Louth set for Leinster SFC semi-final showdown against Lilywhites

Louth’s Leinster Senior Football Championship journey continues this Sunday afternoon with a semi-final clash against familiar foes Kildare at Glenisk O’Connor Park in Tullamore at 2.00pm.

There’s a sense of quiet determination around the Red camp as they gear up for what promises to be a tightly-contested battle between two sides on similar footing.

Louth put in a strong shift to see off Laois with a 2-16 to 0-17 win in Cedral St. Conleth's Park in the quarter-final stage of the competition.

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That result built a bit of momentum at just the right time, something experienced defender Anthony Williams knows all too well can make all the difference.

Returning to action after a long spell out injured, Williams is buzzing to be involved again. He said: "It has been my shoulder mostly. I suppose I would've avoided injuries a lot in my career.

“And then all of a sudden, I had a problem with my shoulder, which kind of just escalated, really had three operations then on it and never really got it right.

“But luckily enough I’m back playing now. Feeling good, feeling healthy. Had a bit of a setback with the hamstring this year, just when I came back from my honeymoon.

“But that's over me now, so hopefully we're on the, on the straight and now I'm looking forward to the championship.

“I’m fully recovered now. We had a game there this morning, you know, just a challenge match between ourselves. So, feeling good, I got through it all. No issue.”

For Williams, this isn’t just about personal recovery, it’s about pushing the Wee County forward and helping younger players take the next step.

“I think this is my 11th season now with Louth. That's been the way, like we would have looked up to a lot of the seasoned lads when we were coming through.

“I always felt there was a massive benefit to learn so much from lads coming through just their approach to football, their approach to training, and how they look at the game, how they focus.

“I suppose that's what us, let's say, the more seasoned lads are trying to bring. We've a lot of young lads, we've lads still in school, we've lads in college.

“What we're trying to do is just help them through as much, get the most out of them because they're the ones that really drive on this team.

“We've done it for a number of years now. We're trying to give as much as we can, but helping these lads come through so we can continue to develop Louth football.”

Asked how he personally supports the younger heads, Williams is reflective but clear: “I think everybody's different. Like you have some people in the dressing room, you look up to their big talkers,” he said.

“Some lads spend more time one-on-one with other lads and kind of, I like to give my knowledge one-on-one to lads.

“Like in terms of defending how you defend body shape, things like that. Whatever education or help I can give to younger lads to give as much as I can.”

He’s also had the chance to view this group from the outside during his injury spell.

“You could say it was very similar to last year. We've probably done a similar trajectory where we started very strong.

“We were probably hit with a few injuries, which made us see a bit of a slump in the mid part league and we finished strongly.

“That's the most important thing coming into the championship. You want a bit of momentum. You want to be bringing lads on.

“You want to be pushing to places. You want competition within the squad. And that's, I think, what we're starting to see now.

“You know, it's massive to get over Leach, we didn't look past each other, and we have a huge game against Kildare. luckily, we're on the right trajectory, you know, in terms of performance.”

But there’s no underestimating Kildare.

“I still have 2022 in the back of my head where we got a ramping from them in the same pitch. So, none of us will forget about that.

“I don't think we have a divine right to expect to be in the Leinster final just because we've been there the last two years.

“We know how good Kildare are. They still have a lot of the same players that gave us a hammering in two years.

“So, we won't forget about that. We won't be complacent, and we just need to look after ourselves going into the game.

“If we look past Kildare, we'd be very foolish. Kildare had a stump last year, they went to division three.

“They're straight back up, effectively two Division 2 teams going head-to-head and Leinster semi-final. There's nothing between us really.”