Brennan calls for Louth improvement after close Armagh opener
Louth Manager Ger Brennan’s reaction under the dimming lights of the Athletic Grounds was defiant but forlorn after his side nearly took a point against Armagh in the opening round of the league.
“We’ve got to get the points, simple as that,” Brennan stated.
“We got the performance tonight in parts but it’s about points. The lads don’t want moral victories. I’m not happy really. We lost. The lads are not happy inside. We don’t want moral victories; we want to win matches”
Louth led by four points on two occasions, early in both halves, but twice let that advantage slip.
That is where Brennan, on his opening league joust on the line, will look to improve in the coming weeks.
“That’s the learning when you’re playing against the big boys,” he said.
“If we were to go out now and do a fitness test versus the Armagh lads, you could be certain that the Louth lads wouldn’t be found wanting.
“It just comes down to a couple of technical improvements that we need to make – very simple things where you get punished by the top teams. To score when we did so early in the third quarter, against a very strong breeze, is a credit to the lads. We ran at them, drew a couple of fouls and managed to take the scores. Armagh were never going to lie down and they’ve a lot of talented footballers.
“Stefan Campbell, Rory Grugan and Conor Turbitt, when they got the ball in hand they were very dangerous inside. In fairness, our boys worked hard to try and curb their influence.
“We probably led on the scoreboard for the majority of the game and the lads didn’t go hiding. They went two points down and on a night like this, with how the game was going, that was a huge ask. In fairness to the boys, they pushed hard and got it back.”
Despite Sam Mulroy’s chance to level at the death, Brennan also felt that his sides scoring efficiency overall wasn’t good enough and with Cork coming this Sunday he will look to improve that.
“Our shot-to-score ratio wasn’t good enough,” Brennan finished. “We took 20 shots and only scored 11 – 55%. If you get that up by 5% even, that’s a draw. Up by 10% and you’re winning the match by a point.
“We’re in Division 2, which is hugely competitive, and there is no team going to be hockeying any other team so they’re the fine margins when you’re playing against top teams where you get punished.”