Inside Track: Followers are saying: More of this, please

This is being written on Wednesday night, a couple of days before the first of the weekend’s Louth championship fixtures, and the same length of time after the Monday night meeting of Naomh Mairtín and St Joseph’s.

There is still lots of football to be played in the senior championship – hopefully the standard is of the highest order. However, regardless of what’s to come, it will be hard to beat what we saw at Stabannon.

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Here we had dual champions of recent years, Mairtíns, taking on a team with serious championship ambitions. Going into the competition, Joe’s had put a solid league campaign behind them, reaching the final.

It didn’t work out too well for them in the joust with St Mochta’s; but all that did was to make them all the more determent in their quest for the Joe Ward Cup, which last rested in Dromiskin 19 years ago.

Wayne McKeever’s side were set a difficult task in their opener, playing against a team that, in addition to winning the title in 2020 and again the following year, have contested the final more often than any other team in the last decade.

It was all set up for a clinker, and that’s exactly what the big crowd was treated to. There were good scores – some even better than that - bone-crunching, but fair, tackling, and stand-out individual performances on both sides.

Mairtín got the verdict, finishing three points in front; but there were many times when Joe’s had a winning look about them, twice going four points clear.

In the end, it was Sam Mulroy’s eye for a score from play and placed-kicks that made the difference, the Louth captain helping himself to 13 of his side's eighteen points.

Just when we thought the physical element might be fading from the game, there were enough shoulder-to-shoulder tackles here to tell us that’s not the case. These weren’t just sight brushes, but good, honest to goodness clashes, the one coming off worst often ending up on the ground.

Mulroy wasn’t the only player of county experience to make his presence felt. Conal McCaul, whose number of times in the red jersey wouldn’t match Mulroy’s, was outstanding at midfield for Joe’s, his fielding and distribution just two of his attributes.

Another was his marksmanship. The big man ended with seven points, all of them coming from play. Gavin Devlin and his team might want to take a further look at him before getting down to the business of naming their first panel.

And they could give consideration to Wayne Campbell, the Naomh Mairtín player who figured around the middle of the field.

Another Joe’s player to catch the eye was Oisín McGuinness. An eager beaver if ever there was one, the No. 10 probably covered more of the Stabannon sod than anyone else, playing a part in many of his side’s winning moves.

The County Board’s idea of playing matches on a Monday night has been a winner since it was introduced a few years ago. If followers can be guaranteed more of what was seen in Stabannon, they’ll come along in even bigger numbers than before.