Dalton happy with Leinster MFC draw

WICKLOW Minor football manager, Patrick Dalton, has welcomed the news that will see his young charges pitted against Longford in the opening round of the 2020 Leinster Championship.

The Garden will welcome Longford to Aughrim on Saturday, October 17, although a throw-in time is yet to be announced. The winners of that opening round contest will meet Offaly on October 28.

Reacting to the draw, Dalton said that, although Longford would be a relatively unknown challenge, he considered the draw to eb a good one for his team. They do have somewhat of a history with Longford, having played and beaten them at under-16 level in 2019.

‘It is a good draw – please, God, it will be a good draw, we are not too sure. We don’t know a whole lot about Longford. We would have played them last year and beaten them, but a lot can change in a year. We wouldn’t know a whole lot about them, but we will be looking into it. We haven’t had many matches this year, practice or not and, because they weren’t in our initial group, we wouldn’t know a whole lot about them.

‘Avoiding the Dublins and the Meaths in the first round is good, anyway. The lads will have to work hard on it. A lot can change in a year, you never know who is in a squad or who isn’t in a squad even a year and a half now with how it has all dragged on. We still have a good squad, a big squad still there and we will be seeing how they all operate in the club championship.

Before they compete in the provincials, Dalton will have his eye on the club championship, which kicks off on Monday, July 20. This will represent an opportunity for Dalton to run the rule over possible additions to his squad, while also being able to assess the current panel’s fitness levels after the long break.

‘it will be about managing injuries. I have talked to other county managers, a few of their lads have already picked up injures in challenge games. We have looked at conditions of coming back from doing a lot of 5k runs or stuff like that, and back into contact now. There are going to be injuries along the way. That is probably going to determine our squad more than anything else.

‘Once they’re playing a lot of football, and in fairness, the club championship is structured in such a way that they are going to get plenty of games, so our challenge is when we get them back, getting them up to that higher pace in intercounty.

‘We won’t have long. it is a quick turnaround from the county final on September 20, up to October 17. We will have close to four weeks, but we will have to get plenty of games at higher pace to get them up to that.’