Inside Track: Injury-hit Naomh Mairtín in danger of being relegated
Inside Track with Joe Carroll
This issue of the Demo had been put to bed before the fourth of the Louth senior championship quarter-finals between St Mochta’s and Dundalk Gaels was played.
What had gone ahead over the weekend were three games, two of which resulted in six-point wins, the other in a draw.
That was at the top end of the competition. At the other end, four teams competed over the weekend to avoid a drop to intermediate. Roche Emmets and Dreadnots played their way to safety, Hunterstown Rovers and Naomh Mairtín did not.
The losers are now standing over a trapdoor. Could it happen, injury-ravaged Mairtíns losing their place in the premier championship just one year after being crowned champions?
St Mary’s had their cage rattled for the second time in the knockout, Cooley Kickhams came from the next parish to grab a draw, and not for the first time, Newtown Blues showed just how hard to beat when it’s championship football that’s being played.
Mary’s caught a tarter when they met Hunterstown in the preliminaries. They got beaten that evening, and for just a while at Haggardstown on Saturday evening the same thing happening was a possibly
They were out against rank outsiders, St Fechin’s, and though behind just once – after a few minutes’ play – the competition favourites were only two points ahead with the game inside the final five minutes.
Fechin’s were on a roll, having clawed their way back with a couple of two-pointers. One more and they’d have tied it all up. The effort wasn’t sustained, however. Mary’s got back on the bike, picking off all of the game’s remaining points to win by six.
One thing that has to be said about this Cooley team is that they never give up, regardless of hopeless their situation might be.
They were a dozen points behind in their league section match with Dreadnots, and though they didn’t eke out a win that evening, by reducing the difference to two points won a place in the knock-outs.
Kickhams hadn’t as big a leeway to make up at St Brigid’s Park, but six points behind in their joust with St Joseph’s well inside the final quarter, their normally vociferous following was almost silent.
But the volume was turned up after Cian Connor converted a two-pointer and then another. With the score standing at 0-17 each, both teams had a chance, but neither was taken. They go at it again this Friday night.
Ciarán Downey joined the growing number of injured county players in the week before Sunday evening’s clash with St Patrick’s, and wasn’t able to line out.
His setback, however, wasn’t severe enough to prevent him from making a second half appearance. That did the trick for last year’s runners-up. They sprinted clear in the last quarter to win comfortably enough.
The draw for the semi-finals took place after last night’s match in Darver.