Christmas may be approaching but - reflecting on the inexplicable events of 2002 - Gerry Robinson STILL can't believe Louth are out of the championship. Paddy Carr's highly-impressive team did nothing wrong and deserved much, much more. Louth football has been subjected to some cruel blows in recent years, but never in this writer's memory has the Wee County been forced to ship as devastating a knock as that delivered by Meath at Pairc Tailteann on Saturday June 29th 2002. The occasion was a gripping All-Ireland qualifier series meeting with illustrious neighbours Meath and a packed house was at the Royals' home venue to see the extraordinary drama unfold. Meath had an off day and were dominated by Paddy Carr's team virtually from start to finish. With seconds remaining, Louth held a four-point cushion. Against any other Meath side, that might not be enough but this time Boylan's Babes (still reeling from their thumping at the hands of Dublin six days earlier) were dead on their feet and firing blanks. Louth were through. Surely! What happened next beggared all belief: Richie Kealy netted a last-minute goal for Meath before - in the fourth minute of added time [only three minutes were supposed to be played] - Ollie Murphy set up Graham Geraghty and the blessed full forward's shot flew through a mass of Louth bodies to the back of the net. A more sickening defeat could hardly have been dreamt up by the twisted mind of the Marquis de Sade himself. The best team had lost. But isn't that always the way with Louth football? Justice had not been done. Louth bodies lay strewn across the pitch and it was impossible not feel pity for these gallant heroes who had played their hearts out and outbattled a star-studded Meath side, but all to no avail. As we have come to expect, a number of crucial decisions went against the visitors on a night when Lady Luck was most unladylike, raising two fingers in the general direction of Louth GAA. Louth had also played Kildare off the pitch in their Leinster quarter-final - they lost that game too. By a point. As well as kicking wide after wide, Louth were also on the wrong end of a terrible blunder when a perfectly legitimate Christy Grimes point was wrongly deemed to have gone wide. One can't but wonder what exactly Louth can do to get this monkey off their back. Under Paddy Carr, the 2002 team was as well-prepared as any Wee County outfit has been. They played well, got the better of all opposition that presented itself, yet lost vital games in heartbreaking fashion. All they can really do is - like Waterford's hurlers - keep plugging away in the belief that their luck will turn and that their day will come. But let's get one thing straight: Waterford's hurlers (nor any other team, for that matter) were never as hard done by as Louth were in Meath's front garden on June 29th 2002! National Football League The year started promisingly. New manager Paddy Carr had a vision for Louth football and applied himself to the task at hand accordingly. The players responded and the overriding feeling all through the build-up to Louth's inopportune fall was that this team could go places. Their league form was encouraging, albeit spoiled by that old failing: inconsistency. Thus, the Wee County dropped five points in a campaign from which they could quite easily have extracted the full complement. They kicked off their Division 2A campaign with a treacherous away game against neighbours Armagh on February 3rd. A 1-15 to 0-13 defeat against one of the best sides in the country isn't a terrible result but is placed in firm context by the story of the game: the Wee County led 0-13 to 0-8 with only 15 minutes left but conceded 1-7 without reply. Mark Stanfield grabbed eleven points at Carrickcruppin. A week later, Louth annihilated hapless London at Knockbridge and they meted out a similar treatment to Wicklow at Drogheda on February 17th. Stanfield was having field days and was by far and away the leading scorer in the country. But the draw with thirteen-man Leitrim on March 3rd was a definite slip-up. That match in Cloone was one of the most bizarre involving the Wee County in many years, but there were mitigating circumstances, most notably the unplayable pitch. Louth also had a legitimate-looking Mark Stanfield goal controversially ruled out. Things went from bad to worse when Louth failed to live up to expectations at home to Antrim and fell to an unsatisfactory 1-10 to 1-9 defeat. Barry Clarke scored the Louth goal on a day that will be remembered more for the size of the hailstones than the quality of football on display The unexpected defeat at the hands of the Glensmen was an undoubted setback and Paddy Carr afterwards admitted that his team was now left "hoping that others will do us favours, which is never an ideal situation to be in." In the penultimate round, Carr's side locked horns with resurgent Limerick, who had beaten Kerry and were enjoying a phenomenal campaign. For the second time in the 2002 NFL, Louth saw their opponents reduced to 13 men. This time they etched out a decent win. But results elsewhere meant that Louth would not be contesting the business end of the competition. The final game of the 2002 Division 2A campaign produced something truly special. The clash with Kerry at Pairc Mhuire, Ardee was an historic occasion for the Wee County . . . and they chiselled out a fitting result to go with it. It was the first time that Louth had hosted Kerry for a national league game since the sides met at St Brigid's Park, Dowdallshill in 1965. The home side marked the occasion in style with a thrilling victory. The magnificent 1-18 to 2-12 defeat of the aristocratic Kingdom at Ardee represented a dazzling parting shot, but Louth fell just short of promotion to the top flight and a place in the Division Two semi-finals. Ultimately, shortcomings exposed by the division's two Ulster counties had cost them dearly. While there had been nothing left to play for promotion-wise, the Kerry result was a meaningful exercise with the Leinster championship opener against Longford only five weeks away. As back-to-back defeats of Kerry are a scarce commodity, Louth had every reason to be proud of a win that supplemented the shock victory recorded in Killarney the previous season. It was Paddy Carr's last chance to assess his troops in competitive action ahead of the championship clash with Longford and the boss could hardly have asked for a better performance. On the downside, key men Seamus O'Hanlon, Christy Grimes and Supporters Club Footballer of the Year John Neary all picked up injuries that jeopardised their places for the championship opener, with O'Hanlon subsequently missing the Longford game. Longford Pt I Preparations for Longford took a further turn for the worse when it emerged that new first-choice goalkeeper Stuart Reynolds could be ruled out of the championship after sustaining a nasty-looking injury while playing outfield for his club O'Connells against Naomh Malachi. (Reynolds became Louth's No1 after his predecessor Colm Nally had a public falling-out with the new manager.) The goalie had to be ferried to hospital by ambulance but, much to everyone's relief, won his race against time and was fit enough to claim a starting place against the midlanders. Longford 2-11, Louth 1-14 The game took place on May 5th and a late unanswered scoring spree of 1-4 rescued Louth at Pairc Tailteann as the first match of the 2002 football championship season ended in stalemate. Longford had held a two-point lead (1-7 to 0-8) at the interval and led for most of the match. JP Rooney opened the scoring for the Wee County but Enda Barden quickly cancelled out his point. Paul Barden pointed for the midlanders before swapping points with Mark Stanfield. Points from Christy Grimes and debutant Brian Clarke saw Paddy Carr's team trail by 1-3 to 0-4 at the end of the first quarter. Longford extended their advantage with two more points only for the Wee County to reply with unanswered points from Grimes, Colin Quinn and Stanfield. Ollie McDonnell scored Louth's last point of a low-key half. Louth started the second half brightly with a point from Grimes but were rattled five minutes later when the ball broke loose after Davis' shot and Trevor Smullen fisted to the net. Davis kicked another point to put Longford five points ahead but Grimes split the posts for Louth who trailed by 2-8 to 0-10 fifteen minutes into the second half. Louth looked to be dead and buried but stormed back into the game late on. JP Rooney grabbed the goal and a succession of points from Rooney, Stanfield, Reilly and Grimes set up the replay at the same venue seven days later. As Louth prepared to meet Longford for the second time in eight days, manager Paddy Carr complimented the character shown in the drawn game, despite the disappointing performance: "I am overall quite happy - not about getting some kind of result out of it - but the fact that they showed a fair bit of character. I always felt that the game was going to be in the melting pot right up to the closing minutes. "Longford were sharper and moved the ball a lot better during the early periods of the game. But that game is going to bring us on leaps and bounds. I really believe that. You can't mimic that type of game. "There was great character there." Longford Pt II Louth 3-17, Longford 1-12 Louth made absolutely no mistake at the second time of asking and, with a much-improved display, saw off their stunned opponents in impressive fashion. The winners tore out of the blocks and wasted no time in amassing a substantial early lead. Louth were 1-4 to 0-1 up early on, with a Mark Stanfield penalty the vital score, and further points from Christy Grimes and JP Rooney pushed the favourites further clear. Five points divided the teams at the break (1-10 to 0-8) and a goal from Ollie McDonnell in the opening moments of the second half put the game well and truly out of Longford's reach. McDonnell added a point soon afterwards and even the concession of a goal at that stage wasn't going to fluster the rampant Wee County. David Reilly fisted the third goal, a score that put the icing on the cake and booked a quarter-final clash with Mick O'Dwyer's Kildare. The most pleasing aspect of the tremendous Leinster SFC replay victory was the timely return to form of Ollie McDonnell. McDonnell had been largely anonymous for the drawn match but redeemed emphatically himself. The Joes man registered 1-4 from play and had a hand in many other scores. His industry throughout the 70 minutes was remarkable and the Man of the Match award was fully merited. Kildare Louth against Kildare in the Leinster championship was a tie with a fair dollop of recent history, the counties having met three times in the previous twelve seasons, with the Wee County prevailing twice: at Drogheda in 1991 and at Newbridge in 1995 Aided by a controversial late penalty, the Lilywhites had won the most recent clash (in 2000), however. The 2002 meeting took place at Navan on Sunday May 26th and Kildare's goalkeeper was Man of the Match as his side somehow managed to escape with an undeserved one-point win, 0-12 to 0-11. A late point from substitute Padraic Brennan gave the Lilywhites passage to the provincial semi-final but they had been outplayed for virtually the entire 70 minutes and were mightily relieved as Louth's panicking attack registered an unbelievable 19 wides. Kildare fielded an inexperienced side and Louth showed them zero respect, tearing into them from the off. The first half was a close-fought affair and Louth trailed by 0-8 to 0-6 at the break, their points coming from David Reilly (inside the first minute), Mark Stanfield (3), Ollie McDonnell and JP Rooney It could have been a different story had the Kildare netminder not somehow managed to save a scorching goalbound effort from Louth captain Martin Farrelly Despite a Christy Grimes point, Louth trailed by 0-11 to 0-7 ten minutes into the second period. But they took control of the match from here in and levelled brilliantly with a brace apiece from McDonnell and Stanfield That's how it stood with a minute remaining and - against the run of play - Kildare raided upfield to steal the winning point. Louth had enough chances to win two games but ultimately paid the price for inaccuracy in front of the posts. Afterwards, Paddy Carr was exasperated, describing Christy Grimes' point-that-wasn't as "the one that got away": Reflecting on the 0-12 to 0-11 defeat in a game the Wee County dominated, Carr said: "The players were very angry with themselves afterwards. We said beforehand that there would be 15 battles out there and that we would have to win the 15 battles to win the war. Well, I think we won most of the 15 battles. "The players were too anxious to try and win the game in the closing minutes. I was trying to tell them to compose themselves, that we would win the game, but little things went against us. "They had a couple of points that went in off the post and we had a couple that went wide off the post - that's the difference at the end of the day. Our goalkeeper Stuart Reynolds hadn't one shot to save during the course of the game and I think that tells you something about the way the game was played." Monaghan And so into the qualifiers again The meeting with neighbours Monaghan at Clones on Sunday June 9th was the first ever championship meeting of the counties - at any level. Louth approached the game full of confidence - understandably as their performance against Kildare had been considerably more impressive than had been Monaghan's against Fermanagh. Carr was forced to ring the changes. Centre back Peter McGinnity broke a thumb in the Kildare game, while goalkeeper Stuart Reynolds and Ollie McDonnell were also ruled out. Reynolds sustained an injury against bogey team Naomh Malachi in an intermediate championship match at Dowdallshill and was replaced by St Kevins' Paul Brennan. McDonnell had a hamstring problem, giving veteran Cathal O'Hanlon a rare start. Louth came home by six points. Alan Page was Man of the Match as they carved out a 2-11 to 1-8 victory. The away team got off to the perfect start when Mark Stanfield's point was quickly followed by a ninth-minute David Reilly goal. Stanfield added a point and Louth led by 1-2 to no score after 15 minutes. Monaghan's first point was the catalyst for a triple-salvo of Louth scores from Stanfield (2) and Seamus O'Hanlon which saw the Wee County into a commanding 1-5 to 0-1 lead over their north-western neighbours with only five minute left in the first half. But Jack McCarville's team hit a purple patch that yielded 1-4 without reply and the sides were locked on 1-5 apiece as the short whistle sounded. Louth had the first three points of the second half thanks to Reilly, JP Rooney and Stanfield but - despite another point from their captain Martin Farrelly - they still only led by the minimum (1-9 to 1-8) with twelve minutes remaining on Cork referee John Geaney's watch. JP Rooney's 59th-minute goal finally broke the Oriel County's resistance and Paddy Carr's side finished strongly with insurance points from Reilly and Rooney. The Wee County had struggled to put the Ulster men out of sight and were flattered by their six-point winning margin. The manager was just thrilled with the result: "It was always going to be a difficult fixture. The lads were angry and disappointed after the Kildare game. "It doesn't matter who you are playing but it's impossible to dominate for the entire 70 minutes. Each match brings a different scenario though we still have to be more ruthless when on top." How painfully prophetic those words would prove! Meath The draw for the next round of the qualifier series paired the Wee County with the losers of the Meath/Dublin clash, which gave Louth an extra seven days to prepare. The wait provided players with some extra recovery time to shake off injuries . . . Ollie McDonnell, Seamus O'Hanlon, Stuart Reynolds, Paul Brennan, David Brennan and Mark Stanfield were all receiving treatment. Long-term absentee Peter McGinnity missed out while Colin Goss was suspended. Goss had a tremendous game filling in at centre back against Monaghan and would have been available had Louth been drawn against anyone other than Meath. The game was originally fixed as part of an attractive double-header at Croke Park (with Kerry V Wicklow) but was then switched to Clones and finally to Meath's home ground of Pairc Tailteann, Navan Louth fans, players and officials won't thank me for reminding them what happened at Pairc Tailteann on that overcast late-June evening. So I won't bother! Meath may have won the game, but they've rarely received such a roasting. Tweet

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