Relegation looms large for Reds after third defeat
IT’S looking very much like ‘Last Stop: Division 3’ for Louth, and a full derailment still cannot be ruled out, following a third straight defeat at an icy Pairc Ui Rinn on Sunday afternoon.
The great escape looks like a mission impossible, but the point at which a poor league campaign skids out of control and causes irreparable damage to an entire season is also fast approaching for the Reds.
If the current trajectory continues Pete McGrath will have his work cut out to sustain enthusiasm and morale for the Championship, let alone a doomed survival quest.
Despite an improved performance in Cork city, the Reds only managed to kick three points from play in almost 80 minutes and couldn’t get to within striking distance of their hosts who played the final 25 minutes with 14 men and were reduced to 13 by the finish.
Louth had plenty of possession and territory in that second period, but Bevan Duffy wasn’t accepting any praise or plaudits for that.
‘I think the damage was done in the first-half,’ said the st Fechin’s man, who deputised in midfield in the absence of Tommy Durnin. ‘We didn’t come out of the blocks and we were very sloppy. Everything we talked about doing we didn’t do and that was the killing of the game. There was a bit of fight from us in the second-half, but it wasn’t enough in the end.
‘I suppose the attitude was better but that’s easy enough when you’re so far behind and you turn around to take the wind in the second-half. We tried our best to get going, but the firsthalf wasn’t good enough.’
Duffy just wasn’t interested in hard-luck stories and he outlined a number of areas that need to be addressed:
‘Three from play today; not good enough. We haven’t scored a goal in the league; not good enough. We created a few but didn’t take them; not good enough. We gave away two goals this week, three last week and one against Down; not good enough.’
On the plus side Louth are idle next weekend before welcoming Roscommon to Drogheda. The Rossies sit three points clear of the Reds, while Clare picked up their second point of the campaign with a draw against Tipperary, so Duffy and Co. are really playing catch-up.
‘We have two weeks off now and we have to get our head in the game. We have to realise that we won’t get away with stuff we got away with last year or the year before and we need to wise up or it will be a long league.
‘Our opponents are finding it far easier to come by scores than we are. It’s something we’re aware of but we haven’t sorted it out and if we don’t, whatever about it being a long league, it will be a short summer.’
Duffy absolved the management of any blame insisting the onus is on the players to turn the season around.
‘It’s up to the players to sort it out. Once we cross the whitewash and go on to that field it’s down to us. The attitude is good and the work is being put in, so I don’t know what the answer is.
‘Today we talkled about getting in among them, getting tight and making sure life wasn’t easy for them, but we did’t do it and they punished us. The first quarter was the killing of the game.
‘We have to take it one game at a time now and it’s Roscommon in a fortnight at home. The pitch probably doesn’t suit us, but it is a home fixture and we have to target two points there.’
I suppose the attitude was better but that’s easy enough when you’re so far behind and you turn around to take the wind in the second-half.