‘Will’ Anthony be the man to fill Maguire’s sweeper role
ONE of the big challenges facing Colin Kelly and his players this summer will be to fill Derek Maguire’s considerable boots.
The sweeper role the Young Irelands man has made his own over the last two seasons was a vital ingredient in Louth’s backto-back promotions.
But Kelly must now identify a successor, and it will be down to his troops to make it work.
The two most likely candidates are James Stewart and Anthony Williams, both of whom can provide similar defensive nous and attacking thrust.
They played most of the National League campaign alongside Maguire at right and left wing back respectively, so if one of them does get the nod, Adrian Reid’s fitness will then be a factor for Kelly in terms of covering one of those wing back positions.
Maguire has made the role look easy at times and that may explain why Williams isn’t jumping the queue to take on the sweeper mantle.
‘I’m sure Colin has been looking hard at who can fill that role. Hopefully it’s not me, I’m happy enough marking my man out on the wing,’ the Dreadnots man joked.
‘But I’ll be happy enough to get a jersey against Wicklow, so I’ll play wherever. But whoever gets the nod, hopefully they can step up to the mark.
‘Derek was player of the year last year, and he’s also a leader on the training pitch, so it’s a massive loss. But there’s a lot of lads there just itching to get in and someone will get their chance now - close a door and open a window, as they say!’
Having missed Louth’s biggest game of the year to date in Thurles through suspension, Williams is looking forward to the Championship even more than ever.
‘I’m raring to go because it was very tough heading down to Thurles and not being involved. I just wanted to be out on the pitch that day, especially when the game was in the balance.’
Williams is hoping tight games like that will stand to the Reds on Sunday and he expects that the lessons learned from recent defeats will be invaluable too.
‘We’ve been playing good teams. Tipperary twice and Armagh a few weeks apart are good teams to be playing, especially Tipp on big pitches in Thurles and Croke Park. We lost two of those games, but you actually learn more in defeat. You don’t gain a whole lot analysing victories, but when you lose you address the problems and learn from them and thankfully the recent defeats haven’t been too costly. It would have been nice to win in Croke Park, but promotion was the big target.
‘Also playing in Parnell Park won’t be new because we know what it’s like from playing Meath there last year.’
One thing Louth can’t do anything about is their red-hot favourite tag. Wicklow finished second from bottom of Division 4 with only London below them, so anything other than a Wee County victory would be massive shock.
‘It’s never nice going in as favourites,’ Williams concedes. ‘When you go in as the underdog like Wicklow will be you can’t really lose. No-one is expecting you to win, and if you do it’s a massive upset.
‘So we know all the pressure is going to be on us, especially after winning promotion to Division 2. We just have to be prepared for that and make sure we go through to the next round.’
The defender is keen to stress that no-one in the Louth camp is looking beyond Wicklow, but questions about the prize for a victory on Sunday are inevitable.
It will also be a big motivator for the men in red.
‘What can you say, we want to play Meath again. We still feel we left it behind us last year. We feel we’re a better team this year, better built and playing better football, so we’re raring to get a go at them. But we have to beat Wicklow first so there’s no point even thinking about Meath at this stage.