke Park] and I really enjoyed it. I thought the pitch was going to be a lot bigger. The manager said before the game that it’s really only a metre [bigger] on each side, but with the surroundings and that it does look a lot bigger. But I really enjoyed it and every player dreams of playing in Croke Park, so it was great to get a run out.’
It was a much-improved display from Louth overall, but Branigan wasn’t surprised by the reaction to the opening round defeat to Longford.
‘We worked hard last week, but going down to 13 men didn’t help us going into the second-half against the wind, but we did work hard and went at them in the second-half.
‘This week keeping 15 on the pitch and working hard as a team we knew if we did that over the full match that we’d come out with a win.
‘Just keeping lads on the pitch and working hard for each other, that was the difference today.’
The goals also made a big difference and therafter Branigan was impressed with the way the Louth players rolled their sleeves up and battled to the bitter end.
‘It’s always great to get early goals and that kind of put us in the driving seat to push on. We held them at bay then and that’s just down to the lads working hard for each other. The lads on the bench that are coming on are driving us on as well.
‘We’ve loads of runners, we’re a very fit team, the lads are pushing us every week in training and you can see out there today on the big pitch. So I do think the big pitch suited us.’
But as satisfying as Saturday’s victory was, Branigan is taking nothing for granted in Tullamore on Sunday.
‘We were disappointed last week, but Laois had a good win over Down so to go out and beat them shows that we can contend and we have a good squad. Now we just have to push on.
‘I think every team in this division is going to be good and they are all going to be tough games, so we just have to take it one game.’