IT’S NOT JUST their footballers, but Louth manager Aidan O’Rourke has to recalibrate the entire county’s ‘expectations of themselves.’
But the former Armagh All-Star is in no doubt that he is the man to overcome the ‘mindset that exists within the county’ ahead of their Leinster championship opener against Westmeath this Saturday.
“If I felt I couldn’t change it I wouldn’t be there,” he says.
“Louth are unique. There is a certain mindset that exists within the county. That is not necessarily football specific. They don’t expect to do well, they don’t expect to excel or to exceed expectation so that kind of does permeate into minds. So much of the work we have to do is to recalibrate their own expectations of themselves.
“We would feel they have their own very talented group of players there. What they don’t quite realise is how talented they are.”
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Louth were relegated from this year’s Division Two league, with five losses and two draws in their seven games.
“Obviously the impression of Louth outside would be that they have been relegated from Division Two,” he says, “not quite at the level of the top teams in Leinster, it’s understandable but we feel that there is a different story to be told.”
Aidan O'Rourke presented with his All-Star in 2002. INPHO
INPHO
“Mindsets do change. There are strategies and approaches that can adjust them but the greatest indicator of that adjustment is that they achieve. They have a great summer ahead of them if things fall their way and they get the bounce of the ball at the right time in the game that matters that gives them that bit of belief in themselves, they can have a very strong summer.”
O’Rourke believes that the county’s poor league campaign was down to changes within their squad and an “overall culture change this year”.
“Starting off we had to remodel our forward line from last year because it was built around Shane Lennon, Ciaran Byrne and Brian White. We played the first half of the league without any of those three.
“We were good last year but fundamentally it just wasn’t good enough. The league was probably difficult from that point of view, adjusting what we were trying to do, so that probably all meant that the league was difficult.”
Ciaran Byrne gets his shot away in last year's opening round against Laois. Colm O'Neill / INPHO
Colm O'Neill / INPHO / INPHO
At the centre of these changes has been the departure of 19 year-old Ciaran Byrne to AFL club Carlton, and the injury concerns of Shane Lennon.
“(Ciaran) was a phenomenon for us last year. We’re disappointed to lose him but we don’t begrudge him the career he has ahead of him,” he says.
“Shane had a very serious hip injury a couple of years ago and he just had to have some corrective work done. He had an update in January and he had to make a decision then as to whether it was more beneficial then and miss the league or try and manage it through the season and we took the view that the championship was the most important thing.”
'Louth are unique... they don’t expect to do well' -- Wee County boss on managing expectations
IT’S NOT JUST their footballers, but Louth manager Aidan O’Rourke has to recalibrate the entire county’s ‘expectations of themselves.’
But the former Armagh All-Star is in no doubt that he is the man to overcome the ‘mindset that exists within the county’ ahead of their Leinster championship opener against Westmeath this Saturday.
“If I felt I couldn’t change it I wouldn’t be there,” he says.
“Louth are unique. There is a certain mindset that exists within the county. That is not necessarily football specific. They don’t expect to do well, they don’t expect to excel or to exceed expectation so that kind of does permeate into minds. So much of the work we have to do is to recalibrate their own expectations of themselves.
“We would feel they have their own very talented group of players there. What they don’t quite realise is how talented they are.”
Louth were relegated from this year’s Division Two league, with five losses and two draws in their seven games.
“Obviously the impression of Louth outside would be that they have been relegated from Division Two,” he says, “not quite at the level of the top teams in Leinster, it’s understandable but we feel that there is a different story to be told.”
“Mindsets do change. There are strategies and approaches that can adjust them but the greatest indicator of that adjustment is that they achieve. They have a great summer ahead of them if things fall their way and they get the bounce of the ball at the right time in the game that matters that gives them that bit of belief in themselves, they can have a very strong summer.”
O’Rourke believes that the county’s poor league campaign was down to changes within their squad and an “overall culture change this year”.
“Starting off we had to remodel our forward line from last year because it was built around Shane Lennon, Ciaran Byrne and Brian White. We played the first half of the league without any of those three.
“We were good last year but fundamentally it just wasn’t good enough. The league was probably difficult from that point of view, adjusting what we were trying to do, so that probably all meant that the league was difficult.”
At the centre of these changes has been the departure of 19 year-old Ciaran Byrne to AFL club Carlton, and the injury concerns of Shane Lennon.
“(Ciaran) was a phenomenon for us last year. We’re disappointed to lose him but we don’t begrudge him the career he has ahead of him,” he says.
“Shane had a very serious hip injury a couple of years ago and he just had to have some corrective work done. He had an update in January and he had to make a decision then as to whether it was more beneficial then and miss the league or try and manage it through the season and we took the view that the championship was the most important thing.”
Louth forward Byrne moves to AFL with Carlton
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#WEEAMBITION AIDAN O'ROURKE GAA Louth GAA mindset wee ambition