MICKEY HARTE SIGNED off on a positive note.
“Progress can be slow but as long as it’s forward moving, it doesn’t have to be a rocket,” the Louth manager concluded his Leinster final post-match press conference.
His side had just been annihilated by 13 in-a-row champions Dublin, the scoreboard in Croke Park reading 5-21 to 0-15 at the final whistle.
“They’re just a very good side and we’re not at that level just now,” Harte said. “I suppose you have to stand toe-to-toe with teams like this to learn that lesson.
“It’s a harsh lesson for the players, it’s one thing getting beaten, it’s another thing getting battered. Really that’s what happened to us today.
“Sometimes that happens in football. You have to learn from every outcome. You like when you win things, you like when you make good comebacks and sometimes you have to just hold up your hands and say, ‘Dublin are a very good team and they’re just that much ahead of us at the moment’… it’s not the end of the world.”
“I suppose Dublin would have a bit of angst within them because people were starting to doubt their ability,” the former Tyrone boss added. “I think they’ve made a statement today.
“I’m not saying that statement is against a team that’s playing regularly in Division 1 but to make that statement against a team like Louth who are progressing and climbing the ladder and I feel they’re a decent side… to get that sort of a lesson from Dublin suggests to me that they’ve got a bit of angst in their game again.”
On his own outfit, Harte admitted they were “our own worst enemy at times,” making a positive start but a 22-minute period in the first half ultimately ended the contest. The Louth kickout malfunctioned, as the Sky Blues pressed them high and hit 1-10 without reply.
Sam Mulroy was one bright spark for the Wee county, the captain finishing up with 0-10 (7f, 1 ’45). Harte had a word for the Naomh Mairtín man, along with the “wonderful” Louth crowd afterwards.
“I wouldn’t expect anything else. People were talking about him the last time and they didn’t factor in that he had been out for seven or eight weeks with a serious hamstring injury. Ultimately when it was needed the last day, he popped up with the vital scores. Quality’s quality, and star quality is star quality — and Sam has certainly all of that.”
Stressing a step-by-step journey and a learning process, Harte is hopeful yesterday’s 21-point clipping won’t set the team back as they join Cork, Mayo and Kerry in Group 1 of the All-Ireland series.
“It all depends how you deal with it. It could set you back if you choose to let it, but if you decide to learn from it and start to climb out of that poor place that you’re in right now, then it can be a good thing.
“We have a lot of thinking and preparation to do to try and grab back some credibility of having the right to being at this level of the championship.”
First up in the upper echelon, it’s Cork in Navan in two weeks’ time. A winnable game?
“I suppose every other team in the group will be saying we’re the winnable game,” Harte responded. “Cork will be saying we’re the winnable game and that’s understandable. We played them in the league of course but they were missing a few players that day and we got a result.
“Any game we go out to play from here on in is not easy, you’re at the tough end of the season now. These players will learn from the experience. It’s kind of going to be a wee taster of what Division 1 will be like if you’re ever in it. Maybe for a team like Louth to get a taste for that without actually having to be in it right now mightn’t be a bad thing for their progression.”
