Sam Mulroy: Louth won't put a ceiling on ourselves

After reaching a first All-Ireland semi-final since 1957, the Wee County wants more.

Sam Mulroy of Louth celebrates after his side's victory in the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship quarter-final match between Louth and Monaghan at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

On either side of the Croker Park coin there was talk of a ceiling not reached. But only one crowd had raised the roof. 

Louth captain Sam Mulroy says the county's current crop are conscious not to put a limit on what they can achieve after progress to a first All-Ireland semi-final since 1957 was secured with a remarkable win over Monaghan.

The Farney boss Gabriel Bannigan was just regretful his boys hadn't reached their ceiling on this afternoon.

Despite going down to 14 players after seven minutes, when Sean Callaghan saw red for a high tackle, Louth bucked the prevailing wisdom that it's impossible to win while a player down in the new game.

Speaking on RTÉ after the game, Mulroy says his side are no longer cowed by rising expectations around them, having won a breakthrough Leinster title last year, ending a 68-year wait.

"It's been a hell of a journey the last number of years," Mulroy said, "and it's one that we don't want to put a ceiling on ourselves. 

"I think a few years ago, maybe people were putting a ceiling on us, and saying when we got to the quarter-final a couple of years back, that that was us. I think it was just about us knuckling down and not getting caught up in everything that surrounds that."

Failing to prosper with that that man advantage was central to Bannigan's regret.

"I suppose it makes it all the more devastating for us that we didn't make good use of that extra man.  That's on us. We never managed to find a period in the game where we got completely on top.

"I don't know whether we went a little bit casual or a little timid or what, but the energy levels just didn't seem to be there.

"We just weren't getting our hands on enough ball.  We weren't creating enough chances. We weren't putting scoring runs together.

"I'm still proud of them in there today. Not one of those lads went out there to play below themselves.

"It's very hard to put your finger on it. But they've been brilliant, all Championship, and I think their ceiling is higher than where we've gone this year. And hopefully we'll see them achieving that over the next year or two."

He wasn't keen to reach for excuses though couldn't avoid talk of absentees, who had been given until Friday.

"Obviously, Rory (Beggan) is a massive loss to us. Karl Gallagher was a massive loss in the middle of the field.

"We got him (Rory) scanned on Monday and it was confirmed as a hamstring injury.

"We were then trying to figure out whether his hamstring would heal enough for him to be able to play the game, albeit in a restricted way.

"We had to make a call as to whether the level of restriction Rory was going to have and the potential further damage that was going to do to him. 

"To be honest, come Friday evening with the testing that was done with Rory, it just wasn't an option to play Rory.

They waited on Gallagher too until Friday's training session. "He was too uncomfortable.  So he definitely wasn't going to be able to play no matter how many painkillers or what strapping we put on him."

While Monaghan nurse regrets, Mulroy says Louth will be just as determined to avoid growing hype in the two-weeks leading up to their next Croke Park trip for the semi-final.

"It's uncharted territory for a long, long time. So it'll be up to us to try and stay in our shell as best we can and knuckle down.

"We know there's going to be a massive test awaiting us again. Like we always do, we'll go back into work mode and try and knuckle down and get in a good place for it."