Darver hosts a feast of festive GAA action

Louth GAA All Stars Game 2022

Louth 3-9 Club All Stars 2-10

While most of us were still relaxing at home following a huge Christmas and St Stephen Day feast with our families or enjoying some well-earned catch-up time with friends, over in Darver some of the county’s best players were blowing off the cobwebs with some competitive Festive action.

The Centre of Excellence played host to a thrilling encounter as the current Senior side took on the Louth GAA All Stars team, a side which comprised some of the men who stood out most in either the Senior, Intermediate or Junior Championships this season.

Managed by Mickey Harte and county chairman Peter Fitzpatrick respectively, the clash was an interesting and high scoring affair that saw the county team narrowly win out in the end, 3-9 to 2-10, after coming back from a half-time deficit and holding off a late fight back.

The Club All Stars was a side also brimming with players who could feature prominently in the months ahead for Harte, such as Tom Jackson, TJ Doheny, Sean Reynolds, or the Butterly duo of Bobby and Harry.

Also appearing in the starting team was the county’s only National All-Star to date in Paddy Keenan, as well as veteran Ray Finnegan. Coupled by the services of the evergreen Brian White and Andy McDonnell and this was a very good test for Louth ahead of the O’Byrne Cup in January.

With Pre-season in mind, the event allowed Harte an early chance to give some game time to other guys hoping to become mainstays for the Boys in Red, such as Beanon Corrigan (Geraldines), Kieran McArdle (St Brides), Shane Byrne (Roche Emmets) and Peter McStravick (Young Irelands).

Other interesting inclusions in Harte’s starting 15 was a first sight in goals of veteran St Mochtas attacker Declan Byrne and hurling mainstay Paul Matthews. Should he end up being a long-term panel member for the footballers, he would be a significant loss to the small ball game in Louth.

It was the county team that got out of the blocks the stronger, as backed by a brace of scores from Corrigan they opened up an early 0-4 to 0-1 lead. However, this was soon cancelled out, Jackson firing home a bullet to leave the teams level once more.

The Geraldines playmaker put his side back in front, but by the break they trailed by a point as a mark from Alan Connor and an effort from Sean Reynolds on the whistle had the All Stars ahead at the changeover, 1-3 to 0-5.  

Despite Conor Grimes grabbing a score pretty much immediately upon the restart for the county men, they soon found themselves three points down as Bobby Butterly, Brian White and Dylan McKeown all hit the target to leave the All Stars three up on 37 minutes.

But from here Louth really turned on the afterburners, as they outscored their opponents 3-0 to 0-1 to regain a foothold on this contest. The first came via Matthews, whose equaliser on 39 minutes will do his chances of making the National League panel later this year a world of good.

A Leonard Grey effort put them back in front before Shane Byrne put his hand up for inclusion in 2023 by managing to get his shot past three pairs of legs and into the net.

From a three-point disadvantage, the men in red now led by six, while further scores from Grimes and Byrne increased the gap to eight. However, this tie was not over yet, as the All Stars battled their way back into contention.

White, Jackson and McKeown all found their range and with a minute of normal time remaining McKeown rattled the net, leading to a nervy end to proceedings for the county side.

However, despite a late cameo appearance from their manager Fitzpatrick, the All Stars failed to grab another score, leaving Louth the narrow two-point winners in what was a very entertaining afternoon of football.

Much tougher tasks a wait for the Wee County in 2023, with two away trips to Kildare and Wexford on the horizon in early January before of course the hardest National League campaign in many years as Harte looks to work his magic in Division Two.

Louth: Declan Byrne; Páraic McKenny, Daniel Corcoran, Gerard Browne; Leonard Grey, Conor Grimes, Gabriel Bell; Beanón Corrigan, Paul Mathews; Jonathan Commins, Niall Sharkey, Peter McStravick; Jay Hughes, Shane Byrne, Kieran McArdle.

ALL-STARS: Neil Gallagher; Aidan Grant, Alan Connor, James O’Reilly; Tom Matthews, Seán Reynolds, Ray Finnegan; Andy McDonnell, Paddy Keenan; Bobby Butterly, Tom Jackson, TJ Doheny; Harry Butterly, Brian White, Dylan McKeown.