Louth manager Mickey Harte not getting drawn into talks of promotion

“For sure we’re delighted,” Louth manager Mickey Harte beamed on the Ardee soil after his side's third win on the trot, this time a rather comfortable win over Kildare.

Louth's utopian campaign continues with impressive Kildare victory

The victory all but consolidated his adopted county in Division 2 for next season but for him, a huge motivating factor for Sunday's win was about redemption for last year's hammering at the hands of the Leinster opponents.

“We know what happened to us last year when we played Kildare in the championship, they just overran us and I think that still hurt the boys. They were determined that they wouldn’t get beaten like that and in doing so, they put up a really good performance that took us to an even better place.”

“We just didn’t want to be walked over and beaten into the group like we were last year, which was very, very humiliating for all of us. It really spurred us on, but it’s only one day and one result.

“It’s important in many ways that I think it keeps us safe in this division, which is special, but then when you think of the points that we let slip, we could have been in an even better place.”

Harte pointed to the two first half goals from Tommy Durnin and Conor Grimes that spurred his side on to glory.

“The two goals in the first half were obviously critical to our success because we needed goals to stay ahead. We knew they were going to get a certain amount of scores and goals are big scores in games like these.”

“It was great to get the early one because it gave you that cushion because even when they were picking off a few points, we were still ahead. The one just before half-time was just a really good fillip going into the dressing room to say that we’ve something to defend and a decent lead.”

Louth defended that lead masterfully to see themselves up the table but despite that lofty position, Harte wouldn’t be drawn into promotion talk just yet.

“We’ll just not go there that quick,” Harte quipped.

“It’s nice to be safe in Division 2 with two games to go. That’s really a dream for us. Let’s just take it one day at a time. So far, so good, but there’s a lot of hard work to be done because the two teams that are coming are very good sides. They’re at the top end of the table as well.”