Louth ladies “will be giving it our best” says Hanlon

As the excitement builds for the Louth ladies ahead of their LGFA Junior Football Championship final against Fermanagh at Croke Park on Sunday, the team remains optimistic and focused.

The anticipation is palpable as the squad prepares for this monumental match, and the atmosphere within the camp is one of determination. Despite the high stakes, the Louth camp remains composed and ready to face their opponents.

When asked about any team news or injury concerns ahead of the final, manager Paul Hanlon told the Dundalk Democrat, “No we have nothing to worry about yet anyway. It is all good so far.”

Facing Fermanagh is no small task, and the Wee County is well aware of the challenge that lies ahead. Hanlon and his coaching staff have been studying their opponents, understanding their strengths and preparing strategies to deal with them.

“We have been watching videos of Fermanagh for the past few nights. They are a very good team, a very good running team and it will be a tough battle but we will be giving it all our best. Fermanagh seem to have a lot of runners on the wings, and they seem to be a great football team,” he said.

The Louth team has been putting in the hard yards during training sessions, with a recent highlight being a visit from Louth underage director of football Gavin Devlin, who brought fresh ideas to the squad.

“Preparation is going very well for us. We had Gavin Devlin up on Thursday night at a training session with us. Gavin was very good with the players, and I think they seem to have enjoyed it. It was a good evening on Thursday evening.”

Reflecting on the team's journey so far, the manager, in his first year with the team, emphasized their strong performance throughout the season.

Hanlon said: “It is my first year with the Louth team and they seem to be playing very well. They have been going very well since the Leinster games. We won all our Leinster competitions; we went into the All-Ireland then and we have four games played and left with four good results.”

As the final approaches, the significance of this match is not lost on Hanlon and his players. The prospect of winning at Croke Park is exhilarating, and the manager knows the crucial role the supporters will play.

“Winning would be everything. If they win this, I would say they will give Louth a big buzz. It is the crowd that we want, that is going to get us across the line, I think. Croke Park is a big field, and it is the crowd that is going to be pushing us across the line,” said the manager.

Managing pre-game nerves and excitement is a challenge, but Hanlon is confident in his team's focus, aided by their captain Áine Breen's behind-the-scenes efforts.

“The excitement and the nerves are kicking in at the minute. It is go go go the whole time and we just take every call and email as it comes to us. Our captain Áine Breen is doing a lot of work behind the scenes. She is great – a super girl.”

The Cooley man reflects on the proud moments of the season, particularly the victory in the Leinster final, and acknowledges the momentum that has built up over their unbeaten run.

“The Leinster final I think was the biggest one so far. The Leinster final was a great day out and a great pitch to play on. It was an absolutely fantastic day that we had.”

“The Leinster final and all the Leinster games. We stayed up in Division 3 and there were a couple of tough games in it. We were actually a wee bit worried about the Limerick game and saw what way they performed in the Limerick game.

“We have 30 players on the panel and all the 30 players got football in the division. As a new management coming into a team like that you have to be seen giving people football.

“We ended up coming to the middle of it getting our bearings right even with coaches Darren (Clarke), Alan (Page) and (Stats) John Temple we had our squad kind of picked towards the end of it.

“So, we knew the first thing that we were looking forward to being Leinster and we won the Leinster. We deserved to win it. We played very well in the Leinster games.

“We are into our seventh game now unbeaten and some great results. We beat Kilkenny 1-1 to 5-9. In the Longford game, we scored 6-12 and they seem to be on fire at the minute the whole team.

“As I said Gavin Devlin was down the other night and he had a great session with the girls who were very pleased with it and very happy after it.

“On Sunday morning at training in Darver we had a meet and greet session where the players spend time meeting all the fans so hopefully winning the final will give Louth a bit of a buzz.”

Looking ahead, regardless of the outcome of the final, Hanlon is optimistic about the future, seeing this campaign as a foundational step for the team.

“When you look at Limerick and Leitrim in the other semi-final we drew with Limerick. We were actually seven or eight points up at one stage against Limerick.

“The players deserve to be up there. I think in fairness they’d probably give Clare a great game of football when you see Clare up there at the top of that group.

“Clare only beat us by two points on our home turf. One of the challenges this year was that we had an awful lot of away games.

“We only got one home game in the league and one home game in the All-Ireland, the home game was Limerick and they beat them by double scores in Stabannon it seems to be going very, very well.”