Louth County final between St Patrick’s GFC and the Sean O’Mahony’s will be shown on TV.
Deferred coverage of the Joe Ward decider will be shown on TG4 at 4.30pm.
The game in the Gaelic Grounds in Drogheda throws-in at 3.45pm and will be preceeded U-18 B Championship final between the Dreadnots and Naomh Fionnbarra/Lannleire.
The senior game will be refereed by Stephen Murphy.
Louth boss Colin Kelly has made five changes to his team for tomorrow evening’s All-Ireland Qualifier clash with Leitrim in Drogheda.
After the disappointment of May’s 3-14 to 0-16 defeat to Westmeath in the Leinster Championship, the Wee County will be looking to bounce back against a Leitrim side who have only won once in 15 attempts in the Qualifiers.
Into the side come goalkeeper Craig Lynch, experienced defender Dessie Finnegan, midfielder James Califf and forwards Ronan Holcroft and Conal McKeever. Those who are making way include Neil Gallagher, Patrick Reilly, James Stewart, Derek Maguire and Conor Grimes.
The team in full is: Craig Lynch; Padraig Rath, Dessie Finnegan, Anthony Williams; Declan Byrne, Darren O’Hanlon, Adrian Reid; Tommy Durnin, James Califf; Bevan Duffy, Paraic Smith, Conal McKeever; Ryan Burns, Colm Judge, Ronan Holcroft.
Throw-in at the Gaelic Grounds on Saturday is 7pm.
Louth’s All-Ireland Qualifier clash with Leitrim has been confirmed for The Gaelic Grounds in Drogheda on Saturday June 27th at 7pm.
The two sides were paired together for the first time ever in the championship after losing their respective provincial championship ties to Westmeath and Galway in May.
Louth have named their side for Sunday’s Leinster Championship clash with Westmeath in Drogheda.
A number of players will be making their championship debuts including Anthony Williams, Bevan Duffy and Tommy Durnin while there will be first starts for Patrick Reilly, Darren O’Hanlon and James Stewart.
Colin Kelly’s side will be hoping to bounce back from the disappointment of relegation to Division Four at the start of April.
The omens are good though following a good recent record against Westmeath.
This time last year teenager Ryan Burns hit the net as Louth beat the Midlanders on a 1-14 to 1-9 scoreline at Cusack Park in Mullingar. The county’s championship hopes were ended in the quarter-final stage though when they were trashed 1-22 to 1-7 by Kildare in Croke Park.
Louth also famously beat Westmeath at the semi-final stage en route to the 2010 Leinster final.
The team in full is Neil Gallagher; Anthony Williams, Patrick Reilly, Padraig Rath; Declan Byrne, Darren O’Hanlon, Adrian Reid; Bevan Duffy, Tommy Durnin; Derek Maguire, Colm Judge, James Stewart; Ryan Burns, Conor Grimes, Paraic Smith.
Throw-in on Sunday is at 3.30pm.
Louth have made two changes to the side who lost to Fermanagh in Brewster Park last Saturday night for this Sunday’s Allianz National League Division Three clash with Clare at the Gaelic Grounds in Drogheda.
Dessie Finnegan and Conor Grimes have both come into the side in place of Brian Donnelly and Derek Maguire, with a number of other positional changes.
Manager Colin Kelly will be hoping to bounce back from last week’s 0-16 to 0-7 defeat as he continues his search for a first victory.
The team in full is: N Gallagher; K Toner, P Reilly, P Rath; D Crilly, D Finnegan, D O’Hanlon; B Duffy, E O’Connor; A Reid, D O’Connor, D Byrne; R Burns, C Grimes, C Judge.
Throw-in on Sunday is at 2pm.
Shane Lennon fists past Laois goalkeeper Eoin Culleton in the Leinster Championship in 2013
Louth’s preparations for the New Year have been dealt a further blow following the announcement that Shane Lennon has retired from inter-county football.
The Kilkerley Emmets forward follows in the footsteps of Paddy Keenan in stepping away from the county side, leaving new boss Colin Kelly with two huge holes to fill in his first season in charge.
In an injury-interrupted career, Lennon was a virtual ever present in the side when fit having broken into the side back in 2004.
In that time he won a National League Division Two and Division Three title, a Tommy Murphy Cup and was part of the Louth side which reached the Leinster final in 2010.
Commenting on his decision to retire, Lennon said that he had to listen to his body after a series of injuries over the years.
“It is with deep regret that I am announcing my retirement from inter county football. I have thought long and hard about this decision and finally I had to start listening to my body.
“I have been honoured to pull on the red and white jersey and represent this incredible wee county. I have been involved in the Louth senior set up for the last 10 years and enjoyed every second of it. I soldiered beside some Louth legends and have met so many good friends both on and off the field through Louth GAA.
“Unfortunately in the last few years my career has become very stop start due to certain problems with my hips. Over the last 3 years I underwent two hip operations, and during 2014 this started to affect my day to day living. I was going from game to game and not being able to train during the week which was far from ideal for what is expected of a current inter county footballer. This was very frustrating for myself, management and also my team-mates.
“I would like to thank Val Andrews, Eamonn McEneaney, Peter Fitzpatrick and Aidan O’Rourke and their backroom staff for giving me the opportunity to represent Louth at senior level over the past few years. My greatest gratitude goes out to the County Boards past and present for their support and help and of course to the Louth fans that have travelled near and far supporting us through thick and thin, a big thank you.
“I have spoken thoroughly with Colin Kelly and he understands where I stand with my injuries and I wish him and his new backroom staff all the best for the coming seasons and I firmly believe the future is bright in the Wee County.
“I would also like to thank Kilkerley Emmets for all their help and the development they gave me from day one in my football career. A great club from top to bottom and I was honoured to represent them on the county team.
“Finally I would like to thank my girlfriend Linda and my family who have been always by my side whether it be Croke Park or the Gaelic Grounds their support was present. I will continue to work in my role as Games Development Administrator for Louth GAA and I will give my all to improving standards of GAA in the Wee County. I look forward to supporting Colin and his troops in 2015 and beyond,” said Lennon.
New Louth GAA manager Colin Kelly will take charge of his first competitive game when the Wee County travel to face Kildare in the first round of the O’Byrne Cup on Sunday January 4th.
The fixtures for the season-opening competition were released yesterday with Kelly set to make his home bow when UCD travel to the Gaelic Grounds on Wednesday January 7th.
Louth will then travel to face Carlow on Sunday January 11th.
The former Dreadnots manager is expected to use the competition to look at what players he has at his disposal ahead of the start of the National Football League later that month.
Louth have made three changes to their side for Sunday’s crunch National League Division Two clash with Galway in Drogheda.
Coming into the side following the defeat to Monaghan last weekend are Brian Donnelly, Patrick Reilly and Stephen Campbell, who will be making his first league start against the Tribesmen.
The three players who are losing out are defenders Keith McLaughlin and Gary O’Hare, as well as midfielder Bevan Duffy.
Louth are in desperate need of a repeat of their performance against Galway last year as they battle to avoid the drop having taken just one point – a draw against Armagh – from their four outings to date.
The team in full is: Neil Gallagher; Padraig Rath, Dessie Finnegan, John O’Brien; Patrick Reilly, Derek Crilly, Adrian Reid; Paddy Keenan, Brian Donnelly; Colm Judge, Brian White, Stephen Campbell; Andy McDonnell, Eoin O’Connor, Derek Maguire.
Throw-in at the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday is at 2.30pm.
Meanwhile, the Louth hurling team to take on Longford has also been named. It is: James Connolly; Conor Kerrigan, Brian Carter, Andrew McCrave; Cathal Ryan, Cian Hayes, Ronan Byrne; Shane Callan, Jason Condon; Gerard Smyth, Gary Rellis, Andrew Mackin; Darren O’Hanrahan, Diarmuid Murphy, David Mahony.
Patrick Reilly is the surprise inclusion in the Louth team for Sunday’s Allianz National Football League Division Two opener against Armagh at the Gaelic Grounds in Drogheda.
The St Brides clubman has been drafted in at full back for what would be his debut. A former minor and U-21 footballer for the county, Reilly was called into the senior panel for the first time at the start of the year but didn’t feature in the O’Byrne Cup as he was involved with UCD.
In other team news, John O’Brien makes a welcome return from injury while Eoin O’Connor of St Patrick’s GFC starts at full forward having impressed during the O’Byrne Cup for DCU.
Throw-in on Drogheda on Sunday is at 2pm and the game is an all-ticket affair.
Tickets can be purchased from the GAA website or from Centra in Blackrock, Ardee or Rathmullen in Drogheda.
Tickets are also available from SuperValu in Ardee and Drogheda and cost €10 or €5 for juveniles.
The team in full, including subs, is as follows: Shane McCoy; Padraig Rath, Patrick Reilly, Gary O’Hare; John O’Brien, Dessie Finnegan, Liam Shevlin; Paddy Keenan, Brian Donnelly; Adrian Reid, Colm Judge, Declan Byrne; Andy McDonnell, Eoin O’Connor, Derek Maguire. Subs: Neil Gallagher, Stephen Campbell, Darren Clarke, Gary Connolly, Cian Doyle, Gerard Hoey, John Kermode, Keith McLaughlin, Darren O’Hanlon, Conor Rafferty, Kevin Rogers.
An artist’s impression of what a redeveloped Drogheda would look like
The Louth County Board last night issued a statement in relation to the ongoing County Grounds debacle.
Despite recent claims from Dundalk IT that a proposed stadium at the college would only have cost the GAA €3 million, made up by a €1.5 million contribution from Louth GAA and a further €1.5 million from Croke Park, this has been refuted.
The County Board insists the 12,000 seater stadium would have cost €10.5 million, plus VAT, which was well above the original budget of €6 million.
The Louth County Board say they are now going to seek funding from Croke Park for the redevelopment of the Gaelic Grounds in Drogheda. Once secured, they say they will sit down with the O Raghallaigh’s to try and work out a deal for a redevelopment of the grounds.
Ownership issues have held up previous planned investments in the Drogheda venue with Croke Park unwilling to pump money into a County Ground that is not owned by the association.
Clubs last night voted 33-9 in favour of the Drogheda Grounds proposal, subject to funding and legal agreements being agreed upon.
The Drogheda plan is estimated to cost in the region of €3.7 million.
Talk of the Town 