Liam Jackson believes his Louth teammates remain confident of picking up the points they need to survive in Division 2 despite the Reds suffering a second successive National League defeat in Ardee on Sunday.
he Wee men led entering the closing quarter against Ulster champions Derry – with the St Mary’s clubman bagging a first half goal on his home ground – but the concession of a second major resulted in Mickey Harte’s men going down by three points.
It leaves Louth pointless moving into Sunday week’s round three duel with bottom of the table Limerick at DEFY Páirc Mhuire but Jackson, who scored a goal in both meetings with the Treaty County last season, including during the Division 3 final at Croke Park, believes the Reds will be primed for the task provided by Ray Dempsey’s side.
"It’s disappointing but there is definitely still a belief in the dressing room,” said Jackson, who flew back to his Coventry base within a few hours of the Derry loss.
"Like, we’re there but it’s just about getting over the line. And we are working very hard and I think everyone can see that.
“We haven’t got off to the best of starts in the last two seasons either and after Longford last year, I don’t think anybody would have been talking about us being promoted. But we got a wee bit of luck after that and look at where it took us. We definitely feel that we can compete with these teams.
"There’s no doubt that the Limerick game is very important now and we’ll use the break to get ready for it and hopefully get a win on the board.”
He added: “The break gives us a chance to get recovered and to get a few more bodies back and to work on thing. We know we can compete with teams in Division 2 and we’ve shown that we can compete with Derry who are one of the best teams in the country. We seen what they did in Ulster last year.”
There has been some commentary around the style of play and tactics which Louth are using in a bid to immerse themselves in higher division company. Indeed, along with bringing Dundalk Young Irelands’ Peter McStravick, a recognised outfielder, in between the posts for the Oak Leaf clash, the Reds often lined up with 15 players in their own half when Derry had possession, just as they had against Clare in Ennis the week before.
However, Jackson contends that the formation is more offensive orientated than about holding the opposition out.
"Some people may think that we set-up defensively but I’d argue that it’s actually the opposite way around because while we all defend together, when we get the ball back we all go on the attack.”
On the set-up, Harte was asked if Louth had a scoring target in mind moving into matches this spring having fallen just one register short in both of their league matches so far.
"It’s depending on the day, the elements and how the opposition set-up,” he said.
"You can’t really predict that ‘I must get so many scores per half’ because that could be the case on a certain day depending on how a team plays whereas on other days, you’d be lucky to get half that.
“You just try to get more than the opposition and learn as you go that you may have to adapt, and maybe even within the game.
“I think Derry went away knowing that this wasn’t the easy ride that it would have seemed, according to the bookies and paperwork. It maybe does them a lot of good where they will know that you have to play every day you go out and you can’t take anything for granted.
“Maybe they were taking us lightly because they’d a really good win over Limerick and I could understand why they may have thought that it would be more of the same here. Thankfully, we didn’t let it be more of the same.”
