Grimes back in Louth panel for NFL opener

PETE McGrath will be attempting to engineer an opening-round National League victory over his native Down for a second consecutive year when he leads Louth into battle in Drogheda next Sunday (2pm).

The Rostrevor clubman, manager of the 1991 and ‘94 All-Ireland-winning Down teams, masterminded a nine-point victory for Fermanagh in Newry 12 months ago and knows all too well the importance of his new team getting off to a winning start after their promotion to Division 2.

The Erne County were in fact relegated despite that superb start, while Down stayed up, but McGrath still feels that a strong start could be pivotal in terms of Louth’s prospects of holding their own in the second terms of objectives, we will be looking at each game as an individual entity, but with three home games out of seven we have to do our best to maximise those and our first game is at home,’ the manager pointed out.

‘Any campaign, the first game has always got added significance, because the players, management and the group want to make a very strong, forceful statement about our intent and the only way to do that is in a match.

‘Quite often, it can also set the standard and the tone for the season ahead.

‘But I think we are where we need to be going into the game. Our training has been good, it’s been intense and concentrating on the important things. We trained on Tuesday night in Darver when it was snowing quite heavily, with snow lying on the pitch, but we got done what we needed to do.

‘The matches we’ve played in the O’Byrne Cup and since then have been very productive, and going forward to the National League we could not have asked for much more in terms of the training opportunities we’ve had and the level of understanding the players have shown.’ Players have remarked how, since taking over from Colin Kelly, McGrath has been at pains to make them believe they can cut it at this level, a point the manager was more than happy to drive home.

‘Ask any team manager going into a new league campaign, whether their team has gone up or down or stayed in the same division, the reality is the division you are in is generally the one you should be in,’ he said.

‘Louth were in Division 4 two years ago, but they’ve had two successive promotions since then and the team have got the required number of points to get here.

‘It’s a big leap, but no manager in this division is under any illusions how hard it’s going to be, how competitive, how every game is going to stretch you. That’s a good thing. When you go up you are facing opposition who generally have been there for a while or in a higher division, so there will be a high standard of opposition.’ McGrath confirmed that there have been two ‘very good additions’ to the panel over the past week, with Glen Emmets forward Conor Grimes and Eoghan Lafferty of St Patrick’s linking up with the squad.

Grimes scored the decisive goal in Louth’s Division 3 League triumph over Antrim in 2016 but spent last year in Australia (New Zealand?), while McGrath admitted to knowing very little about defender Lafferty.

‘Conor has been in Australia for a good while but has recently come home and his intention is to stay at home,’ McGrath reported.

‘Eoghan is in UCD doing a Masters and I didn’t know the lad but was advised about him.

‘They both trained on Tuesday night and will bring quality to the team. They are looking in quite good condition and could even be considered for the Down game.’

There were no fresh injury concerns ahead of Louth’s final challenge game against Laois over the weekend, with Sam Mulroy and Niall Conlon on the long-term casualty list and the remainder of the panel all available for selection, and McGrath was hoping there would be no further mishaps leading up to match day.

Looking more closely at his native county, the Louth boss is naturally very familiar with their squad and believes their success in reaching the Ulster decider last summer will stand to them in 2018.

‘I know the Down players very well. Quite a few of them I would have coached at Minor or Under-21 level and it’s a big season for them because they had a pretty successful year last year and will be aiming to build on that.

‘In my experience they always have scoring forwards and never lack confidence, which is a great attribute to have, and they will come to Drogheda quite confident and will be very serious opposition.

‘It’s up to us to make sure we bring our best game into the equation, and if we do that we are in with at least a 50/50 chance of getting a result.

‘Down and Louth all down through the years have had a strong relationship, playing each other in friendlies and all the rest of it, and there’s never been any animosity.

‘This game will be fiercely contested, as it should be, and I’m sure that people won’t go away from it disappointed.’

Assessing Division 2 as a whole, McGrath felt there were several teams who were capable of stepping up to the plate and qualifying for the league final at Croke Park on April 1st.

‘I would like to think that Louth will be [in the shake-up for promotion],’ he began, ‘but you look at Roscommon who won the Connacht title last year and who have made very substantial progress under Kevin McStay.

‘Cork are under new management and it’s geographically the biggest county with a massive city and large number of players, and with their resources they should be a Division 1 team.

‘As well as that, you have Meath who finished their league campaign very strongly last year and are always very difficult opposition, and Down had a good year, getting to the Ulster final, and will want to better that.

‘Every team in the division has got a certain level of credentials and I think you could make a very solid case for a lot of the teams to be serious contenders for promotion.

‘On our behalf, on any given day, if we have approaching our strongest team, we will give anyone a game.’