KILKENNYโS FOOTBALLERS LIVED through a nightmare in Ballyragget last night as Louth racked up a 50-point win in the Leinster U21 Football Championship.
Fourteen of the Wee Countyโs side got their name on the scoresheet as Louth raced into a 1-21 to 0-00 lead at half-time, and eventually won by a massive 6-34 to 0-02, the Irish Examiner reports.
Kilkennyโs cause wasnโt helped when a number of a number of players withdrew in the hours leading up to the game, leaving the Cats with a bare minimum of 15 players and no substitutes.
But speaking to TheScore.ie this morning, Tom Duggan, vice chairman of the Kilkenny football board, said that he couldnโt find fault with the players who did pull on the jersey last night.
โWe had so many players listed to travel to play the game and they were caught up with exams, they were caught up with colleges, they were caught up with hurling, this type of thing.
โWe werenโt aware of it at all. I contacted a couple of players to see if they were available and when I contacted them, they werenโt available. Work and exams come before a lot of things in this day and age.
We had 15. We had a team, and that team played to the best of their ability. I wouldnโt have one negative word to say about that team or the management of that team.
Louth manager Colin Kelly spoke with the Kilkenny players in their dressing room afterwards and encouraged them to โstick at itโ, but Duggan was quick to wonder why Kellyโs players were so intent on piling on the pain.
โIf we were playing them in hurling, we wouldnโt go to town on Louth as they did on us. Up to the 60th minute, they were still going for goals. Only for the effectiveness of our goalkeeper, we couldโve been down by an awful lot more.โ
On a morning when the scoreline screamed disaster, Duggan was able to focus on the few positives from last nightโs game.
โItโs not a big deal, everybody knows Kilkenny football. And if they donโt know Kilkenny football, they donโt know anything about sport.
When you look at the 15 guys who were there last night after the match, ok they were disheartened alright but theyโll be back to play football again.You get a lot of negative press about this kind of thing, but weโre there, we compete, and we compete to our ability.
โItโs the same in the National Football League. They go out there and when they come off the pitch and back onto the bus, [they're asking] when are we playing next.โ
Great piece Niall, but there are a couple of other points here.
If, for example, Kenny Egan was to travel to Baku, he could qualify for the Olympics, and would do so in the same weight division as Joe Ward. As a country can only enter one fighter in any weight class, as far as Iโm aware, Ward could then not even compete in Istanbul and his Olympic dreams would be dashed, even though he is European Champion. This is the same for any of our โstarsโ who miss out.
Also, if IABA were to send Ward and Moylette, the European champions would be seeded and thus get an easier draw. If they send other boxers in the same weight classes, that seeding is lost.
Thanks for the comments Gavin.
I see Kenny has declared that heโs stepping up to Heavyweight for this weekโs competition, which was presumably decided in order to avoid the clash with Ward that you mentioned. Itโll be interesting to see how it all plays out over the next week.