Wee County boss keeps cards close to his chest
LOUTH manager Wayne Kierans was vague about his future at the helm of the senior side after their exit to Longford in the Leinster Championship on Sunday.
With a review of his term now due, Kierans insisted that it will be carried out the best way possible his end, but gave no real indication either way about his own hopes and intentions.
‘From my point of view, we just follow the process, simple as that, and the process will be followed in the right way, on my part. I’ve to talk to the County Board and see what they want to do. There’ll be no rash decisions on my part.’
Kierans will no doubt cite balance in that review and said as much afterwards in his own synopsis of a year in which Louth picked up one league win in relegation to Division 4, but blooded some exciting talent also.
‘I’d be the first person to say that it should be judged on the overall season and we didn’t have a good league. There’s no hiding away from that and I’ll take responsibility for it.
‘The small crumb of hope is that there were a lot of new players taken in after the break, some new players introduced. I think we should be positive going forward, and we never are.
‘I know all those players really well. They’ve come up with me from minor and it was amazing to see so many of them playing championship football. That’s certainly the positive; Kiki (Ciarán Keenan) will learn to deal with the physicality of it, so will Conor (Whelan). Sam (Mulroy) is there already, Liam (Jackson), Gerry Garland and Dan (Corcoran) are there already too.’
Kierans highlighted Sam Mulroy for further praise. On a day when his side lacked fortitude, Mulroy showed tremendous leadership, something Kierans himself earmarked four years ago.
‘He was my minor captain in 2016 and to see how he’s developed . . . it is not outlandish to say that he’s one of the best forwards in the province. He’s a great lad and he will be a big leader for Louth for years to come.
‘Not only is he talented, he has a great attitude, and so does Liam Jackson, Dan Corcoran, Gerry Garland. They’re good players and great lads. In the overall picture, that’s a positive.’
The timing of the year, the conditions, the setting and lack of ambience from no supporters present, gave the new normal occasion more of a pre-season feel to it rather than championship at times.
‘It didn’t feel like O’Byrne Cup to me,’ Kierans quipped as he summarised where his side lost the game.
‘It was a tough year, but because we got that wee bit of momentum last week with a really good performance in Dundalk (against Down), I knew we could perform today. Whatever about how we performed all year, we probably deserve a little bit of stick, but today I couldn’t really have asked for much more from the players. It was literally the drop of a ball; another day that could go with us.
‘You can analyse all you want about players, structures and subs, but all it really was was a bounce of a ball. One little thing didn’t go our way; there was nothing else in the game. The conditions were atrocious for both teams, a tough day to play championship football.
‘We’re not a free-scoring team and Sam scored everything today. That’s something we need to improve on and we had a couple of chances at the start of the second half.
‘We’re not clinical enough and they probably edged us in that department.’