Louth Players Dropped?

ladylorenzo

Just read in the Independent that there is talk of a number of Louth players being dropped from the Senior team ahead of the qualifiers - reason: for not travelling home on the Team bus on Sunday. Any truth in the rumour??

mise_me_fein

Yep, JP Rooney, Christy Grimes, Nicky McDonnell and the two Brenanns I heard.

ladylorenzo

They're not actually going to be dropped though right?!

andrew1977

A few of them should have been thrown off the bus halfway down the m1 motorway on sunday evening and left to make their own way home, they might have put a better effort into that than they did on the pitch last sunday:)

On a serious note, for a small county like louth, losing good players like those off the panel will only serve one purpose...exit door in round 1 of the qualifiers

Our strength in depth aint great, losing more or less 4 regular first teamers will be very bad news

Smarmore

No surprise to see who's involved. Before the Dublin game I was talking to someone who'd seen the 5 of them outside the ground looking a bit suspicious. Rooney was outside having a fag, what a pro!! To be honest I don't think any of them are a major loss to the team. Christy Grimes has had his day, David Brennan was dropped from the team anyway and McDonnell shouldn't really feature. Rooney has done some good in the past, he's good for a goal, but he's too inconsistent. Mark Brennan is the only real loss but his performances have been terrible since the Championship started. This wasn't just a spur of the moment decision by the players involved I would think. 3 of them are Mattock Rangers players who would obviously be closely connected. Maybe there's been a few rumblings since David and Christy got dropped. Mark then obviously wasn't mentally right, just look at his ridiculous tackle in the second half. He should have got a straight red. JP and McDonnell obviously got the hump after being taken off at half-time. I think this could force McEneaneys hand in a good way. Clarke and Lennon will certainly start now which is a good thing. Mark Brennan will be the only difficult one to replace. All in all I think Louth are better off without them. I wonder who McEneaney will play centre forward now though.

ducksie

Smarmore wrote:

No surprise to see who's involved. Before the Dublin game I was talking to someone who'd seen the 5 of them outside the ground looking a bit suspicious. Rooney was outside having a fag, what a pro!! To be honest I don't think any of them are a major loss to the team. Christy Grimes has had his day, David Brennan was dropped from the team anyway and McDonnell shouldn't really feature. Rooney has done some good in the past, he's good for a goal, but he's too inconsistent. Mark Brennan is the only real loss but his performances have been terrible since the Championship started. This wasn't just a spur of the moment decision by the players involved I would think. 3 of them are Mattock Rangers players who would obviously be closely connected. Maybe there's been a few rumblings since David and Christy got dropped. Mark then obviously wasn't mentally right, just look at his ridiculous tackle in the second half. He should have got a straight red. JP and McDonnell obviously got the hump after being taken off at half-time. I think this could force McEneaneys hand in a good way. Clarke and Lennon will certainly start now which is a good thing. Mark Brennan will be the only difficult one to replace. All in all I think Louth are better off without them. I wonder who McEneaney will play centre forward now though.

Just on Mark Brennan , he was told to play a deep defensive role by the management team.This has been a mistake in my opinion as we have other less talented players who could do this role.The tackle in the second half wasnt that bad(saw it again last night on setanta)just more awkward than anything,in fact by far the worst tackle in the game was when one of the wexford midfielders went under jamie carr when he was going up for a ball and upended him.The ref didnt even give a free although a free was given for a foul on Dessie Finnegan(how useless was he?)a few seconds later.On Lennon he has a lot to do to convince. I have no doubt he has the talent but he lacks genuine pace at this level and will have to be more agressive and use his physical advantages more.

We need to pick players who are natural atheletes and wait for the development squads to produce new talent to feed into the senior team. Neary showed that the big pitch suits him and should now have a starting place in the half back line.

mise_me_fein

Are these players def gone then?

JP Rooney is a loss, actually all the players are a loss. You need to have a big squad at that level. Maybe Brain White will get a run now. He played well against Tyrone last year in Navan.

Smarmore

Confirmation from the Hogan Stand:

http://www.hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=79489

Jamie Carr will be a loss too. That's 2 regular first-team players and a few fringe players gone.

gibo_ie

A bit strange that all players are either from Collon or Monasterboice! Both villages within a 5 minute drive of each other. Maybe they were going to head back to Donnegan's together? Ive played on the same team as all these guys and something doesnt seem right here...

andrew1977

I was pondering about taking the drive to Limerick saturday week for the match...hmm is it worth the bother now ,but i should really stick behind the wee county .. after commuting to work all week though in the car, the round trip to limerick on a saturday aint very appealing,
Minus a lot of good players from the panel now makes me think its curtains for Louth in the championship this year,hope i am wrong though

paulocon

Trying to decide whether or not to make the trip to Limerick myself.

Having missed the Wexford match due to being out of the country and enjoyed the Wicklow saga, I'm starved of football at this stage...

Only found out during the week that Rooney was taken off at half-time, have to say I was suprised with that decision given that he's always good for a goal at some stage.

I'd still expect to beat Limerick and would hope for a draw closer to home next time out if that is the case. On that note, I believe that we can't play qualifiers at home because we don't have a ground that is up to it?? I presume the O' Raghallaighs (spelling) ground has been deemed unfit due to the old rusty fencing?

blackbelt

I don't think Louth will be able to beat Limerick,I wouldn't expect it anyway.Limerick are very tough opposition especially in the Gaelic Grounds.Also taking into account their performance in the League where they ran every opposition to the last whistle and were the only team to take a point from Donegal.

They have excellent players like Cooke who will be up for it and I think morale in the Louth camp will affect proceedings.

My prediction,

Louth 1-6 Limerick 1-10

paulocon

Bit OT but don't suppose RTE or Setanta are showing the game live?
Just saw it's Saturday at 7pm so down and back in a day might be tricky....

Don't fancy sitting through Stefan White and the LM/FM commentary (the referee should be put in the boot of a car etc...)

andrew1977

paulocon wrote:

Trying to decide whether or not to make the trip to Limerick myself.

Having missed the Wexford match due to being out of the country and enjoyed the Wicklow saga, I'm starved of football at this stage...

Only found out during the week that Rooney was taken off at half-time, have to say I was suprised with that decision given that he's always good for a goal at some stage.

I'd still expect to beat Limerick and would hope for a draw closer to home next time out if that is the case. On that note, I believe that we can't play qualifiers at home because we don't have a ground that is up to it?? I presume the O' Raghallaighs (spelling) ground has been deemed unfit due to the old rusty fencing?

If we do beat Limerick and get a home draw, we will play our game in Navan. The county of Louth do not have a designated home ground, drogheda and dundalk fighting over where it should be
Silly argument, simple fact of it is now that the GAA should sort it out, we may be the only county left in Ireland without a decent home stadium to play games, look at the lovely improved stadium leitrim have and i would put them on a par with louth for size,supporters attending games etc.

Smarmore

paulocon wrote:

Only found out during the week that Rooney was taken off at half-time, have to say I was suprised with that decision given that he's always good for a goal at some stage.

He's already scored his goal at that stage though!! Plus he kicked a couple of horrendous point attempts from distance before the end of the half. It's dissapointing to see him go because he has had some great moments but the team just has to move in. They'll have to start Lennon and Clarke this time and hopefully they will have enough hunger to carry us past Limerick. I was at the League semi-final last year and Louth hockeyed Limerick scoring I think 11 points before Limerick got off the mark. Obviously form and confidence have swung different ways since then but hopefully they can get the win and regroup from there.

Atomic Pineapple

gibo_ie wrote:

A bit strange that all players are either from Collon or Monasterboice! Both villages within a 5 minute drive of each other. Maybe they were going to head back to Donnegan's together? Ive played on the same team as all these guys and something doesnt seem right here...

the collon players dont get on with the management at all, they had a game the saturday before the game against wexford with collon and were told not to play but they did, they then come out and put on a woefull attempt at playing football and then blame the management and wont travel home on the bus, the management had every right to drop them

redzerdrog

dont think these players were dropped i think it was their choice christy, the brennans, nicky and jp have all said they retired. Jamie and david reid are going to america.

the collon lads had some sort of argument with Mac over davids wedding and nicky doesnt get on with mac at all and jp is going to china in sept for 1/2 years.