Louth didn’t deserved to come away from Armagh empty-handed

Louth’s away match with Armagh in the opening round of the National League’ Division 2 was another of those surrounded by ‘if onlys’.

If only there hadn’t been so many missed passes and mistakes...If only Sam Mulroy had been wearing his best free-taking boots...If only there’d been a kick-out strategy that worked in the final quarter...

And, yes, if only the linesman had spotted the blatant body-check on Ciarán Keenan on the lead up to an Armagh first half score.

Eliminating only a small portion of what went wrong, Louth would have departed the Primal City’s Athletic Grounds with, at worst, a draw, at best, a valuable win. Instead, there was a defeat by the narrowest of margins, 0-12 to 0-11.

Armagh will point to two missed goals chances in the first half. Conor Turbitt was responsible for both, but it’s not wearing a red jersey to say that the second chance wasn’t so much a miss, but a brilliant save by Louth’s National League rookie goalie, Niall McDonnell.

Listed are the negatives. What pleases was the number of positives. Though guilty of some wayward passing, the defence was magnificent for much of the first half, their tigerish tackling and close marking leaving Armagh without a score in the first 20 minutes.

Louth were favoured by a strong breeze in that opening half and finished with five points, giving them a lead by the slenderest of margins, after Armagh had come with a run just before the break. It was 0-4 to nil at one stage.

There should have been more on the board. That there wasn’t was due to some long-range efforts being off the mark, Armagh ‘keeper, Blaine Hughes, tipping a fierce goal-bound shot over the bar, and Mulroy failing to convert frees, admittedly from far out, but which would have been easy for him had he been at his best.

It was no surprise that Armagh came out for the second half with all guns blazing. The elements were with them, and whereas the forwards had been patient with their build-ups in the opening half – passing back to their roaming goalkeeper on numerous occasions – and finding the Louth defence rock-solid, it was now long balls and attacking with speed.

Louth, however, didn’t take it lying down. Defence – in which Craig Lennon stood out – remained solid, and with Tommy Durnin working like a beaver at midfield, there was lots for the forwards to get their teeth into. This was another positive that must have pleased manager Ger Brennan.

Two Mulroy scores and another from Conor Grimes restored Louth four-point lead – if there were any punters who had laid out ten to win one on an Armagh victory, they would have been cursing ever getting involved.

The intrepids’ worries, however, would have been eased when Armagh got into their stride, kicking five unanswered points to go to the front for the first time. There were now 55 minutes on the clock, and Louth were beginning to struggle with kick-outs.

With no-one running for him and Armagh pressing hard, Niall McDonnell had no alternative but to go long. It didn’t work. But there were other avenues towards the Armagh goals to explore and scores to be taken. Twice in the dying minutes Louth drew level.

Time-added-on had almost been wasted when Louth, one point behind, were awarded a 45. Mulroy took all the time he needed, but his attempt, like many of his earlier long-range efforts, fell short. Armagh won, and justice wasn’t done.

Brennan and his sideline team can only be encouraged by what their charges had to offer in a very tough battle. There’s lots to work on ahead of Cork visiting Páirc Mhuire this weekend for the second year in succession.

Louth won last year after losing to Clare in the opening round. If it works like that this time, all will be in readiness for what’s to come in the remaining five matches.

Sam Mulroy is captain, and in that role willingly takes on a lot of responsibility. Sharing free-taking duties when all is not going well – with, perhaps, Ciarán Downey – could ease the burden. The pressure on the Naomh Mairtín clubman as he came into focus late in Saturday’s game was intense.