Inside Track: Lots to be corrected before next meeting with the Dubs
Inside Track with Joe Carroll
The Louth team and management weren’t the only ones to get it wrong the weekend before last. Inside Track was also on the bandwagon, telling readers that whoever Louth got drawn against in the opening round of the All-Ireland series, it wouldn’t be Dublin.
The belief was that it was the same as before. Back when the back door was first thrown open, and for a time after that, teams that had met earlier in the competition couldn’t again be paired together before it got to the latter stages.,
We take some consolation from the fact that before our faux pas appeared in print, the draw had already been made and was known to the public.
It’s not the most appealing of prospects, Louth coming up against the team that, in ruthless fashion, ended their hopes of appearing in a fourth consecutive provincial final.
No need reminding supporters that the 70 minutes ended at O’Moore Park with the Dubs ten points clear. Louth got lots of things wrong, while Dublin were nearly always spot-on. The former multiple champions of the past 15 years clearly deserved their win.
But there’s another way to view this fixture, scheduled to go ahead on the last weekend of this month. It gives Louth the quick chance to make good all that was wrong in Portlaoise.
Okay, the game is at Croke Park, which the Dubs know like the back of their hands, but was it not said before the last game that Louth would have preferred to be at headquarters instead of travelling to the midlands?
As with all the other seven first-round matches, there is no jeopardy attached to the fixture. For the winners, there’s the guarantee of two further games – for the losers, there’ll be another chance.
There’s a lot for Louth to learn from the last day and much more to be got right. James Maguire, a star of the under-20s’ tremendous championship run last season, is one of tomorrow’s men. But was it not asking too much of him to line out at midfield in what was his first senior team start?
Louth were in trouble in the middle from the start, struggling to win in the air and faring even worse in the jousts for the breaking ball. Tommy Durnin made a difference when he came in.
Though it’s accepted the big man doesn’t have 70 minutes in his legs any more, would it not have been better to get the first half out of him?
And talk of the starting fifteen: why Conal McKeever wasn’t among them simply didn’t make sense. He’s been in top form this year, and if a place had to be found for the fit-again Craig Lennon, it shouldn’t have been the Clan na Gael clubman who was asked to give way. Kieran McArdle can also ask why he wasn’t in from the start.
It has to be said that injuries played a large part in Gavin Devlin being unable to field his preferred fifteen. Ciarán Keenan would have been a starter had he not shipped a foot injury in the Wexford game.
It wasn’t thought to be serious at first, but on examination it was shown that the young man, known best as ‘Kiki’, had damaged a bone.
There were no concerns about Daire Nally’s wellbeing, with the Newtown Blues player named at left-full. But, seemingly, he hurt himself in the pre-match warm-up and had to be replaced.
The game with Dublin is over a fortnight away, and that gives those in the treatment room the chance to get back to full fitness.
It also gives the coaching staff time to try to sort out the many semi-final failings, chief among them the lack of return from midfield exchanges.
Linked to this, of course, are the kick-outs. While he kept a clean sheet, his sixth in both league and championship this season, Niall McDonnell didn’t have a good day with his restarts. A number of his attempts to place the ball failed to hit the target, putting Dublin on attack straight away.
McDonnell couldn’t, however, be blamed for his team gaining little advantage when he went long.
It’s the midfielders and others’ responsibility to get up highest and be alert when the ball runs loose. When they didn’t make a clean catch, the Dubs scrapped for the ball as if their lives depended on it.
There was no denying Dublin’s big win, but had Louth done better at midfield and around goals, the scoreboard wouldn’t have had such a lobsided look to it at the end.
It wasn’t that chances didn’t arise. Some of the wides late on were from around the goals, while only one of a number of the two-point chances was taken.
There’s much to be done in Darver over the next few weeks. Getting broken bodies repaired is one, restoring confidence is another. Most important, however, is getting right what went wrong in Portlaoise.
There’ll be tackles to be won and scores to be taken at Croker. It will only happen if there’s a return to the form shown in the second half of the league, fielding a team which is not foreign to the sanctified sod.