Mulroy says Louth's aim is to become "a championship team"

Sam Mulroy says the long-term aim for Louth is to 'become a Championship team' but admits that having gone 35 Championship matches without consecutive wins, they have a long way to go to establish themselves at that level.

CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM:Sam Mulroy says the long-term aim for Louth is to 'become a Championship team'. Pic:Daire Brennan/Sportsfile

Louth captain Sam Mulroy has insisted that the short odds on them advancing to the Leinster final mean nothing because they haven't earned the right to be favourites.

The prolific attacker has been at the hub of Louth's dramatic improvement under Mickey Harte, enjoying back-to-back National League promotions in 2021 and 2022 and a strong Division 2 campaign this year.

They also pulled off a memorable provincial quarter-final win over Westmeath last weekend when they came from eight points down at half-time to win by two.

Whatever happens in Sunday's semi-final against Offaly at Croke Park, they'll play in the new All-Ireland series afterwards.

Mulroy says the long-term aim for Louth is to 'become a Championship team' but admits that having gone 35 Championship matches without consecutive wins, they have a long way to go to establish themselves at that level.

They last won consecutive games in the Championship in 2010 when they memorably contested a Leinster final with Meath.

"It's never a case that we're favourites because we have no reason to be," said Mulroy. "We have done nothing over the last 13 odd years to carry that label into matches. We spoke about that ourselves and we're well aware of that.

"We can't be thinking that we can get a step ahead of ourselves just because we stayed in Division 2 or because we won a quarter-final Leinster championship game.

"It's about changing the culture in Louth. That doesn't happen over a week or two. The management have been here three years and we're all still working on it."

In reality, three-time All-Ireland winning Tyrone manager Harte has already worked wonders with Louth.

After securing back-to-back promotions from Division 4 and 3, Louth held their own in Division 2 this spring and even put together an unlikely promotion push.

But ambitious Mulroy says it's ultimately about making progress in the Championship.

"The league is massively important in terms of developing your players, blooding players and playing at a higher level but it has to be all about the Championship and I think the culture has to change in Louth, that they become a Championship team," said the Naomh Mairtin man.

"That's our aim and, in the short-term, to put back to back wins in Leinster together and to give the fans something to shout about."

Mulroy himself struck a crucial 1-4 last weekend as Louth lifted themselves off the floor after a poor first-half to wipe out Tailteann Cup holders Westmeath. He was only just back from a lengthy hamstring lay-off.

"To be honest with you, I haven't trained much over the last few weeks because of the hamstring injury," he said. "So I was limited with what I could do. The rest of the boys knew that as well. Thankfully I got a little more ball in the second-half but I had a lot of chances that I didn't take as well so definitely room to improve there."