Devlin: "Happy to get Louth win but still a lot of work to do"

Louth claimed an important two points in Division Two of the Allianz National Football League with a hard-earned win over Tyrone at DEFY Páirc Mhuire this afternoon.

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Afterwards, Louth manager, Gavin Devlin, made it clear that the outcome mattered above all else. He said: “The last number of games we spoke a lot about performance and getting a performance and then building from that.

“I felt we got that in the second half against Meath last week, but unfortunately, we were driving down the road with no points.

“So today and the conditions and everything else, there's only one thing that's important today, and that was the two league points, and thankfully we were able to achieve that.

“Although it wasn't a game for the purest by any stretch of the imagination, and there were a lot of errors by both teams out there, particularly us, at halftime.

“We had to set it down really quickly because you've got to come in and lambast at half time about some of our quality out there.

“But it was a complete game of opposites in the second half, so we had to set it down really quickly and move on.

“I think the second half was the one that we were aiming for in terms of attitude and application, and even playing cleverly on the ball a lot more.

“I think our rhythm in the second half, about 10 or 15 to come, we started breaking lane, started playing with more freedom.

“We're on the wrong journey here because we've got to be doing that long before the last 15 minutes, and happy to get the win, but still a lot of work to do in terms of performance.”

Lessons

Louth had taken encouragement from their second-half display against Meath in Croke Park the previous weekend, despite the loss.

“That was the thing last week, I knew that we would get plenty of relief and plenty of heart from last Saturday night in Croke Park, but it was so difficult to take.

“Let's be honest about it, driving down the road knowing the difficulty of the league like points is hard to come by, no matter who you're playing.

“You're seeing everyone else around you winning and getting points, and you see yourself drifting towards the bottom of the table.

“Look, we all know how important it is to be playing in the All-Ireland series and staying in Division Two, so that starts to become a bit of an angst, and you know, try and shield the players from it.

“But somewhere along the line you got to grasp it and confront it, and I think today in the second half we've done all that.”

Conditions

Devlin said the wind had been factored into preparations during the week.

“I was here a few times this week, looking at the pitch and different times and every time it came, there was a breeze just right down the pitch.

“It didn't surprise me one bit when I came and seeing the way the wind was blowing and how hard it was blowing.

“We'd sort of planned for it like on the training field all week, and you can plan for these things, but it's only whenever you’re in the eye of the storm that it becomes more difficult.

“Look, just delighted with the application, the players and most importantly, the two points, but look, we've got to set it down again really quickly because we have Calvin next Saturday night, and that's a very big game.

“Everything could swing next Saturday night again, so it's great to win last week. We were devastated today. There's a good atmosphere in that changing room.

“You've got to take it with you, but so quickly we've got to set it down again, so enjoy today, but tomorrow we're back on the horse again.”

Second half

Tommy Durnin’s return was short-lived, while Louth also had to cope with a number of tight decisions during the second half.

“Big Tommy waited so long to come on, and he wasn't on 30 seconds, he's coming jogging back off again, what are you doing to me, ha-ha.

“That was tough today. I didn't see what happened. I don't know what happened, maybe tonight in the Sunday Game, they might show that he bumped into someone.

“I don't know, but it was very difficult in the conditions Tommy was on to do a job on big Brian (Kennedy), and that was a very important job to do in that moment on the kick outs.

“For the two keepers, the two Niall's like it's such a difficult condition to be kicking out against that, so Niall Morgan got caught with one in the first half for Tyrone.

“We had to make sure in the second half that it would’ve been so easy to try and hit someone on the weak side and the ball would hold up in the wind, and then Tyrone’s in.

“So, we made peace with it at halftime that we want to embrace that sort of a game in the second half and look, it could have went the other way, but thankfully it didn't.”

With five minutes remaining, the game was still in the balance, but Louth finished strongly with three successive points to seal the win.

“We spoke about it during the week, from I've arrived here, particularly the first three years with Mickey (Harte), every single time these boys are backed into a corner, they seem to find the answer.

“That's something that gets a lot of confidence and comfort in that, and yeah, as long as we're able to keep building on that and improving, and we have a lot of work to improve on and yeah, just delighted to get the result.”

Conor Grimes

Conor Grimes stood out with his scoring and overall contribution.

“He was, and again he's been training a lot better in the last two or three weeks. He had a niggling injury just after Christmas, and he had another injury before Christmas.

“When you miss that load on the training field, it's hard to come in and try and catch up, so yeah, he's gone up through the levels nicely.

“But he still has a lot of work to do ‘Grimesy’, and he will be the first to admit it. He will not get too carried away, but yeah, look, he's an immense man, and there's a very important second-half performance there from him.”

Peter Lynch

The win came without Peter Lynch, who suffered a season-ending injury against Meath.

“I think that today gave us a bit of motivation because out of all the guys in the panel this year, right from I got the job, about a day later.

“He texted me looking to know when we're back and how we can move things and do things better, and I don't think he missed one single night.

“The way that he's playing, like we were losing games there recently, but he was a trojan for us, and it just shows you how quickly something can be pulled away from you.

“You start to think that it is a wild investment of time or a wild lot of nights in Darver, and then all of a sudden, it's pulled away from you and you're stranded and what you love is gone.

“We spoke about that this week with the lads, and I think it really hit home and really resonated because it's so difficult to see him in there and changing him and the noise, and he's not part of it.

“Having done nothing wrong, he's done everything perfectly right, and here's what happens, and that is sport, and that's life.

“But he's a young man, he'll recover really quickly again, and we'll get him the best of care, and we'll do whatever it takes to get him back on the road, and yeah, he'll be back big and strong.”

Long-awaited win

The reaction from the home support at the final whistle underlined what the result meant. It was Louth’s first league win over Tyrone since 1994. Devlin admitted he was unaware of that statistic.

“No, I wasn't aware of it at all. There's probably been a lot of years, like I don't apologise for where I come from and who and where I've been with Tyrone and everything we've done for Tyrone.

“I have four sons, and the four of them are Tyrone diehards and have been there today, and I'm sure that'll be sneaky something for me there with Louth.

“But they're Tyrone diehards, and it is what it is, but unfortunately for Tyrone, for now I'm heavily invested with Louth, and I just love my time here, and I love working here.”

Cavan next

Attention now turns to Cavan next weekend in Breffni Park, with the Division Two table remaining tight.

“No, I don't think it's cardiology, or I don't think it's trying to move the dices to get feet back on the ground, it genuinely is so tight.

“If we leave Breffni Park next Saturday night and Cavan win the whole landscape changes, and we need another win, and that's what it is, what it is.

“It's a very important win for confidence and to keep you on the right side of the table for now for six or seven days, but it can change this division so quickly.

“I think that's what we love about the league, isn't it? It's the quality, everything's so tight, everything in all divisions.

“So yeah, I think we've found a really good, really good thing here in the GAA in terms of the National League and in all divisions it's great.”