Manager hoping for home comfort
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Wednesday February 24 2010
THE necessity of making home advantage count was stressed by Louth manager Paddy Kelly as he reflected on Sunday's victory.
'It's very important to win your home games in the league,' he stressed. 'We go to Donegal next week and will be expected to beat them, but it's not going to be easy up there.
'If we can keep the momentum going, hopefully we can beat Donegal, then we have Roscommon here.
'It's very hard to play catch-up, lads get disheartened. Wins build momentum and build a positive attitude.
'If we can get out of Donegal with a point or two win I will be delighted.'
Kelly admitted to being concerned at his side's failure to make possession count in the first half.
'I was worried we weren't getting the scores. We had Shane Callan in there, pumping in high ball to him, and there was a lot of breaking ball coming off him.
'I felt if we kept at it something was going to happen. The ball broke to Diarmuid Murphy, he was pulled down and we got the penalty and that gave us a goal.
'I was concerned, but delighted we went in a point ahead at half-time.
' They got on top and I thought they would push on, but we responded which was good.'
On the other hand, he couldn't have asked for a better start to the second period.
'Gerard (Smyth) probably meant to go for a point but Shane stood back, connected on it and it was a great goal.
'This was our first real test. Louth have been beaten by Sligo before and there was a lot at stake.
'It wasn't pretty at times, but we finished out strong. Coming near the end we opened them up and created a lot of chances. We didn't score some of them which is a worry but at least it was positive.'
The way it turned out, Kelly was obviously glad the fixture went ahead following the poor weather overnight.
'Fair play to the Clans for the pitch today. I got a call this morning saying there was snow on the pitch, and it turned out in great order.'
- Francis CARROLL
