Kind draw gives Louth a chance to turn corner
LOUTH footballers will get a glorious opportunity to rescue something from a hugely disappointing season when they travel to Ruislip to face London on the weekend after next.
The CCCC are due to release arrangements for the eight backdoor games this week, but it’s expected that Pete McGrath’s side will face the Exiles on the afternoon of Saturday, June 9th.
Louth were drawn out of the hat first on RTE’s Morning Ireland programme on Monday, but with counties from divisions 2 and 3 automatically securing home advantage over teams from the top two divisions, the Reds had to start making hasty travel arrangements.
But logistical problems aside, the tie represents a great opportunity for Louth to register their first win in league or championship this season.
For a team low on confidence, there’s no doubt it’s also a potential banana skin, but after going down to Sligo on a 1-21 to 1-11 scoreline earlier this month, the Exiles will be underdogs.
However, that Connacht SFC defeat would have been a big disappointment for Ciaran Dealy’s side after a relatively solid showing in Division 4 of the National League this spring.
The Exiles finished fourth in the table, albeit after benefitting from a walkover from Lietrim and playing a game more played than the teams below them.
But they only lost to Carlow - Louth’s Leinster conquerers - by five points in their opening game of the season and ran eventual Divison 4 champions Laois to a point later in the campaign.
They also drew with Limerick and beat Wicklow by nine points.
Louth badly need a win to avoid a league and championship whitewash, but with Carlow shocking neighbours Kildare on Sunday, the Reds defeat to the Barrowsiders may not have been as big a surprise as it first seemed.
McGrath does have work to do to lift morale, but he will be quietly confident they can start to turn the corenr against the Exiles.
In an interesting aside, Roche man Martin Carroll will be hoping to make an appearance against his native county after coming on as a substitute in the second-half against Sligo.
The midfielder has been playing with Parnells in the English capital since 2011 and has been a virtual ever-present in the Exiles inter-county panel ever since.