Inside Track: Ireland and Dundalk can win – Louth must win

Three teams that have taken up a fair bit of space on these pages over the past few weeks are seeing action ahead of a big sports weekend. Two of them were winners last time out.

Ireland rugby team and Ciaran Kilduff’s Dundalk are each on a mission, one of them long odds-on to stay on a winning run, the other hoping to build on a first-round success.

For Louth senior footballers, there’s a thorny outing with Down at Drogheda, as they strive to end a losing National League run.

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The rugby boys will claim a prize if they beat Wales, having already scored over the two of the other countries nearest to ours. It would be good to win the Triple Crown.

However, the Championship and Grand Slam are the big ‘uns, and looking beyond this weekend, there’s a huge hurdle to clear.

Although mugged by England the weekend before last, France represent the biggest challenge to Ireland’s hopes of winning the championship for the third year running, and also the Grand Slam.

Wales are having a torrid time of it. Head coach, Warren Gatland, has parted company since the most recent game with Italy, which, like the fourteen before it, ended in defeat.

Simon Easterby is doing just fine as stand-in Ireland head coach while Andy Farrell prepares to take the Lions on tour this summer. Joe Schimt’s decision to retire means there’s a vacancy in Australia, and it’s almost certain there’ll be another in Wales.

An unbeaten campaign for Ireland would raise Easterby’s profile, maybe encouraging him to post his C.V. off to Cardiff or Melbourne.

Ronan O’Gara, who’s made a right fist of it coaching at club level, is being mentioned in dispatches as having a future in the International game. We’ll wait in see, but in the meantime, nothing is to be taken for granted in the Principality.

FIRST BLOOD IN DUNDALK’S BID TO GET BACK AMONG ELITE

Dundalk couldn’t have made a better start in their bid to make a quick return to the Premier League. The win over Athlone in the opening round of the First Division was by all accounts hard-earned, but still well deserved.

While there was a number of last year’s panel on show, most of the players were new to supporters watching the team in action for the first time this season.

They’d have been encouraged by what they saw, but probably happiest of all was new coach, Ciaran Kilduff.

Nothing like an early boost, especially when it comes in a defeat of a team strengthened by a number of eye-catching off-season signings and fancied by many to challenge for honours.

A word of warning. It was around this time last year that Orielites were thinking big. It followed an away draw with multiple champions, Shamrock Rovers, in the opening round of the Premier.

The euphoria soon dissipated, with victories becoming as scarce as a good summer. Only the change of managers became more frequent than wins, and probably the most troubled season in the club’s history ended with relegation.

It’s more settled now on the Carrick Road. Many are hoping Friday’s win is the first step on the road leading back to a better place. This weekend’s match is away to UCD.