Flanagan feels under-20s were let down

‘IT’S the elephant in the room,’ Louth selector John Flanagan fumed, after his side’s loss to Offaly in the Leinster U20 EirGrid Championship. Backed by the county board the senior management would not release two senior players Dan Corcoran and Liam Jackson who were eligible.

‘If we had to have our two senior players there today I think we’d have won that game comfortably, So personally, I think the county has let this U20 team down,’ Flanagan said.

‘I’m disgusted the county has let this go. I mean Liam was our captain coming into this year, Dan’s an established senior player, but I think championship should take precedence over a relegation battle in Division 3.

‘That’s only my personal opinion and I know the senior management and County Board have looked at it differently, but we feel very disappointed.

‘For instance Liam didn’t get a chance to don the jersey with his brother in their county’s colours, I know he’s devastated and Tom is devastated. Add that bit of quality into that 15 and I think we’d have been playing Kildare next weekend.’

The knockout clash was marred by the weekend elements and, as a result, it was a game of two halves with Flanagan admitting that the concession of two goals and not putting enough scores on the board in the opening half, the key factors in Louth’s downfall.

‘We let ourselves down in the first half more than anything,’ Flanagan said.

‘Started well, but I thought we lacked a bit of penetration to be honest. We had the strong wind and we nearly overused it. We thought the wind was going to do it for us. Too many lads going forward and actually blocking up holes for our inside forward men.

‘Goals change games and the momentum swung when they got the goal and we didn’t push on in the first half and create a substantial lead. We knew two points wasn’t enough.’

‘We really swamped our forward line which didn’t leave any space for our forwards. We went in with a small lead at half time and it wasn’t enough but you’ve got to give credit to the boys in the second half. They came out and to a man they worked and they worked to the very end. I thought that goal chance was going to come at the very end, but it didn’t. Overall, the lads in there are devastated.’

Flanagan detailed the amount of effort that went into preparing for the clash and maintains that despite the defeat, the young players have shown progress in the past few months that will stand to the county going forward.

‘We came together at the end of October/November, over 80 lads, and there was a real energy and enthusiasm within the group. They have put in a massive amount of work, they’d a successful enough league campaign where everyone got game time and everyone has developed which, I suppose, is the main thing.’