Little rest for Louth over the festive period

O’BYRNE CUP Exciting U-21 final on the cards

THE Christmas break will be short and sweet for Pete McGrath and his Louth players with Leinster Council scheduling their O’Byrne Cup opener against Longford for December 30th.

A new-look inter-county and streamlined inter-county season has forced provincial bodies to bring their subsidiary competitions forward by a week, meaning the Reds will be in competitive action before 2017 is even out.

On the plus-side the season opener is a home match for Louth and, with college teams not taking part in the O’Byrne Cup this year, they will only have two group games to negotiate.

The second and third rounds have not yet been fixed, but Louth will be out again on either Wednesday 3rd or Sunday 7th of January against Kildare, the third team in their section.

There are four groups in total THE last big trophy of 2017 is up for grabs on Saturday evening when Newtown Blues face the formidable amalgamation of Mattock Rangers, Hunterstown Rovers and Glen Emmets in Darver (6.00).

With potentially seven starters from the senior championship final in their line-up, the Blues will be favourites for the title, but they face a combination side that has blitzed all-comers en route to the final.

Under the newly-appointed Castleknock boss Colm Nally, the Blues will be back-boned with the winners progressing to the semi-finals on January 14th. The final is pencilled in for the 21st, while Louth’s National League opener against Down is fixed for January 28th.

The Leinster CCC have also confirmed that Louth’s Leinster Championship first round date with Carlow will be played as a double-header alongside Wicklow’s clash with Offaly in Portlaoise. There is a strong possibility the games could be played on Saturday, May 12th, but a date and time have yet to be confirmed.

Meanwhile, Leinster Council have revealed the format and draws for the new minor and under-20 grades for next season.

The Leinster Minor Football Championship - which is now for U-17 players - will consist of two round-robin sections and Louth face a daunting task in Group 1 where they will face Dublin, Meath, Westmeath, Offaly and Wicklow. by the likes of Kevin Carr, Ross Nally, Ciaran Downey, Emmet Carolan and Fergal Donohue.

They eased past town rivals Oliver Plunketts in the opening round before battling to a 1-12 to 0-13 win over one of their fellow competition favourites Naomh Mairtin in the quarter-finals.

A commanding 1-18 to 0-5 win over St Bride’s booked their spot in Saturday’s decider, where they will have to curb the combination side’s

Group 2 consists of just five teams: Wexford, Laois, Longford, Kildare and Carlow.

Only the winners and runners-up will emerge from each group, but it’s expected there will be a ‘B’ or Shield competition for the rest.

Louth U-20s received a kinder draw against Offaly and Carlow in a new three-team group format. The U-20 competition has been moved to the summer months with players picked in Pete McGrath’s Leinster Championship and All-Ireland Qualifier matchday panels ruled out.

The Louth county board still have to ratify U-17 and U-20 managers, but Wayne Kierans is the front-runner for the U-20 job, while the current U-16 management team of Tom Rooney, Malcolm McDonnell and Sean Hand are believed to be keen continue with the minor squad. considerable goal threat if they are to lift the cup.

Spear-headed in attack by Hunterstown’s Ryan Burns and Mattock’s Aaron O’Brien, the mid-Louth outfit have plundered 11 goals in just three games racking up 5-22 against O’Connell’s/Stabannon/Mitchels, 3-21 against Geraldines and 3-13 in their semi-final win over holders Cooley Kickhams.

As well as Burns and Ward, they will be looking to Ryan Ward and James and Alan Carragher for big performances.