Paddy Curtis praises his Louth team

Louth Ladies coach, Paddy Curtis, praised the effort of his players as they battled through to claim a place in the All-Ireland Final.

Paddy hopes that the tough challenge posed by Offaly in Sunday’s semi-final will be the ideal preparation for the clash with Antrim in the final.

“It was a great win and the players gave everything the had on the day, and a hard game like that is just what we need ahead of the final. I don’t think there would have been any benefit in an easy game at this stage”, explained Paddy who added that the squad always knew it was going to be difficult.

“We beat Offaly in the Leinster Final and I think many people on the outside felt that this was a formality. However, we always knew we were facing a very tough challenge. They are a good side and really put it up to us, but we worked very hard and eventually got our reward.

“We told the players before the game that they had to give it everything they had as there was no second chance after this. In fairness to them, they responded as we hoped and never gave up”, he explained.

Paddy put the victory down to a combination of fitness, desire and skill which saw the team come through despite a spirited Offaly performance.

“We started back in December and our first aim was to become the fittest team. That gives us a great starting position and when you combine that with a never-say-die attitude and the undoubted ability in our team, then we are going to be hard to beat”.

Paddy and the squad will be hoping that those traits are enough to see them claim the All-Ireland title at the end of the month.