Lacklustre Louth playing for pride in battle Royale
LOUTH may not be mathematically relegated just yet, but Pete McGrath admits that his team are doomed and insists the Reds are now playing for pride.
Theoretically Louth could survive by beating Meath next Sunday and Clare seven days later, provided their opponents both lost their other remaining game, but McGrath was no mood to clutch at straws after his side’s worst display of a disappointing campaign in Thurles on Sunday.
‘It’s not going to happen. The remaining games are about pride and not wanting to go through the league campaign losing seven out of seven, so we’ll have to do all that we can to ensure we put in a massive performance next week at home against Meath. We have to focus on delivering a performance that merits the two points and we cannot be looking any further than that.’
Once again, a dreadful start cost Louth dearly in Semple Stadium as Tipp cruised into a 2-7 to 0-1 lead inside 15 minutes.
At that stage it looked like the Premier County might repeat or better their 23-point Championship win over Louth in 2015, but they eased the throttles considerably in the second-half and Louth made a slight improvement.
Typically McGrath didn’t look to sugar-coat it, or pretend he’s any closer to coming up with the answers to Louth’s poor form.
‘Very poor start again’ he began. ‘They fired over two points inside the first three minutes, so right away we’re on the back foot and they’ve got the impetus and the encouragement they needed.
‘Then they fire over another point or two and then the goal and you’re six or seven nil down inside the first seven or eight minutes. They’re game is ratcheted up and we were struggling to stay with them.’
Tipp were good, there’s no doubt, but they aided and abetted by some dreadful Louth mistakes, McGrath insisted.
‘The first half was littered with a lot of basic errors. This might seem like an amazing statistic but it’s true - we had 18 attacks in the first-half and they had 19, yet they go in 12 points ahead.
‘So the reason for that is that defensively we were found wanting because they were able to get through us and pick off scores.
‘At the other end in attack we were faltering, we were losing possession and we kicked six wides in the first-half. Nine of our attacks didn’t have any shot at the end of it and we scored three points.
‘Those are the stats and the stats will reflect the performance in terms of skill execution, in terms of good defending, in terms of good support play, in terms of winning breaking ball.’
There was a small reprieve for Louth after the break, but McGrath was under no illusions as to Tipp’s priority at that stage, with Liam Kearns’ men clearly mindful of the fact that they will play on three successive weekends and possibly a fourth should they reach the league final.
McGrath continued: ‘Tipp knew they had the game won at half-time and they took the foot off the gas a bit. We did play a little bit better in the second-half, but we continued to waste opportunities and we continued to give the ball away, so there’s an awful lot there that is worrying because it’s being replicated game after game and they are things we have to put right very quickly for the last two league games and in eight weeks time our first Championship match.
‘There is an awful amount of improving that must take place and an awful amount of hard work has to be done and an awful lot of soul-searching has to be done.’
Identifying the problems has been easy for McGrath and his selectors, but correcting them has proven illusive for the former All-Ireland winner.
‘It’s not for the want of talking about it or showing the players through anaylysis and what we do at training, but still unfortunately in matches it’s happening and re-occurring. The same ghosts are coming to back haunt us.
‘In every game we’ve come in behind at half-time. Cork was eight, Roscommon four, Down I think two and Cavan was only two, so they were all reachable in the second-half. But today we came in 12 behind away from home and you’re in no-mans land and the second-half was about going out and making sure we didn’t get an absolute thumping.
‘At one stage it looked like we could be beaten by 20 or 25 points. But it’s another worrying day, another disappointing day.’
Louth will be heavy underdogs again on Sunday when they host a struggling Meath side in Drogheda and McGrath will still have to plan without four players out with long-term injuries.
‘Jim McEneaney won’t play in the National Legaue and he’s in a race against time for the Championship. Sam Mulroy and Niall Conolon won’t play in the league. The Championship is hopefully what they’ll be aiming for. John Bingham won’t play in the national league either and may not play for the rest of the season. It’s unfortunate, but that’s where we are,’ he added.
The remaining games are about pride and not wanting to go through the league campaign losing seven out of seven, so we’ll have to do all that we can to ensure we put in a massive performance next week at home against Meath.