Louth get lost on their way to play Donegal in Ballybofey - and end up in Sligo!

Louth had a bit of a nightmare making MacCumhaill Park for today’s All-Ireland SFC preliminary quarter-final.

The Leinster champions stayed in the Killyhevlin Hotel in Enniskillen but got lost on the way to Ballybofey, ending up in Sligo!

About 45 minutes before the scheduled 4pm throw-in, a blare of sirens could be heard from An Garda Síochána, who had escorted the Louth panel to the Twin Towns. Teams usually arrive 90 minutes before a game is to start and Louth had asked for a 15-minute delay, which was not granted in the end.

“The honest to God truth was human error in our navigation,” manager Ger Brennan said following Donegal’s 2-22 to 0-12 win, with Louth putting in a decent first half to trail just 1-6 to 0-7 before folding after the break.

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“We stayed in the Killyhevlin Hotel last night and it took us maybe two hours and 20 minutes to get here today. If we had left from our centre of excellence in Darver in Louth it would have taken us two hours and 11 minutes. So we gave ourselves an extra few minutes in the travel. It was human error in terms of navigation. But luckily, we played well in the first half so maybe it worked. And that the provision of 15 minutes, if needed, would have been sorted out. 

“We were in Sligo. So Enniskillen is here, Ballybofey is there and we were down there. So we turned about 100 degrees to the direction to the left of the west. But the Atlantic Way looks good. We said we'd have a look at Benbulben, a few of the lads hadn't seen it before. We'll chance that the next day.”

Brennan said he texted Donegal manager Jim McGuinness and the Louth county chairman, Seán McClean to say they were running a little late. Last week, McGuinness, following Donegal’s 0-19 to 1-15 win over Mayo, said his team had to drive past Roscommon’s Hyde Park to find the Hudson Bay Hotel in Athlone. Brennan joked that his team didn’t have to go that far, although he agreed that finding hotels isn’t too easy.

“I sent the courtesy text to Jim that I had rang our county chairman to let him know that we had made a mistake," Brennan added. "But we got here in time and it was fine. Getting a hotel was hard. We didn't stay in Athlone! I’m just messing.”