Inside Track: Lots of food for a hungry county

This is how it was for Louth teams as the 2025 season began to find its feet. The senior footballers were without a championship title since 1957, and the record of four Leinster finals since was just slightly enhanced by three of the appearances coming in recent years.

League victories were confined to the lower divisions, with just one coming in the second tier. That the art of winning competitions hadn’t been lost was signalled with successes in the now-defunct All-Ireland B Championship, Tommy Murphy Cup, and the O’Byrne Cup. Retaining Division Two status in the past few years has been seen as a decent achievement.

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But it’s the championship that has all the bells and baubles attached – winning it is all that really matters. It defines a county’s season.

A win in the under-21 (now under-20) grade always raises hopes for the future. Between 1970 and 1981, three provincial titles came this way, and there were appearances in two other finals. Since then, there were two other finals – the latest, last year.

So, at the start of this season, it had been over 34 years since the Séamus Flood Cup was won by the team in red.

The minor team (now under-17) record was even worse, no title-win since 1953, and just four final appearances after that.

The premier hurling side has flirted between Division Three and Four in the league, while competing at different times in the Lory Meagher Cup and Nicky Rackard Cup. The latter has yet to yield success, just four runner-up spots. A Meagher Cup win came in 2022.

That’s how it was in January, teams heading out with more hope than confidence. Almost twelve months on, and the smiles are back on faces, and there are trophies in the cabinet.

In short, the season has been one of unprecedented success, arguably the best the county has enjoyed since 1957. That year, the Sam Maguire Cup came this way, while the juniors (then the second tier) won the Leinster before going down to Mayo in the All-Ireland series.

Look at what’s been won: two provincial football titles, the senior and under-20, with the under-age side advancing to the All-Ireland final; the minors reaching the provincial final and then contesting an All-Ireland quarter-final, and the hurlers winning the league’s Division Four. And when the season was all over, senior team captain, Sam Mulroy, was deservedly presented with an All-Star.

It was a season that probably won’t be properly appreciated until years to come. But, then, it could be replicated, title wins becoming the norm.

There was another win, no less important. The under-16 footballers captured their title, and that, plus the achievements of the other underage teams, can only augur well for the future.