Inside Track: Another defeat is no cause for alarm

Louth seniors made another contribution to the sequence of defeats county teams have sustained in recent weeks, losing to Down on Saturday last.

But don’t for a minute think there’s a slump. The under-20s loss to Tyrone last week was in the All-Ireland final, while the minors remain in contention in their championship, taking on Roscommon in the All-Ireland quarter-final in Cavan’s Breffni Park (7 o’clock.)

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The seniors? They’re out again Clare in their final group match in the All-Ireland qualifiers the weekend after next, and if successful will progress to the next stage of the competition for the second year running.

Supporters are turning up in their droves – on Saturday last they outnumbered the home contingent at Páirc Esler. And what they saw was a Louth display that had character and resilience as its centrepiece.

Without it, Ger Brennan’s side would have folded long before the finish, accepting defeat as inevitable after falling a distance behind. Needing all the fighting spirit at their disposal, they overcame an 11-point deficit to get to within an ace of the 0-25 to 0-24 winners.

And maybe with a fairer show from stand-in referee, Noel Mooney, the Sam Mulroy-captained side could have drawn level, or maybe even snatch a victory.

It was in the end a game of fine margins. When a player blatantly handles on the ground, and another gets away with a push in the back, a free is the only outcome.

Mooney, who replaced the injured Martin Gough in the opening half, thought otherwise, and instead of coming under pressure, Down, the culprits, were able to build attacks from these concessions, one of them yielding a point.

Nothing, however, should take from a Louth performance that was never going to end with the towel being thrown in. That’s not in their DNA. They were on the back foot from the start, wind-assisted Down winning the throw-in before opening the scoring with a two-pointer seconds later.

This trend continued, Down, led by the excellent Pat Havern, putting the Louth backs under fierce pressure and ending nearly every attack with a score. The dividing margin got wider and wider, ten points dividing the sides before Louth added to an early point.

It could have been worse. Niall O’Donnell made a number of brilliant saves, one of them, from which he conceded a point, as good as any the St Fechin’s clubman produced in his time as county goalkeeper.

We expected something better from Louth in the second half, and weren’t disappointed. Along with mistakes, most of them misdirected passes, there were some great scores, several two-pointers among them.

When Down seemed to have weathered the storm midway through the half, Louth showed there was much more in the locker, and in a pulsating close to the game, watched by the day’s biggest crowd, got alongside the home team.

Instead of alongside, it would have been ‘ahead of the home team’, had a blistering Donal McKenny shot gone in and not come back off the post. Or had the ref had been vigilant. Or had a couple of good point chances not gone begging.

The hooter had sounded when Tommy Durnin won possession within sight of goal, but just as he pulled the trigger, a Down defender came from the midfielder’s blindside to put in a magnificent point-saving block. No-one, at least not those who converged on Newry from these parts, would have complained had it ended in a draw.

It’s all down now to the Clare match, which is to be played at a neutral venue. The winners get the prize, and that’s a place among the last twelve in the running for All-Ireland honours – with a better score difference, a draw would qualify Louth.

Ger Brennan won’t be banking on that, however. A win will be the objective, and it will be more easily achieved if his team doesn’t give the opposition a start, as has been happening in many of the latest matches.

Defence needs tightening up, and perhaps we could see the switch of McKenny to the No 6 berth. It wouldn’t be foreign to him. The Mary’s man can defend, and like Conal McKeever, who was excellent on Saturday, and Craig Lennon (his two-pointer was sublime, along with Mulroy and Durnin’s) is not slow to go forward when he knows there’s someone back minding the shop.

A repeat from Durnin, Mulroy, Ryan Burns and the industrious and sweet-moving Ciarán Downey (coming out from one of his best ever performances in the red jersey) should keep the scoreboard ticking over. Mulroy made mistakes against Down, but more than compensated with 0-12.

Fans will be on the road again, and if buoyed by a win for the minors this Saturday, you can only imagine the colour there’ll be. There’s no-one losing the faith.