Mickey Harte buzzing at the chance to create history as Louth head to Croker

Who would’ve predicted this scenario at the start of the season? Who thought promotion was a possibility after back-to-back losses early on in the League? Those people were hard found, but after their resurgence since the loss to Derry, excitement has been at fever pitch.

After a comfortable win over Limerick and memorable victories over Meath and Kildare, the Wee County revival has continued it's upwards trajectory.

Yet it could’ve been so different. After an even start, the Rebels came out fighting and built up a sizable early cushion of five points. Louth manager Mickey Harte admitted he was indeed worried at this stage, but noted he always felt they had the resolve to bounce back.

They did so in impressive fashion, a goal from Ryan Burns on 30 minutes the catalyst that led to their eventual success that leaves them just one win away from another promotion.   

“At 0-7 to 0-2 down it looked dangerous” Harte stressed. “Gavin (Devlin) and I thought to ourselves this can’t go any wider or we are in real trouble. We needed to get something back and the best way to do that was to get the goal.

“We actually turned them over enough to get more than two points on the scoreboard, but we didn’t really complete those turnovers as good as we’d like to. But then of course your missing guys like Sam Mulroy, who is always good to finish those types of moves.

“We have a lot of injuries right throughout this whole league programme, but I think that is the thing we are most happy about, that players have adapted, worked hard together as a unit and grounded out results which many people didn’t expect they were able to get.”

Despite a late first half goal bringing them back into contention and Daniel O’Mahony’s red card meaning they had a one-man advantage, things weren’t all plain sailing for the men in red.

Even though they had plenty of possession and were dominating the game, Cork were still a point up on the scoreboard as Louth failed to put enough shots between the sticks. This was unlike the Rebels, who utilised the elements more effectively.

However, the Tyrone native never lost faith in his troops. He knew what was required and even went more attacking late on to make sure they sealed the victory.

“These boys back themselves to make it happen because they keep coming, again and again. I think they have this belief now that even when things aren’t going the way we’d like them too and we’re missing chances, we’ll still fight for it. And it was a battle to the end.

“Losing Donal McKenny to a black card levelled the numbers up and it also gave us a chance to change the script by putting in a forward for him and bringing somebody else back.

We needed that more forward thrust and Craig Lennon, Conal McCaul and Jay Hughes added a bit to that. We had more attacking options in the last 10 minutes or so which gave us more of an outlet.”

While promotion was not secured in Ardee, the result itself still meant a lot to the sold-out crowd. There was a jubilation and excitement come the final whistle from supporters not seen for many years.

The roar that greeted the result was greater than many local reporters on site could recall for many years, while the ques for selfies with the Louth players meant it was a long time before they had the chance to return to the dressing rooms. Pretty much everyone was in high demand.

The sense of occasion wasn’t lost on Harte either, who stressed it meant a great deal to all in the Louth camp, to be able to give fans another day to remember.

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“This is why the players do it” he exclaimed. “It’s for their families, their clubs, for the county and for the community. It gives them a great lift too, knowing winning these types of games makes the people of Louth happy and gives them a chance to be proud again to be from Louth.

“Maybe it has been too long since they’ve been able to identify with good results like that. And that is nobody’s fault. It just happened over time. People have their cycles of success. It has been a good run here at the minute, but we take it one game at a time.

“We won’t be getting carried away, we are happy with what we have been building here and there is a lot more work to be done to make a claim that we are making steady progress that will last.”

What these four wins a row mean is that they enter a winner takes all matchup with Dublin in Croke Park this Sunday (Throw in 2PM). Should they defeat them, it would be a remarkable rise up from the bottom tier to the top. All in the space of three years.

“It’s good to be in this place, but wouldn’t you love it if it was someone other than Dublin you had to meet to do it” Laughed Harte.

“In Division 2 you wouldn’t be expecting it to be a Dublin team that you need to play to do that, but it is what it is. The fact it is going to be a game that means something to both counties should make it a very competitive occasion.”