Louth's injury crisis appears to be abating with several key players back training again and Ger Brennan facing ‘selection headaches.’
The Wee County face Laois in a tricky Leinster Championship quarter-final on Sunday, and while they’ll be down a number of key men, their injury list is easing.
Among those back training are All Star defender Craig Lennon, key half forward Conor Grimes and former AFL man Ciaran Byrne.
Louth retained their Division 2 status with a last day win over Meath at Inniskeen 10 days ago, despite being down 10 players from the side which started last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final against Donegal. In that game they also lost the experienced Andy McDonnell to injury.
There’s a lot on the line for last year’s Leinster finalists, who will almost certainly have to reach a provincial decider to retain their All-Ireland status and avoid the Tailteann Cup - despite all their progress over the past four years.
The issue Louth have, as part of a patently unfair and lopsided system, is that one All-Ireland place is going to Clare or Tipperary by dint of being a provincial finalist.
Clare finished third in Division 3 with Tipperary fifth in Division 4. They play in the Munster semi-final
Another All-Ireland place goes to Tailteann Cup winners, Down, and if Louth lose to Laois this weekend - or in a Leinster semi-final to Kildare or Westmeath - that’s another All-Ireland place gone in terms of rankings.
The system for deciding the 16 Sam Maguire sides is the eight provincial finalists qualify, as do the Tailteann Cup winners and the seven next highest placed teams in the League.
Having finished sixth in Division 2 - 14th in the overall league standings - and with 16 making the All-Ireland series, Louth will have to qualify for a Leinster final to survive - unless Down make the Ulster Final and qualify as a top first or second seed. That would open up another place in terms of league standings and benefit Louth.
It leaves them the Wee County a percarious position going in to face a Laois side, which disposed of Wexford comfortably last weekend, although the Louth squad should be stronger than in recent weeks.
“Craig Lennon trained at the weekend,” Ger Brennan told LMFM radio. “Casey (Ciaran) Byrne trained at the weekend. Conor Grimes trained at the weekend.
“Dan Corcoran and Anthony Williams will more than likely be training this weekend as well. It was great to see Sam Mulroy and Ciaran Keenan running,
“Most of the lads trained pretty well and they’ve given us headaches in terms of team selection.
“Sam, and Ciaran Keenan are two guys that have a slightly longer term outlook, but to be fair to all the players and especially the medical and S and C team, there is an awful lot of work being done to try and get things right.
“We will put the most in form players onto the field next weekend. You do always have to marry the bit of experience with the youthful enthusiasm as well.
“And if we can get that right it will give us a good opportunity going into the weekend, but it’s great to have those headaches.”
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