Inside Track: Who fears to speak of 2010?

Not this writer. But before anyone mutters, ‘here we go again’, read on. The story is not about THAT goal, the scorer, the referee or the result.

There’s a few mentions of the Leinster final, alright, but that’s all. Main one is to say there is the only survivor of the 2010 team who’ll be part of next Sunday’s challenge.

Andy McDonnell was on the right wing that day in Croke Park, the youngest of the Louth side. Fifteen years on, the Newtown Blues man is still going strong, playing his part in the red jersey.

READ NEXT: Daire can tell his dad what he thinks of the new rules

Since answering Ger Brennan’s call to return to the fold, he has filled a number of positions – he was at midfield against Kildare – and, as you expect from him, never gives less than 100%.

Topsy-turvy is as good a way as any to describe the 2010 senior championship season, one for which the formbook was a useful as the proverbial lighthouse in a bog.

Setting out there were, as usual, 32 runners across the four provinces. The back door was wide open, guaranteeing each team at least two games. That played a vital factor in the final destination of the Sam Maguire Cup.

Along the way there surprises and controversy, and when it came down to the last four, each of the provincial winners were among the also-rans, as indeed, were all of the runners-up.

Sam Maguire Cup holders, Kerry, had won out in Munster, beating Limerick in the final, but then lost to Down in the quarter-finals. Limerick didn’t get that far.

In Ulster, Mickey Harte’s Tyrone beat Monaghan in the last round, but fell to Dublin in the quarters, while, Monaghan, like Limerick, were by then on the outside looking in.

For the first time in 63 years, the Connacht final didn’t include a Galway or Mayo team in its line-up. This was Roscommon and Sligo’s day, victory going to the Rossies. But that was it for both finalists, Roscommon going furthest before being beaten by Cork

We all know what happened in Leinster. Next time out after beating Louth, Meath lost by 2-17 to 1-12 to Kildare. To get to the provincial final, Louth had beaten Longford, Kildare and Westmeath. The match with Kildare at Navan was a clinker.

Dublin, who’d been beaten by Meath in the semi-final – the last time this had happened at championship level up to last Sunday week – accounted for a deflated Louth side in the first round of the All-Ireland qualifiers.

So, we had a semi-final line-up of Cork, Dublin, Kildare and Down, all of them still waiting to win a first championship trophy of the year. Cork were paired with Dublin and in a tight contest, scraped home by a point.

There was a huge question-mark over the goal Benny Coulter scored in Down’s 1-16 to 1-14 defeat of Kildare. Benny had taken his time in getting the ball from his hand to his toe, but the referee saw nothing wrong.

In keeping with the latter stages of the competition, the final was a close run thing. Holding a one-point lead, 0-16 to 0-15, Cork were relieved to see a last minute Down shot go just wide of the mark.

In charge of the Down team that day was two-time All-Ireland medal-winner, James McCartan. On Sunday next, Wee Jamsie will, along with Niall Moyna, be in Ger Brennan’s ear, providing the Louth manager with all the assistance he requires.

On the day before, Kieran McGeeney will be patrolling the line in Clones’s St Tiernach’s Park, urging on his Armagh team in their bid for Ulster Championship glory. In 2010, the Mullaghbawn man was giving instructions to the Kildare team.

Closer to home, the Louth senior championship that year was won by Mattock Rangers, the Brennan family providing four to the team in the defeat of Cooley Kickhams in the final. Mark had played on the forty in the Leinster final a few months earlier.