Winning a Leinster title and playing Division one football still Durnin's Louth goal

With Dublin on the opposite side of this season's provincial draw, a third Leinster final appearance in a row, something Louth has only ever done once before, between 1912 and 1914, is a live possibility.

Sat, 12 Apr, 2025 - 06:04

Paul Keane

One and done. That was the story of Tommy Durnin's 2020 Leinster SFC campaign with Louth, a wretched November afternoon of wind and rain ending with a truly miserable loss to Longford.

Structures being what they were in covid times, there was no second chance. And so Sam Mulroy, who struck all 1-7 of Louth's tally in that game, was the county's only scorer in the 2020 Championship.

Those were exceptional times, granted, but Louth football was also at a low ebb. Seven different Leinster counties - Dublin, Meath, Kildare, Westmeath, Laois, Longford and Offaly - all finished above them in the league that season as they dropped down to Division 4.

Five years on, Meath finished above Louth in Division 2 last month but you'd be hard pushed to convince anyone that Louth, provincial finalists in 2023 and 2024, and All-Ireland quarter-finalists last year, aren't the second best team in the province.

They'll begin their latest campaign in Newbridge tomorrow, against Laois, with genuine expectation on their shoulders.

"It all started when Mickey Harte came in first," said midfielder and captain Durnin of the uptick in Louth's fortunes. "Everyone was looking at Louth and what was going to happen. Over the last three or four years, coming from Division 4, Division 3 and now Division 2, we developed that kind of consistency.

"When Mickey came in there were certain standards that were put in from the players, and the county board, and everyone was aligning together."

Durnin has been a central figure in the renaissance. Months after Harte arrived, he transferred from small junior club Westerns to top Monaghan senior side Inniskeen and went on to compete in the 2023 Monaghan final against Scotstown.

More recently there has been speculation around a return to Louth club football and St Mary's in Ardee.

Whatever your feelings about club transfers, it was a show of personal ambition that matched Harte's own obsession for improvement and has paid off.

"I was 11 years with them," said Durnin of his time with Westerns, "never got past the quarter-finals in junior. It's kind of a development thing, I was around Louth (the county team) and just kind of wanted to push and push. The whole avenue opened up because I was doing some work in Inniskeen.

"It just kind of opened up and it's been a whole new adventure. I didn't know much about Monaghan football or anything like that. It's been an absolutely brilliant experience. I've made some great friends there. Monaghan football is tough and I've learned a lot. I'm really, really enjoying it down there."

The transfer allowed Durnin to become, in his own mind, a 12-month footballer.

"When I played with my junior club, you might play with Louth for six or seven months and then you'd be hanging around," he said. "You had the club championship and you'd be out in August and you were waiting around then until November. I felt I was losing a lot of my fitness but now it's 12 months of the year. You get two or three weeks off in December and that's really it. When you're at that level, you need to be consistent."

The irony is that if anyone needs a break and some down time, it's probably Durnin. The 32-year-old and his partner, Maggie, welcomed baby Ella Mae on New Year's Eve last. He also works for HIAB, as a sourcing specialist, and regularly travels 'all over Europe'.

"I have a small farm as well at home," he smiled. "Any spare minute, I'm always doing something. That's the kind of person I am, I like to be always on the go."

Current manager Ger Brennan shares the same can-do attitude. They've been climbing the Leinster ladder together, pushing Dublin to within four points in last year's final, and Durnin is hopeful he'll eventually get across the line.

"Look, that's what we're striving for," nodded Durnin. "I remember doing an interview 10 years ago with a local reporter and he said, what was the dream? That was the dream - a Leinster title. Back then, I remember him kind of half laughing. I still remember that. In the back of my mind, that would be the ultimate goal. Leinster and playing Division 1 football, that would be it for me."