Louth boss Devlin aims “for positive start”

As Louth senior footballers prepare to step back into competitive action, new manager Gavin Devlin speaks like a man who understands both where his team has come from and, more importantly, what lies ahead.

The O’Byrne Cup may sit on the side of the wider season, but for Devlin it represents momentum and vital minutes for players.

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He said: “Absolutely, now that it's in place, we plan for that, and it’s about getting players' minutes now, and our training's been going really well, but we still need game time.

“You still need to go through the levels on game day and get minutes into players' legs, and we're working on certain things in the training field.

“I know the conditions are difficult and hard to implement things, but there's certainly things that we're doing in the training field that we want to see in live action.

“It's great to look forward to those games, we have a few challenge games actually organised prior to that, so everything is geared towards getting ready for the start of the National League for an assault.

“So, looking forward to the O'Byrne Cup and we have numbers there now, so it's trying to get the balance with minutes and giving everyone a fair crack of the whip, so that's the exciting part, looking forward to that.”

National League

The Allianz National League waits around the corner, and Louth’s opener away to Offaly is set up to be a tasty encounter against Devlin's former colleague and Louth manager, Michey Harte.

“For many reasons, that game is very important now, but every year it's the same; you start off in the league to get off on the right foot.

“Them early games, that first game or the second game at one end of the table or at the other end, you could be looking and saying everything is possible, or you could be fighting to stay in the division.

“You only had to look at Down last year, for example, like a few extra points, one or two scores, and they could have been in Division One or in the play-off for Division One.

“Then all of a sudden they found themselves in Division Three, so it's so tight Division Two, and I look at that Offaly game as a real four-pointer from the off.”

Ardee

With three home fixtures scheduled for DEFY Páirc Mhuire in Ardee, the decision to return there after last year’s enforced absence was straightforward for Devlin.

“I suppose it's everyone's preference, but it's just what I've been used to previously in Louth. Maybe if I hadn't had an experience of being here before, maybe I'd have been more in favour of keeping it in Drogheda.

“I have no issue with the Drogheda pitch at all, the O’Raghaillaighs pitch, I actually enjoy the vantage points from watching the club championship games from there.

“But just the connection with Ardee and the great experience of being there before in big days, and for me, as long as it's available for me, it was an obvious choice.

“The experience I have in Ardee are all good experiences and look, there's no guarantees I get that.

“But when you have an option, or you have a choice, and you're asked a question on how you would want to play it for me, it was obvious it was always going to be Ardee.”

Opening games

Too often in recent seasons, survival and success have hinged on final rounds. Devlin is clear that this is a habit Louth must break, starting now.

“I mentioned it earlier, but the start, those first one or two games, is so so critical because the thing is so so tight.

“They're not the be-all or end-all, of course not, there's always ways out, there's always solutions, but you want to start off and get a really good positive start.

“We have Offaly first, then followed by Cork and then Meath after that and Croke Park, so it's a very exciting start, and Offaly is the one all eyes are fixed on at this moment.”

Success

Winning the Leinster championship has changed the conversation around Louth, but Devlin rejects the idea that success brings a burden.

“That's it, when you strive for something for so long, and it was Louth’s third Leinster final, and I think it was so, so important.

“We alluded to it back in the moment, it was so important to get over the line that Leinster final, so when you strive for something for so long, and you achieve it, it's certainly not a negative, it's a positive.

“We broke that glass ceiling, we've done something we haven't done in so many years, so let's embrace that, let's take it on and take every game to its own merits.

“We have ideas of how we want to play, everything's a challenge from the training field, to creating that good environment that the players want to come in to training.

“Keeping the vibe good in Louth, that's what our challenge is, I know everything gets judged on a Sunday, whether you win or lose.

“For me, that's only the conclusion of a week's work or a month's work, so my focus right now is trying to get ready for this O’Byrne Cup.

“Trying to get ready for the start of the National League and then everything takes on a life of its own, so I don't look too far ahead.

“I know there'll be people writing stuff that we're under pressure for this and one thing and another, I get all that. But I really don't see that as pressure, I just feel the pressure is showing up this morning when we're here and one day at a time.”

Belief

Devlin insists confidence is not imported from elsewhere; it is earned, session by session, through honesty and work.

“Well, belief's a funny thing, it's a funny thing, it's just throughout there like have belief in yourself and all these mantras throughout.

“Belief's a very funny thing that you know you've got to build it, you've got to build it from scratch, you know, for me it's a real investment of time.

“Honest time like what you've seen this morning, and you can't bluff it, like if you're not here or you're looking for excuses not to be here or you're bailing out, and you're not suffering like everyone on the training field.

“I think that's where belief begins, and when you start to build that through the levels, then there's no chronology, there's no one trying to spoof you because players are really, really smart.

“You know, inside their own head, it's like I haven't done the work, I really haven't done it, and that doubt kicks in.

“But when you know that you have done the work and you know that you've worked as hard as anyone else in the country, maybe surpassed it on a nightly basis, then no one has to convince you.

“You know that everything's possible, and I think from when we've came in five years ago, that's all we ever wanted to do was to lay the foundations.

“To say you know why not us, why can we not be Meath or Monaghan or Armagh down the road, like if they can do it, why not us.

“I think from the grassroots right up, I think that steady progression has been coming as four or five years, and the key now is not to sit back and look and say how great we are.

“The key is we only started the journey, can we kick on, can we keep going, because whenever I think when me and Mickey (Harte) came in at the very beginning, I genuinely think we were 29th in Ireland.

“At the end of last year, after winning Leinster, I think we could have jumped to about 11th, and that's a big jump from 29 to 11.

“Every one of those jumps was doable, like you look and say we could do that, but now that we're 11, like to get from 11 to 10, you've got to do something that we haven't done in a long, long time.

“I'm not even saying get to eight, just get from 11 to 10 and be very careful when you're 11 that someone from 12 and 13 doesn't come and just jump right past you.

“So I think this is where the work really, really begins now because this is real difficult work, but I think we're capable of doing it.”

Progression

From coach to manager, Devlin has watched the same group evolve — and the evidence, he says, is there for all to see.

“You only have to look at the All-Stars, in a year that's in it with the new rules and the quality, particularly at the top end of the field, was so high that we were sitting with three nominees, Craig (Lennon), Ryan (Burns) and then Sam (Mulroy).

“Sam was lucky to get his, not lucky in terms of getting an award, but in the year that was in it, it was magical to get one, starting at 15 on the back of his work.

“Whatever Sam done this year, on the back of five massive years of work, so you only have to look at that to see how could they not have confidence.

“How could Louth not have confidence, and from when I've come five years ago to today, their levels have jumped tenfold in all aspects.

“But the key, as I say, is this: how far are you willing to go? We've got to go again because where we're at now is not good enough if we want to go that wee bit further.

“So there's plenty of room for work, but there's definitely an obvious jump from where we were to where we're at today.”