Brennan is wary of Wexford
Louth boss says rivals “on form and go for the jugular”
LOUTH MANAGER Ger Brennan senses a “hunger” in the squad ahead of Sunday’s Leinster SFC quarter-final against Wexford in Portlaoise (4 p.m.).
The Dubliner was in Wexford Park for the 23-point victory over Carlow last weekend, a result which stretches the south-easterners’ winning run to five matches.
John Hegarty’s side narrowly missed out on promotion from Division 4 last month but have earned rave reviews for their performances from opposition managers this term – and Brennan was impressed by the manner of their most recent display.
“They were very impressive; well-organised and well-structured,” he said.
“I thought they were very economical in front of goal and hammered home nearly every opportunity they got. Mark Rossiter was very good, Seán Nolan was excellent from frees and marks, and you could see how Wexford were trying to create opportunities for the mark with Nolan staying deep and making good runs.
“Kevin O’Grady was very impressive and energetic, and Ben Brosnan, who I marked about 14 years ago, he’s like Benjamin Button. He came in midway through the first-half and kicked a few lovely scores.
“They lost rounds two and three in the league but I think they scored 12 goals in the last five games. They’re very much on form and go for the jugular.
“They will be in good spirits going to Portlaoise and will have the advantage of a championship game under their belt, which helps.
“UCD played Wexford in a challenge game over Christmas and standing on the sideline for that match, they’ve a few massive, physical men, so these lads are well-conditioned,” he added.
“Glen Malone, Liam Coleman, Niall Hughes, Eoghan Nolan and Seán Nolan… they’ve very big and strong players right up the spine of the team. We’re not going to be outpowering anyone that way.
“These lads are going to be well able and it will be about ensuring that when we have the ball in hand that we’re as economical with it as we can be and finish the game with a good shot-to-score ratio.
“Then, at the other end, it will be about curbing their influence and some of their key men, in particular Seán Nolan, Mark Rossiter, Kevin O’Grady and Liam Coleman. And then Ben Brosnan. They do have a lot of scoring threats.”
Louth midfielder Conor Early is once again expected to be sidelined, but the Reds have prepared well for the championship, defeating Roscommon in Abbotstown over the three-week break.
“There’s no nonsense and the lads are putting the work in,” Brennan said. “These lads are hungry and want to keep getting better, and they have the experience of playing against decent Westmeath and Offaly teams from last year, which went down to the wire.
“They do have prior experiences of being in the ascendancy in games and being punished if you start messing around with the ball – that happened to us against Meath.”
Meanwhile, Louth captain Sam Mulroy says their focus on Wexford intensified in light of a number of provincial championship shocks during the opening round of matches last weekend.
The biggest upset was arguably Wicklow’s triumph against Division 3 champions Westmeath, which leaves Mulroy and co. accepting that Sunday’s quarter-final tie is far from a foregone conclusion.
“When you look at a Division 4 team beating a Division 2 team at the weekend, we know that we can’t take our eye off the ball going into this game and we’ll be showing Wexford a lot of respect after their result against Carlow,” Mulroy said.
“We’ve had one Leinster final appearance in the last 13 years so we can’t be looking beyond Wexford. It’s about getting the result first and foremost.
“They are well set-up and get their key men on the ball. They’re dangerous with some really experienced players. We’re going to have to get our match-ups right.”