Lads seeing Tipp hammer Louth was very sad to see. 5 years ago Louth should have been crowned Leinster champions. It looks like the have never recovered from this ordeal. Nearly relegated from Division 3 and haammred by Westmeath and Tipperary. Also they lost key players in Paddy Keenan, Shane Lennon, Aaron Hoey. Will Louth footbal lever recover?

HughHunt24 (Cork) - Posts: 841 - 14/07/2015 15:01:57    1753277

They were relegated from Division 3

PoppinPoints (Meath) - Posts: 225 - 14/07/2015 15:21:04    1753287

my bad. thought was limerick relegated. Their team is unrecognisable from a couple years. Hopefully they come back in a couple years

HughHunt24 (Cork) - Posts: 841 - 14/07/2015 15:28:13    1753295

Too small a county to compete every year plus the fact it is a soccer mad place. They will regroup and hopefully unearth another good team. What happened 5 years ago was daylight robbery and it defin affected the team at the time. Not sure it has any baring now though however in saying that we will never know what bringing the Delaney cup home would have did for the future of Louth football. One solace for them is Meath have had no luck since and that will always be a tainted Leinster title.

sam1884 (UK) - Posts: 999 - 14/07/2015 15:30:18    1753298

sam1884
County: UK
Posts: 93

1753298
Too small a county to compete every year plus the fact it is a soccer mad place. They will regroup and hopefully unearth another good team. What happened 5 years ago was daylight robbery and it defin affected the team at the time. Not sure it has any baring now though however in saying that we will never know what bringing the Delaney cup home would have did for the future of Louth football. One solace for them is Meath have had no luck since and that will always be a tainted Leinster title.


You do realise what the population of Louth is right?

SeppBlatter (Dublin) - Posts: 187 - 14/07/2015 15:39:46    1753308

There is 122,000 people living in Louth. Drogheda and Dundalk are the two biggest towns in Ireland. 2010 was indeed a major setback. But life goes on.

OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 14/07/2015 15:52:13    1753325

Sepp, the population of Louth may be relatively large, but the majority of that is concentrated in Drogheda and Dundalk, both of which are fanatical soccer towns. I lived up there for a spell, and remember that there could easily be two dozen soccer teams in Drogheda alone, whereas you'd only have three or four GAA clubs in the same town. Indeed, trying to watch a GAA match in a pub up there can be a trying affair, if the Premier League has started. A lot of people from Dublin have also moved up there in recent years, many of whom don't have any interest in gaelic games. So, it's a tough slog for Louth at the best of times.

Gleebo (Mayo) - Posts: 2208 - 14/07/2015 16:04:34    1753333

Soccer mad is a huge exaggeration, there are two premier league teams from the county and one of them Dundalk is the best in the country at the minute but Drogheda don't have much support and as for the smaller clubs they have no support with family members not even attending games. There are much more Gaelic clubs than soccer clubs in the county so this excuse doesn't ring through.

At the moment things are at an all time low, we have not been in such a position for possible 30 years but we have 36 football clubs and we have the players to compete we just need more focus on the underage structures both in clubs and at county level and we need a serious manager who has the ambition and believe that he can do something with Louth. Sadly this year we lost a few players which wasn't a good start but then a bad situation was made worse when we appointed a manager who not only wasn't equipped for the task but he tried to convince anyone that listened including the players they weren't up to the task either.

There is plenty of work to be done in Louth behind the scenes including building a decent county level stadium but in the short term we need to get the heads down find an experienced manager and start focusing on getting out of Division 4 next year.

Louth Gael (Louth) - Posts: 1227 - 14/07/2015 16:31:25    1753357

Gleebo
County: Mayo
Posts: 404

1753333 Sepp, the population of Louth may be relatively large, but the majority of that is concentrated in Drogheda and Dundalk, both of which are fanatical soccer towns. I lived up there for a spell, and remember that there could easily be two dozen soccer teams in Drogheda alone, whereas you'd only have three or four GAA clubs in the same town. Indeed, trying to watch a GAA match in a pub up there can be a trying affair, if the Premier League has started. A lot of people from Dublin have also moved up there in recent years, many of whom don't have any interest in gaelic games. So, it's a tough slog for Louth at the best of times.


I think you might be on to something here Gleebo.

Have the Dubs planted non GAA Dubs in counties like Meath, Louth, Kildare, Wicklow and even Cavan in order to promote soccer in these counties thus reducing their GAA following and participation rates.

Look what has happened, all these counties have taken a backward step whilst the Dubs have raced ahead of its near neighbours.

The real problem in Louth is the number of clubs. There is too many clubs and too many non competitive ones at that and the standard of club football is suffering.

muckla (UK) - Posts: 370 - 14/07/2015 17:00:01    1753378

That's a new one for me, I don't think I've ever heard 'too many clubs' as an excuse before. Bravo.

m_the_d (None) - Posts: 1099 - 14/07/2015 19:38:27    1753457

Louths of Ireland need to motivated in a new champp structure - put the 1sr Rd Qualfrs in a T Murphy Cup stream, with the weakest 8 of 16 in the same half of the TMC draw, competing for the TM Shield as well as a TMC final berth.
In the AI QFs, you could have the TMC champ, 2 unbeaten prov champs (after champs playoff) and 5 Qualfr Rd 4 winners.

omahant (USA) - Posts: 3211 - 14/07/2015 20:44:55    1753487

My grandfather always said that beating Louth in the championship was a tough days work.

It's pity to see them so bad at the moment they always had some excellent players but seemed to suffer from a bit of misfortune.Who knows what would have happened had Seamus O'Hanlon not got injured in the warm up before the 1997 Leinster Semi final.

uibhfhaili1986 (Offaly) - Posts: 1296 - 14/07/2015 21:36:33    1753531

Louth Gael
County: Louth
Posts: 1129

1753357 Soccer mad is a huge exaggeration, there are two premier league teams from the county and one of them Dundalk is the best in the country at the minute but Drogheda don't have much support and as for the smaller clubs they have no support with family members not even attending games. There are much more Gaelic clubs than soccer clubs in the county so this excuse doesn't ring through.

At the moment things are at an all time low, we have not been in such a position for possible 30 years but we have 36 football clubs and we have the players to compete we just need more focus on the underage structures both in clubs and at county level and we need a serious manager who has the ambition and believe that he can do something with Louth. Sadly this year we lost a few players which wasn't a good start but then a bad situation was made worse when we appointed a manager who not only wasn't equipped for the task but he tried to convince anyone that listened including the players they weren't up to the task either.

There is plenty of work to be done in Louth behind the scenes including building a decent county level stadium but in the short term we need to get the heads down find an experienced manager and start focusing on getting out of Division 4 next year.

It's not Drogheda United, in the main, that the GAA clubs are competing with: it's the likes of Rock Celtic, Chord United, Muirhevnamor etc. There are lots and lots of MDL and Leinster Senior League soccer clubs up in Louth. Not alone that, but a lot of businesses, housing estates etc. field teams in the summer leagues in Drogheda and Dundalk. Take Drogheda and Dundalk out of the equation and you're probably left with a population of what? 30k or less? Hard to be competitive on that base. In my 5 years living there, I hardly heard anyone strike up a conversation about GAA; plenty about EPL or LOI, though.

No doubts that there are other internal factors at work, too.

Gleebo (Mayo) - Posts: 2208 - 14/07/2015 21:55:52    1753557

Uibhfhaili Louth lost something like six Leinster semi-finals in the 90s. 1997 as you mentioned was a missed opportunity for Louth. Offalys first ever Leinster title was in 1960 when they beat Louth in the final.

OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 14/07/2015 22:03:24    1753561

m_the_d
County: All
Posts: 780

1753457 That's a new one for me, I don't think I've ever heard 'too many clubs' as an excuse before. Bravo.

If you read what I said you would see I stated there a too many non competitive clubs in Louth. I used to work up in Dundalk with boys who played football so I know a bit about the club scene in Louth.

In my own parish in Monaghan, there is one senior club which has won senior championships and has provided the county team with good and great players over the years consistently.

In a parish in Louth of similar size there might be 3 clubs all playing Junior grade of football. Players just have to turn up to get on the team due to lack of numbers and this reduces the competitive nature of the club and the teams in that division.

A good example would be the Cooley Peninsula. there are two heavy weights in the whole area who are pushing at the top of Louth football each year in the Pats and Cooley. Two clubs covering a huge area and both teams are competitive. Go over to Mid Louth and there are a nest of clubs all playing junior and intermediate football in a similar area size some even having trouble to field teams from what I can remember.

Its not rocket science what's wrong in Louth, they just need someone to come in from the outside who will see things differently and reorganise the structures in the county because they have the population to do it.

muckla (UK) - Posts: 370 - 15/07/2015 08:37:20    1753574

muckla
County: UK
Posts: 211

1753378
Gleebo
County: Mayo
Posts: 404

1753333 Sepp, the population of Louth may be relatively large, but the majority of that is concentrated in Drogheda and Dundalk, both of which are fanatical soccer towns. I lived up there for a spell, and remember that there could easily be two dozen soccer teams in Drogheda alone, whereas you'd only have three or four GAA clubs in the same town. Indeed, trying to watch a GAA match in a pub up there can be a trying affair, if the Premier League has started. A lot of people from Dublin have also moved up there in recent years, many of whom don't have any interest in gaelic games. So, it's a tough slog for Louth at the best of times.


I think you might be on to something here Gleebo.

Have the Dubs planted non GAA Dubs in counties like Meath, Louth, Kildare, Wicklow and even Cavan in order to promote soccer in these counties thus reducing their GAA following and participation rates.

Look what has happened, all these counties have taken a backward step whilst the Dubs have raced ahead of its near neighbours.

The real problem in Louth is the number of clubs. There is too many clubs and too many non competitive ones at that and the standard of club football is suffering.

Ha ha, nice one Muckla. No, of course it's not the Dubs fault; but my observation, most of the blow-ins from Dublinia don't have any connection or interest in gaelic games. It will be a challenge to integrate that growing part of the local community into the local GAA scene, that's all.

Gleebo (Mayo) - Posts: 2208 - 15/07/2015 08:44:48    1753578

Mucka Cooley have fallen back in recent years. They have not won the Senior Championship since 1990. They are 10/1 to win this years championship. They are playing their trade in Division two after losing a relagation playoff last year. The Pats are the team to beat in the Wee County.

OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 15/07/2015 10:12:43    1753619

OLLIE
County: Louth
Posts: 7939

1753619 Mucka Cooley have fallen back in recent years. They have not won the Senior Championship since 1990. They are 10/1 to win this years championship. They are playing their trade in Division two after losing a relagation playoff last year. The Pats are the team to beat in the Wee County.

Ah sorry Ollie, I haven't been up keeping up to date with the club scene up there. what do you think is the matter with football in the county. is the talent just not there or is it the soccer or a mixture of all.

It would be great to see the Wee county going well, there's a lot of good Gaels in the county.

Suppose if you look now yous are at the bottom it is probably the best time for a rebellion in the county and start building from scratch. With the right investment of finance and time you'd be back up the ladder in no time.

muckla (UK) - Posts: 370 - 15/07/2015 10:47:10    1753634

The popularity of soccer has zero to do with the county team's struggles. Go through most parts of Louth and the main interest will be in Gaelic football, but sadly in Louth we are massively undermined by an incompetent county board. Zero structures have been put in place to improve the standard of Louth football. This same county board is giving the current manager another year despite the most humiliating defeat in the last 30 years. Imagine in Roscommon John Evans is considering his position despite bringing Roscommon to division 1, while we are sticking with a manager who relegated us it division 4, and lost by the widest margin in our qualifier history. Some counties have ambition, and some don't.

PK57 (Louth) - Posts: 1660 - 15/07/2015 10:56:08    1753639

What happened the Louth minors this year after beating Kildare back in April?

beir_bua (Kildare) - Posts: 746 - 15/07/2015 10:58:46    1753642