Emotional Kelly heaps praise on his Wee heroes
LOUTH boss Colin Kelly hailed his Wee heroes in Thurles on Sunday as the Reds defied the odds yet again to clinch back-toback promotions.
After a 14-point hammering against Armagh, Louth looked in serious trouble at half-time, when they were lucky to adjourn just two points down, but they were a transformed team after the break and Kelly could not conceal his pride afterwards.
‘They were immense. Yes, our first half performance was poor, there’s no getting away from that, but we sat down and had a good chat with ourselves at half time and the second half performance was absolutely outstanding and I have to say they are a credit.
‘We said at half time how long more do you need? Do we need another half an hour out there in that environment before you realise you are as good as these teams? We played none in the first half. We just weren’t working hard enough and that is not this team that is not the traits within the team. There was a few harsh words with a few individuals at half time but they came out in the second half and were just immense.
’It is not so much a dressing down. Look I’d be a heart on the sleeve guy a lot of the time and times like these you can get pretty emotional. But we just said listen lads why go up the road on the bus after regretting something.’
Kelly felt the first score of the second-half was vital and he felt some of the individual displays from his team were outstanding.
‘I thought James Stewart was immense today, he was absolutely outstanding and he set the tone the second half [with his point]. I think another big turning point in the game was the black card Declan Byrne took for the team. I can’t say how important that was. Overall the commitment levels the lads showed in the second half were immense and special mention to Eoin O’Connor I thought he kicked some tremendous scores and he’s a guy we could have been doing with this last 18 months -
Less than 18 months ago we played London in the first match of the National League in Division 4 in Darver and we were atrocious that day and got out by the skin of our teeth. In 18 months we’ve transformed into a Division 2 team who is now rightly taking their place in the top half of the country
but he’s back now with a bang.’
While most people wouldn’t have given Louth a chance of upsetting the odds against last year’s All-Ireland semi-finalists, Kelly was confident before the game.
‘We did a good bit of analysis and Antrim came here and could have won, Sligo beat them, Longford put 18 points on them here a couple of weeks ago. Offaly scored heavily against them too so I said why not us
‘I knew we could get into that 15/16/17 scores zone and I knew that defensively we’d be good enough, if we held anything like the system we did in the first few rounds of the league.’
Reminded about how far his team have come since their last trip to Tipp in 2015, Kelly heaped even more praise on his players.
‘Less than 18 months ago we played London in the first match of the National League in Division 4 in Darver and we were atrocious that day and got out by the skin of our teeth. In 18 months we’ve transformed into a Division 2 team who is now rightly taking their place in the top half of the country. This was probably a five year project to get back up the divisions, but in two years now they’ve come from Division 4 into Division 2 with a game to spare.
‘They are a credit to deal with. There is a drive and a passion about the squad which is second to none.’
Louth now have a League final to look forward to in Croke Park against the winners of Sunday’s clash against Tipp or Armagh but in the meantime, Kelly is expected to give some deserving game-time to his fringe players against Sligo on Sunday in Drogheda.
The manager didn’t need to be reminded that his team have played better on the road this season than at home and he called on everyone to pull together and make the re-development of Drogheda a reality.
‘We all know where it’s at. There is a process therein terms of our county grounds in Drogheda. It is a place I hold very close to my heart, but it is an old ground and it is a ground that is managed by a club.
‘We need to up our ante as a county. The players in the dressing room are upping the ante they’ve given a massive two year commitment to get us back up where we need to be. We need to have the facilities now to go and do it.
‘So whatever has to be done let’s get it done as quick as we can. When you come into stadiums like this and you see what’s on offer. We went to Tullamore which was fantastic, Portlaoise was fantastic, Semple Stadium is fantastic. So let’s get the ball rolling and use the goodwill for the county and make Drogheda a really special place to play football.’