Quarter Final spot on the line as Louth Ladies host Leitrim

While the fortunes of Mickey Harte and Co are what is taking up a large chunk of the GAA coverage in recent weeks, attentions will soon be more focused on the Louth Ladies Footballers, who begin their bid for Intermediate Championship glory this weekend.

The Wee County have been extremely competitive in the second tier of Ladies Football since securing the Junior crown in 2019, having made the quarter finals in both 2021 and 2022.

In both ties, against Laois and Roscommon respectively, the team then managed by Wayne Freeman, played some nice football at times only for some mistakes or poor shooting letting this talented group down when it mattered most. They will be eager to go at least one step further in 2023.

Standing in their way this season is the duo of Leitrim and Kildare, who have been paired with the Girls in Red in Group 1 of the championship. Two of the three teams will progress to the Quarterfinals, leaving very little room for error.

Kit Henry is in charge this year and he had the luxury of seeing the other two teams in their group collide last weekend, when the Leinster Champions made the trek West to take on Leitrim in Carrick-on-Shannon.

There were goals aplenty in Páirc Sean Mac Diarmada as the Lilywhites had to dig deep to overcome a resilient and hard-working home side.

Neasa Dooley was a women on a mission as she bagged an impressive hat trick, while Grace Clifford and Gráinne Kenneally also found the net for Diane O’Hora’s side.

The Westerners are a very strong outfit too and were unrelenting as they chased down Kildare’s lead. Goals came from Laura O’Dowd, Síomha Quinn, Vivienne Egan and Leah Fox , but the Lilies did enough to ensure victory, 5-10 to 4-8.

Five points separated the teams at the final whistle, a gap that could easily have been much smaller but just as easily, it could have been much bigger as the Leinster champions had just too much pace and power around the field for a Leitrim team who delivered a tremendous effort but just couldn’t land the killer blow.

Louth will be keen to show their own killer instincts when the Wild Rose County Girls descend on Fr McEvoy Park, Cooley, this Sunday afternoon (Throw in 2PM). A win for Henry’s troops would see them guaranteed a place in the knockout stages and end Leitrim’s involvement.

Outside of their most recent loss, it had been a strong campaign for the Connacht side. Wins over Wicklow, Kilkenny and Derry saw them comfortably advance from Group B in Division Four of the National League. All while notching huge tallies of 5-15, 7-26 and 3-13 respectively.

In the league semi-final, they needed to dig deep to get one over on Fermanagh, before being denied promotion in the final by Antrim, 1-19 to 2-6. A side which went on the secure the Ulster Intermediate crown.
In the Connacht Intermediate final, things didn’t get much better as a talented Roscommon team, Louth’s conquerors in 2022, came out on top by 2-13 to 1-7.

Overall they have shown a great eye for goal this season, bagging 20 goals across seven matches. However, the majority were against lower quality opposition and when taking on the better sides they’ve struggled, as seen against Antrim and Roscommon.

Looking to Louth's current form, they have had a mixed season. They started the year with a series of big wins over Longford, Offaly and Sligo and even got one over on soon to be Leinster champions Kildare to leave them in the mix-up for promotion.
But the wheels feel off this bid when falling to defeats at the hands of Clare and Down.

It left them looking in decent shape ahead of their Leinster Intermediate Championship campaign, where Louth were grouped alongside Wicklow, Offaly and Westmeath.

Five goals saw them comfortable breeze past the Garden County, before a second half slump saw them beaten away to The Faithful Girls, 2-6 to 1-11.

They fared no better against a high-class Westmeath, but despite losing by 3-17 to 1-11, a late save from Rebecca Lambe Fagan saw Louth go through to the semi-finals at the expense of Offaly on scoring difference.

From here the Girls in Red were given a harsh lesson when coming face to face with Kildare for the second time this season.

Despite a strong start, The Wee County’s chances were dented by a 13-minute purple patch from Kildare midway through the first half.

They went from one in front to seven behind and sadly Louth rarely looked likely of threatening a comeback.
Narrowing it to a five-point gap was as close as they came, but two more goals increased the home side’s lead and allowed them to coast to victory, 3-15 to 0-10. At least Louth never gave up and showed great battling qualities after every setback. But ultimately the gap was just too big.

The two team’s last met in 2021 when squaring off in the Division 4 final, having had already locked horns earlier in the competition. A game won by the Westerners.
Two Goals from Niamh Rice, coupled with efforts by Kate Flood and Lauren Boyle saw the Girls in Red go home with the Cup, 4-9 to 1-14, despite some shaky shooting at times opening the doors for Leitrim, who remained resolute up until the final whistle.

If Louth’s sharpshooters are again on-song in Cooley, this tie should go the way of the home side. But we’ve already mentioned how devastating Leitrim can be in creating goals.

The Wee County have let complacency slip into their game at times and it has cost them, as they let teams build a lead much easier than it should've been. Leitrim have the firepower, the likes of Vivienne Egan and Leah Fox, who can do damage around the square if allowed into space.

Louth will have to be on their game or face needing to get a big result away to Kildare. That alone should give them the motivation to go out there on Sunday and secure their quarter final spot.