Louth need a ‘miracle’ to survive
PETE McGrath admits that Louth need a ‘miracle’ to survive in Division 2 of the Allianz Football League - but he insists the season is far from a write-off.
Four defeats on the bounce have left the Reds four adrift of third-from-bottom Clare and another defeat against Tipp in Semple Stadium on Sunday could rubber-stamp their relegation.
‘Statistically we can [avoid relegation], but we’ve played four games now and lost all four. We lost the last three by quite significant margins so for us to stay up now would take something approaching a miracle,’ a candid McGrath conceded after Sunday’s defeat.
The Reds look like being without midfielder Tommy Durnin for the trip to Tipp, further weakening McGrath’s hand in the wake of recent player defections and longterm injuries to Jim McEneaney and John Bingham.
Durnin was ruled out with concussion at half-time against Roscommon and Bingham was unable to start after suffering what looks like a ‘serious’ knee injury in training during the week.
‘I would say that both are highly doubtful for next week,’ McGrath revealed ‘The doctor was just unhappy. Tommy wanted to play the second half, but the doctor felt no, he could see evidence of a slight concussion. So we had to bow to medical advice on Tommy. So whether or not he will be able to play next week I don’t know. If it’s that 15 day thing, where you have to sit out after the concussion, then he won’t be playing against Tipperary.’
McGrath is not using injuries as an excuse, but he insists that losing key men has made a tough job all the more difficult.
‘There’s a lot of young players on the team, a lot of inexperienced players. Without making excuses, we haven’t had an easy ride in regard to injuries. We lost Jim McEneaney, we lost young Sam Mulroy before the season had even started and we lost Niall Conlon. John Bingham was unable to play today because of a very, very bad knee.
‘All these things feed in and all these things come home to roost, particularly when you’re playing against a team of the quality and physicality of Roscommon. They’re a seasoned, road-tested team and all of those things showed today. Particularly in the second-half when they upped the tempo and we really couldn’t find the response,’
McGrath and his players had targeted a good start against the Connacht men, but found themselves five points down after eight minutes and that was particularly frustrating for McGrath.
‘During the week and in our team meeting we talked about the need for a high-tempo, energetic start to set out our stall and to take a foothold.
‘The very opposite happened. We allowed Roscommon to dictate the whole pattern of the game. We were almost innocent bystanders in the first 15 minutes and they did what they liked. We could have been 10 or 11 points down. Then we got a bit of a foothold and went in four behind at half-time which was not disastrous by any means.
‘Buut they got first blood in the second-half, they got a couple of points to widen the gap to six or whatever it was. Then, obviously, the goal that they got put them seven ahead at that stage and it was going to be an awful long, hard road back and it’s a road that we never really looked like travelling.
‘We changed our warm-up routine to try and make sure that things worked out from the start so that’s frustrating for me and the rest of the management team. We’re trying to look for better ways of doing things. We’re looking at formations, personnel, all that. It’s very difficult at the moment to see light at the end of the tunnel, but there is light there somewhere.’
We’ve played four games now and lost all four. We lost the last three by quite significant margins