Tipp should target a win in Louth

 

By Shane Brophy

LOUTH v TIPPERARY
Gaelic Grounds, Drogheda
Sunday 2nd February
Throw-in @ 2.00pm
Referee: John Hickey (Carlow)

Tipperary will look to build on the positive momentum generated by the draw against Down when they travel to Drogheda on Sunday to face Louth in round 2 of the Allianz Football League.
In a division which is very open, every point will be vital and if Tipperary were to be on three points come Sunday evening, they would be a long way down the road of hitting their initial goal for the league, which is maintaining their division 3 status before they can think about anything else.
With Tipperary only having two home games in their remaining six and one of them against Cork who will be expected to top the group, they’ll need to pick up points on the road and they will have targeted this one against Louth.
The Wee county lost their opening round game away to Longford last Sunday and will come in under a little more pressure and Tipperary will hope to take advantage of that. However, to do that they’ll need to make better starts, something they haven’t been doing in challenge or competitive games so far so the management may look to modify their warm-up routine to try and get Tipperary firing right from the first whistle.
With Down employing an ultra-defensive gameplan last Sunday, Louth are unlikely to be as such so Tipperary might be able to benefit from extra space in the attack from where Conor Sweeney and Liam Boland can profit.
Defensively, Tipperary were very sound last Sunday but it was at the other end where they found it hard to create openings with just sixteen shots at the target, although ten points coming from them is a decent ratio considering two other chances came back off the post while Bill Maher was denied a goal through a Rory Burns save.
The sides will be familiar with eachother in recent years with the sides meeting twice in division 3 in 2017 with Louth winning in Thurles before the sides met in the league final in Croke Park which Tipperary won while a year later the Premier County were decisive winners at Semple Stadium.
Drogheda hasn’t enjoyed a lot of positivity in recent months but Tipperary will be hoping their experience will be a happy one if they leave the Gaelic Grounds with two vital points on Sunday evening before they face another long trip to Derry on Sunday week.

 

Table        P    W    D    L    +/-    Pts
Cork        1    1    0    0    +7    2
Longford    1    1    0    0    +3    2
Leitrim    1    0    1    0    0    1
Down        1    0    1    0    0    1
Derry        1    0    1    0    0    1
Tipperary    1    0    1    0    0    1
Louth        1    0    0    1    -3    0
Offaly        1    0    0    1    -7    0

Round 2 Fixtures: Saturday 1st February: Down v Derry
Sunday 2nd February: Leitrim v Cork; Offaly v Longford