Louth defender Campbell "Delighted with the win"

Louth opened their National Football League campaign with a victory over Offaly at O’Connor Park on Sunday afternoon. Defender Dermot Campbell was pleased with the hard-fought win.

Speaking after the game, he said, “The first day out is just about getting a win on the board.

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“We knew in a way coming down here, Offaly up from Division Three and Mickey Harte at the helm, in terms of what he was going to have them believing in and pushing them, and we knew they wouldn't fear the likes of us.

“I know Offaly probably have lost a lot of bodies from last year. We knew coming in they'd be a wounded animal, so yeah, just delighted to get the win. It wasn’t pretty there.

“Obviously, in the first half, they kicked a few great two-pointers. We'll probably look at them during the weekend and not be happy with how we defended those.

“But I thought overall every time we attacked in the first half, we were looking like we were scoring or we were creating them for goal chances, so just delighted to get out of there with the win. The first day out is just all about getting a win.”

The breeze and defensive lapses caused early problems.

“The breeze, we didn't really think there'd be much of a breeze coming down here, but once they got a couple of long-range scores, the wind was just sailing the ball over the bar, so overall I don't think they really cut us for any goal chances.

“So we're happy with that, but that first half, definitely, we were probably a little bit standoffish.

“It probably took us 10 or 15 minutes to realise there is a bit of a breeze there, so definitely loads to work on for next week, Cork coming to Ardee, but yeah, just delighted to get out of here with the win.”

Louth learned quickly how to make conditions work in their favour.

“That was it, just put the ball up and let the wind do the work. Obviously, we wanted our two-point man on the ball there.

“There was no point in lads taking pot shots, it was important to get our right lads on the ball, and then we knew at the end there they were just going to throw the kitchen sink in terms of a couple of high balls in.

“We knew what they were trying to do, so it was just about getting something on the high ball and communicating and getting lads in around it, and thankfully the bounce of the ball went our way a couple of times at the end, and we were able to keep them out.”

Resilient Offaly

The hosts refused to go away, even when under pressure.

“Absolutely, especially with Mickey in charge, they were never going to lie down in their backyard.

“As I said, they're missing some key lads, so we're well sure they'll be able to take points off a couple of teams maybe later on in the league once they get those few bodies back, and we're just delighted.

“We've got a couple of bodies to come back in ourselves. A couple of lads have done really well there, the likes of Dara McDonnell probably dominated in the middle, a couple of young lads came on, Tadhg McDonnell, massive impact.

“Callo’s back in, Eoghan Callaghan’s back in the squad this year, which is brilliant. So we've got lads to come back in as well and the lads on the bench there, as I said, they were just pushing and driving everything on and got us over the line.”

Experience

Experience helped Louth manage the closing stages.

“I still think we probably kicked a few balls away cheaply enough at the end, and with Niall (McDonnell), we were probably cursing a couple of the forwards at the end.

“But no look, those high balls in, it's about making sure one goes up and not having two or three going up for the same ball and then getting caught in no man's land, and Niall knew to probably stay on his line.

“The last thing we wanted was the two of us going up and the ball being flicked in the back of the net to an empty net.

“So yeah, that was kind of just a bit of old school football there at the end, and yeah, we're happy we were able to deal with them.”

Momentum

Campbell stressed the importance of winning and building early momentum.

“100% because the two favourites to go up obviously dropped points yesterday, so Kildare got a great result up in Tyrone, and Meath obviously put Derry to the sword.

“I don't know what the score was in the other one today, but there's going to be points taken off everyone, and that's why it was so important today to get a win.

“The so-called favourites for the drop, let's say, as I said, they were all able to pick up results, so it's just going to be a dogfight for the whole campaign, so just delighted to get the two points.”

Cork

Attention now shifts quickly to the next game at home to Cork.

“Yeah, Cork, really good side. The last few fixtures seem to go away at home sites, so we're hoping maybe that trend continues.

“But we know they'll be coming up early next week and a couple of lads back in their squad this year as well, so that'll be a real battle.

“We know they're big around the middle and have trekked all over the pitch up front, so we'll just have to recover now during the week and focus on Cork.”

Mission complete

The Leinster champions left Offaly with their main objective achieved.

“Yeah, that was the target for the last two or three months, it was just Offaly we weren't looking past that.

“That's what Gavin (Devlin) and Peter (Dooley) had drilled into us, so now we move on to Cork as I said, and just get up the road and recover and two points in the bag.”