Murray hopeful Reds can learn from defeat
EXPERIENCED Louth attacker Paula Murray is hoping that you really do learn more in defeat than victory as the Reds prepare for the Lidl Division 4 National League final on bank holiday Monday.
Micheal McKeown’s side only lost two games this spring en route to booking a place in the Birr decider and one of those reversals was against their opponents on Monday - Wicklow.
But that results certainly doesn’t faze the St Kevin’s star, primarily because Louth left plenty of room for improvement.
‘We had two sin-bins when they came up to Stabannon, so we played 20 minutes that day with 14. But Wicklow are a great side, very strong and very experienced.
‘But we know if we put the work in we can match them and we also know that we made a lot of mistakes the last day that we can improve upon.’
However, it was an earlier defeat to Fermanagh on their travels that Paula feels may have had an even bigger bearing on the campaign.
‘We had some very tough games and we pulled through a few of them very well and showed good character. The Fermanagh defeat early in the season was a bit of turning point. The weather was terrible over there and we missed a lot of chances and I think we worked that bit harder after that and it’s paid off.
‘Getting to the final is what we aimed for at the start of the year and we knew if we put the work in we could reach the final, so it’s nice to get there, but we still have a job to do.’
While winning a trophy is always a nice motivation, securing promotion is also a huge incentive for Paul and her teammates.
‘We wanted to reach the final and now we want to get up to Division 3. That would be huge for Louth, it’s a higher standard and if you want to improve you have to test yourself
against the better teams.’
With so many young players coming through at the moment, Paula feels exposing them to a higher standard will only make them stronger and from what she’s seen so far she’s confident the young guns can handle it.
‘There’s a great mix in the squad, old and young, but I’ve been very impressed with the likes of Laura Boyle, Ceire Nolan and Aoife Russell coming through and we’d hope to see a few more minors coming in over the next few weeks and months.’
Giving youth a fling has been a major cornerstone of McKeown’s first year in charge and Murray feels he’s doing a fine job all round.
‘Micheal is just a lovely person. You know when you can have the craic and you know when to listen and learn and knuckle down. He has a huge knowledge of the game and he gives great advice in the heat of the moment.’