Heartbreak for Louth Footballers as Offaly clinch championship clash in Extra Time

Louth 0-19

Offaly 3-19 (AET)

For those who just glanced at the score from Sunday, without any context it may look as though Mickey Harte has changed little when it comes to the results in the championship. Another year, another management team leading Louth to an early exit to little fanfare.

The final score shows a nine-point wining margin for Offaly, who march on to face Kildare this weekend in the Leinster Quarterfinals. But it is one that flatters The Faithful County, who know they were in the fight of their lives. Unfortunately for Louth in the end only the victors are remembered.

A 63rd minute goal from Bernard Allen looked to have sealed it for Offaly, only for the Men in Red to show heart and desire, galvanised by a small but vocal support they hit three in a row to send the tie to extra time.

It could have been so much better too, the influential Sam Mulroy coming within inches of winning it for the Wee County right at the death. Unfortunately, two more extra time goals coupled with some poor wides saw their Leinster Journey end. But Boy did they give it everything they had.

Conditions in Navan were perfect, a slight breeze and the Summer Sunshine the backdrop to what was an exciting encounter, the first championship meeting between the two sides since 2005.

The opening five minutes was a nervy affair, with chances for both sides going estray as they tried to get a feel for what the other team had in store for them.

Louth tended to go short from their kick outs and work the ball up the up field patiently, happy to go from one side of the field to other and back as often as was required before getting into more menacing and scorable positions.

Meanwhile John Maughan’s side focused on a more direct approach early on, going long, playing a direct and fast game as to test the fitness of the backs, along with utilising their pacey attack through direct runs.

The opening score fell to Ciaran Keenan with a monster from out the field, yet it was the Men from Offaly who soon took control of proceedings, their pacey runners proving tough for Louth to handle.

The Offaly keeper Paddy Dunican got their tally up and running with a 45 on six minutes and this was quickly followed by a free from Cian Farrell, won through a fine solo run from David Dempsey.

A late addition to their attack was Niall McNamee, who is the last survivor from either team to have played in that 2005 matchup and he showed why he’s still a valuable asset getting involved in their next two scores.

He creeped around the challenge of Liam Jackson and pointed from the sidelines, before duly teeing up Peter Cunningham with a lovely solo run showing he still has the legs despite a prolonged career in the Faithful jersey.

Scoring opportunities were hard to come by for Harte’s side, their rigid gameplan negated by a well drilled defence, which at times had everyone behind the ball other than Niall McNamee.

Yet they soldiered on and took any chances that came their way, three points from Ciaran Byrne (2) and Jackson seeing them trail by just two points at the water break despite the men in Green and Gold going through a mini purple patch, 0-6 to 0-4.

As has been seen in games all over the country, the time chatting with your management is often the best chance to change the momentum of a contest, that was certainly the case in the next quarter where Louth outscored their opponents 0-5 to 0-1.

Offaly began losing the midfield battle, be it straight from both teams’ kick outs or just when trying to get out of their own half, Louth upping the intensity significantly and keeping them boxed into their own half.

Eoghan Callaghan got The Wee County purple patch underway, and he was soon joined by his captain Sam Mulroy, soloing inward to bag a free he duly converted before then notching from play from the resulting kickout.

Conor Grimes got in on the act, bouncing off a challenge from an Offaly defender and slotting over in style as they took the lead for the first time since the opening score of the contest.

But it wasn’t just the forwards on song, in defence they were gobbling up anything going their way, tackling in packs and making life hell for the Faithful attackers.

Both sides of their game were seen to great effect in Louth’s final score of the half, a pack of hungry defenders drawing a foul and quickly lumping it up the field where Mulroy was fouled before easily hitting another free over the bar to leave it at 0-9 to 0-7 at half time.

Both sides came out with purpose, trading two apiece, Ryan Burns and Mulroy for Louth, Ruairi McNamee and Farrell for Offaly, however the scores dried up for a period of 10 minutes for the Wee County with three attempts coming up short.

Maughan’s side took advantage, getting themselves back into the tie with four of the next five scores from Niall McNamee, Jordan Hayes, Niall Darby and Bill Carroll to take a 0-13 to 0-12 lead into the water break.

As was the case in the first half, Louth showed their attacking flair following the stoppage, a mix of direct play and slow, patient build up resulting in points for Grimes, substitute Declan Byrne and Keenan to go back into the lead as the game entered its final ten minutes.

They were in the ascendancy when disaster struck, a poor short kick from Craig Walsh aimed at substitute Niall Sharkey played in Bernard Allen.

He teed it for Niall McNamee whose shot was blocked into the path of Allen who despite going for a point would see his effort remarkably drop into the back of the net. This coupled with a free from Farrell two minutes later could have signalled the end for Louth.

But Mickey Harte teams will never be caught for a lack of spirit, they showed great composure, not altering the game plan but upping the intensity as scores without reply from Anthony Williams along with a brace from Mulroy sent the contest to extra time.

Unfortunately it wasn’t to be in extra time, another defensive mistake creating a gap that Louth could never plug back.

Niall Darby lumped one onto the forwards and the ball look destined to finish in the hands of Donal McKenny, however he couldn’t get a grasp of it allowing it to fall to Peter Cunningham, who quicky teed up the 38-year-old McNamee for a vital second goal.

To their credit the fight never left the Men in Red, but the scores just weren’t coming as easy as they were in normal time, and they would tally five wides in extra time alone.

Any doubt about the victors was put to rest midway through the second period of extra time, an Allen shot coming up short again, this time off the post but the evergreen McNamee was in the right place at the right time to win possession and set up the easiest of attempts for Cunningham.

The Harte championship era begins with a loss. But what a performance for team that he has not gotten to work with long or really see much of them in action in person ahead of the season.

Only time will tell what lies in the future, but if this is what he can do during a pandemic hit year, hopes have to be high there is more to come once he has got his chance to really pump his message into Louth GAA. The good times might not be that far away but this is a tough result to take.

Louth: C Lynch; D Corcoran, D Campbell (0-01), D McKenny; E Carolan, A Williams (0-01), E Callaghan (0-01); B Duffy, C Byrne (0-03); L Jackson (0-01), S Mulroy (0-06, 0-04f), C Downey (0-01); C Keenan (0-02), C Grimes (0-01), R Burns (0-01). Subs: D Byrne (0-01) for Burns (45), N Sharkey for Corcoran (51), S Marry for Duffy (67), D Nally for Jackson (67), C McKeever for Grimes (70+6), T Durnin for Nally (78), L Jackson for Keenan (80), J Clutterbuck for Carolan (84).

Offaly: P Dunican (0-02, 0-01f, 0-0145’); J Lalor, E Rigney, N Darby (0-01); D Dempsey, J Moloney, C Doyle; P Cunningham (1-01), J Hayes; (0-01) ,S Horan, C Stewart, A Sullivan; N McNamee (1-03), C Farrell (0-07, 0-03f), R McNamee (0-01). Subs: B Carroll (0-01) for Sullivan (30); E Carroll (0-01) for Horan (h-t), B Allen (1-00) for Cunningham (56), C Mangan for Moloney (61), M Abbott (0-01) for R McNamee (68), A Sullivan for B Carroll (ft), C Donohoe for Hayes (ft), J Quinn for Doyle (78), J Maher for N McNamee (86), A Leavy for Dempsey (90+1).

Referee: B Cawley (Kildare)

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