Louth GAA club | Kelleher: Hopefully we can get the job done

Oliver Plunketts manager Emmett Kelleher knows better than most what Sunday's DKIT Sport Louth Junior Football Championship final means to the supporters and club.

A scorer of two points when the Mell side last won the title in 2014, he now stands on the line as manager, hoping to repeat that success.

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Speaking ahead of the final, he said: “Yeah, great excitement, it's given everyone in the club and the area a great boost. Flags are up now, and everyone's looking forward to Sunday.

“It's junior football, it's hard to get out of Louth as we've known from previous years. It's no different, and Sunday's going to be a tough, tough battle.”

Kelleher has lived through the club’s highs and lows, and he admits the last ten years haven’t been easy.

“Yeah, it has been (tough). Plenty of years there in intermediate, plenty of relegation play-offs. We've had plenty of quarter-finals as well, but we probably haven't had the best ten years.

“It's been topsy-turvy, but we went down in ‘22 in both the league and the championship. The club was probably in a low ebb at that time.

“We're probably very lucky to have a young bunch of players coming through to reignite everyone, especially the other statesmen in the team.

“Hopefully we can get the job done on Sunday and hopefully stay out of junior for a little while after that if we can.”

Junior football

For Kelleher, there is no doubting the difficulty of competing at this grade.

“Yeah, absolutely. We've had a bit of a hardship over the last couple of years. We did win in the Division Three league last year, but lost the quarter-final challenge to the Mitchells.

“It just can be dogged. We played well in the semi-final, but we still only won by a point. We probably played very well.

“The dogged teams in the championship, like the Fionnbarrs, O'Connells, Glyde, they just never know when they're beating and they'll just keep going and keep going.”

No illusions

Oliver Plunketts go into Sunday’s decider unbeaten, but so too do Glyde Rangers. The Drogheda outfit are well aware of the challenge posed by their opponents.

“Glyde have had it over us in fairness. They beat us in the ‘23 semi-final down in Clogherhead. We led for long parts when they clawed us back; they got a late score to beat us.

“They went on to have a great run at Leinster, and then last year, when we had a chance to win the league here, one Friday night, they came down and they were missing a lot of bodies, and they came and beat us as well.

“So, they've certainly had it over us over the last couple of years. We know what we're in for on Sunday. It's going to be some battle. Obviously, they've got Niall Sharkey back now as well, which is a huge asset to them.

“We know how important he is to them. They've plenty of good young players coming through there. We know where Tallanstown looks to be.

“They're going to be a top GAA team in the next couple of years. We've got no illusions on it the battle that we're in for.”

Narrow margins

Plunketts’ semi-final victory over O’Connells was decided by just a single point, and Kelleher admitted his nerves before that clash.

“The O'Connells, to my eye, they’ve the best forwards in the county with Niall Conlon, Robert Quigley, and Jackie Agnew. We knew we were in for a tough battle.

“We've had a lot of battles with them over the last couple of years, and it's never been two or three points between us. We knew it was going to be a tough battle.

“It was a one-point game in the championship semi-final. As I said, I wouldn't write off any team at this level. Some of them are just going to come to the championship football. They're different beasts.”

Old and new

Looking at his squad, the manager points to a strong blend of experience and youth.

“You have a few survivors there. Stephen Keely, Dean Carolin. Cian Mathews is back in us now as well, and Davy McTeggart; there are a few boys that were there in 2014.

“We’ve a whole wave of young lads who have come through. We've been probably very lucky it's kept us going since 2020. We've probably brought through about 11 or 12 lads, which is a lot, especially for a small club like ourselves.

“They're the ones who are driving us on, it's great to see. They’re the boys are the names that we mentioned after games, after a big championship win. Hopefully, on Sunday, they can be the names we mentioned again.”

The unknown

Kelleher himself stepped into management at a time when the club was struggling.

“It was a low point in 2022, going down in both the league and the championship. It was the first time we were relegated to Division 3 in over 20 years.

“It was a long stay up between Division 1 and Division 2. It was just a challenge. I was a little bit into the unknown. I knew from the first night, the first meeting we had in next door here, that the buy-in was there.

“The young lads were coming through, and the older lads wanted to get back to intermediate level football. We achieved that in the league.

“It's been a difficult run in the championship, trying to get back there. We're just hoping that we can get over the line on Sunday.”

Bright future

Despite the pressures of competing with larger clubs, he is encouraged by the talent in the area.

“There's hundreds of houses going out there now as well. The problem is you've Tullyallen coming in on one side, the O’Raghallaighs coming in on the other side.

“We're doing OK. We've had a bit of struggles over the last couple of years, maybe feeling a minor level. We still hold our own, even for a small club. We won the Under-14 Championship this year, the Under-14A Championship.

“There's still plenty of talent in the area coming through, and hopefully those boys will be ready in a couple of years to mix with this current bunch.”

Next generation

“As I said, a lot of the boys now, a lot of our catchment area is just down in the middle of Mell there. Housing estates like Fountain Hill and Riverview, and places like that.

“All the younger boys see our lads walking around; they all know them now. It'll give them all a boost as well. There's plenty of them here at the semi-final and plenty of them out in force again this Sunday, hopefully.”

Nerves

“Yes, absolutely. The same for both teams. It's the county final, there's obviously a lot in the build-up to it. I wouldn't expect that in any other level of football. Everyone's nervous, especially on the finals day.”