Sunday January 29

Bord Na Mona O'Byrne Cup Final

Louth v Dublin, Drogheda, 2pm

Colin Kelly’s work with Louth is deserving of the utmost respect and January has supplied more moments of good news.

Four wins on the spin over Westmeath, Maynooth University, Carlow, and Meath suggests that Louth – Allianz League Division Four Champions in 2016 – are moving in the right direction.

That clean sheets were kept in the victories against Westmeath and Meath adds an extra layer of satisfaction for Louth.

“We’re trying to play a brand of football that suits Louth players,” Kelly says about the fluid style Louth have adopted recently. “We haven’t got big physical fellas, we have fellas with a high enough skill set. They’re athletic,we’re trying to play a game that suits that.”

Jim McEnaney’s penalty decorated last weekend’s Semi-Final success with Derek Maguire once again showing his craft and expertise at kicking points on the run.

Dublin, under the stewardship of Paul Clarke for the O’Byrne Cup, have journeyed through the competition with admirable composure considering they are playing without any frontline players.

Niall Scully and Conor McHugh, though, appear to have done enough during this audition to secure some sort of role for Dublin in the Allianz League.

Kildare had been going well, but an experimental Dublin produced a storming finish to earn a spot in the decider which pleases Clarke.

“Am I shocked or surprised? No, I’m not shocked by them and I’m not surprised that they are capable of doing that.

“The objective all along was to be able to say there are four or five players pushing to go into the team for the National League. I think we’re at a stage where there could be six, seven or eight players pushing hard.”