Louth are in bonus territory says former Donegal PRO Sean Perry

“Getting to an All-Ireland quarter-final is just massive for Louth GAA,” says former Donegal PRO, Sean Perry, who is now domiciled in the Wee County and is well placed to speak about their strengths and weaknesses ahead of their clash with Donegal on Sunday next in Croke Park (1.15).

The last time Louth made headlines in the All-Ireland championship was 67 years ago when they defeated Cork to win the All-Ireland. After 1957 they reached a couple of Leinster finals in ‘58 and ‘60 but were  in the doldrums then until 2010 when they were cruelly denied a Leinster title by a Meath goal that was thrown to the net.

The arrival of Mickey Harte as manager in 2020 brought new life and a Leinster final appearance in 2023 but his shock departure last year left Louth at a crossroads. 

Former Dublin All-Ireland winner, Ger Brennan, was appointed, and here they are in the last eight of the All-Ireland championship.

For Sean Perry, who has covered some of his adopted county’s games for RTE Radio in recent years, the big turning point in 2024 was the win over Meath at the start of the All-Ireland series.

“The defining moment of their season was beating Meath in the first game in the All-Ireland series. Things have taken off since then.

“Meath had beaten them, actually robbed them in the league fixture. Getting the Meath monkey off their back was very big,” says Perry.

Louth went on to draw with Monaghan but they are now missing three key players from that encounter.

“I was at the match against Monaghan, five points up well into the last 15 minutes and they ultimately drew it. But they are down three men from that game. Niall Sharkey has gone to Brisbane in Australia, which he had planned for a long time. He was  a workhorse that worked between the two ‘45s’.

“Ciaran Downey limped off with a bad knee injury  in that Monaghan game. He’s a scoring forward which are not in abundance in a lot of counties and in Louth either.

“And it looks like Ciaran Byrne, who up to a few years ago was playing his trade with Carlton in the AFL, he came off early against Cork and I don’t think he will be playing any part on Sunday .

“That’s a fifth of the team essentially. Do they have the depth? I know Mickey Harte was building a depth of squad and Ger Brennan has ultimately managed to continue that.

“But when you take three key men out of 15, it opens the door for others, but it certainly depletes the squad.”

But despite those hits to their squad, there is a strong bond to the present Louth side.

“If you had told anyone in Louth that they would have been still alive at this stage of the championship, especially with the bombshell of Harte leaving last August and announced as Derry manager within 48 hours. There was a lot of soreness about that.

“Everyone outside Donegal have been impressed with their renaissance under Jim McGuinness,” said Perry, who feels there is something similar going on in Louth under Ger Brennan, with help from Niall Moyna and James McCartan.

“They have built a formidable team.”

Perry points to the presence of big midfielder Bevan Duffy, who committed to another year at the age of 37. “He played rugby with Leinster at underage and is powerful on the ball, doing a lot of the donkey work. He also seems to be a link between the team and management.

“Sam Mulroy and Craig Lennon will get the headlines for scoring while Donal McKenny, who Ger Brennan has rightly said will be in the argument for an All-Star, is also one to watch. McKenny scored a goal last weekend and he scored a goal the weekend before that.

“He reminds me of Martin Shovlin. It's raw energy, left side and raw passion. He’s a big part of the team at corner-back and he did a job on Paul Mannion in the Leinster final,” said Perry.

It has been a great year for Louth GAA with their U-20s reaching the Leinster final, the minors reaching the semi-final and the seniors in the final and now they are in the last eight in Ireland.

“They have had a great year and things are coming together in the county. Craig Lynch, the sub goalkeeper, is a Games Promotion Officer in the county. They don’t have the same challenges as the Mayos, the Corks, Donegal. You can get from Drogheda to Dundalk in 35 minutes.

“There’s a new stadium coming in Dundalk. There is a pride in the jersey and a lot more flags appearing.

“Since their defeat in the league to Donegal in Ballyshannon, they have played nine games and have only lost to Dublin and Kerry.

“There’s a bit of steel there now,” says Perry, who points out that all this is happening despite their two main centres of population, Dundalk and Drogheda not being GAA strongholds. He feels that the success of the Louth senior team will help in the promotion of GAA.

He is expecting that Louth could take somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 to Croke Park on Sunday.

“This year’s team has galvanised support, and it’s a very short spin to Croker with rail and bus services available.”

Still a Donegal supporter, Perry has watched with pride the revival of Donegal under Jim McGuinness and feels there is an aura around him.

“He leaves the opposition management in the days leading up to games scratching their heads, ‘what is he going to do that is completely different from the last day that we haven’t prepared for’? He gets into people’s heads.

“Louth are in bonus territory and If they weren’t playing Donegal, I’d be cheering for them on Sunday,” says Perry.