Inside Track: Louth seniors step up a grade but not a gear

In the course of its preview to Saturday’s game in Newbridge, a daily paper said in winning the Leinster championship Louth had beaten two league Division Three teams and another from Division Two.

It wasn’t an attempt to crab Louth’s performance, just a comment on what faced the Reds in the All-Ireland qualifier with Monaghan.

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“Meanwhile, Monaghan beat Louth (by six points) and Meath (by nine) on the way to winning Division Two and then pushed Donegal all the way in Ulster,” it said.

No doubt, Saturday’s game was a step-up for Louth. Yes, there’d been a draw in last summer’s championship meeting of the sides at Clones, and in that league match played at Drogheda a few months ago, whittled an enormous Monaghan lead down to three points before the visitors doubled their advantage near the end.

But the Farney is a battle-hardened outfit – having spent 16 years running in the top league division, they needed just one campaign to regain their status after being relegated.

And in that time they won two Ulster Championships and contested the final of another two. Monaghan were the better team at a rain-soaked St Conleth’s Park, winning by six points, 1-23 to 4-8 – which equates to double scores, taking two-pointers into consideration – and were being shouted home long before the finish.

Yet, the Louth performance wasn’t without some merit. Ger Brennan had to send his troops out without Peter Lynch and Dermot Campbell, two defensive pivots in the Leinster final; Ciarán Downey wasn’t there for the restart, and having missed two handy chances early on, Craig Lennon didn’t make an anticipated contribution.

It doesn’t happen often when vaunted goalie, Rory Beggan has to pick the ball out of the net four times, or is beaten from the penalty-spot twice in succession by the same player.

Against that, the Scotstown player claimed a couple of two-pointers, and was more than usual helping out in attack.

Sam Mulroy was prominent, again finishing top scorer; but on a very good day, he would have had more to his name. He knows by now that with fame comes extra notice, not all of it fair.

Mulroy will always have more than one opponent to contend with, and that’s to be expected. But jeering from the other team’s followers when he misses a free or makes a mistake, or not getting a fair shake of the stick from the referee?

The latter happened twice, most blatantly alongside the grandstand sideline in the second half.

Louth hit back a number of times when a Monaghan runaway looked likely. That’s par for the course. At no time have they been seen to chuck in the towel, not even in the heavy league defeat by Cork.

The first of Mulroy’s two goals was a swift reply to the one Monaghan claimed with the game only minutes in progress, and when Tommy Durnin followed with another, Louth were back on terms, 2-1 to 1-4.

After that Monaghan hit five points in succession, heading, it seemed, for a big interval lead. But not for the first time this season, Ryan Burns hit a majestic two-pointer, and when he followed soon afterwards with another, Louth were back to within three points.

Monaghan had the slicker attack throughout, spelling danger every time they challenged a beleaguered Louth defence. The main difference in the sides was illustrated early in the second half.

While Monaghan converted three chances, Sam Mulroy missed the same number at the other end, his contribution bringing to 11, Louth’s total for the 70 minutes.

Louth got to within a goal when Mulroy beat Beggan from the spot in the 53rd minute, but supporters’ hopes were dented yet again, Beggan and Bannigan each coming with a two-pointer to go with three ‘ordinary’ points.

True to form, Louth stuck at it and with the game in its embers, Durnin completed a slick move to claim his second goal, and Ciarán Byrne pointed to take a bad look off the scoreline.

Statistics in another of Saturday’s dailies showed that it’s not usually good for provincial champions in their next competitive outing. Louth did nothing to improve the record, but have an early chance to correct all that was wrong at Newbridge.

A second qualifier is coming up at Newry this Saturday, with Down hoping to build on a huge win over Clare in the opening round. Louth won the league meeting of the sides, and to give themselves a chance of advancing to the competition’s phase must win this one.