No margin for error now
It was 2004 and having won the Leinster SFC title the previous year Laois were fancied to negotiate the challenge posed by Páidí Ó Sé’s Westmeath.
The underdogs won a famous first provincial crown in a replay leaving Laois with just six days to recover for a qualifier against Tyrone.
“We didn’t stand much of a chance,” the former Laois selector recalls. “Facing the reigning All-Ireland champions after two games against Westmeath.”
It wasn’t that they were physically tired, says O’Loughlin. They were drained emotionally and ended up losing by 14 points — an unfair margin.
Taking into account Meath’s Leinster final defeat and Laois’s run from the first round of the qualifiers, he fancies Seamus McEnaney’s men might suffer the same fate as what happened to their opponents eight years ago.
“Meath lost last Sunday and have had just six days to prepare. As the record shows, six days isn’t enough.
“It’s very difficult to get over that barrier of having lost. There’s no doubt Laois are in a better position. It is purely in the mind. Teams don’t suddenly deteriorate physically after a provincial final. Losing is contagious so it’s difficult to shake off.
“Meath are a sleeping giant, they scored five goals against Dublin only two years ago and now Dublin are the kingpins.
“But I think it’s phenomenal for Laois to have three consecutive wins in championship football. Irrespective of who you play, that’s a lot of momentum.
“Laois aren’t as attack orientated as they used to be but there’s a bit more steel about them.”
Meath, of course, don’t see it that way. Just like his manager Seamus McEnaney, Joe Sheridan, who has played each of the last four meetings between the counties, dismisses the turnaround as an excuse.
“The stat you hear thrown around is that only one team [Dublin] since the qualifiers came in have won in the circumstances; it’s a ready-made excuse for teams to throw in the towel if ever there was one!” he told livegaelic.ie.
“From our point of view it’s not exactly something new to us. We had a quick turnaround after the draw with Carlow and were able to put in a good performance in the replay, so we’re not looking at it as a big obstacle.”
But Meath don’t shake Laois as much as they used to. Besides their 2003 annexing of the Delaney Cup, Mick O’Dwyer’s spell in charge of Laois also obliterated the fear factor that permeated in the county when facing Meath.
The 2004 Leinster semi-final win, courtesy of Colm Parkinson and Ross Munnelly, was their first Championship win over the Royals in Croke Park in 66 years.
O’Loughlin claims O’Dwyer completely changed the attitude of the players to such an extent that hoodoos such as Meath’s grip over Laois became irrelevant.
“Micko arrived in Laois in October 2002 and had witnessed the Laois and Meath qualifier in Navan that summer.
“Meath won by 11 points [1-15 to 0-7] so it was a fair undertaking to turn things around. There would have always been a great rivalry between the counties. Laois would have been renowned for being tough but not winning games. Meath would have been tough too but were winning games.
“The Leinster title in 2003 was huge but beating Meath the following year was a major breakthrough.”
By the time the counties faced each other again in the Championship in the 2006 qualifier, the rivalry between the counties had cranked up a notch.
There are anecdotal reports of prank phone calls exchanged between the sets of players pretending to be journalists looking for interviews.
Laois’ tails were up having served out revenge to Tyrone the week previous. Going to Páirc Tailteann wasn’t as onerous a trip as it would have been pre-O’Dwyer.
“Micko would be the greatest man ever to have in your dressing room,” smiles O’Loughlin. “His influence started very early and he had us boxing above our weight. We felt we could win against anybody.
“By the time Navan came around, Laois had such confidence and belief that Meath’s home advantage didn’t matter.
“We actually should have beaten Mayo the next game, which would have put us in our first All-Ireland semi-final since 1936.”
The stage is smaller this afternoon but the stakes remain just as high.
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