Inside Track: Seniors work hard to retain league status, but then work the oracle in the championship

The seniors, in the care of Ger Brennan for the second year, had to work hard to retain their league Division Two status.

With only four points from a possible 12 in the bag, it all came down to the game with Meath, played in Louth’s home from home, Inniskeen’s Grattan Park.

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Kieran McArdle nailed a goal in a first half dominated by his side. Meath rallied after the break, but Louth held firm. It was done with the injured Sam Mulroy looking on from the sideline.

And the team’s talisman didn’t line out for the championship first round tie with Laois at Newbridge, a venue that would house many Louth championship matches in all grades later on.

Tommy Durnin was also out, harshly benched for what was perceived by management as lack of discipline. But the then-Inniskeen Grattan was sent in just before the break and played his part in a hard-earned win.

So, too, did another who didn’t have the best of luck on the injury front, Ciarán ‘Casey’ Byrne. The Mochta’s man got the clinching goal.

The semi-final with Kildare was slipping away until Conall McKeever, one of the team’s most consistent players over the year, knocked the ball to the net just before the break. There was still work to be done, however.

Believing that by hoofing the ball over his own endline after the hooter time-up would be called, Craig Lennon and his colleagues at the back had some defending to do from the resulting ‘45’. Louth survived.

And so to the final, a re-match with Meath, who in their semi-final ended Dublin’s championship run that had gone on since, it seemed, the Euro had still to be introduced, you could four pints of Guinness for a tenner, and there was no question of a Louth team going out in anything but a red jersey.

In 2010, over 48,000 – a provincial final record that year, covering both football and hurling – turned up for Louth’s first appearance at this stage in 50 years. Meath were opponents then, and were again last May. This time, 66,000 filled all the good spots in Croke Park.

It was nip and tuck for about 30 minutes, Sam Mulroy contributing to his side’s 2-3 with a smartly taken penalty, and Ryan Burns also doing his bit with a perfectly aimed shot to Billy Hogan’s net.

Meath went on the rampage in the time leading up to the break, scoring seven points in quick succession. Then came another Craig Lennon special, the No 7 scything his way through defence before bringing Louth supporters to their feet for the third time. One point between them at the break, Meath in front.

(It wouldn’t have been envisaged at the time that, come the end of the year, Louth’s three goal-scorers would each get an All-Star nomination.)

Louth dominated midfield in the second half, but it wasn’t until Mulroy rediscovered his scoring touch, having missed a few chances from within his reach, that Meath were hauled back and then passed. Burns, Conor Grimes and Ciarán Downey were other scorers.

Then it happened: Meath got a goal to go a point in front, and we asked, would the scorer, Matthew Costello, be taking his place among last-gasp Royal spoilers of the past, Graham Geraghty and Joe Sheridan?

Have no fears, Mulroy might have said as he stepped up to a free, far enough for the Meath goals to be valued at two points if the ball went over.

Yes, it did, and when Lennon followed with a point, all that was required for Louth to engage in a piece of keep-ball. They did, but only after many thousands of supporters’ hearts missed a beat.

There was an outpouring of Louth joy that hadn’t been seen for many decades. The only drawback was that it couldn’t be expressed on Croke Park’s hallowed turf, a no-go area for all but the players.

But Mulroy and company were quick to share their joy with the flag-wavers, the flare-throwers, and the weeping in the stands and on Hill 16.

The aftermath, the All-Ireland qualifiers, was disappointing, just one win from four. Nothing, however, could erase the memory of a momentous provincial campaign, one in which Louth regained its seat at Leinster’s top table.