Mulroy: There's lots of football still to be played
Louth captain Sam Mulroy admitted beating Dublin was a special day for the county
Louth captain Sam Mulroy admitted it was a special day for the county after leading the Wee County to a famous victory over Dublin at Croke Park.
Reflecting on the win, Mulroy acknowledged the significance of finally overcoming the Dubs for the first time since 1973.
He said: “It's been a long time. Longer than I can remember or was alive for. We've been on the end of some bad hammerings by them over the last number of years.
“But look, as times move on, I'm super proud of the lads today for the effort they put in.
“There's a lot of reflecting over the last four weeks after that performance in Portlaoise. So yeah, to come out on the right side of it today is magic.
“It was unreal. We spoke about at half-time that we knew we couldn't let that gap get any further.
“The quality they have, they're just so good at keeping the ball and manipulating it and picking it off.
“So we knew we had to close that gap and do it pretty quickly. We didn't think it would happen that quick.
“But it was a great start into the second half, and it just gave us a platform to express ourselves a little bit more and build confidence.
“I thought we actually started okay-ish off our kick-out. And then maybe when things aren't going your way, it can be easy to revert back to type.
“It was nice to regroup at half-time, still in the game. Once we had a little chat between ourselves, we knew that wasn't going as well as we would have liked.
“We fixed a few little things. And I thought the lads then stood up and had to go execute. And they did that really, really well.”
The spark
An early second-half two-pointer from Ryan Burns reduced the deficit before two quickfire James Maguire goals swung momentum firmly in Louth's favour.
“I'm absolutely delighted for him (James Maguire). And all the lads that made massive impacts today. They've been working super hard.
“So, yeah, I'm delighted for James and the lads that came in as well. They've done really, really well.”
Among the standout performers was Ciarán Byrne, who claimed the Man-of-the-Match award after battling back from injury.
“‘Casey’, as we all know, he's a super, super talent and hasn't had it easy with his injury luck and that. So, yeah, absolutely delighted for him.
“He got one out of the sky there at the end. He was running for the ball and showing for ball and was a big presence for us.
“You're going to need the 20-odd to make this work and to get a result here today.
“But I thought Emmitt (Carolan), Donal (McKenny), and Dara (McDonnell) today in the full-back line were immense against the full-forward line of Dublin's stature.
“Just lads all around the pitch, I thought, done really, really well and showed great composure.
“We knew we had to get to a place where we've never got to before with Dublin and be in with a chance in the last few minutes.
“And we got ourselves there. The lads showed great composure and skill level to claw back and get us a win.”
Portlaoise response
The victory came just four weeks after a disappointing Leinster semi-final defeat to Dublin in Portlaoise. Mulroy admitted it had been a difficult period for the squad.
“To be honest, it's been hard the last four weeks. And I think it's even harder when we've seen Westmeath win Leinster.
“It was super, super disappointing, the performance we put in. And then we got to work over the last number of weeks and tried really hard.
“I think it's great that when we got Dublin again in that draw, maybe everyone outside of the group was like, ‘oh, here we go again’.
“But for us, it was a nice reset. Sometimes you have to wait years to get another crack at a team.
“It was nice that we just knew that we had four weeks to try and get it right and try and win a better performance.
“We knew where we were going a few weeks ago and what we had to improve on today, and it was nice to see it come to fruition.”
All-Ireland focus
Despite the celebrations, Mulroy stressed that Louth's ambitions extend beyond one result.
“Big time, we spoke about that right since we came back in November. Here's where we need to be. Here's where we need to be putting in performances.
“Look, today's only one game and it's only one performance. And there's lots of football still to be played.
“We know that as a group, we can never get too high or too low. So it's about refocusing now this week.
“To answer your question, yeah, it's about being in the All-Ireland, contending and putting in performances.
“We'll be doing the same over the next two weeks, putting our head down and getting to work on whoever we're going to play.
“As we said, we're in the last 16. So it's going to be tough no matter who you draw. But, as I said, it's where we want to be competing and looking forward to it.”