Reds needed a better start insists manager

LOUTH’S powers of recovery have been a major feature of their historic run to a Leinster final, but manager Wayne Kierans conceded that teams like Dublin just don’t give you a second chance.

The Reds came from seven points down agains Offaly and Wexford to win both games by the minimum margin, but when Dublin lead by 2-3 to 0-2 on Sunday, the writing was on the wall.

‘All through the campaign we were giving other teams good starts, the one day we couldn’t afford to give a team as good as Dublin a start was today.

‘We were seven or eight points down inside the first fifteen minutes. We found it very hard to build attacks and break their lines. They are a very, very physically strong minor team. Looking at them there at the end they are as well conditioned as senior footballers. That’s something maybe we can learn from.’

Kierans felt his team made a better fist of things after the break, but ultimately his team were punished for their mistakes in the early stages.

‘They stuck in there and the second half was a bit better, but we were second best in fairness.

‘Everytime they made a mistake in the middle of the field they were transitioning really fast and they really punished us. We couldn’t handle their runners.

‘They got goals and only for our ‘keeper (Alan McGauley) who actually injured himself saving a goal we could have conceded a couple more.

‘When we did settle in the middle of the first half we got a few nice scores and free kicks, but we never really looked like scoring a goal which is absolutely massive at this level, a goal would have helped us a lot but it just wasn’t to be.’

It wasn’t all doom and gloom form the manager’s point of view as he felt a number of players did rise to the occasion, while the team as a whole will learn from the experience ahead of an All-Ireland quarter-final date with Kerry on August 5th.

‘Some of out better players were actually some of our younger lads. We have two lads who aren’t 17 until Novemeber. One of our midfielders he’s a determined player and he tried his hardest and our little guy on the forty Ciaran Keenan.

‘We had some good performances and maybe some other lads will be disappointed with their performances but that’s okay, everybody is not expected to be right at the top level all the time. But we needed for everybody to be at the top of their game today to compete.

‘There is absolutely nothing negative about playing Kerry in an All-Ireland quarter-final. August football for Louth doesn’t happen that often, so there is absolutely nothing negative about that.

‘Obviously it will be a very tough game, they are really strong at this level but yeah we’ll look forward to that. I’ll have to pick them up and go do as best we can against them.’

Even in defeat no-one will be able take the achievement of reaching a first final in 46 years from Louth and Kierans hopes it paves the way for more teams coming through.

‘To be fair it was all about getting here really and bridging the gap. There is an even bigger gap since we won it last (1953), so unfortunately we didn’t bridge that gap but the fact that we are here shows there is definitely progress being made. I suppose we all have to stick together now and keep stepping up to the mark and making sure it is not another 46 years before we are here again.’