Two-thousand-and-six marked the 25th anniversary of Louth's 1981 Leinster U21 football championship victory. Unbelievably, this remains the Wee County's most recent football success at provincial level. Thus, victorious captain Pat McConnon holds the distinction of being the last man to lead Louth to Leinster glory In 1981, Pat McConnon captained Louth to the Leinster U21 football championship. Little did the Young Irelands midfielder realise that a quarter of a century later he would still hold the honour of being the last man to lead the Wee County to a provincial football title! At the time, it looked as if Louth were primed for a period of prosperity at senior level - they had contested three Leinster U21 deciders in four years, winning twice - but nobody ever knows what the future holds. As things transpired, the Wee County have drawn a blank in Leinster ever since. Though the cupboard has been bare at provincial level since '81, at least Louth have past glories to reflect upon… Indeed, it's a time of major anniversaries in the Wee County: in 2007 we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the famous All-Ireland victory of '57, while '06 marked the silver jubilee of our most recent Leinster success. When 'Wee County 2006' contacted the victorious captain from that year, Pat McConnon wasn't even aware of the fact that he was the last man to lead his county to a Leinster title. This speaks volumes for the man's modesty… Reflecting on the 1981 Leinster success, the winning captain admits that Louth believed they were on the verge of a productive period: "We had won the Leinster U21 in '78 and were beaten by Kerry in an All-Ireland semi-final. There was a lot of optimism for the senior team. We contested three Leinster U21 finals in four years from '78 to '81, winning two and losing to Offaly in 1979. In 1980, we lost to Dublin in the first round. There was a good sprinkling of players there and we were optimistic that we would produce a decent senior side…" Pat himself featured with the Wee County U21s for three seasons, 1979-81, under Frank Lynch. Did the team approach the '81 campaign with optimism? "I wouldn't have been aware of that, to be honest. I know Louth had a good tradition at U21 level and a lot of us had been there a year or two before, so we knew we had a strong enough team." Wexford provided the first hurdle at Wexford Park and Louth progressed to a Leinster semi-final meeting with neighbours Dublin at Navan on Wednesday June 24. The Dubs had the likes of John O'Leary and Vincent Conroy on duty that day, with Brian Stynes making a substitute's appearance, but Louth showed little regard for reputation as they stormed to an exceptional 0-11 to 0-4 victory. A dominant midfield display by Pat McConnon and Dessie Callaghan provided the platform for a truly outstanding result. Hardly surprisingly, Louth - playing in their fourth U21 final and seeking their third title in all - went into the Leinster final as favourites. Their opponents - Longford - had accounted for Kilkenny, Westmeath and Kildare en route to their first provincial final appearance at this level. Croke Park was the stage for the Leinster final on July 19 and Louth prevailed by 2-8 to 0-6. Two quickfire goals from Martin Carr and Noel Closkey just before the break effectively finished the game as a contest. It had been nip and tuck until then but once the Reds got their noses in front they never looked back. Reflecting on the success 25 years later, the winning captain is somewhat bemused that Louth haven't won a Leinster title since: "It's not much of a reflection on Louth football when we have to go back 25 years to an U21 success. A good few players from that team progressed onto the senior panel and we would have won a couple of national league medals but Louth's seniors never really benefited from the addition of the U21 players from 1978 and '81," says the man who lined out for the county at senior level between 1980 and '87. Pat more or less retired after sustaining a nasty eye injury in 1987. He made a brief comeback thereafter and played a couple of seasons for the Pats, with whom he has since been active as a juvenile coach. He was also part of the management triumvirate (alongside James Fealy and Peter Toner) that brought a first-ever senior trophy to Lordship in 1999 when the Cardinal O'Donnell Cup was culled. So what became of the Louth U21s after they won the 1981 Leinster U21 championship? Who did they play in the All-Ireland series? "We were down to play the Connacht champions and there was a big delay in Connacht for some reason. The semi-final wasn't played until after the senior All-Ireland final and we were forced to play challenge matches to try and keep the team fresh. "We went to Mullingar and played Galway in a challenge in August and we beat them without using our senior players until the latter stages of the game. Mayo were favourites to win Connacht but Galway shocked them in the final. Unfortunately, we had probably shown our hand in the challenge game and they beat us by five or six points in the semi-final. Cork beat Monaghan in the other semi-final the same day. "It was disappointing because we felt we had a good enough team to go to an All-Ireland final at least. Having said that, it was still fantastic to win Leinster." Though 25 barren years have followed, Pat is confident that the Wee County are in the process of turning the corner: "I have great faith in the new senior management team and the new approach Louth football is taking. It's great for the kids who can now identify with the Louth football team. Young lads look up to the Louth footballers now; they see heroes on the team and they want to wear the jersey. I think we're heading in the right direction again." Louth - 1981 Leinster U21 football champions: Eugene McArdle (Young Irelands); Liam Reilly (Cooley Kickhams), Declan Healy (Naomh Mairtin), Kevin Byrne (St Brides); Fergal Judge (Newtown Blues), Tony McCarragher (Cooley Kickhams), Peter Fitzpatrick (Clan na Gael); Pat McConnon (Young Irelands), Dessie Callaghan (Newtown Blues); Noel Closkey (St Marys), Paul Magee (Roche Emmets), Frank Brannigan (St Fechins); Martin Carr (Newtown Blues), Pat Smith (Dreadnots), Jimmy Berrill (Naomh Mairtin). Subs: Noel Healy (Naomh Mairtin), Enda Rafferty (Cooley Kickhams). Ciaran Maguire (Young Irelands) and Kevin Dawe (O'Raghallaighs) missed the Leinster final through injury. Tweet

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