ANDY CAN’T WAIT FOR RED RETURN
ANDY McDonnell does not believe teams that have flouted training restrictions will have gained any major advantage over those that stuck to the rules during lockdown.
The Louth and Newtown Blues attacker, who returns to inter-county duty after taking a year out, insists Louth will be ready to launch their promotion bid when the Allianz Leagues kick-off on May 23rd.
Mickey Harte’s squad can return to full training from next Monday, April 19th and McDonnell can’t wait to get back at it.
‘Yeah, it’s been a long time coming,’ he says. ‘Doing your own training and doing it on your own is hard, but there’s a bit of light at the end of the tunnel now. We’re ready to go and we’re looking forward to it.’
McDonnell confirmed that
Louth have not trained since December, and while he didn’t want to be drawn into a discussion about the Dublin and Monaghan footballers, he feels that everyone will be more or less back on a level playing field by May 23rd.
‘I can see both sides. It’s not right some teams training and some sticking to it and I suppose there might be a fear of falling a bit behind the ones that did train, but I think we’ll be alright. When you have good players that have been keeping themselves right, you won’t be long getting up to speed. The only problem is that the games come very quick so you have to really knuckle down. We’ll be ready to go.
‘We have our (training) programme from Ciaran Sloane (strength and conditioning coach), so we’re doing our running and gym work and then you fit in a bit of ball work as well. The programmes there and everyone is sticking to it, but it does get hard to motivate yourself at times when you’re on your own, but we know we’ll be ready to hit the ground running on the 19th April. The games will be starting about three weeks later so you have to put the work in or you’ll be found out next week.’
On a personal level McDonnell could be forgiven for a being a bit more keen than most to get back on the training pitch having opted off last year’s panel. As it turned out he didn’t miss a lot of the opening five league games as Louth’s return to action in October was brief.
But while he found the year out to be refreshing, he is a little concerned about getting up to speed.
‘There were trial games at the back end of last year and I was very rusty. I had played with the Blues and that, but being out of inter-county for the year maybe you’re just doubting yourself a bit. When I get a bit of fitness work done and some ball work I should be alright. I enjoyed the year off, but I’m looking forward to it with Mickey and Gavin [Devlin] this year. Everyone was treated the same in terms of trials and luckily I got picked.’
While players have been their own individual programmes, the squad as a whole has been keeping in touch too, without getting into the nitty gritty of tactics and systems.
‘We do a Zoom meeting once a week and then we have the Whatsapp group. There’s been no meeting up at all so that’s going to be strange.
‘We’ve talked about working very hard to keep the ball and then working just as hard to win it back. Basically, don’t give it away, but if you do work as hard as you can to get it back. I’m sure we’ll get into tactics and that when we get back on the field, but the games will be in three weeks, so we’ll have to be ready to go.
‘We haven’t really discussed the training schedule either, it’s just back on the 19th and take it from there, but I doubt there’ll be any changing rooms available or meetings indoors.’
Trials apart, the Louth players haven’t had an opportunity to impress their legendary manager and McDonnell hopes that when natural instinct does kick in that it will give the team an extra bit of zing.
‘Yeah with Mickey’s history in the game and Gavin too, lads will be chomping at the bit to get going and impress them and hopefully all that energy will help with training.
‘There’s been nothing much to look forward to of late, so we can’t wait to just be going to training again and having the craic, so like I say I’m looking forward to it.’
In a normal year Louth’s League and Championship aspirations would be by and large placed on an equal footing. Holding firm in the Leagaue or securing promotion followed by a good run in Leinster and/or the Qualifiers.
But this year there will be no Qualifiers or Tailteann Cup and while a run in Leinster would be very welcome, McDonnell concedes that the League is the Holy Grail this summer.
‘Every team has goals, but we want to be promoted and get out of Division 4. It’s not going to be easy, we certainly don’t think we can just walk up on the day and beat these teams by 10 points. That’s not the case. It will take hard work by every single player.
‘But these teams are in Division 4 as well and really you’re there based on your performances the year before so in reality everyone who’s in Division 4 deserves it. There won’t be too much between the teams. We know what to expect, but we just have to concentrate on ourselves first and foremost and get the basics right. Obviously the lads will have their homework done too and that will come closer to the games.’
Plotting a path out of the bottom tier will be a new experience for Louth, but it will be for McDonnell, who missed out on the 2015 and 2016 campaigns.
‘I was in Australia, so I missed the promotion from Division 4 and I was back for the next promotion. But yeah I remember following the campaign and it was really tight, so
I don’t think this year will be any different.’
The pandemic aside, these are exciting times for Louth with over €1m recently raised for a brand new stadium in Dundalk and McDonnell feels it’s not before time.
‘The stadium is about 30 years in the making and it doesn’t matter where it is. Now that the draw has gone so well, hopefully it will be starting soon and done in a couple of years because it is badly needed.’
On the club scene, Newtown Blues have been boosted by the return of Colin Kelly to his old stomping ground, so it’s exciting times in Newfoundwell too. McDonnell has his fingers crossed that the club campaign gets the green light soon too.
‘Colin’s in this year with Darren Moore. It was a poor year last year so we’ll hopefully rectify that. I feel sorry for club players because they’re training away on their own without knowing when it’s coming back. But hopefully by the time the inter-county finishes the club will be allowed to come back, or if it’s sooner even better. Hopefully from Louth’s point of view we’ll be playing as long as possible and it’d be great to get straight back into the club [action] then,’ he adds.
BUT THESE TEAMS ARE IN DIVISION 4 AS WELL AND REALLY YOU’RE THERE BASED ON YOUR PERFORMANCES THE YEAR BEFORE SO IN REALITY EVERYONE WHO’S IN DIVISION 4 DESERVES IT. THERE WON’T BE TOO MUCH BETWEEN THE TEAMS.