Inside Track: Newbridge venue has been good to Louth teams

There’s mural on a gable wall at the entrance to St Conleth’s Park, Newbridge. It reads: “Newbridge or Nowhere.”

This a throw-back to three years ago, when Kildare, having earned a home draw for an All-Ireland qualifier, were told their match with Mayo would have to played in Croke, the authorities claiming St Conleth’s wouldn’t be suitable.

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(This was before the Newbridge grounds was given a huge make-over. It’s now a wonderful venue, the work on its transformation taking less than three years.)

Kildare were having none of it, however. A campaign was waged: if the game’s going ahead, it’s to be played at St Conleth’s. And a slogan was scripted.

Kildare won the argument. The game went ahead in Newbridge, played in front of a maximum 8,200 crowd. And for good measure, there was a home win..

It’s at the Kildare headquarters where Louth’s Leinster minor final with Offaly is taking place next Monday evening, and if there’s a win for the Young Reds, someone from this county might be tempted to scribble on the mural: “We thoroughly agree.”

This will be a third time for a Louth team – backed by what is sure to be another huge travelling party – to line out at the Kildare grounds in a championship match this year.

If the result is as good as the last two, St Conleth’s will be a sea of red when the final whistle goes, flag-wavers, handshakers and huggers celebrating the county’s first win in the competition in 72 years.

The seniors beat Laois there, and this was followed by the under-20s getting the better of the champions Meath, winning the final with a performance that we thought couldn’t be bettered.

Whether or not the minors did it doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that they won. Extending a narrow half-time lead to twelve points, the boys’ team bamboozled a highly thought-of opposition, and are now just one step away from emulating the older wearers of red.

If taking up where they left off at the pristine North County Dublin venue, the under-17s will be well on the way to achieving a goal previously denied the four teams that made it to the final since the win of 1953.