Louth are down to the bare bones
ALLIANZ FOOTBALL LEAGUE
PETE McGrath insists there will no more defections from his Louth panel ahead of the Championship after being forced to name just 20 players for Saturday’s clash with Meath at the Gaelic Grounds in Drogheda.
The clash was a dead-rubber in terms of league status from Louth’s point of view, but Meath badly needed the two points to guarantee their survival in Division 2 of the Allianz Football League.
Louth stuck with their neighbours for long periods of a scrappy and ill-disciplined contest, but a second-half surge from the Royals left the Reds pointless after seven straight defeats.
After a week that saw plans to redevelop Drogheda shelved by Croke Park officials, Pete McGrath and his players now head into the championship low on morale and confidence - an personnel it would seem.
‘We certainly won’t be losing anyone else because if we lose any more we’ll be down to the floorboards,’ he quipped after the derby defeat.
‘We haven’t been helped by injuries at different times and the fact that a number of people retired from last year. Someone said that the team that played Tipperary this year had only four players from the team that played them down there last year. If that’s the case, it’s a pretty big number to be haemorrhaging.’
‘With retirements, injuries, emigration, for whatever reason, a county like Louth cannot sustain that and hope to keep playing at a certain level. So yes, there is no doubt (it had an effect on performances) and the evidence is there.
‘It doesn’t take a mastermind to see that this division for this group of players has been a step too far. It has been a step too far too soon, but hopefull they’ll be better for the experience.’
‘Some young players came through strongly, none more so than Emmet Carolan who has been a brilliant full-back for us and was brilliant again today.
‘James Craven has been a plus and he missed today with a hamstring injury. Ryan Burns missed today’s game so we had problems coming into the game and when you have only got five subs, four of which came on and when your other sub is your goalkeeping coach...that shouldn’t happen at this level of football. It just shouldn’t happen at this level of football.’
But McGrath is remaining defiant, insisting that everyone has to keep the chin up and move on.
‘That’s the league gone. I it’s very disappointing to finish pointless. We have just got to park it - players and management - and move forward in the next six weeks.
‘Whether or not some players come in, we’ll talk about that, but I don’t think there is a busload of players waiting. I don’t think they’re out there. It’s more a question of getting the players fit.
‘It’s about getting those lads fit and ready and if that’s the case that would improve our options quite considerably, particularly in the forward line,’ he added.