Louth's home ground for League matches is currently DEFY Páirc Mhuire, Ardee. Home fixtures in the All-Ireland Championship will be played at Inniskeen Grattans' pitch in Monaghan. As of late 2024, plans for a permanent base for the county side in Dundalk are currently progressing.[2]
The team last won the Leinster Senior Championship and All-Ireland Senior Championship titles in 1957. Louth has never won a National Football League Division One title, finishing runners-up once in 1948-49.
History
The earliest recorded inter-county football match took place in 1712 when Louth faced Meath at Slane. A fragment of a poem from 1806 records a football match between Louth and Fermanagh at Inniskeen, Co Monaghan.[citation needed]
When Louth GAA sent the team into training in Dundalk for the 1913 Croke Memorial replay under a soccer trainer from Belfast, the move caused more than a ripple through the Association.[5] For thirty years full-time training in bursts of a week or so before a big match were common. After that the two or three times a week gatherings became more popular. The success of these matches helped the GAA purchase the site that would come to be known as Croke Park.[5]
Louth would not reach another All-Ireland Senior Football final until 1950, when they suffered a narrow two-point loss to Mayo.[7] In 1957 Louth again reached the All-Ireland Senior Football final. Showband star and captain Dermot O'Brien arrived late for the game and joined the team after the parade was completed.[8] He had taken over the captaincy for the semi-final against Tyrone after regular captain Patsy Coleman had been injured.[9] Coleman still has the match ball from the 1957 final in his possession.[10] O'Brien played a key role as Louth beat Cork to secure a third senior All-Ireland title for the county, aided by a goal from Seán Cunningham with five minutes left to play . As both Cork and Louth wear Red and White, on Final day Louth wore the green of Leinster while Cork lined out in the blue of Munster.
Louth had by then accumulated eight Leinster football championship titles in addition to three Senior All-Irelands. However a protracted period in the doldrums lay in store for the county football team. A reverse at the hands of Offaly in the 1960 provincial decider[11] would be Louth's last appearance in a Leinster senior final for fifty years.
Rivalry with Meath
Between 1945 and 1953 Louth and Meath met 13 times. The crowds got bigger and bigger each time as they played draw after draw in the Championship. The attendance of 42,858 at a thrilling 1951 replay remained a record for a provincial match other than a final for forty years until the four-match series between Meath and Dublin in 1991.[12] The rivalry with Meath has never fizzled out, as witnessed by a stirring Leinster SFC semi-final in 1998. Nor has controversy, as Graham Geraghty's disputed point in the 45th minute of that match proved decisive.[13]
On 11 July 2010, Louth returned to the Leinster SFC final, where they took on neighbours Meath. Meath won what was a highly controversial match. Deep into injury time in the 74th minute, referee Martin Sludden awarded a highly contentious goal to Meath. He did so after a brief consultation with one of the match umpires, although television coverage of the game showed that the ball had been carried over the line by Meath player Joe Sheridan. Prior to Sludden's decision, Meath were trailing Louth by one point. He blew his whistle for full-time shortly afterwards. The "goal" proved to be the decisive score.
Irate Louth fans stormed the pitch and began chasing and physically assaulting the referee,[14][15][16] who had to be led away by a Garda escort in scenes broadcast to a live television audience. Other scenes of violence saw bottles being hurled from a stand, one striking a steward who fell to the ground[14][17] and Meath substitute Mark Ward was hit by a Louth fan.[18]
The situation led to much media debate in the days that followed. The violence was condemned and there were calls in the national media for the game to be replayed, including from former Meath players Trevor Giles and Bernard Flynn.[19]GAA PresidentChristy Cooney said the events were a "watershed" and one where the "circumstances were bizarre. I have never seen circumstances like it as long as I have been a member of this Association".[20] He promised life bans for those who had assaulted the referee.[21]
Numerous TV replays showed that Sheridan's goal was indisputably a technical foul with regard to the Playing Rules of Gaelic football.[22] The day after the match the GAA released a statement confirming that Sludden admitted he had made an error.[23] The GAA also stated that the rules left it powerless to offer a replay and that this would be decided by Meath.[23] Following a Meath County Board meeting it emerged that, in his match report, the referee had originally blown for a penalty for Meath but when the ball ended up in the net he decided to award a goal instead. The county board decided not to offer a replay and judged that that would be "the end of the matter".[24] This decision was met in some quarters with mixed feelings and commented upon in the Evening Herald by three-time All-Ireland winning manager Mickey Harte, who said that the Meath county board was even more culpable because their officers had time to form a considered opinion.[25]
In its statement on the controversy,[26] the Louth County Board spoke of the enormous sense of injustice which was being felt in the county. They also questioned the referee's official report saying it was contrary to Playing Rules where he indicated in his report that he blew the whistle for a penalty, but then changed his mind and awarded a goal instead. They intimated that the committee/council in charge erred in leaving the matter to the Meath County Board to offer a replay without seeking clarification from the referee in relation to his match report and his statement that "he made a terrible mistake".
Louth eventually exited the All-Ireland SFC on 24 July after losing to Dublin in the final qualifier round, on a scoreline of 2-14 to 0-13.[27]
Post-2010
Manager Peter Fitzpatrick resigned as Louth senior boss in 2012 after three years in the role.[28]
Aidan O'Rourke was appointed as Fitzpatrick's successor in October 2012.[29] O'Rourke left the role in mid-2014.[30]
Former Louth forward Colin Kelly then managed Louth for three years. He led Louth to successive promotions in the National Football League in 2016 and 2017, though Louth did not make any championship impact during his time in charge.[31]
Louth appointed former minor manager Wayne Kierans as senior team manager on a two-year term in October 2018.[32] Louth were relegated to Division 4 in 2020. Kierans' contract was not renewed.[33][34]
Upturn in fortunes
In a major surprise,[35] November 2020 saw former Tyrone coach Mickey Harte appointed as Louth manager for a three-year period[36] with Gavin Devlin as his assistant.[37]
During the 2021 season, Harte achieved promotion to Division 3 of the National League. Louth went on to win Division 3 in the 2022 season. He brought Louth to a first Leinster final since 2010 in 2023.
Harte resigned in September 2023[38] and subsequently took over as manager of the Derry senior footballers. County board chairman Peter Fitzpatrick announced former Dublin inter-county player Ger Brennan as Louth's new manager on 2 October.[39] In the 2024 season, Louth reached a second consecutive Leinster final for the first time since 1958 and defeated Meath in the championship for the first time since 1975.[40]
Current panel
as per Leinster SFC Final against Dublin, 12 May 2024
INJ Player has had an injury which has affected recent involvement with the county team. RET Player has since retired from the county team. WD Player has since withdrawn from the county team due to a non-injury issue.
The team below was chosen from a list of 75 nominees by the County Board in February 2000. Their aim was to select the best 15 players who had ever played for Louth in their respective positions, since the foundation of the GAA in 1884 up to the Millennium year, 2000.[44][45]
^"Monaghan survive late Louth scare". RTÉ Sport. 16 July 2005. 14-man Louth hit the last five scores of a tempestuous All-Ireland SFC qualifier clash with Monaghan tonight, but the Wee men were left cursing a poor opening at Breffni Park.
