A giant step for Wee County

LOUTH would do your heart good. They are our team of the year thus far.

It is easy to dismiss their performance yesterday as one of long periods of mediocrity, punctuated by only the occasional flash of brilliance, but those intermittent moments should not be overlooked.

Something is stirring there.

These victories over Kildare and Westmeath are not flukes. Louth have been so long down that progress of this nature can never be a fluke.

We suspect manager Peter Fitzpatrick is the primary catalyst. He strikes us as the real deal, and that his best work is done in empowering his players to go about their business without the weight of the world on their shoulders.

Yesterday always held the potential to be unspeakably tense and trying for Louth. The occasion was freighted with great historical significance as they attempted to get back to their first Leinster final in 50 years.

Nosebleed territory for them.

And, yet, despite that, and notwithstanding the many periods when they were sloppy and unsure, they still managed to conjure up some outstanding bursts of play.

Plus, when confronted by Westmeath’s recovery, Louth summoned a response to avoid what would have been a heart-breaking defeat.

It is not stretching credulity to suggest that already Brian White is putting himself in the frame for an All-Star, even if, as history would teach us to expect, Louth don’t threaten the advanced end of the championship. White played without inhibition yesterday. Men like Shane Lennon and sub Derek Maguire were huge at times, the latter managing to remain composed while pushing on quite magnificently to create the crucial goal for Colin Judge.

Louth getting to the Leinster final is no chance development.

Somebody – Fitzpatrick, presumably – is bringing difference and promoting a new level of ambition.

When it was announced in January, it commanded only a few “meanwhile, in other news…” mentions in the national media, but the return of Mark Brennan to the panel this year was another straw in the wind.

How important that return appears now: Brennan is an accomplished leader of the attack. Louth didn’t have him over the past two seasons.

We have a strong feeling the final could liberate them. They have got there now. They have made a statement. They have three championship wins under their belt, and they have seen to it that the country now sees Louth in a whole new light.

In many ways, the pressure is now off – unless they choose to be weighted down by it.

Can they win the final?

Feel free to ridicule us if it all goes the way virtually everyone expects it to go.

But we believe they will offer Meath a severe test in the decider. What has caught our (perhaps too vivid) imagination this year is the quality of the play: in full flow, they move with real menace, inside forwards making intelligent runs, midfielders and Brennan having enough confidence in their abilities to advance at full tilt on the opposition goal.

When Louth commit to attack, there are no half-measures.

There is also the fact that Meath will be overwhelming favourites. Complacency can descend on even the tightest of camps. If the Royals arrive with even the slightest hint of softness in their underbelly, Louth could prove niggling gate-crashers on the big day.

If anything, Louth try to play too much football. As yesterday’s game reached its climax, Louth fans must have been aghast at the sight of defenders attempting outrageous cross-field passes that Cruyff in his prime, or even Trevor Giles himself, might have overlooked in favour of a safe two-yarder.

Regardless of what transpires from now on, Louth have already been an inspiration. The most any county can do is maximise its resources.

Louth can look themselves in the mirror this morning.