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Louth GAA thread

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Hard to know what system was being played against Kerry yesterday. We tried to go man-to-man against Dublin, we went super defensive against Mayo...yesterday we seemed to go defensive but didn't actually defend (did we make any turn-overs?). Missed chances early on eroded any confidence Louth had. All in all a pretty shambolic effort (though Califf did ok with his kick-outs, and Sharkey and Lennon battled on manfully to the end). Hugely disappointing end to a mediocre Championship (following an excellent league).

Setanta11 (Louth) - Posts: 45 - 19/06/2023 12:14:12    2487247

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Just want to compliment the Louth supporters yesterday. Most stayed till the end and very very sporting throughout and afterwards. You were a credit to your county. Yes a bad day yesterday for the team but hopefully they will learn and, Mickey Harte surely will. Defensive football is grand when it's a tight game but if not then plan B or C is needed.

CiarraiMick (Dublin) - Posts: 3844 - 19/06/2023 19:27:31    2487589

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2023 ends on a lul but all in all it was a big improvement with our young squad being exposed to teams like Dublin, Kerry, Mayo, Derry. Back to club now and looking forward to next year already

Shearer (Louth) - Posts: 885 - 20/06/2023 13:32:56    2487807

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Replying To Setanta11:  "Hard to know what system was being played against Kerry yesterday. We tried to go man-to-man against Dublin, we went super defensive against Mayo...yesterday we seemed to go defensive but didn't actually defend (did we make any turn-overs?). Missed chances early on eroded any confidence Louth had. All in all a pretty shambolic effort (though Califf did ok with his kick-outs, and Sharkey and Lennon battled on manfully to the end). Hugely disappointing end to a mediocre Championship (following an excellent league)."
Mediocre championship?

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6144 - 20/06/2023 13:51:26    2487816

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Replying To CiarraiMick:  "Just want to compliment the Louth supporters yesterday. Most stayed till the end and very very sporting throughout and afterwards. You were a credit to your county. Yes a bad day yesterday for the team but hopefully they will learn and, Mickey Harte surely will. Defensive football is grand when it's a tight game but if not then plan B or C is needed."
Mmm. Contradicts what another county man of yours is saying about alleged bad behaviour of Louth supporters towards Clifford. Hadn't heard anything about that elsewhere. It would surely have made the news.

BarneyGrant (Dublin) - Posts: 3118 - 20/06/2023 13:53:59    2487819

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Replying To Greengrass:  "Mediocre championship?"
I think Louth had a mediocre championship. Narrowly beat a mid-division 3 team, drew with a mid division 3 team…. Hammered by Dublin, lost to a mid-division 2 team, narrow loss to Mayo and hammered by Kerry. The Mayo game was a good performance, but other than that the championship was mediocre.

Setanta11 (Louth) - Posts: 45 - 20/06/2023 19:30:00    2487955

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Replying To Setanta11:  "I think Louth had a mediocre championship. Narrowly beat a mid-division 3 team, drew with a mid division 3 team…. Hammered by Dublin, lost to a mid-division 2 team, narrow loss to Mayo and hammered by Kerry. The Mayo game was a good performance, but other than that the championship was mediocre."
In fairness Id have to agree, the first half of the year was most enjoyable, the third league match through to the Offaly game was the best run Id had following Louth in over 30 years. If I could bottle that Westmeath second half....

The Cork match in Navan seemed there for the taking, but crucial errors at vital times seemed to cost us dearly. Mayo we never truthfully looked like getting a result until it was too late.

There is no doubt that progress has been made , and there is interest in following Louth again after a period of wilderness.

That said what has really been niggling me since Sunday, and Im sure Mickey and Gavin have similar thoughts, is that the two juggernauts, when they really needed to, completely and utterly overwhelmed us.
It was scary on each occasion how far ahead of us they appeared, and are we really capable of closing that gap.

I know losing to Dublin or Kerry is no disgrace but we are 'ranked ' 11-14th perhaps, and should that gap be 20-30 points with everything that goes into intercounty preparation? Perhaps thats a discussion for a bigger forum, we are seeing similar in Hurling, unprecedented trouncing's.

In 2019 we lost by a record score to Dublin's 5 in a row team, fast forward 4 years with a much better set up , and on the back of better results , we lose by an all time record margin to Kerry at the same venue, is the gap widening perhaps all the time?

Louth's style , passive and laboured a huge amount of the time, geared toward slowing the match and taking the sting out of opposition, will get easily found out against top teams in peak season for the following reasons IMO.

When stronger faster and more direct teams run at Louth they struggle to cope regardless of how many bodies are behind the ball. Often these bodies are purely marking space and not getting hands on the ball or the man, Kerry and Dublin both gave us a lesson in how to tackle with intensity and numbers, we are nowhere near that.

When we move the ball we are often slow and laboured, contrast with better teams where every move is sharp and snappy fast, strong and purposeful, with the exception of a few periods in some matches I didnt see enough of that type of attacking from Louth . Often we play looping slow and sloppy handpasses even when deep with no pressure on the ball, with the result that when the temperature is turned up significantly the players cant cope. Westmeath even though we prevailed in the end caused us huge issues in the first half also.

Im loathe to leave it on a negative after a decent and positive year , and I have the utmost respect for all involved, they have given a huge amount to shout about.
That said I have reservations that we may struggle in Div 2 next year to stay up or qualify for Sam,.

Are we at a ceiling or can we really establish as a top 16 team, interested to hear others thoughts?

sam57 (Louth) - Posts: 1502 - 21/06/2023 12:15:20    2488104

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Had a good year, great league, big win v Meath and Cork after a bad start. All games we could have won. Championship was great to get to a Leinster final, but Dublin and Kerry way above us, probably Galway and Roscommon aswell but we put it up to the rest, Cork and Mayo we could have bet. Next year the team will be a year older and certainly wiser. Ran out of steam against Kerry, same will happen to some teams tomorrow with this condensed season. So we'll done lads really enjoyed supporting you, some great days with family and friends...UP LOUTH!

ninjasmyth (Louth) - Posts: 739 - 23/06/2023 18:59:43    2488720

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Replying To Setanta11:  "I think Louth had a mediocre championship. Narrowly beat a mid-division 3 team, drew with a mid division 3 team…. Hammered by Dublin, lost to a mid-division 2 team, narrow loss to Mayo and hammered by Kerry. The Mayo game was a good performance, but other than that the championship was mediocre."
Setanta you said think there? So your not 100% sure if Louth had a mediocre Championship. At the start of the year if you had said for Louth to stay up and get to a Leinster final you would take it with both hands. Louth had a great year.

Ollie2 (Louth) - Posts: 911 - 23/06/2023 23:00:01    2488739

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A year of further improvement in my opinion, however it is correct to put an asterisk against the two walloping's at the hands of Dublin & Kerry.

Shearer (Louth) - Posts: 885 - 26/06/2023 13:40:33    2489559

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Replying To Setanta11:  "I think Louth had a mediocre championship. Narrowly beat a mid-division 3 team, drew with a mid division 3 team…. Hammered by Dublin, lost to a mid-division 2 team, narrow loss to Mayo and hammered by Kerry. The Mayo game was a good performance, but other than that the championship was mediocre."
I disagree Setanta. It was an awful lot better than mediocre. We deservedly got to a Leinster Final and played some very good football on the way. Westmeath were highly competitive in their championship group and took a point from Tyrone. Yes we were hammered by Dublin but Dublin are an exceptional team. We were highly competitive against both Cork and Mayo. Our group was very tough. Both Cork and Mayo are in the quarter finals. It was the only group that saw both of the teams who qualified for the preliminary quarter finals win those games. Kerry hammered us. They too are an exceptional side but I feel that we ran out of steam following an intensive championship season. Mediocre is very unfair and in my opinion it is wrong. We had much more than a mediocre championship season. Hopefully with the return of Ciarán Byrne and further progression from Dylan McKeown we will improve still further next year.

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6144 - 26/06/2023 14:24:48    2489588

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Replying To Greengrass:  "I disagree Setanta. It was an awful lot better than mediocre. We deservedly got to a Leinster Final and played some very good football on the way. Westmeath were highly competitive in their championship group and took a point from Tyrone. Yes we were hammered by Dublin but Dublin are an exceptional team. We were highly competitive against both Cork and Mayo. Our group was very tough. Both Cork and Mayo are in the quarter finals. It was the only group that saw both of the teams who qualified for the preliminary quarter finals win those games. Kerry hammered us. They too are an exceptional side but I feel that we ran out of steam following an intensive championship season. Mediocre is very unfair and in my opinion it is wrong. We had much more than a mediocre championship season. Hopefully with the return of Ciarán Byrne and further progression from Dylan McKeown we will improve still further next year."
As I said, Louth had an exceptional League…..and beat a number of teams they were not expected to beat, and were competitive/unlucky in the remainder. Using that as a yardstick to assess the championship matches, again I think Louth were mediocre. We did not beat anyone we were not expecting to beat (….and indeed struggled to beat them). We were competitive against Mayo, and suffered two of the biggest championships defeats I have witnessed as a Louth fan. Obviously getting to a Leinster Final was great, but that was more a quirk of the championship draw that down to great football. Anyway, not hoping people agree ….

Setanta11 (Louth) - Posts: 45 - 27/06/2023 22:45:47    2490271

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Replying To Setanta11:  "I think Louth had a mediocre championship. Narrowly beat a mid-division 3 team, drew with a mid division 3 team…. Hammered by Dublin, lost to a mid-division 2 team, narrow loss to Mayo and hammered by Kerry. The Mayo game was a good performance, but other than that the championship was mediocre."
To say Louth had a mediocre season is just completely wrong. Louth's main goal for the season would have been to stay in division 2, have a decent run in the Leinster championship and hopefully get into the Sam Maguire.

Your last game vs Dublin in the league was a straight promotion shootout, the winner went up to Div 1 - so you far exceeded expectations there. You got to a Leinster Final, and could have won 2/3 of your group games in the Sam Maguire. How is that not a good season? It's far beyond expectations. And if you ended up in the Tailteann Cup, you'd have had a good chance of winning it

Yeah I'd be worried about the blowouts against Dublin and Kerry but the reality is - they could do that to anyone. There's a big gap between the top 4 or 5 teams than the rest and it's not a nice way to end your championship. I'm not sure what you were expecting though, Louth to challenge for the All Ireland? It was an excellent season.

hyperache (Meath) - Posts: 251 - 30/06/2023 11:55:40    2490824

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Replying To hyperache:  "To say Louth had a mediocre season is just completely wrong. Louth's main goal for the season would have been to stay in division 2, have a decent run in the Leinster championship and hopefully get into the Sam Maguire.

Your last game vs Dublin in the league was a straight promotion shootout, the winner went up to Div 1 - so you far exceeded expectations there. You got to a Leinster Final, and could have won 2/3 of your group games in the Sam Maguire. How is that not a good season? It's far beyond expectations. And if you ended up in the Tailteann Cup, you'd have had a good chance of winning it

Yeah I'd be worried about the blowouts against Dublin and Kerry but the reality is - they could do that to anyone. There's a big gap between the top 4 or 5 teams than the rest and it's not a nice way to end your championship. I'm not sure what you were expecting though, Louth to challenge for the All Ireland? It was an excellent season."
Mediocre CHAMPIONSHIP….league, season etc etc are all a different argument. Their championship, based on their performances, was mediocre (getting to the Leinster final was great, but it was off the back of mediocre performances against lower opposition), a good second half against Westmeath, and good extra time against Offaly.

Setanta11 (Louth) - Posts: 45 - 05/07/2023 22:34:17    2492547

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Replying To Setanta11:  "As I said, Louth had an exceptional League…..and beat a number of teams they were not expected to beat, and were competitive/unlucky in the remainder. Using that as a yardstick to assess the championship matches, again I think Louth were mediocre. We did not beat anyone we were not expecting to beat (….and indeed struggled to beat them). We were competitive against Mayo, and suffered two of the biggest championships defeats I have witnessed as a Louth fan. Obviously getting to a Leinster Final was great, but that was more a quirk of the championship draw that down to great football. Anyway, not hoping people agree …."
Blessed is he who never expects.
We had a great year with lots of hearth in the mouth stuff. It's a long time since we had six months excitement. Even on the bad day in Port Laoise it was good to pass the team bus with a Garda escort on way down. Raised the excitement. I hope 2024 will be as good. I have confidence in these lads. Well done to all concerned.

The clubs will now keep us going in the months ahead. Great interest in Division 1. Jocks ,Mary's, Mochta's and Pats for top six but six others will battle for the last two places on Saturday night . Only Blues and Rats are confirmed for bottom six before round 11. What's wrong in Drogheda?

19616609 (Louth) - Posts: 1637 - 06/07/2023 00:47:54    2492555

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3 league defeats,Clare,Derry,Dublin very unlucky in 2 of those games.....4 championship defeats to Dublin,Kerry,Mayo,Cork, 2 of those defeats we wer very competitive in and probably shud of got something out of.....the other 2 defeats wer disappointing but Kerry and Dublin are miles ahead and that's the reality.....so all in all the 6 teams beat us this year and 5 of them made it to last 8 of the all Ireland series and 3 of them are in last 4....

Fkd12 (Louth) - Posts: 177 - 06/07/2023 10:12:09    2492577

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Replying To 19616609:  "Blessed is he who never expects.
We had a great year with lots of hearth in the mouth stuff. It's a long time since we had six months excitement. Even on the bad day in Port Laoise it was good to pass the team bus with a Garda escort on way down. Raised the excitement. I hope 2024 will be as good. I have confidence in these lads. Well done to all concerned.

The clubs will now keep us going in the months ahead. Great interest in Division 1. Jocks ,Mary's, Mochta's and Pats for top six but six others will battle for the last two places on Saturday night . Only Blues and Rats are confirmed for bottom six before round 11. What's wrong in Drogheda?"
The Rats are struggling big time. They only survived inter championship football last year when they relegated their lovely neighbours the Plunketts to Junior football. The Blues were nearly relegated from Division 1 in 2013 but yet won Joe Ward that year. The Blues should be OK. The Plunketts, Tones and Nicks are all doing alright. Drawda Abu!

Ollie2 (Louth) - Posts: 911 - 06/07/2023 12:05:16    2492623

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Replying To Ollie2:  "The Rats are struggling big time. They only survived inter championship football last year when they relegated their lovely neighbours the Plunketts to Junior football. The Blues were nearly relegated from Division 1 in 2013 but yet won Joe Ward that year. The Blues should be OK. The Plunketts, Tones and Nicks are all doing alright. Drawda Abu!"
Mattock and Geraldine's won their places in top 6 last night. It's Tuesdays and Fridays now for the last five rounds. Well done to fixture's Committee for getting the fixtures up on website shortly after the game's finished last night. Lots to play for in all divisions before championship commenced in late August.

19616609 (Louth) - Posts: 1637 - 09/07/2023 23:55:53    2493476

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What is going on in Louth?
Work was due to start on a 14,000 stadium in Dundalk today but was stopped at the last minute. Was a Chinese investor to provide a lot of cash as part of the Immigrant Investor Programme? This overall scheme was discontinued in February by the Ministër for Justice / Government as they were not happy with the overall situation/implications.
Is there learnings for other county boards and have other counties tried to available of the same scheme and if so, where do they stand?
After a good year on the pitch this is a big downer for all involved in Louth Gaa. I fell sorry for them as a lot of time and effort would have gone in to the project (design) already.

letsgetgoing (Roscommon) - Posts: 631 - 17/07/2023 15:39:37    2495157

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Replying To letsgetgoing:  "What is going on in Louth?
Work was due to start on a 14,000 stadium in Dundalk today but was stopped at the last minute. Was a Chinese investor to provide a lot of cash as part of the Immigrant Investor Programme? This overall scheme was discontinued in February by the Ministër for Justice / Government as they were not happy with the overall situation/implications.
Is there learnings for other county boards and have other counties tried to available of the same scheme and if so, where do they stand?
After a good year on the pitch this is a big downer for all involved in Louth Gaa. I fell sorry for them as a lot of time and effort would have gone in to the project (design) already."
The IIP programme was halted for new applicants, those that already had applications and investment secured were fine, I know Meath have roughly 3 million in the bank from it for Pairc Tailteann and more will be payable between September and March totalling some 12 million I believe and the plan is to start work in Q2 of 2024 when all is lodged, Louth also have significant IIP funding coming their way but I think the concern CP had is with a protected 7 million shortfall in the overall protect which rocketed to 29 million from 12 due to inflation etc and was pared back to 25 million, CP have gone ultra strict on these projects due to having to perform bail outs before and won't give a green light until fully satisfied adequate funding is on place, I feel sorry for Louth but I would imagine the delay is short term and the project will get going, perhaps those in charge were a little to enthusiastic to get things goimg instead of getting all the i's dotted and t's crossed first

Richieq (Meath) - Posts: 3743 - 17/07/2023 15:59:14    2495168

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