Inside Track: Early leavers missed a spirited Louth comeback that fell just short

Hands up all you Louth supporters who left Drogheda’s Intergal GAA Grounds at half-time in Sunday’s match with Monaghan.

Hands up all you who wanted to leave, but didn’t, maybe out of loyalty, or not wanting to be spotted by someone you knew from Monaghan who was standing nearby.

At this stage the score stood at a scarcely believable 1-19 to 0-7 in the visitors’ favour. A view minutes earlier, Monaghan were even further ahead, 17 points the difference.

When Sam Mulroy popped a free over to bring Louth’s total to six points, there wasn’t a murmur from the home support. Same when he then converted a 45.

READ NEXT: Inside Track: Louth and Monaghan border has been crossed many times

The onlookers in red were in shock, trying to come to terms with what they had seen over the previous 30 minutes or so. Contrast that to what it was like when the same team went on the rampage as the third quarter gave way to the fourth.

Mulroy converted a two-point free, then another, and after he’d taken ONLY a point from a placed-kick, he went came back with another two-pointer.

Louth, incredibly, were within six points and followers were nearly ecstatic. There WERE ecstatic, when, after Conall McKeever had been poleaxed in the square, Sam the Man sent acclaimed Monaghan goalkeeper, Rory Beggan the wrong way, expertly guiding the ball to the right corner from the penalty spot.

Could the impossible happen, we asked. There was still time on the clock. Having been at their loudest in the first half, the travelling army in the stand and on the banks was stunned to silence. The game was on last lap and they hadn’t seen their side score since seven minutes into the half. Their counterparts were hoarse from shouting.

How sad, therefore, from a Louth perspective that it should have been non-compliance with one of new rules that slowed down the rally and got Monaghan back on the bike.

With action down at the far end, Donal McKenny, one of the three defenders delegated to stay inside the 45-metre line, went too far upfield. He was spotted by a linesman and had a close-in free awarded against.

But rather than go for the point, Rory Beggan took the ball back to beyond the bigger of the two arcs, and this being a game on which the Scotstown man was on song with his placed-kicks, the odds on him converting this one were short.

He duly nailed it, giving his side the comfort of a five-point lead. Monaghan added another point to make it 1-27 to 1-21, and that’s how it finished.

No-one could have envisaged it being as close at the finish when Laois referee, Séamus Mulhare, called a halt to the first half.

Yes, Monaghan had played with a strong wind, but the way in which they were able to dominate at midfield, scythe their way through a porous defence and score at will, said more about how desperately poor Louth were at trying to compete with them than anything else.

When did we ever see it happen before in a county match, or any match for that matter, four players being replaced at the one time?

That’s the call Ger Brennan made just before the break, either looking to the second half, or in frustration with the way replaced quartet had played.

We don’t know, but what we do know, when Louth got motoring the replacements didn’t look out of place. Monaghan continued to take most from midfield, but with Tommy Durnin, Mulroy, Leonard Grey – having his best outing for the county – Paul Matthews and Conall McKeever working like beavers, most of the second half was played in the Monaghan half.

This was a transformed Louth. Attacks were much better crafted, and with Monaghan backs going beyond what was permitted by the ref, Mulroy was given the chance to add credence to the belief that he’s the country’s best free-taker.

It would have been a great game for Louth to win, but it wasn’t won, and now, with two games remaining, to concentration is on getting away from the league’s danger zone. There’s a trip to Cork on the Sunday after next, before an Inniskeen re-match with Meath.