Louth out to dethrone the champs
Wednesday March 03 2010
KIERAN Maguire has reported a clean bill of health as Louth U-21s plot Dublin's downfall in the Leinster Championship quarter-final in Dowdallshill on Saturday (throw-in 2pm).
The Dundalk Young Ireland's man may even have club colleague Peter Nixon to call upon, provided the senior panelist comes through a challenge match tomorrow night ( Thursday).
Whether or not Maguire would be prepared to change a winning team would be another matter entirely, but Nixon would be a valuable option in what could be a tight game on Saturday.
If the Reds are to put it up to the reigning champions, Kieran knows his team will have to produce their 'A' game again at St Brigid's Park.
The Sky Blues crushed Eamonn McEneaney's youthful side last season and while he hopes that experience will stand to the players still involved, Maguire knows this game will be an entirely different test to the feeble resistence offered by Wexford a fortnight ago.
'This will be completely different,' he insisted yesterday. 'Dublin are Dublin and they're are always expected to win no matter who they play. Counties at the bottom end of the table don't even stand up to them sometimes and they're beaten before they start.'
That is something Maguire hopes to avoid on Saturday, however, and he feels he possesses a group of players capable of rising to the occasion.
'I've said it before, but I think these lads have a bit of mettle about them that maybe previous Louth underage sides haven't had - at least we hope they have.
'We've always trained them to be able to cope with both ends of the game - playing football and mixing it physically. Dublin teams can blow you out of the water with their sheer size, so hopefully that will stand to our lads.'
Kieran and his selectors have only seen Dublin once and even that wasn't a full strength team, but he knows they have some big names in their line-up such as Johnny Cooper and Dean Rock.
However, Louth management have been more concerned with preparing their own team and Kieran was delighted with the tempo and intensity of a training practice game he staged at the weekend.
'It was very good, we even had to stop it at one stage because they were going hammer and tongs at each other - they were really up for it.'
Having a 34-man panel helped in that regard and Kieran re-iterated his feelings on the subject of only being able to name a 24-man squad on match day.
'It's ridiculous to think you can work off a 24-man panel. If three or four get injured you're don to 20 and even for training you need more numbers than that.
'It's scandalous then that you have to tell fellas they're not getting a jersey on match day, it just doesn't make sense.'
While he can't do anything about that situation, Kieran appealed to all Louth supporters to get out and support the team on Saturday.
'I didn't think the crowd was too bad the last day, but I'd be hoping for a much bigger one this time. Hopefully people will come and give the lads the support they deserve. If it's a tight game that could make all the difference.'
- John SAVAGE
