Awful display leaves Reds with questions to answer

WHILE there were no points gathered from our opening National League games in Division Three versus Longford, Tipperary, Offaly or Derry, there were at least some positives to be taken from the performances.

At various stages during those fixtures we played some decent passages of football where the effort and application of the players could not be faulted.

National League matches away from home can sometimes be difficult affairs, therefore although disappointed with the results, I was reasonably heartened by our performances in Longford and Derry.

Progress, or in our case survival in a competitive division like this, is largely dependent on home form. You simply must get points from your home games, and with the luxury of four home fixtures in the 2020 campaign our destiny was within our control.

Individual errors however and some questionable decision-making I felt cost us against Tipp and Offaly. Neither opposition were world-beaters and after working ourselves into winning positions in both games we could and probably should have closed them out.

On another day our reward would have been three or maybe even four points registered rather than zero. However it wasn’t to be and the defeat in Celtic Park the weekend before last all but confirmed our relegation to the bottom tier.

Sunday’s outing on the firmer Dowdallshill surface, away from the poor run of form in Drogheda, was a perfect opportunity to get the show back on the road. A chance to try out new things, put in a full 70-minute performance and hopefully secure a much-needed, morale-boosting victory in advance of the division’s glamour tie against Cork in Pairc Ui Chaoimh and the derby with neighbours Down.

Thirty minutes before throw in I began to worry as I watched Leitrim go through their improvised warm-up on the spectators bank. Their conditioning was excellent and they didn’t appear to lack for speed, agility or skill. Former Louth selector and Cavan manager Terry Hyland, who is in his second year as Leitrim boss, appeared to have his charges in good shape for this bottom-of-the-table clash.

Louth had the elements at their backs as Mayo’s Adrian Devenney got proceedings under way, but our line-up and shape suggested another very cautionary approach.

Again we operated for large parts with just one man inside their 20-metre line, choosing to drop our talented attacking options into a crowded middle third of the pitch, a decision you felt would cost us heavily in the second period.

What followed was one of the worst performances from a Louth team I can remember.

There were no positives to take from our performance. We were beaten comprehensively in all areas of the pitch, with no Louth player getting the better of his man or winning an individual battle. The malaise of basic handling errors, kicking away possession, misplaced hand passes, poor decision-making, losing the ball in contact and complete lack of confidence spread through the team like wildfire. At no stage did we look destined for victory.

It’s inevitable that players’ confidence will suffer badly during a long losing run like this. Sunday’s body language and general demeanour also suggested a lost confidence in the system they’re being asked to deploy and the knock-on effect was there for all to witness.

These lads haven’t become bad players overnight. We’ve all seen most of them perform at much higher levels with their clubs in the recent past. But for the moment many of them appear lost or stifled in a game structure that is crumbling around them. Only full back Dermot Campbell emerged with some credit, with the other chink of light being Ciaran Byrne’s long-awaited return from injury in the closing minutes

I’ve been a player and stood on the sidelines as part of a county management team during good times and bad. I’m well aware of how difficult both jobs can be, especially when results are going against you.

No player, no manager or backroom team member goes out to give anything other than 100%. Everyone’s intentions are honourable, but there comes a time when you must question the direction you’re heading.

Why are we persisting with a system of play which clearly hasn’t worked for a long period of time and yielded so few results? Why are so many players consistently underperforming when we know they possess the skills and talent to compete at this level?

Why have we suffered so many soft tissue injuries during this campaign and appear much less conditioned in terms of strength and fitness than Leitrim, a county with similar or lesser resources to Louth?

These are only some of the hard questions players, management and backroom teams must ask of themselves in the coming week. The answers and solutions must come from within.