Inside Track: Daire can tell his dad what he thinks of new rules

If Daire Nally has any complaints about the new rules he won’t have far to go to voice them. He won’t even have to leave his Drogheda home.

Daire’s father, Colm, was a member of Jim Gavin’s FRC group that drew up rules, in play throughout this year’s National League and championship.

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Colm and his colleagues can be satisfied with their work, judged on the reaction of many. Tweaks could be made, such as a two-pointer only coming from play, and the one where player who commits a free having to hand the ball to the one who was fouled, could also be scrapped.

Those aside, the game is now much more attractive as a spectacle, though there is still no shortage of the ball being moved across the field and nearly as often backwards. To eliminate that you’d have to eat into the team strategists’ minds.

As the Nally family chat unfolds, dad can tell junior of the National League medal he won with his adopted county in 2000, Louth beating Offaly in a Division Two final at Croke Park.

And the senior championships with Newtown Blues, captaining the team that defeated Stabannon Parnells in 2000.He later went on to carve out a successful career in coaching and management.

BRENDAN HAS ALSO A TALE TO TELL

Meanwhile, over in the Byrne household, near Channonrock, you could have much the same kind of chat going on. As Ciarán, the young man known as ‘Casey’ to just about everyone in Louth football, gears up Sunday’s final, he can ask his father what it’s like to win a provincial championship medal.

Brendan was captain when Louth won the 1978 Leinster under-21 final, beating Offaly in the final. After that, Louth gave a star-studded Kerry side the fright of their lives in a nail-biting All-Ireland semi-final in Drogheda before going down by two points, 2-10 to 0-14. Jack O’Shea scored the match-changing goal.

Brendan almost brought off the double. Six years later, he was on the county junior side that beat Dublin and Meath to qualify for the provincial final.

Disappointment was to follow, however. An unfancied Wexford team proved too good on a score of 0-8 to 0-6. The game marked 16-year-old Stefan White’s first appearance at Croke Park, the then-O’Connell’s clubman coming on as a second half sub.

Another of Brendan Byrne’s sons, Declan, was on the Louth panel for the 2010 senior final, and is now featuring on Fergal Reel’s under-20 team management team.

THE 2010 ATTENDANCE MAY NOT BE MATCHED

A big crowd is expected at Croker on Sunday, but it may not better the one present for the 2010 final. Over 48,000 were there that day, the year’s biggest crowd for a provincial final in either football or hurling.

The strength of Meath’s backing has since weakened, as evidenced by the number who travelled to Inniskeen for the league meeting with Louth a number of weeks back. However, that defeat of Dublin last Sunday week will probably rouse many from their slumber.

There will, of course, be many first-game-of-the year Louth supporters there as well. A couple were spotted booking their place on the train travelling from Dundalk on Monday last.

BOYNESIDE RIVALS MET THREE TIMES IN 1949 SEMI-FINAL

It’s only the very old among today’s Louth and Meath supporters who would remember the greatest-ever championship meeting of the sides.

It was a 1949 semi-final, and wasn’t decided until the teams took to Croke Park for the third time. The first game was low-scoring, 1-5 each, but better next time out, Louth 3-6 to Meath’s 2-9.

The crowd of almost 32, 000 was at the first replay, and seven thousand more at the third game. This was another closely-fought 60 minutes – and more. Meath got the winning point in a 2-5 to 1-7 win in time added on.

These three matches obviously stood to Meath. They went on to win the Leinster, and after that the All-Ireland final for the first time.

More than one game was needed to decide the issue the following year when the sides met in the final. This time Louth got the decision, winning by a point, before going on to beat Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final and narrowly losing to Mayo in the final.

Mickey Reynolds was in the left corner that day – on Sunday his grand-nephew, Seán Reynolds, will be in the Louth colours.

BILLY’S HAPPY NEWBRIDGE MEMORY

The 85-year-old Billy Hynes was at St Conleth’s Park for the under-20 final, accompanied by his son, Malachy. It reminded him of a previous game he attended at the venue.

Back in the momentous year of 1957, the Louth juniors, as mentioned elsewhere on these pages, got a great run going in Leinster. In ran parallel with the seniors’.

Having beaten Longford and Meath in the preliminaries, the Joe Sweeney-captained side played Kilkenny in the final, and thanks to a crucial Owen Moran goal, got the decision, 2-6 to 1-5.

Sixty-eight years on, Billy is enjoying his football as much as ever, especially this year with so many of the county teams in contention for provincial honours.