Louth Minors 4W 'was,like....whatever"

Trying to stay ‘hip and with it’ with today’s 18 year olds, I decided not to write a 4W and write one after the game a kinda 4Wwas version and a minor Report all in one.

Louth fans like to dip their feet cautiously in the bath of hot water that is Louth minor teams, and our record in the grade backs up that analogy.

However this set of Louth Minors is the new breed, a product of a well-run under age system, highly organised preparation and coaching.

Also, majority of these lads have success to show for it, numerous of the squad has been involved in the successful Dundalk College’s side this past two years.

So they have the pedigree
Combine that, with the effort put in by Thomas McNamee and his large back room staff
and
you can’t help but feel they are building something special.

Saturday was my chance to see for myself.

WHO was it against: Westmeath
WHAT was it in: Leinster Minor Championship
WHERE was it: Haggardstown
WHEN was it: 3pm Saturday

First impression, OMG, LOL, LMFAO, (sorry couldn’t resist) but seriously what an exhausting warm up! The referee even had to tell the Louth lads to stop!

This highlighted to me, that these lads take instruction well and are mad for ‘ball’.

The warm up must have worked as we started brightly; Quigley and the lively O’Mahony’s man Kilcoyne kicked early scores to give us the lead. 

Both teams settled into it, but a couple of our attacks broke down and we seemed to tense up and when things didn’t go our way we seemed to get nervous.

The things that were going against us: Wind and lack of breaking ball.

This enabled Westmeath to dominate possession, restricting us to play very deep.

On the forty, Darren McMahon, showed no nerves as he keep Louth a float in the first half, winning breaking ball and working across the whole half forward line.

However, Louth never panicked, or succumbed to the pressure, in fact they revelled in it, defending really well, getting men back in an organised fashion, forcing Westmeath to shoot from bad angles,resulting in a high wide count.

Miniature Louth Corner forward, Shane ‘Big’ Mathews, showed the weavery of Lionel Messi to wriggle past a number of Westmeath defenders in a tight situation and still find space to shoot over with his left before half time.

A rare attack and Crucial score as it meant Tommy Carr and his Westmeath charges dominated possession with only a three point lead to show for it.

#Scuuuup

If patience in defence was their first half focus, then it was well vindicated, as they went all-out attack for the second half.

The wind behind them, monstrous Conor Grimes and James Stewart got on top in the middle, Louth were able to find their full forward line that bit easier and the quick ball resulted in the lads edging their way back into it.

The smallest of this full forward line ‘Big’ scored a nice point with his right foot, However it was Kilcoyne, the sharpest of the three inside men, out in front and full of running all afternoon, kicking the first two of his total of four second half points that levelled the game.

#Worldy

Then the goal, ‘Big’ was left isolated inside and a quick through ball found him in space running through on goal from left to right and he finished it well and that was the straw that broke the camels back!

Westmeath found no way through Louth’s defence and didn’t look to want to either, Our backline was very powerful half backs Marks, English and McCann are big men and drove forward when needed and individually Kieran Lenehan at full back impressed me a lot.

Substitute and someone I’ve heard a lot about Cian Doyle, came on and didn’t disappoint, netting an opportunist goal and got on a lot of ball in general, linking up well with fellow O’Connells man Robert Quigley. Should start the next day.

Grimes and late sub Josh Arrowsmith (great name, should be a secret agent or in a band at least) added scores also. Kilcoyne wrapped up his impressive day with his fifth point and that was that.

Things to Expect: Minor Report:

Both teams to meet again (as there is a back door neither team will be eliminated) it still could happen hopefully in the leinster final.

Louth minor team’s are hit and miss and usually naïve-Yes all true but not this team. They are hardworking, selfless and ultra-professional in their approach.

All the things associated with minors was evident, nerves and taking bad options- Yes but this side are well drilled, this allows them to overcome the nerves and never panic. English sat in front of his full back line all evening and Played to a system the whole way through, helping to keep Westmeath scoreless the whole second half.

Louth minors are usually Small and light with no power – wrong apart from Big! (Sorry Shane if you’re reading this) We are physically imposing team all over the pitch, Sure Grimes is one of the biggest eighteen year olds about but the rest of the side holds up. Actually to be fair ‘big’ is can more than handle the physical stuff.

The skill level of the team is quite high defenders are Comfortable on the ball and forward have a lot of scoring potential, and with Cian Doyle & Ciaran Byrne to come back in the future could be bright.

They play their next game, the Quarter final the 19th of May