Inside Track: The under-20s’ provincial win one for the ages

Louth under-20 footballers are a team for all weathers - and much more. The week before last, they overcame monsoon-type conditions to beat a strong Dublin team in the Leinster semi-final at Darver.

The final was at Newbridge on last Wednesday night and this time the sun was out in all its glory, and the St Conleth’s sod was in great order. The conditions, however, weren’t the only thing of beauty.

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The performance Fergal Reel’s side turned in to beat Meath, bringing the Séamus Flood Cup to the county for the first time in 44 years and the fourth time in all, outshone all else.

In trumping the holders by a convincing seven points, 2-19 to 1-15, Louth produced a performance to match anything a county team has come with in quite some time.

What unfolded in the second half in particular has been rightly lauded. This was 30 minutes of mistake-free excellence. It yielded some great scores in an 11-point haul and very few wides.

The gap between the sides stood at 10 points at one stage, and though Meath were always threatening, some brilliant defending prevented the goal the Royals so badly needed.

But while the second half performance formed most of the after-match discussion among an ecstatic following, most of whom, like the team, simply didn’t want the field after the final whistle and presentation, the first half wasn’t exactly void of some of the brilliance that came later.

When Tadhg Martin hit the net, putting his side three points clear, there were fears of what happened in last year’s final being repeated. The same 2024 line-up, this time playing at Parnell Park, was fairly even until Meath bagged an early second half goal.

That more or less did it for Louth; in the end there was a hefty draught in the scoreline. The same, however, didn’t happen this time. Louth quickly regained their early composure, and in the time that remained did much of the donkey work for what came after the break.

Goals from Alan Gillespie and Pearse Grimes-Murphy were a reward for Seán Callaghan and James Maguire’s dominant midfield display.

In addition, with all around him putting a hold on Éamonn Armstrong, Meath’s outstanding player in last year’s final couldn’t prove himself the danger many had feared. Nor was there a repeat from Jamie Murphy, another 2024 hero.

Fergal Reel would have learnt a lot from last year, and he obviously put it to good use. But although he had seven survivors to call on, his entire panel needed schooling.

It was, therefore, Reel’s job to get them to buy into his tried and trusted system, which is proving itself as new rules-friendly as it was before the RFC sat down for the first time.

Reel and his colleagues on the sideline – and those in the stands and on the terraces – could only have been impressed with how the lads in red jerseys carried out instructions and played to their own talents. They were devastating, in the third quarter in particular, when they pushed a narrow lead out to ten points.

Meath tried all they knew in the game’s latter stages, but between a combination of poor shooting and having to deal with a resolute defence whenever they found a way past midfield, they couldn’t even get close to Louth.

It’s now on to the All-Ireland semi-final, and a meeting with Mayo in Longford on Friday of next week. Two other of the country’s major powers, Kerry and Tyrone, will contest the other qualifier.

Interestingly, in Louth’s three previous attempts to get to the All-Ireland final, it was a team from each of the other three provinces that got in their way – Peter McGinnity’s Fermanagh on 1980, Jack O’Shea’s Kerry in 1978, and Galway, in 1981, when Louth goalie, Niall O’Donnell, had his first-cousin, Brian O’Donnell, right in front of him in the No 14 maroon jersey.

In the 44 years since Louth’s last under-20/21 success, there hasn’t been a win for either the minors or seniors. The juniors, however, took a title in 2009, Colin Goss leading the team to a replayed win over Longford in the final. Cork halted progress to the All-Ireland final.