Injuries a concern for Louth

LOUTH boss Colin Kelly is waiting on a number of players to prove their fitness before naming his team to play Wicklow on Sunday at Parnell Park (3.00).

Liam Dullaghan (hamstring) and Andy McDonnell (knee) are definitely out of the Leinster Champiopnship opener, but there are also big question marks over Declan Byrne, John Bingham, Kurt Murphy and Derek Crilly.

Byrne and Bingham played extensively in the National League and Murphy also featured prominently in the final few games so Kelly will be hoping the trio can pull through.

There was good news for the Louth camp on Adrian Reid’s knee injury with the Mattock Rangers coming through a couple of challenge matches.

‘Adrian should be okay, he has some pain on the medial ligament, but it won’t stop him playing,” Kelly told the Drogheda Independent.

‘Of the other ones I’d say Decky (Byrne) is probably the biggest concern at this stage. He has a back niggle, but there were quite a few who sat out training at the weekend with various different knocks and niggles so we won’t have a clear picture until Tuesday night.

Kelly insists his team won’t be underestimating Wicklow despite the Garden county’s poor showing in Division 4 of the National League.

‘Historically they have experienced poor league campaigns like this year and then bounced back with some very decent championship performances. They gave Laois a good game last year the day we played Carlow in Portlaoise and that was a after having a mediocre league campaign, so we won’t be underestimating them.

‘If you look at their results in the league they only lost by a goal to Wexford and put it up to Westmeath and they both won promotion with a bit to spare.

‘They seemed to be in most of their games until the 50-minute mark, so that maybe suggests their fitness level weren’t as high as other teams, but that is something they may have addressed in the meantime. We have no way of knowing what their training plan was, so we have to be prepared.

‘Our message to the players is to bring the same intensity to it that they brought to their league games and if they do that they will be hard to live with.

‘It would be irresponsible of me not to do extensive homework on Wicklow, but at the same time it’s down to us and what we bring to the table.

‘I trust our lads to rise to the challenge and not get caught out by complacency. They need to keep the intensity and pace high. Mentally I think they’re in a good place after the National League.’

Kelly feels the Reds will have to watch out for the likes of Darren Hayden, Dean Healy, Seanie Furlong and John McGrath.