Louth manager Brennan embraces the "big challenge ahead"

There’s a sense of quiet confidence in the Louth camp this week as Ger Brennan’s side prepare for their massive Leinster Senior Football Championship quarter-final clash with Laois this Sunday in Newbridge. Throw-in at Cedral St. Conleth’s Park is set for 3.00pm.

The Wee County head into the knockout stages on the back of a crucial win over Meath in Inniskeen, a result that not only kept them in Division 2 but also gave the squad a welcome lift in the build-up to championship football.

READ MORE: "It's a team effort" says Louth captain Mulroy

When speaking ahead of their Laois clash, manager Brennan said: “Winning certainly helps in terms of team morale and everything else, it certainly helps despite the work going on in the background.

“When you're not getting the results, it can be an extra load on the players and management to kind of pick things up.”

That Meath win brought relief but also renewed belief within the group as the squad regrouped well afterwards and have since been back on the grind.

“To be fair to the lads they really worked hard, everyone took four to five days off after the Meath game and we got back at it then the weekend previous,” he said.

Sunday will mark three weeks since Louth last played, while Laois come in fresh from a convincing win over Wexford in Wexford Park.

Brennan and his team were in attendance, and the former Dublin All-Ireland winner was full of praise for what he saw.

“We were down there as a management team and it was very impressive I have to say Laois were well organised, their structure on their own kickouts. It was very evident to see that they had an awful lot of tricks up their sleeves.

“Their ability to move the ball forward was quite impressive and getting some of their key guys in the ball in a scoring range was equally impressive too.  

“I suppose one guy certainly stood out making his debut for Laois was Ronan Coffey he ended up with six points, he had a couple of two-pointers in there as well he was very impressive.  

“Mark Barry at centre forward which was hugely impressive too and then their two wing backs Patrick Sullivan ended up with a goal and Pa Kerwin ended up with three points. 

“Both those two lads gave Laois a fairly impressive platform to start their attacks and then they have two fairly strong and gangly midfielders as well who made a big impression Conor Heffernan and Seamus Lacey. 

“So overall I think they're very impressive, Killian Roche at goal, we know Cillian from UCD, great footballer, great footballing brain and hugely talented as well.

“He certainly makes the Laois team tick as well, he comes out to the field quite a good bit too and is that extra forward when Laois are attacking.

“Then he's well able to do long-range frees too from the ground. So it's a big challenge ahead of us coming into the game.”

Despite the strong Laois showing, Louth won’t be throwing in the towel. Brennan stressed the importance of focusing on themselves just as much as studying the opposition.

He said: “It's a bit of both. You have to give due respect to the opposition to ensure that they are studied and looked at accordingly and see if we can identify some of their key guys as I've mentioned there.

“You look at the Laois campaign as a whole and credit to (Justin) McNulty and his management team and the work that he had to put in this year.

“He had a lot of change compared to his first year in charge where he got them up to Division 3 and they have a lot of new guys in there as well this league campaign.

“So to stay in Division 3 was also a big achievement there. There's an awful lot of positives going for them.

“In terms of ourselves, you're looking to get better week to week, game to game and we know while some areas of our gameplay was working well against Meath, it's not going to be as easy going into the Laois game.

“Then you throw in the special ingredients of Championship football, Laois will have had a game played which will be an advantage to them.

“Where there could be an extra few nerves in the Louth camp because it is the first Championship outing.”

Team news-wise, it’s a mixed bag. Sam Mulroy will miss out, which is a blow, but the camp has had positive updates on a number of other players.

“Sam was working hard and we were in his club the weekend which was lovely thanks to Naomh Mairtin and some of the other clubs who have facilitated the senior team over the last number of weeks while repair work was going on in Darver.

“So it was great to see Sam and Ciarán Keenan running which was great. Craig Lennon trained the weekend, and 'Casey' Byrne trained the weekend.

“Conor Grimes trained at the weekend, Dan Corcoran and Anthony Williams will more than likely be training this week as well.”