Mickey Harte taking the positives from Derry defeat

Another round of the National League has come and gone and for a second straight week it was a case of what might’ve been for the Louth Senior Footballers.

In round one it was the heartbreak of being denied at the death by Clare. Against Derry it was in some ways worse, as against the odds the home side pushed last year’s All Ireland semi-finalists to their limit.

But the men from Ulster got goals at vital times in both halves, a penalty that helped them build up an early cushion and a late score that turned the tide in the final quarter. Louth never regained clarity from here, despite creating plenty of chances.

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Manager Mickey Harte was gracious in defeat when speaking to the media after the game, looking at both why they lost as well as the positives they can take from it.

“I think you would again need to give full credit to the lads as they put their heart and soul into that game and indeed we had chances to win the game as well at the end” he noted.

“We were disappointed to give away the penalty, disappointed too by the second goal that went in as it turned the tide. We were in control when that second goal went in, we were two points up and playing the better football.

“If we had kept them away from goal, I think we could’ve finished ahead. But that is all ifs, buts and maybes. We knew it was going to be a serious battle, we were something like 7/1 or 8/1 outsiders to the win that game. We were no hopers and I think we showed today that we are not no hopers.”

The outsider tag felt justified when the Wee County fell behind early in the first half as Rory Gallagher’s men raced into a 1-4 to 0-2 lead. Weaker teams may have buckled here, but Louth hit back hard with 1-1 of their own midway through the half to fight back.

By the changeover it was all square, with Derry the team that had to dig deep just to go into the dressing rooms level. The Tyrone native was delighted with his side’s battling qualities and in many ways felt the three-point deficit by the final whistle flattered the reigning Ulster Champions.  

“You can’t imitate that situation, be it on a training field or anywhere else. You have to be in that place to know whether the desire is there within your players to come back from adversity.

“I think that has been a good thing. Players will have a reservoir of information in their minds now to say that you can always fight back from bad places, because we were in a bad place at that stage and we did fight back. You’d be happy seeing them manage to do that.

“It was always going to be one of those games where you fight to the end. I don’t even think we deserved to lose by three points when all is said and done.”

While another loss was tough to take, in the context of the opposition there was plenty for Louth to build on ahead of their fight to remain in Division Two.

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A week earlier Derry breezed past the challenge of Limerick, whom Louth face in their next league match. Harte was happy to see his team put up a better showing then the Treaty men, but stressed that another loss has left them in a perilous position for the rest of the league.

“Derry went away knowing this wasn’t the easy ride in the park that it seemed to be according to the bookies and according to the papers. It probably done them a lot of good too, as they’ll know now you have to go out there every day and perform. You can’t take anything for granted.

“Maybe they took us lightly as they had a big win over limerick the week before and I can understand if they might think this was going to be more of the same. Thankfully we didn’t let it be more of the same.

“At the same time moral victories don’t you any points on the board. While on the one hand its good they put their heart and soul into this match, the end result is not what you want. No points after two games makes it a really uphill struggle from here on in.”