Louth make five changes for clash with Leitrim

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 await Qualifier opponents in tomorrow’s draw

Louth will learn their next opponents when the draw for the All-Ireland Qualifiers in made on RTÉ Radio One tomorrow morning at 8.30am.

This year the draw is divided into two sections, 1A and 1B, with the Wee County in the 1B category.

This means they will be in action on Saturday June 27^th.

The potential teams that Colin Kelly’s side could face are as follows:

• Leinster – Loser of Wexford v Westmeath, Loser of Meath v Wicklow
• Ulster – Loser of Derry v Down, Loser of Armagh v Donegal, Tyrone
• Munster – Limerick
• Connacht – Leitrim

The Wee County lost to Westmeath in the Leinster Championship last month on a 3-14 to 0-16 scoreline in Drogheda.

Louth names side for Leinster Championship clash with Westmeath

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 GAA to host open night next week

The Louth GAA team will hold an open night on Thursday May 7^th at their centre of excellence in Darver.

The night, which gets underway at 7pm, is a chance for you to meet the players and to get your picture taken with them ahead of their championship match with Westmeath in Drogheda on May 17^th.

All are welcome to attend.

Mick O’Dwyer to act as advisor for Louth ahead of the championship

Mick O’Dywer

Louth’s championship hopes have received a boost with the news that legendary GAA manager Mick O’Dwyer is to come out of retirement to take up an advisory role with the Wee County footballers.

According to a report in today’s Irish Independent, the Kerry man has agreed to assist Colin Kelly and his management team as they bid to bounce back from relegation from Division Three.

Kelly confirmed that O’Dwyer had already attended a number of team meetings.

“He’s been about the place. It’s nothing formal. I would have had Micko addressing club teams I was involved with in the past. He has great enthusiasm.”

The 78-year-old once again finds himself back in Leinster where he has been so successful with Kildare, Laois and even Wicklow. His last inter-county position was with Clare for a year in 2013.

It is understood that agreement has been reached with O’Dwyer to attend some sessions at their Darver training centre in the build-up to their opening Leinster Championship match with Westmeath in Drogheda on Sunday May 17.

Former Donegal manager Brian McEniff previously acted as an advisor to Peter Fitzpatrick during his spell as Louth boss, as did Armagh duo Peter McDonnell and Martin McQuillan and former Dublin goalkeeper John O’Leary.

New Louth manager to be appointed tonight

A new Louth GAA senior team manager is expected to be appointed tonight.

A special meeting of the County Board has been called for Darver this evening where the replacement for Aidan O’Rourke is expected to be ratified.

Amongst those believed to be in the running include Fergal Reel and Colin Kelly, who took their St Patrick’s and Dreadnots sides to the County Final recently – a game which the Lordship men won by 0-12 to 0-10 in Drogheda.

The Wee County will also find out their championship opponents for next summer tonight, with the draws taking place at 7pm on RTÉ Two.

Louth learn their championship opponents

The draws for next year’s Leinster Championship games were made this morning, with Louth learning their opponents for next year’s minor, U-21 and junior championships.

The Wee County will face an away trip to face Kildare in the Minor Championship, while they will be at home to Carlow in the U-21 Championship.

Meanwhile, the juniors will also face a home tie against Cavan.

The draw for the senior championship will take place next week.

Louth could face round-robin to advance in Leinster Championship

Louth’s hopes of winning a first Leinster SFC title since 1957 are set to get a lot tougher from 2016 onwards if a revamp of the championship is given the go ahead next week.

It is being proposed that as many as eight counties could be involved in a round-robin system to qualify from the Leinster SFC quarter-finals in two years t ime.

Chairman from all of the counties in the province will meet next Monday night to discuss a change in the competition structure in an aim to boost competitiveness.

The more likely outcome is that six counties will join the round-robin in two groups of three but two groups of four is also a possibility.

A rule change would be required to introduce a round-robin to the SFC so even if an agreed format is decided upon, it would have to go before Congress next February for consideration, making it too late for introduction in 2015.

With Louth in Division Three next season alongside Wexford, they would be obvious contenders for the round-robin, along with Carlow, Longford, Wicklow and Offaly, who are all in Division Four.

That would leave Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Laois with a straight path to the quarter-finals.

 

Louth to face Tyrone this Saturday

Louth’s All-Ireland Qualifier clash against Tyrone has been confirmed for this coming Saturday afternoon at 2.30pm in Healy Park in Omagh.

The Wee County were beaten comprehensively by 15 minutes in the Leinster Championship quarter-final against Kildare earlier this month, with Mickey Harte’s side losing out to Monaghan by a point in the Ulster Championship.

Tyrone won the last Qualifier clash between the sides in 2008 and also beat the Wee County on a replay in Omagh in 2006 following a draw after extra-time in Drogheda.

Louth thumped by Kildare in Leinster Championship

A storming start at Croke Park eased Kildare to a 1-22 to 1-07 victory over Louth and a place in the Leinster Senior Football Championship semi-finals yesterday.

The 15-point win in Jason Ryan’s first championship game in charge came far easier than anticipated against a team they lost to in 2010 and only narrowly overcame last year.

Progress to a 29 June semi-final against Meath or Carlow was all but sealed by half-time when Kildare led by 11 points.

Niall Kelly and Padraig Fogarty led Kildare’s early onslaught, shooting 0-06 between them overall while Cathal McNally swooped for 1-02.

It was a disappointing day for Louth, who had arrived at Croke Park with big ambitions after beating Westmeath.

But just like 2013 when they initially beat Laois, they failed to progress in their second game and now head to a 29 June qualifier.

Louth sprung a surprise before throw-in by including Shane Lennon, who had initially been left out.

The experienced full-forward scored an early point and added a second-half goal. He used what limited possession he had to test Kildare’s defence.

But Kildare controlled possession in the first-half and their 1-13 to 0-05 interval lead didn’t flatter them.

Louth’s full-back line couldn’t cope with the movement and tricky of Kelly and Fogarty. McNally grabbed their opening goal after 16 minutes.

But it was no great surprise that Fogarty was the creator, passing the ball across goals for McNally to palm in from close range.

Fogarty shot two early points himself and went close with two other goal chances while Kelly also helped himself to a first-half brace.

Emmet Bolton was named at corner-back but played on the wing for Kildare and burst forward regularly.

He picked off a point while Ollie Lyons, the other wing-back, got on the score sheet too.

Padraig O’Neill and Tommy Moolick converted too as Kildare enjoyed total dominance.

Under pressure Louth made two first-half substitutions and brought rising star Ryan Burns on after 32 minutes. The 17-year old Leaving Cert student had performed the super-sub role with a vital goal in their first-round win over Westmeath.

He combined with Lennon for an expertly taken 50th-minute Louth goal.

But by then any hope of a Wee County revival had already been snuffed out. Kildare had started the second-half with four points in a row to move 1-17 to 0-05 clear and secure their semi-final spot long before full-time.

Ryan took the opportunity to use his full allocation of six substitutes in the final quarter of the match, by which time the game was over as a contest.

Kildare: M Donnellan; H McGrillen, M Foley, K Cribbin (0-01); O Lyons (0-01), F Conway, E Bolton (0-03); P O’Neill (0-01), S Hurley; E Callaghan (0-01), T Moolick (0-01), C McNally (1-02); P Brophy (0-03, 1f), P Fogarty (0-03, 1f), N Kelly (0-03).

Substitutes: E O’Flaherty (0-01) McNally, A Smith (0-02) for Hurley, T O’Connor for Fogarty, D Flynn for Callaghan, C Fitzpatrick for Bolton, K Cribbin for Hyland.

Louth: N Gallagher; P Rath, M Fanning, D Finnegan; A Reid, P Reilly, J O’Brien (0-01); P Keenan (0-03), A McDonnell; D Crilly, B White, D Maguire; D Byrne, S Lennon (1-02, 1f), C Grimes (0-01).

Substitutes: J Stewart for Fanning, R Burns for White, B Donnelly for Reilly, E Lafferty for Maguire, S O’Hanlon for Donnelly, R Brodigan for Byrne.

Referee: B Cassidy (Derry).

Source: RTÉ Sport