Brennan promises much more to come in Louth revolution

If their county minors beat Offaly on May 19, then Louth will have completed a first ever Leinster football clean sweep.

Louth manager Ger Brennan celebrates with family after the Leinster GAA Football Senior Championship final match between Louth and Meath at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Louth manager Ger Brennan has promised that there is 'much more' to come from his team after their historic Leinster SFC title success.

The Wee County came from three points down with just over 20 minutes to play at Croke Park to secure their first provincial win since 1957.

Remarkably, if their county minors win their Leinster final, against Offaly on May 19, then Louth will have completed a clean sweep of the three flagship football titles in the province for the first time.

As for his seniors, former Dublin defender Brennan gave an optimistic outlook for the future of this group, claiming they will add more silverware.

"They're going to win more now, they're going to win much more," said Brennan. "Winning one is the hardest but once you win one you get to the top of the mountain and you see that, you know what, I like this, I want more of this, the view is good. You then want to get as many of these playing experiences as you can until your career is up. If the lads don't want to win more, that's their call. But I think we should try to go on and win a few bits more."

Louth will be confident of making more gains in their upcoming All-Ireland SFC group alongside Monaghan, Clare and Down.

But first they'll have to figure out where they're going to play Monaghan in Round 1 in under a fortnight. Louth have been playing their big home games in Inniskeen, across the border in Monaghan, as they don't currently have a ground capable of taking a large crowd.

"We might get a double header in Croke Park," said Brennan. "It would be great to play here again if there's another game available to double up with. I don't think we'd fill it out as a standalone fixture. But I think if there's another game going, it would be great to get it here."

Dubliner Brennan won five Leinster titles as a player with Dublin but this was surely his most satisfying provincial win. Long-suffering Louth had come up short in the 2023 and 2024 deciders and trailed Meath by three points with just over 20 minutes to go.

Brennan said they took their preparations 'to a different level' this year and all that hard work paid off as they rallied in the final quarter.

"To be fair to Meath and their supporters, the atmosphere they brought, the flares on the Hill, it would give you goosebumps," said the St Vincent's man.

"Credit to both sets of players, both of them came out with some stylish plays. It was an incredible experience. Between having kids and winning a few All-Irelands playing, this is right up there. This is an incredible experience. To be fair to the lads, we push them but they push us."

Louth captain Sam Mulroy said the players never stopped believing that they'd win a Leinster senior medal some day.

"It was a case of, do we go on like we don't believe and keep playing like that or do we keep believing? If you don't change anything nothing changes," said Mulroy.

"When we set out on this journey a number of years back, it was about taking it step by step, setback by setback. This group is very resilient. You're just building. You're stacking up evidence every single day that you can do something special. Obviously the management then have come in and pushed us on further. It's one of those things. You ask, 'Why not us?' That was in the back of my head."