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'To be honest we had no answer'

IT HAD started as a good weekend for Fine Gael TD Peter Fitzpatrick with the referendum on Friday going emphatically the government…

Mon Jun 04 2012 - 01:00

IT HAD started as a good weekend for Fine Gael TD Peter Fitzpatrick with the referendum on Friday going emphatically the government’s way.

The nation saved, he moved onto more pressing local matters.

As manager of the Louth team who provided All-Ireland champions Dublin with their first test of the championship at Croke Park yesterday, however, he quickly found himself needing a bailout in the qualifiers at the end of the month.

“To be honest we had no answer today. At half-time 14 points down, how do you get a team going?

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“In fairness I asked the boys to go out and do their best and in fairness they did that, they took a few nice points, maybe a bit unlucky not to get a few more scores.

“I’m just delighted our goalkeeper is in good form today. Louth football is good enough at the moment.

“We did very well to stay in Division Two, hoping to be pushing for Division One but there is definitely a big difference between Dublin and Louth football at the moment.”

A scorching spell that yielded 2-3 without reply in the minutes leading up to half-time was the key to if not the victory, then certainly the scale of it.

“Two goals towards the end of the first half gave us a good boost going into half-time,” said Dublin centre back Ger Brennan.

“It’s always very hard being on the receiving end of something like that going into the break and that probably gave us the momentum. I don’t think we were that much better than Louth, particularly in the first half.”

For centrefielder Denis Bastick there was a more fundamental reason for relief, as he was called into the team on Saturday for his first start of the year after Michael Dara Macauley was unable to play after a cycling accident.

“Delighted,” he said when asked for his reaction to the comeback.

“Obviously (there’s) a lot

of competition this year again so any chance you get, you try and grab with two hands. I heard yesterday around two o’clock.

“I was disappointed early on in the week but you have to keep the right mindset and try to stay positive, be ready to come on as a sub. I got the good news and just was ready to do a job.

“Competition is fierce again. I think we learned from last year that that’s what we need to have: competition from one to 32.

“If fellas aren’t doing a job there’s someone to come on and finish it off so you need to be sharp or you’ll find yourself in the wings.”