Inside Track: Under-20s’ defeat highlights growing problem
Inside Track with Joe Carroll
Louth made a big contribution to last Wednesday evening’s Leinster under-20 final with Kildare. It was a game laced with fine football, good scores and lots of excitement. It also had a tense finish, the result in doubt right to the final whistle.
Louth’s effort, however, wasn’t good enough to secure victory. The Lilies finished two points clear, 0-23 to 1-18, after the sides had been level 11 times over the hour.
But how different could it have been had Louth taken only a small fraction from the crucial midfield battle.
There’s no doubt that his is where the game was won and lost. Louth simply couldn’t come to terms with the Kildare high fielding around the middle, where man-of-the-match Daniel Colbert, though wearing the No 10 shirt, was most influential.
There were signs in the semi-final defeat of Wexford that this wasn’t Louth’s strongest area. Perhaps left with no alternative, Fergal Reel and his management cohorts again had to go with Conor McGinley and Colm Hackett.
It didn’t work. Kildare won almost everything in the air and profited from broken play as well. How the selectors would love to have had last year’s partnership of Sean Callaghan and James Maguire on call.
It’s easily recalled this duo‘s contribution to the provincial win and a place in the All-Ireland final.
And yet Louth forwards weren’t starved of possession. Due to some excellent work by the roaming Conor Mac Criosta and others, lots of play developed in front of the Kildare goals.
That said, it’s just a pity the ball couldn’t have been threaded through to full-forward, Seán Flynn, more often.
The Mattock Rangers lad had the Kildare full-back in his pocket, winning everything that landed in front of them. He didn’t figure on the scoresheet, but his distribution had others hitting the mark.
Most of the talk among Louth supporters afterwards centred on midfield’s failure and some of the referee’s decisions. Yes, the arbiter made a few strange calls, antagonising both sides, it must be said.
In most games, these things usually even themselves out, and that was the case in this game. Louth had genuine claims for a close-in free late on – and those who had a good view were adamant Tony McDonnell wasn’t over the sideline when he was penalised, the kick to Kildare leading to one of the points that divided the sides at the finish.
On the other side, the Kildare management were aggrieved when a penalty wasn’t awarded for a foul on one of their players midway through the first half.
The ball was immediately moved upfield, and after a series of passes, Adam Gillespie was on hand to claim the only goal of the match.
That gave Louth the lead after Kildare had shown 0-4 to 0-1 in front at one stage. It got better for the Reds. Four scores, one of them a two-pointer from Tiernan Markey, whose five points from placed kicks were from the Sam Mulroy handbook, made it 1-7 to 0-5. The St Mary’s goalkeeper finished as his side’s top scorer.
The loss of this lead before half-time would have to figure prominently in any Louth analysis of the game. Making best use of their midfield dominance, Kildare got in for three successive two-pointers to go in 0-12 to 1-8 in front.
It was nip and tuck throughout the second half, neither side able to open up a decent lead. When it mattered most, however, Kildare got the vital scores.
It was in the dying minutes that two of the referee’s big calls and another from a sidelineman went against Louth.
These were ingredients of much after-match comment, along with the booking of manager Reel. But even those most vociferous were in agreement – the best team won.