Old rivals all set for Croker showdown
LOUTH junior boss Ollie McDonnell is hoping the Croke Park factor can inspire his troops to a rare victory over the old Royal enemy on Sunday.
The former Reds hitman was on the wrong end of many a painful defeat to Meath during his illustrious career, but he is backing his players to put it up to their neighbours in the Leinster semi-final curtain-raiser.
With Dublin set to face Westmeath at 4pm there should be a big crowd at headquarters by the business end of the derby showdown and McDonnell feels that if Louth are still in contention at that stage it could help to nudge his team over the line.
‘That it’s in Croke Park has transformed the whole thing alright and it definitely gave us a wee bit more incentive going into the Wicklow game. It changed the dynamic of the competition for us.
‘I’m sure it will be fairly empty at first but by the end there should be a good crowd coming in and it will create a good atmosphere. Hopefully by that stage we’re still in contention and I’m sure the Dubs will be shouting for us! That could help in the closing stages.’
With eligibility rules changing for Louth for Louth this season, McDonnell and his selectors could only pick players from Intermediate and Junior clubs last season, but they still managed to put together a strong panel.
‘We had to scour around that little bit more. For the last few years it’s been used for U21s coming through and lads who are on the fringes of the senior panel, but this year we had to go and search for the best available in intermediate and junior. To be fair everyone we approached was enthusiastic and wanted to play.
‘You’re lokking for a bit of quality and Conall O’Hanlon and Willie Woods definitely give you that. Conall would probably be in the senior set-up if it wasn’t for the injuries he’s been plagued with over the years and Willie was knocking on the door before he was suspended last year and I’m sure he’ll be looked at closely again now with the form he’s in at the moment.’
McDonnell is expecting atypically tough Meath challenge on Sunday, but he he feels the opening round win over Longford will stand to his team.
‘It’s hard to get a handle on teams because it changes so much from year to year, but we’re up to speed on them. They swapped the team about a bit between their two games, but they had a core of a few main men. They have four or five Colmcille’s lads and Colm Nally was with them, so we know what to expect.
‘They’ll have a bit more quality than we faced against Wicklow, but in fairness to our lads the Longford win was a good victory. They don’t have restrictions on who they can play and that fella Robbie Smyth that played against the seniors on Saturday played against us too and we found him hard to handle. So that was a really good win.
‘Louth has performed well at intermediate club level over the last few years, so you would hope that would stand to us too.
With the exception of Niall McCabe, McDonnell hopes to have a full deck to draw from on Sunday, but he will have to seat it our for another 24 hours.
‘There’s a full round of club games on Tuesday night so hopefully we won’t have any more knocks or injuries. ‘Niall McCabe missed the Wicklow game with a bad ankle sprain and he’s in a race against time for Sunday.
‘Kieran Lenihan felt his hamstring a bit against Wicklow so we took him off at half-time and he seems to be okay now.
‘Burt they alll want to play in Croke Park. There’s a great buzz now and they’re really looking forward to it. It would be nice to lift the trophy at the end of it all now.’