BIG MAC GETS HIS KICKS FROM PLAYING IN DIVISION 2
THE only goals the Louth camp have been discussing in the build-up to their Division 2 opener next Sunday relate to planting the ball in the Down net.
As far as Jim McEneaney is concerned there’s no point setting targets at this stage, and while many analysts will no doubt be predicting a swift return to the third tier there’s been no mention within the squad of the ‘r’ word - or indeed its cousin beginning with ‘p’.
At 27, McEneaney is one of Louth’s most seasoned campaigners and was part of the panel that comfortably stayed up in Division 2 at the end of the 2012 campaign while Meath and Monaghan went down. However, he was making no bold predictions about this year as he looked ahead to the challenges that lie ahead, beginning with Down’s visit to Drogheda.
‘I suppose when we were in Division 2 before [in 2012 and 2013] I hadn’t got to experience anything else and it was a high enough standard,’ he recalled. ‘We were favourites for the drop, but we stayed up. The same is expected of us now and we want to try and prove people wrong.
‘The teams in Division 2 have operated at this level more often than us - the likes of Cork - and Cavan and Roscommon are strong as well, but it’s the standard we want to play at.
‘It will be one game at a time. The reality is that we’ve been thinking we need to beat Down in Drogheda and that’s not a cliché.
‘We’ve not said we want to get promotion. We’re concentrating on Down. We’ve been in talking about it for a good while. We’ve had games to prepare for it with the O’Byrne Cup and challenges, but ultimately it’s that game you are targeting and we won’t really know where we are at until then.
‘When that game’s over we’ll be getting ready to beat Cavan in Breffni. It’ll be like that every week.’
Given that the squad are still acclimatising to the fresh thinking of Pete McGrath and his management team compared to the Colin Kelly era, there has been little focus to date on the perceived strengths and weaknesses of Down who made a something of a breakthrough last summer by contesting the Ulster Championship Final for the first time in five years.
‘That’s not in a good or bad way, and during the week we will be looking at them, but there’s a new focus to the panel this year, Pete is new and there’s a new management team,’ McEneaney pointed out.
‘Even though we are back since November it’s still not a massive amount of time to be looking at the opposition. We’re trying to get set up the way we want, working on the things we’ve been working on and trying to put it into practice.
‘Pete is a different kind of character than Colin [Kelly]. He has really tried to instil a belief in us that we are in Division 2 for a reason, that we got there on merit.’
Overall, McEneaney can’t wait to pit his wits at this level against the likes of Cork and Roscommon.
‘I’m looking forward to it. The same as last year when we were up from Division 4, you are coming up against better-quality teams and it’s a good way to see the standard,’ said the Geraldines forward.
‘We are still a relatively young team - not necessarily myself! - and there’s a lot of younger lads who are in their first, second or third year and it’s good for them to get a judge of where they are at.
‘You’ve seen them at club level and played against them, when you meet them up in Darver you wonder how they’ll get on and a lot of them have really pushed on.
‘I suppose you do feel a responsibility to help younger lads and give them advice. When I came in I was 22 and there was an awful lot of lads who had been there for years, but there’s a great mix now.
‘You don’t want anyone taking your spot, but everyone gets on really well and that’s important if you’re going to be successful.’
Turning his thoughts back to next Sunday, McEneaney is predicting a high-tempo encounter, perhaps a fiery one - although at this time of year the Drogheda pitch is unlikely to lend itself to attractive football.
‘It’s going to be tight, it’s a local derby and us and Down is always fiercely competitive. We played them in a friendly last year before Christmas and even that boiled over, so I think it will be an edgy affair.
‘With Pete McGrath and Declan Mussen being Down men they’ll want us to put in a good performance and we want to put a stamp on Division 2 as early as we can because it’s important to hit the ground running.
‘I’m sure I’m not going out on a limb by saying that the pitch in Drogheda is going to be soft, the way the weather has been, so it’ll probably turn into a bit of a dogfight.
‘It might come down to the last five or 10 minutes and who has the character to dig out a result.’