"They've earned the tag of the second best team in Leinster"

March 23, 2023

Louth's Conor Early celebrates at full-time against Cork ©INPHO/Ciaran Culligan

Former Mayo star Lee Keegan says Mickey Harte’s Louth side deserve credit for their “remarkable rise” over the past year or so.

After their first win over Cork in 66 years last weekend, the Wee County would book a spot in the Allianz Football League Division 2 final if they could tear up the script against Dublin at Croke Park on Sunday (2pm).

Writing in his column for RTE Sport, Keegan says Louth have earned themselves the tag of the second best team in Leinster given their results in the league campaign thus far.

“Harte's teams are always extremely hard to break down and put away - and they always keep coming at you, for 70 minutes. We saw them surge past Meath in the final quarter. Even Derry, who are clearly among the top six teams in the country, found life very hard in Ardee,” the five-time All-Star wrote.

“It shows that you don't necessarily need an enormous pool of players or massive financial backing, if you get a core group of players who are committed and have belief in the process, you can go far. They're limited in what they have but they use their resources really well.

“Do I think they're going to beat Dublin this weekend? No. But it's an ideal opportunity to test themselves against an elite team ahead of the Leinster championship.

“In beating Meath and Kildare in successive weeks, they've earned the tag of the second best team in Leinster.

“They've essentially nailed down their place in the Sam Maguire race - barring a ridiculous sequence of results in the provinces - and they now have a prosperous and exciting summer ahead.”


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