Winter football is better suited to corner backs
THE bitterly cold surroundings of Drogheda’s Gaelic Grounds was my destination on Saturday afternoon to see Louth take on Offaly in Round 2 of the O Byrne Cup.
Family Christmas duties kept me away from the round one victory in Pairc Tailteann, but I dodged the seasonal madness for a few hours to catch a look at Wayne Kierans’ new-look side in action.
The North Road venue’s infamous grassy bank was out of bounds for this contest, presumably for health and safety reasons, but the stand offered more than enough accommodation for the few hundred brave souls who ventured out.
The low winter sun played havoc with visibility from the covered seating, though, so shortly before throw-in I transgressed and perched myself on the off-limits bank close to the hospital goals.
Conditions were not conducive to good football, with a cold, biting wind and dead bounce of the heavy surface.
Such was the amount of new faces on display, I found myself resorting to the match programme for almost the entire opening quarter.
With the aid of the stiff breeze Louth started slowly and the visitors had three points on the board before Declan Byrne opened our account.
Indeed, the St Mochta’s clubman was our only scorer in that opening 20 minutes, raising four white flags, mostly from placed balls.
Tommy Durnin’s worrying early departure with a leg injury wouldn’t be fully felt until the third quarter as his replacement Ciaran Downey continued where the Westerns man had left off, notching our fifth score. A further Byrne point levelled matters at the short whistle.
To keep warm during the break I rambled down the bank and bumped into my old teammate Paddy Matthews whose son Paul was lining out on the forty.
After swapping a few stories, I remarked that December football was not my favourite, neither as a player nor spectator. Paddy, on the other hand, coming from the perspective of a tough corner back, relished the winter conditions. Slow underfoot terrain levelled the stakes against speedy corner forwards, with the dark arts of seasoned corner backs going more unnoticed in the dank light of winter.
Amusing examples were discussed before we both resumed our positions for the second half.
Ciaran Downey edged Louth in front shortly after the resumption, but there then followed 15 minutes of almost complete Offaly dominance where we struggled to get our hands on the ball, never mind get out of our own half.
John Maughan’s livelier charges notched 1-6 without reply during this period, ending the game as a contest, with Sam Mulroy’s fourth-quarter goal merely a consolation.
A lot of the newcomers in defence performed well individually, including Liam Jackson, Niall Sharkey and Andrew Mooney but as a collective defensive unit we were poor.
How we could do with the likes of a Paddy Matthews involved to offer advice or a masterclass to our rookie corner backs.
Midfield struggled after Durnin’s injury, with our forwards failing to make an impression with limited supply.
Still, it was a reasonable display from the Reds overall and I wouldn’t be too downhearted by the final result.
Westmeath visit Drogheda for round three on January 4th and that might give us a better idea of where we are at for the start of the National League three weeks later when we’re away to Longford.
Sean Murray’s 54th-minute introduction for Declan Byrne perhaps made a little bit of Louth GAA history as the Dundalk Gaels man joined his twin brother Oisin on the pitch.
Are the sons of former Monaghan player and current Ireland soccer physio Ciaran Murray the first set of twins to represent the county at senior level? Ardee’s Mickey and Alan Rooney definitely played Minor and Under-21 together back in the late 80s/early 90s, but I don’t think they played senior.
Elsewhere, the County Convention was due to take place in Darver last night (Monday) just after we went to press, with the potential for the election of a new-look County Executive.
As discussed here previously, save for the occasional rearranging of the seating plan, very little has changed in Darver over the last decade.
As is now mandatory under the five-year rule, the outgoing chairman and secretary must step down from their respective positions. However, both were in the frame for each other’s departed roles.
Indeed, between them, the former chairman and secretary were nominated for new fewer than 10 positions.
I welcome the emergence of new faces, including that of Dail Deputy Peter Fitzpatrick. With the new stadium in the pipeline Louth GAA is at a crucial juncture.
I hope club delegates have made the right decision as to what is best for the future growth of Gaelic games in the county.