Des Lane hopeful Newtown Blues can shift 'second half team' tag ahead of final

Louth Senior Kingpins, the Newtown Blues, had become used to regular big days where the Joe Ward took up residency in their club grounds. But in the past two years, that position was usurped by an emerging Naomh Mairtin.

Making the final was the least a manager was expected to deliver, but last year they fell at semi-final stage. However under the tutelage of their new man on the sideline, Des Lane, the Drogheda men are back in the county’s showpiece event.

Having guided them to three finals in 2022, the experienced manager is very happy with the teams current progress under his coaching ticket, without getting too carried away either.

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“I think the guys have worked really hard and we focused on that detail, always trying to work harder and being a bit smarter” noted Lane when speaking to the Democrat.

“So progress has been good. The results, be it in the Sheelan Cup final, our place in the league final and now the championship final, they speak for themselves.

“It has clearly been a good year up to this point, but we have nothing other than the Sheelan Cup to our name and now it’s about getting over the line in our next test against an Ardee side which are up and coming.

“They are young and very dangerous and have shot the lights out for the year. They are the highest scorers in the league and championship so it will be a big challenge for us on Sunday.”

The Blues have had a tough road to the decider, needing to battle the likes of St Mochtas and St Patricks in the group stages. Even come the knockouts, St Josephs at times threatened to cause a big shock, while in the Semi-Finals the Geraldines caused more problems then they should have.

But despite some poor early showings in these matches, the Newfoundwell based side showed their class when it mattered most.

When trailing to the men from Louth Village, they showed superb shooting when required, all while negating the presence of the Byrne Brothers.

Despite a slow start against Pats, the subs bench proved decisive as they bagged enough scores in defeat to still top their group.

That is just two examples, similar purple patches after the restart also put the Joes and Gers to bed. With this in mind the Meath native was asked if they truly were just a second half team. A point he would defend gamely.

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“When you look at the results, you could easily say that’s true. But is it deliberate? A ploy or policy about the way we want to play? No, it is not.

“The Pats match, we were very disappointed with our performance, particularly our slow start. Come the Gers game consciously we tried to start a little bit better. That was what we wanted to do, but then we conceded a goal in the first minute which made our task a little bit harder.

“But I think our response to the goal was very good and we actually started much better, before coming into it again in the second half. We kicked nine wides in the opening period and then improved a little bit in the second half.

“Are we a second half team? As I’ve said already, it is not deliberate. But when pressure does come on we do seem to produce the goods, and never shirked any opportunity that has fallen our way.”

As anyone who has seen either team in action this year will tell you, both these sides love to play some attractive football. On the day we could seeing a scoring contest between some of Louth’s best attackers, men who have been soldiering on for Mickey Harte in recent seasons.

For Ardee there is the likes of Daire McConnon, the Jackson brothers and Kieran Keenan among other threats. On the other hand you have the likes of Ciaran Downey, John Kermode, Robert Carr, Daire Nally and of course veteran Andy McDonnell.

Where both side differ is their hunger, Ardee having a 27 year drought to try and break while Newtown were champions as recently as 2019. However a lack of hunger isn’t a worry for Lane. Instead he sees this contest coming down to who deals with the occasion better.

“It’s a matchup of hunger, youth and being so close to realising the dream when it comes to Ardee versus a Blues teams that is used to getting over the line” he explained.  “Who will be the hungrier team on the day remains to be seen. It is something we don’t have the answer to.

“It really comes down to what happens on the day, who can have the biggest presence on the game and deal with whatever situation arises. Our firepower versus theirs, how you match them up, there is all sorts of plans.

“But as mike Tyson once said, plans are great until you get a box in the nose, so who can deal better with whatever comes their way, that will be an important factor.”