Louth face Lilywhites in semi-final
The Wee County travel to GAA headquarters to take on Kildare
Louth aim to book their place in the 2024 Leinster Senior Football Championship final when they play Kildare at Croke Park on Sunday. Throw in at 1.45pm.
After defeating Wexford 4-10 to 0-15 in the quarter-final stage the Wee County are one game away from making it consecutive provincial finals.
A place in the Sam Maguire is also at stake with the winners guaranteed their spot in the top tier competition although Louth may not need that due to their league position from Division 2.
The Wee County go into this Sunday’s clash in good form following their strong end to the league campaign which included a victory over the Lilywhites in Carlow on the final day.
That was after a huge victory over Fermanagh which meant that Louth retained the division with Kildare falling into Division 3.
They are on a run of three straight victories and go looking to make it a four in a row on Sunday which would seal a place against Dublin or Offaly in the showpiece in a fortnight’s time.
That win over the Lilywhites was an impressive display from Ger Brennan’s men though defeating Sunday’s opponents in a match of consequence.
The victory over Wexford though showed the qualities of the current side on show. They had to dig deep in Portlaoise a fortnight ago to book their place in the last four.
The race for the Sam Maguire comes to a climax this weekend though and Louth are in pole position to secure their place in the competition for 2024.
A Down or Offaly victory coupled with Kildare winning means the Wee County would fall into the Tailteann Cup. Dublin defeating Offaly and Armagh taking victory over Down would give Louth a reprieve.
However, their fate is in their own hands and know a win will guarantee their spot amongst the elite as well as successive provincial final appearances for the first time since 1935.
Louth defeated Offaly after extra-time at this stage last year and will be hoping to avoid that this time with a win in the regulation 70 minutes however they have shown the capacity to grind out results when needed like on towards the end of the league and in the quarter-final against Wexford.
The sides did meet just two years ago in the Leinster Championship with the Lillies prevailing convincingly on a scoreline of 2-22 to Louth’s 0-12. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then and time will tell that Brennan’s men are better equipped than that occasion.
Revenge may be in the air for that thumping in Tullamore at the quarter-final stage in 2022 however they will settle for any sort of victory on Sunday to set up what would be a historic occasion on the 2nd Sunday in May.
The Louth lineup for the semi-final is: Niall McDonnell; Donal McKenny, Dermot Campbell; Peter Lynch, Conall McKeever, Anthony Williams; Leonard Grey, Tommy Durnin, Ciarán Murphy; Tom Jackson, Ciarán Keenan, Conor Grimes; Ryan Burns, Sam Mulroy (c), Ciarán Downey.
Substitutes: Craig Lynch, Chris O’Neill, Peter McStravick, Liam Jackson, Dan Corcoran, Bevan Duffy, Niall Sharkey, Wayne Campbell, Jay Hughes, Seán Marry, Paul Mathews
Glen Ryan announced his Kildare side as: Mark Donnellan; Ryan Burke, Shay Ryan, Mick O’Grady; Jack Sargent, Eoin Doyle, Paddy McDermott; Aaron Masterson, Alex Beirne; Paddy Woodgate, Niall Kelly, Shane Farrell; Kevin Feely, Darragh Kirwan, Daniel Flynn.
Substitutes: Didier Cordonnier, Tony Archbold, Brian Byrne, Barry Coffey, Ryan Houlihan, Barry Kelly, Luke Killian, Sam McCormack, Kevin O’Callaghan, Harry O’Neill, Shane O’Sullivan.
Referee: Conor Lane (Cork)