Inside Track: Three Louth teams see championship action in just four days

Everything is happening on the inter-county scene with such speed, it’s becoming near impossible for sections of the media, this one in particular, to keep strides with it.

This piece is being written on Wednesday, five days before Louth seniors play Kildare in the Leinster semi-final. On the following night, the county under-20s are out against Meath in the provincial final, and two days after that, the minors see action in the quarter-finals in their championship race.

Three teams in action in the space of four days? This probably makes sense to only those who believe the split season should compress inter-county fare into just six months. Give it more air to breathe, we say, by pushing back the big fixtures to well into August, maybe even early September.

There’ll be comment on the senior match elsewhere on these pages; but because it’s happening just hours before this sheet goes to the printers, a review of the under-20 final will have to wait until the following issue, which, will also have news of the minors’ outing.

Regardless of how any of these matches result, it can be said that the county is on an upward trajectory. The tide is rising, metaphorically speaking – those who keep an eye on climate change would say we could drop the word ‘metaphorically’ – and it has lifted one particular Wee County boat higher than it’s been in over a decade.

The under-20s were out against Dublin in the championship semi-final, playing them in their own backyard, Parnell Park. Fergal Reel’s side were comfortable in the first two matches of the competition’s league section, but then fell to Kildare.

That defeat did nothing, however, to deny the Reds a place in the last four. Dublin never field a team in this grade which includes players who haven’t been put through the hoops, or don’t get the kind of back-up enjoyed by the seniors.

Those who compile the odds wouldn’t been aware of the preparation Louth had had, or the touch the team’s main driving force brings with him when it comes to the business end of a competition. Same goes for pundits: “A shock result,” the man on radio said when reading out the score. And, “Dublin stunned” ran a headline.

Having built a good lead, Louth came under sustained pressure in the closing stages when five points clear. Pressure, yes, but no chance of a resolute bunch giving in. The dividing margin was reduced to three points, but that was as close as the Dubs got late on. The final score fell to the visitors, making it 1-13 to 1-9.

Important wins at underage levels are worth their weight in gold. Not only do they give promise of a competition win, but, more important perhaps, hope for the future. Working in tandem with progress at senior level, success can encourage the younger set to stick with the game and create ambitions.

Kieran McArdle is the under-20s’ top scorer, consistently coming in with impressive tallies. If anyone has the pedigree to make it, it’s the St Bride’s player. His dad, Philip, was a championship winner, with Young Irelands, as were his uncles, Benny (Gaels and Erin’s Hope, Dublin), Paul (Irelands) and Eugene (Irelands and St Joseph’s). And on the distaff side, there’s Kieran’s aunts, Jacqui and Anne, winners with St Joseph’s.

Going further back, there’s his grandfather, Vincie McArdle, who was senior medal-winner with Cooley Kickhams and Dundalk Gaels.

Then there’s Seán Reynolds. There’s good championship form there as well, Stabannon Parnells the supplier. There’s dad Gerry, uncle Brian, and grandfather and granduncle, Brian and Mickey Reynolds. And, like the McArdles, the female side has a winner, Seán’s aunt, Catherine, leading Louth ladies to All-Ireland success in 1998.

There’s a saying among greyhound enthusiasts that the one you’re trying to win a race with must have “breeding and feeding”. These lads, and maybe others on the panel, have the former in abundance, and in this day and age when everything players eat has to be carefully chosen, none of them leaves the table under-nourished or belching.

The final appearance is the eighth for a Louth team. Two of the first three, in 1970, ’78 and ’81, all yielded a win, Offaly falling victim in the first two, Longford – with Newtown Blues player, Ritchie Culhane, included – in the last of them.

There was no All-Ireland appearance to follow. Semi-final defeats were inflicted by Fermanagh, Kerry and Galway, in turn, the meeting with the Kingdom the closest call, with the aforementioned Benny McArdle at centre-half, and Brendan Byrne – Declan and Ciarán’s dad – at No 4.

The year after that 1978 game, Louth were back in the provincial decider again, taking on Offaly. This was a quite remarkable affair in that it yielded nine goals and 18 points. Louth came in with five of the goals along with four points. Offaly were on 4-14, and all, bar one, of the goals came in the second half.

Kildare, with Larry Tompkins and Shea Fahy, both of whom would senior All-Irelands with Cork, included, ended Leinster hopes in 1983, and 13 years later it was Meath, the Royals winning by 1-8 to 0-8 after Louth coughed up a great goal chance at a vital stage.

Louth’s most recent appearance, before this one, was in 2012, against Dublin at Navan. This was always going the Dubs way, the final score 1-16 to 0-8.

Ciarán Kilkenny was at right corner-forward and Paul Mannion came in as a sub when Dublin went on to beat Roscommon in the final; but no others would feature on senior 6-in-a-row sides that followed.

It will be a surprise to hear that this meeting with Meath did not produce a game of high intensity, with, in the words of yesterday’s writers, no quarter given or taken. When your writer was growing up it was Dublin who were Louth’s keenest rivals – now it’s a county from the other side of the Boyne.