Devlin: Louth must embrace All-Ireland SFC semi-final challenge
The Wee County have overcome Monaghan to claim a place in the last four
Louth GAA senior football manager, Gavin Devlin, said his side will enjoy reaching the All-Ireland semi-final but insists the focus now turns to the next challenge.
Speaking after defeating Monaghan in the quarter-final, Devlin said: "So it's all that journey that we're on, and it's just unbelievable for people of Louth to see that today and see the emotion in the stand after the game. There's so much emotion out there.
"There's so much on the line and at the end of the day it's only a game there's a there's a family in Ardee that’s really close with the Brennans.
"One of the young boys this week got very bad news. Instead of being home for his summer holidays, he got really bad news within 24 or 48 hours.
"Ryan Burns' his uncle, and for him to give that performance today in the back of the news that he had this week, it's so much emotion and uh hopefully that goes out some way to helping the family today."
The manager expects excitement to grow across the county over the coming weeks.
"I think it's not good when you try to pretend that it's not there, it is there, and I think when you confront it and realise that energy and hype's there, then you can tap into that a wee bit.
"And then also know that there's discomfort at the back end as well that we got to embrace and chase after as well, you've seen it there today.
"So it's been aware of all those emotions out there, and look, it's just great for the county and good for the young people."
Beggan absence
The Tyrone native also acknowledged the impact of Monaghan goalkeeper Rory Beggan's absence.
"I would say that Rory Beggan's that important to the Monaghan team or to any team that I see us playing with 14 men in some way levels the playing field today.
"That's no disrespect to the lad that was in goals, he's, I'm sure he has a bright future ahead, but Rory Beggan is mammoth to any team you know.
"I mentioned earlier in the week that we want to win these games, and in some ways, you want to be playing against the best players.
"And there's no doubt that was devastating for Monaghan today because not only what he does with the ball, he's an actual leader of the team.
"You've seen the incident with Derry this year in the Ulster Championship when the whistle went, and I don't think anyone else would get that turned over, only Beggan's personality.
"So it's devastating for Monaghan that he wasn't available and maybe us going down to 14 men was like almost a leveller in some way."
Last four
Despite Louth's achievement, Devlin said attention has already turned to the semi-final.
"Like when you get to this stage now, it's down to the last four, and yeah, it's the cream of the crop now.
"As the games here, I was fortunate enough to be at the games last night, like both games were electric, particularly the last game, the noise and the energy and the quality on show last night.
"All we know is that it's very exciting and it's great for us as a team in our journey that we are now at a place where we can go out and put ourselves up against those types of teams.
"So yeah, feet back on the ground, recover now, and you know these boys they've done so well to get through that now, so next step."