Stakes high on derby day for Louth rivals

THE importance of Saturday’s latest Louth derby in the Leinster League is not lost on either Boyne and Dundalk as they chase precious points in the hope of avoiding a relegation scrap.

Dundalk arrive at Shamrock Lodge with a slight advantage but could find themselves in the drop zone come 4pm if their hosts can produce a repeat of the form that saw them end Gorey’s 100% record in their previous home game.

Boyne skipper and firstchoice place-kicker Karl Keogh suffered a knee injury in that match and missed the following week’s heavy defeat down in Enniscorthy, but he looks set to return to the back row and that’s a huge boost according to teammate Eoghan Duffy.

‘It should be a tight game that will come down to a margin of less than seven points, so the kicks will be really important,’ the out half commented, speaking on Monday afternoon.

‘When he is standing over the tee you are nearly guaranteed three points, so it will be great to have him back.

‘I think we needed the rest after the Enniscorthy game. We were struggling to get a full squad together all year, but we had a hard session last week among ourselves, places are up for grabs and the team morale is good.

‘We’ve been in this position a few times in recent years, but nearly everyone in the squad has played for Boyne at underage level and it means a lot.’

After that 43-8 defeat in Enniscorthy the weekend before last - Dundalk ran them much closer in the All-Ireland Junior Cup last Saturday - Duffy acknowledged that Boyne would have to show a big improvement to come out on top.

‘It would be a massive four or five points for us, but we will have to up our game,’ he insisted.

‘We are staring down a barrel if we lose and if Tullamore come down from the AIL you’re looking at finishing in the top five to be safe.

‘It’s a fixture you’re guaranteed to have a crowd at and it will be tense, hard and dirty at times, but if we keep our discipline we have a good opportunity to put in a good performance.’

From a Dundalk point of view, their assistant coach MJ McKevitt is equally aware of the game’s significance, and he feels his team go into the game with renewed confidence after the unfortunate 23-18 defeat by Enniscorthy denied them a place in the All-Ireland Junior semi-finals.

‘We had a great first half, but they scored a try just before halftime against the run of play to take them back into it and then we had a mindless 10 minutes just after the restart when they scored three tries,’ he said.

‘We still should have won it in the end - Robert Farrell knocked the ball on with the line at his mercy - but we were really happy with the performance, especially after the previous week when we were really poor. Our back line played really well and Sam Weber was mesmeric at full back.’

Assessing the importance of Saturday’s derby, McKevitt continued: ‘It’s massive for both teams, really, really big. We lose and we’re looking at relegation - they lose and they’re looking at relegation.

‘We don’t know much about them. They have a very new team, a young team, and a new coaching staff, but we know they have Eoghan Duffy who is probably the best player in the league.

‘These games are always tight and nervous and it’s a big challenge, but I would be quietly confident that if we play to our ability we’ll be okay.

‘I’ve said that before, though, and we’ve been so inconsistent and I wish I knew what the problem is!’

Dundalk could be at full strength, apart from James McConnon who is away travelling this month, and the versatile Laurence Steen could revert to the centre after playing in the back row in recent weeks.

Saturday’s game at Shamrock Lodge kicks off at 2.30pm.