Louth county football team

Louth

Sport:	Football
Irish:	Lughbhadh An Lú
Nickname(s):	The Wee County [1]
County board:	Louth GAA
Manager:	Ger Brennan
Home venue(s):	DEFY Páirc Mhuire, Ardee
Recent competitive record
Current All-Ireland status:	All-Ireland (QF) / Leinster (F) in 2024
Last championship title:	1957
Current NFL Division:	2 (6th in 2024)
Last league title:	None
First colours
Current season

The Louth county football team represents Louth in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Louth GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Leinster Senior Football Championship and the National Football League.

Louth's home ground for League matches is currently DEFY Páirc Mhuire, Ardee. Home fixtures in the All-Ireland Championship will be played at Inniskeen Grattans' pitch in Monaghan. As of late 2024, plans for a permanent base for the county side in Dundalk are currently progressing. ^[2]

The county senior team manager is Ger Brennan.

The team last won the Leinster Senior Championship and All-Ireland Senior Championship titles in 1957. Louth has never won a National Football League Division One title, finishing runners-up once in 1948-49.

History

The earliest recorded inter-county football match took place in 1712 when Louth faced Meath at Slane. A fragment of a poem from 1806 records a football match between Louth and Fermanagh at Inniskeen, Co Monaghan.^{[ citation needed ]}

Louth team of 1913, All-Ireland SFC winner

Louth won their first All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in 1910 in unusual circumstances. Their opponents, Kerry, refused to travel to Dublin as the Great Southern and Western Railway would not sell tickets to their fans at reduced rates. ^[3] 1912 brought a second All-Ireland title as final opponents Antrim were beaten by five points. ^[4]

When Louth GAA sent the team into training in Dundalk for the 1913 Croke Memorial replay under a soccer trainer from Belfast, the move caused more than a ripple through the Association. ^[5] For thirty years full-time training in bursts of a week or so before a big match were common. After that the two or three times a week gatherings became more popular. The success of these matches helped the GAA purchase the site that would come to be known as Croke Park. ^[5]

In 1944 five Louthmen represented their province in the Railway Cup final. Jim Thornton of Cooley Kickhams captained Leinster, who overcame Ulster by 1-10 to 1-03 in the final at Croke Park on St Patrick's Day. ^[6] Alongside him were county colleagues Paddy Larkin, Jim Quigley (Dundalk Young Irelands), Eddie Boyle (Cooley Kickhams) and Ollie Halpin of St Magdalene's.

Louth would not reach another All-Ireland Senior Football final until 1950, when they suffered a narrow two-point loss to Mayo. ^[7] In 1957 Louth again reached the All-Ireland Senior Football final. Showband star and captain Dermot O'Brien arrived late for the game and joined the team after the parade was completed. ^[8] He had taken over the captaincy for the semi-final against Tyrone after regular captain Patsy Coleman had been injured. ^[9] Coleman still has the match ball from the 1957 final in his possession. ^[10] O'Brien played a key role as Louth beat Cork to secure a third senior All-Ireland title for the county, aided by a goal from Seán Cunningham with five minutes left to play . As both Cork and Louth wear Red and White, on Final day Louth wore the green of Leinster while Cork lined out in the blue of Munster.

Louth had by then accumulated eight Leinster football championship titles in addition to three Senior All-Irelands. However a protracted period in the doldrums lay in store for the county football team. A reverse at the hands of Offaly in the 1960 provincial decider ^[11] would be Louth's last appearance in a Leinster senior final for fifty years.

Rivalry with Meath

Between 1945 and 1953 Louth and Meath met 13 times. The crowds got bigger and bigger each time as they played draw after draw in the Championship. The attendance of 42,858 at a thrilling 1951 replay remained a record for a provincial match other than a final for forty years until the four-match series between Meath and Dublin in 1991. ^[12] The rivalry with Meath has never fizzled out, as witnessed by a stirring Leinster SFC semi-final in 1998. Nor has controversy, as Graham Geraghty's disputed point in the 45th minute of that match proved decisive. ^[13]

2010 Leinster SFC final

Main article: 2010 Leinster Senior Football Championship final

On 11 July 2010, Louth returned to the Leinster SFC final, where they took on neighbours Meath. Meath won what was a highly controversial match. Deep into injury time in the 74th minute, referee Martin Sludden awarded a highly contentious goal to Meath. He did so after a brief consultation with one of the match umpires, although television coverage of the game showed that the ball had been carried over the line by Meath player Joe Sheridan. Prior to Sludden's decision, Meath were trailing Louth by one point. He blew his whistle for full-time shortly afterwards. The "goal" proved to be the decisive score.

Irate Louth fans stormed the pitch and began chasing and physically assaulting the referee, ^{[14] [15] [16]} who had to be led away by a Garda escort in scenes broadcast to a live television audience. Other scenes of violence saw bottles being hurled from a stand, one striking a steward who fell to the ground ^{[14] [17]} and Meath substitute Mark Ward was hit by a Louth fan. ^[18]

The situation led to much media debate in the days that followed. The violence was condemned and there were calls in the national media for the game to be replayed, including from former Meath players Trevor Giles and Bernard Flynn. ^[19] GAA President Christy Cooney said the events were a "watershed" and one where the "circumstances were bizarre. I have never seen circumstances like it as long as I have been a member of this Association". ^[20] He promised life bans for those who had assaulted the referee. ^[21]

Numerous TV replays showed that Sheridan's goal was indisputably a technical foul with regard to the Playing Rules of Gaelic football. ^[22] The day after the match the GAA released a statement confirming that Sludden admitted he had made an error. ^[23] The GAA also stated that the rules left it powerless to offer a replay and that this would be decided by Meath. ^[23] Following a Meath County Board meeting it emerged that, in his match report, the referee had originally blown for a penalty for Meath but when the ball ended up in the net he decided to award a goal instead. The county board decided not to offer a replay and judged that that would be "the end of the matter". ^[24] This decision was met in some quarters with mixed feelings and commented upon in the Evening Herald by three-time All-Ireland winning manager Mickey Harte, who said that the Meath county board was even more culpable because their officers had time to form a considered opinion. ^[25]

In its statement on the controversy, ^[26] the Louth County Board spoke of the enormous sense of injustice which was being felt in the county. They also questioned the referee's official report saying it was contrary to Playing Rules where he indicated in his report that he blew the whistle for a penalty, but then changed his mind and awarded a goal instead. They intimated that the committee/council in charge erred in leaving the matter to the Meath County Board to offer a replay without seeking clarification from the referee in relation to his match report and his statement that "he made a terrible mistake".

Louth eventually exited the All-Ireland SFC on 24 July after losing to Dublin in the final qualifier round, on a scoreline of 2-14 to 0-13. ^[27]

Post-2010

Manager Peter Fitzpatrick resigned as Louth senior boss in 2012 after three years in the role. ^[28]

Aidan O'Rourke was appointed as Fitzpatrick's successor in October 2012. ^[29] O'Rourke left the role in mid-2014. ^[30]

Former Louth forward Colin Kelly then managed Louth for three years. He led Louth to successive promotions in the National Football League in 2016 and 2017, though Louth did not make any championship impact during his time in charge. ^[31]

Louth appointed former minor manager Wayne Kierans as senior team manager on a two-year term in October 2018. ^[32] Louth were relegated to Division 4 in 2020. Kierans' contract was not renewed. ^{[33] [34]}

Upturn in fortunes

In a major surprise, ^[35] November 2020 saw former Tyrone coach Mickey Harte appointed as Louth manager for a three-year period ^[36] with Gavin Devlin as his assistant. ^[37]

During the 2021 season, Harte achieved promotion to Division 3 of the National League. Louth went on to win Division 3 in the 2022 season. He brought Louth to a first Leinster final since 2010 in 2023.

Harte resigned in September 2023 ^[38] and subsequently took over as manager of the Derry senior footballers. County board chairman Peter Fitzpatrick announced former Dublin inter-county player Ger Brennan as Louth's new manager on 2 October. ^[39] In the 2024 season, Louth reached a second consecutive Leinster final for the first time since 1958 and defeated Meath in the championship for the first time since 1975. ^[40]

Current panel

as per Leinster SFC Final against Dublin, 12 May 2024

No. Player Position Club 1 Niall McDonnell Goalkeeper St Fechin's 2 Craig Lynch Goalkeeper Naomh Máirtín 3 Peter Lynch Full back Roche Emmets 4 Donal McKenny Left corner back St Mary's 5 Leonard Grey Right half back St Patrick's 6 Niall Sharkey Centre back Glyde Rangers 7 Anthony Williams Left half back Dreadnots 8 Conor Early Midfield Na Fianna (Dublin) 9 Ciarán Murphy Midfield St Patrick's 10 Ciarán Downey Centre forward Newtown Blues 11 Conal McKeever Left half forward Clan na Gael 12 Sam Mulroy (c) Full forward Naomh Máirtín 13 Conor Grimes Left corner forward Glen Emmets 14 Peter McStravick Right half forward Dundalk Young Irelands 15 Ryan Burns Left corner forward Hunterstown Rovers

No. Player Position Club 16 Bevan Duffy Midfield St Fechin's 17 Tommy Durnin Midfield Inniskeen Grattans 18 Ciarán Keenan Right half forward St Mary's 19 Jay Hughes Right corner forward Dreadnots 20 Craig Lennon Left half forward St Mochta's 21 Ciarán Byrne Midfield St Mochta's 22 Tom Jackson Left corner forward St Mary's 23 Dermot Campbell Full back Dreadnots 24 Paul Matthews Midfield St Fechin's 25 Wayne Campbell Midfield Naomh Máirtín 26 Liam Jackson Right half forward St Mary's 27 Seán Marry Centre forward St Bride's 28 Chris O'Neill Right corner back Seán O'Mahony's

^INJ Player has had an injury which has affected recent involvement with the county team.
^RET Player has since retired from the county team.
^WD Player has since withdrawn from the county team due to a non-injury issue.

Current management team

• Manager: Ger Brennan
• Selectors: Niall Moyna, James McCartan, David Whyte ^[41]

Managerial history

Peter Fitzpatrick, pictured here in 2015, managed Louth to the 2010 Leinster Senior Football Championship Final and, later, as Louth County Board chairman, appointed Mickey Harte as manager in 2020.

Year	Name	Club/County
1968–72	Stephen White	Dundalk Young Irelands
1972–75	Jimmy Mulroy	Newtown Blues
1975–76	Jack Smith	Newtown Blues
1976–80	Management committee	Louth
1980–82	Frank Lynch	Geraldines
1982–84	Jimmy Mulroy	Newtown Blues
1984–85	Frank Fagan	Dundalk Young Irelands
1985	Management committee	Louth
1985–87	Mickey Whelan
1987–91	Frank Lynch	Geraldines
1991–94	Declan Smyth
1994–97	Paul Kenny	Dundalk Gaels
1997–2001	Paddy Clarke	Mattock Rangers/Stabannon Parnells
2001–03	Paddy Carr
2003–05	Val Andrews
2005–09	Eamonn McEneaney
2009–12	Peter Fitzpatrick	Clan na Gael
2012–14	Aidan O'Rourke
2014–17	Colin Kelly	Dreadnots
2017–18	Pete McGrath
2018–20	Wayne Kierans	O'Connells
2020–23	Mickey Harte
2023–	Ger Brennan

Players

Notable players

For individual player details, see Category:Louth inter-county Gaelic footballers.

All Stars

2010: Paddy Keenan
2024: Craig Lennon ^[42]

Internationals

Two Louth players have represented Ireland versus Australia in the International Rules Series in recent years, Paddy Keenan and Ciarán Byrne. ^[43]

Team of the Millennium

The team below was chosen from a list of 75 nominees by the County Board in February 2000. Their aim was to select the best 15 players who had ever played for Louth in their respective positions, since the foundation of the GAA in 1884 up to the Millennium year, 2000. ^{[44] [45]}

	Goalkeeper
	Gerry Farrell (Cooley Kickhams)
Right corner back	Full back	Left corner back
Jack Bell (St Mary's)	Eddie Boyle (Cooley Kickhams)	Jim Tuft (Dundalk Young Irelands)
Right half back	Centre back	Left half back
Seán Boyle (Cooley Kickhams/St Mary's)	Jim McArdle (Dundalk Young Irelands/Roche Emmets)	Stephen White (Cooley Kickhams/Dundalk Young Irelands)
	Midfield
Jim Thornton Snr. (Cooley Kickhams)		Jack Regan (Dundalk Gaels)
Right half forward	Centre forward	Left half forward
Kevin Beahan (St Mary's)	Jim Quigley (Dundalk Young Irelands)	Frank Lynch (Geraldines)
Right corner forward	Full forward	Left corner forward
Ollie Halpin (St Magdalene's)	Jimmy McDonnell (Darver Volunteers)	Frank Fagan (Dundalk Young Irelands)

Captains

Below are the team captains (1943–):

Name Year(s) Club Jack Regan 1943 Dundalk Gaels Jim Thornton Snr. 1944 Cooley Kickhams Unknown 1945 Unknown 1946 Unknown 1947 Jim Quigley 1948 Dundalk Young Irelands Seán Boyle 1949 St Mary's Tom Conlon 1950 Stabannon Parnells Stephen White 1951 Dundalk Young Irelands Paddy Markey 1952 St Mary's Jack Regan 1953–54 Dundalk Gaels Tom Conlon 1955 Stabannon Parnells Paddy McArdle 1956 St Mary's Dermot O'Brien 1957–58 St Mary's Jim McArdle 1959 Roche Emmets John McArdle 1960 Clan na Gael Kevin Beahan 1961 St Mary's Jimmy Mulroy 1962–65 Newtown Blues Muckle McKeown 1966 O'Raghallaighs Liam Leech 1967 Newtown Blues Frank Lynch 1968 Geraldines Michael Rice 1969 St Mary's Frank Clarke 1970 Newtown Blues Danny Nugent 1971 Newtown Blues Jim Thornton 1972 Cooley Kickhams Benny Gaughran 1973 Clan na Gael Leslie Toal 1974 Clan na Gael Danny Nugent 1975 Newtown Blues Benny Gaughran 1976 Civil Service Peadar Gallagher 1977 Cooley Kickhams Gerry Farrell 1978 Cooley Kickhams J. P. O'Kane 1979 Kilkerley Emmets Michael McCabe 1980–81 Dundalk Young Irelands Matt McDermott 1982 St Fechin's Jimmy McDonnell 1983 Geraldines Matt McDermott 1984–85 St Fechin's Eugene Judge 1986–87 Newtown Blues Peter Fitzpatrick 1988 Clan na Gael Richie Culhane 1989 Newtown Blues Kevin O'Hanlon 1990 Clan na Gael Stephen Melia 1991 John Mitchels Stefan White 1992 Clan na Gael

Name Year(s) Club David Reilly 1993 Stabannon Parnells Peter Fitzpatrick 1994 Clan na Gael Stephen Melia 1995 John Mitchels Séamus O'Hanlon 1996–97 Clan na Gael Gareth O'Neill 1998–99 Simonstown Gaels Nicky Malone 2000–01 Lann Léire Martin Farrelly 2002 Lann Léire Aaron Hoey 2003 St Bride's Ollie McDonnell 2004 St Joseph's Mark Stanfield 2005 O'Connells Martin Farrelly 2006 St Joseph's Peter McGinnity 2007 Dundalk Gaels Colin Goss 2008 St Patrick's Paddy Keenan 2009–14 St Patrick's Adrian Reid 2015–16 Mattock Rangers Pádraig Rath 2017 Dreadnots Andy McDonnell 2018 Newtown Blues Bevan Duffy 2019–20 St Fechin's Sam Mulroy 2021– Naomh Máirtín

Honours

National

• All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
  • Winners (3): 1910, 1912, 1957
  • Runners-up (3): 1887, 1909, 1950
• National Football League
  • Runners-up (1): 1948–49
• National Football League Division 2
  • Winners (3): 1996-97, 1999-2000, 2006
• National Football League Division 3
  • Winners (4): 1982–83, ^[46] 1987–88, ^[47] 2011, ^[48] 2022 ^[48]
• National Football League Division 4
  • Winners (2): 2016, 2021 (shared with Antrim)
• Tommy Murphy Cup
  • Winners (1): 2006
• All-Ireland 'B' Football Championship
  • Winners (1): 1997
• All-Ireland Junior Football Championship
  • Winners (4): 1925, 1932, 1934, 1961
  • Runners-up (2): 1912, 1928
• All-Ireland Minor Football Championship
  • Winners (2): 1936, 1940
  • Runners-up (2): 1931, 1941

Provincial

• Leinster Senior Football Championship
  • Winners (9): 1909, 1910, 1912, 1943, 1948, 1950, 1953, 1957
  • Runners-up (15): 1889, 1892, 1900, 1905, 1913, 1914, 1918, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1952, 1958, 1960, 2010, 2023, 2024
• O'Byrne Cup
  • Winners (4): 1963, 1980, 1990, 2009
  • Runners-up (10): 1954, 1960, 1962, 1970, 1998, 1999, 2010, 2011, 2017, 2023
• O'Byrne Shield
  • Winners (1): 2024
• Leinster Junior Football Championship
  • Winners (12): 1910, 1912, 1925, 1928, 1932, 1934, 1946, 1957, 1961, 1966, 2009, 2010
  • Runners-up (11): 1941, 1954, 1984, 1985, 1989, 1994, 1997, 2005, 2006, 2016, 2017
• Owen Treacy Cup
  • Winners (1): 2006 ^[49]
• Leinster Under-21 Football Championship
  • Winners (3): 1970, 1978, 1981
  • Runners-up (5): 1979, 1983, 1996, 2012, 2024
• Leinster Minor Football Championship
  • Winners (8): 1931, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1951, 1953
  • Runners-up (8): 1932, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1958, 1960, 1971, 2017
• Gerry Reilly Cup
  • Winners (1): 2022
• Leinster Under-14 Football Championship
  • Winners (1): 1974 ^{[50] [51]}

References

1. "Monaghan survive late Louth scare". RTÉ Sport. 16 July 2005. 14-man Louth hit the last five scores of a tempestuous All-Ireland SFC qualifier clash with Monaghan tonight, but the Wee men were left cursing a poor opening at Breffni Park.
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