Louth finish strongly to see off Wicklow and win O’Byrne Shield final

It was far from a clinical display and oftentimes lacked in quality but a score of 1-18 is eye-catching and nine different outfielders registered, which is a pleasing return. Notably, all six starting forwards landed at least a point from play, while the first half performance of Kyle McElroy and Jonathan Commins’ application after the break stood out.

There was a first appearance for Niall Sharkey since last summer’s championship defeat by Kerry and Craig Lynch was composed and assured once he replaced Martin McEneaney between the posts. Dylan McKeown was erratic in his shooting but contributed four points and was integral to the move which resulted in Seán Marry bagging the hosts’ goal on 45 minutes.

“There were probably a couple of guys who we were unsure where they were at and we had a chat with one or two boys at half-time to get the proverbial (finger) out of their backside,” said Brennan.

“Johnny Commins being one of those fellas, you seen what he did when he started to inject a bit of pace and enjoy himself. It was great to get Tom Jackson back on the pitch as well. He’s been struggling with a lot of injuries over the past few seasons and we’ve gone for a different strategy with him to get minutes in his legs. He will have enjoyed and benefitted from this.

“It was good to see Wayne Campbell throw himself around midfield. That’s probably an area where we need to develop a bit of depth in so, overall, we’re very happy with the effort.

“Getting Niall Sharkey back involved was a big plus and we had to be sensible with Niall. He’s only come back training in the last couple of weeks so we pulled him out at half-time.”

DOMINANT

Louth were dominant in the early stages and led by four points before encountering a sloppier spell, which allowed Wicklow to come into the game.

And the Garden county capitalised on a string of errors when finding the back of the net. Goalkeeper Martin McEneaney let Oisín McGraynor’s dropping shot slip his grasp and then Conall McKeever touched the ball on the ground, leaving referee Ian Howley with no option but to award a penalty which Eoin Darcy confidently converted.

Oisín McConville’s men subsequently moved two clear but Louth regained the initiative and closed with three points unanswered from McKeown, McStravick (free) and McElroy to go to the break leading by 0-8 to 1-4.

When Marry majored, finishing a sweeping move involving McStravick, the cushion was five, though Wicklow responded and levelled with 11 minutes to go through substitute Pádraig O’Toole.

Alas, the Reds rallied, noting the closing five points, via McStravick, McKeown (free), Tom Gray, Marry and Ben Collier, to prevail comfortably.

“The second half followed a similar pattern to the first and the challenge to the lads was identifying how unforced errors change the momentum in a game and bring the opposition back into it, and then having to try to wrestle back control,” added the manager.

“That’s something we were guilty of again. There were opportunities where we had the ball in our hands and there’d be a crappy pass along the ground or not making the right decision in possession.

“Wicklow were working hard and hunting us down, they put us under pressure, but those unforced errors are a big part of what we’re trying to improve upon.”

LOUTH: Martin McEneaney; Oisín McGuinness, Chris O’Neill, Cameron Maher; Leonard Grey, Niall Sharkey, Conall McKeever 0-1; Conall McCaul, Wayne Campbell; Peter McStravick 0-3 (2f), Seán Marry 1-1, Jonathan Commins 0-2; Kyle McElroy 0-3, Dylan McKeown 0-4 (1f), Jay Hughes 0-2 (1f). Subs: Craig Lynch for McEneaney (HT), Tom Gray 0-1 for McElroy (HT), Donal McKenny for McGuinness (HT), Ciarán Murphy for Sharkey (HT), Ben Collier 0-1 for McCaul (39), Tom Jackson for Grey (47), Liam Flynn for McKeever (47), Seán Reynolds for Hughes (47).

WICKLOW: Cathal Fitzgerald; Jack Treacy, Liam O’Neill 0-2, Fintan O’Shea 0-1; Karl Furlong, Eoin Murtagh, Zach Cullen; Jack Kirwan, Declan Doyle; Gavin Fogarty, Conor Fee 0-1, Cillian McDonald; Eoin Darcy 1-3 (1-0p, 0-2f), Oisín McGraynor 0-2 (1f), Darragh Fee. Subs: Malachy Stone for Furlong (HT), Gearóid Murphy 0-1 for C Fee (HT), Adam Arslan for D Fee (42), Martin Cullen for Z Cullen (47), Pádraig O’Toole 1-0 for Doyle (50), Dan Cooney for Darcy (55)

REFEREE: Ian Howley (Dublin).

After the game, Louth manager Ger Brennan gave his reaction to LMFM’s Colm Corrigan: