Pete ponders future after demoralising Leitrim defeat
INTER-COUNTY
LOUTH boss Pete McGrath says he will take time to consider his position and consult with the county board before making a decision on his future.
However, after suffering a ninth defeat from 10 league and championship outings since taking the helm, and admitting that he was working off a panel of just 24 players at times this season, it seems increasingly unlikely that the Down native will look to extend his reign.
In a frank assessment of his time in charge following a 10-point defeat to Leitrim on Saturday night, he said he has to ask himself is club players really want to play for Louth.
‘I’ll take a bit of time to consider. I’ve had a year here and I’ve had a look around to see what the attitudes are and what the players are like. We had difficulties during the year, a lot of players left the squad and we were down to basically 24 of a panel. That’s disappointing but those who stayed were very committed and I’d have nothing but respect for them. But with regard to my own future I will take a bit of time to think about it.
‘I’ll make a decision that I feel is in the best interests of Louth football and my own interest obviously. The county board have been very good, the training facilities in Louth are excellent. Whatever we asked for we got.
‘But it was disappointing that so many players pulled out of the panel. I have to ask myself what is the attitude of club players toward the county team. Is there that real desire to play for Louth and put other things aside.
‘When you have people for a variety of reasons leaving the squad you have to question that and people who didn’t commit at the start of the year at all. I’ll consider that and I’ll consider what potential I think is there.
‘We’ve taken young players in, but if you look at the teams in Division 3 next year Down, Longford, Carlow, Sligo, they’re all quite formidable teams at that level. So I have to consider all that whenever I ask are the players there to commit and to be a real force in Division 3 and build for the Championship.
‘I have to look at that very objectively and very pragmatically. There’s no point in being romantic about it and say ah the players are there because I don’t know Louth football well enough to say they are there. I’ll weigh up all of those things over the next couple of days and speak to county officials. Whatever decision I make - or whatever decision they make - we’ll take it from there.’
Despite appearing to criticise his players publicly after a heavy Leinster Championship defeat to Carlow in May, McGrath felt they gave their all on Saturday night.
He felt the 28th minute sending off of James Craven had a major bearing on the game, however.
‘We were scoring freely early on and in that opening 15 or 20 minutes I thought we were by far the better team. We actually missed a number of scoring opportunities by shooting a bit prematurely, so we could have been maybe eight or nine ahead.
‘The sending-off had a major bearing on the game and there was only a point in it at half-time. They got the initiative at the very start of the second-half, kicked a few points and they had all the momentum and the crowd behind them. A lot of what they touched turned to gold and we hit the post twice and could have had two or possibly three goals in the second half.
‘In the end we were beaten quite comprehensively, but I’d give a lot of credit to Leitrim and in fairness to my own team in the second half they kept on playing.
‘After the Carlow game I thought it was legitimate to question ambition and appetite and desire in the second half. It wasn’t meant as a criticism, it was a reality, but tonight they kept going against very difficult odds and with a bit of luck they might have had two goals and it might have given the game a different dynamic. The goals didn’t come and Leitrim were on a roll and they deserved their win and good luck to them in the next round.’
The former All-Ireland winner had no complaints about Craven’s sending off.
‘The sending off was justified. He did it, spur of the moment, but James Craven has been a very committed player all year and he’s improved enormously. It was just a moment of madness or impetuousness, call it what you like. It had a major bearing on the dynamic of the game and what happened thereafter, but these things happen and players are only human, it’s spur of the moment, but then it’s too late.
‘Over the course of the season this team has had very little luck. You watch all these games closely and wee things that happen in National League. Small things have turned matches in the oppositions favour and again tonight. For 20 minutes we were playing exceptionally well, moving the ball, kicking good scores. Maybe a bit of bad decision making and shooting too early let them back in for a spell but then the sending-off [happened] and the whole thing is turned on its head. That’s football, it’s heartbreaking and devastating.
Not only were Louth forced to toil in searing heat with 14 men, McGrath felt the red card and an earlier black for Ronan Holcroft damaged their gameplan too.
‘We had to change the shape in the sense that Ryan Burns is a target man and we had to push Ryan Burns out to the middle third [instead of Ronan Holcroft]. But Conor had been so effective in the early stages that we decided to push him back up. But you’re trying to make decisions to alter the course of the game and it’s getting away from you, but all the while you’re a man down. We had to pull Ciaran Downey back to wing back which is foreign to him. So overall the sending off cut very deep and had a major bearing on the outcome.
‘When the dust settles we’re put of the championship and it’s bitterly disappointing. It rocks you right back because after the start we made and the way we were playing you’d have said we’re on a good thing here tonight. But maybe events conspired against us to a point.’
I’ll make a decision that I feel is in the best interests of Louth football and my own interest obviously.
LOUTH ladies will be hoping to lift the mood in the Wee County this weekend when they take on Carlow in the Leinster Junior Championship final in Dr Cullen Park.
Just a matter of weeks after the sudden passing of team manager Micheal McKeown, the Reds will be going all out to honour their former mentor with some silverware, having lost the Division 4 League final earlier in the season.
While Louth will be slight favourites to beat Carlow in Sunday’s Leinster Final in Dr.Cullen Park, it is certain to be a much closer contest than when these two counties last met in the provincial decider of 2015.
On that occassion the Wee County ran out convincing winners on a 8-17 to 0-7 scoreline.
Kate Flood who captains Louth on Sunday was in top form hitting 5-6 of the Reds total.
These sides have already met in the League this year in Darver with the home side emerging victorious by 2-9 to 1-6.
Louth won five of their seven League games to earn a place in the final against Wicklow,but on that ocassion a below par Louth were well beaten by a very impressive Garden County.
Both sides had big wins over Kilkenny to guarantee a place in Sundays decider with Louth’s game being overshadowed by the news that their manager Miceal McKeown has been taken seriously ill on the morning of the match.
Just over forty eight hours later came the sad news that the popular and highly respected Micheal had passed away
Louth have kept Micheal’s backroom team in place with Darren Bishop, Brigid Russell, Lorraine King, Gerry Reilly, and Pat Carr remaining on board for the remainder of the season.
They go into Sunday’s match with a number of players on the injury list. Deirbhilla Osborne, Rebecaa Carr and Emma Singleton are extremely doubtful, while key defender Rachel Kane