Sam Mulroy bent Louth's Leinster Final triumph to his will

Irish Daily Mirror

12-05-2025

LOUTH 3-14 MEATH 1-18
IT took 15 years, but all that hurt and pain from the 2010 Leinster decider was finally put to bed in yesterday's provincial decider at Croke Park as Louth ended a 68 year wait for the Delaney Cup.
Andy McDonnell was the only Wee County man still going strong all these years later after being tempted out of retirement by Louth boss Ger Brennan. What a decision that was. Now, he has his Leinster medal.
Joe Sheridan might not be happy with the result but he may be a relieved man too.
Unlike 2010 when Sheridan swooped to grab a ball and fell over the line to become the unwitting villain of the piece as Meath denied Louth a first Leinster title in 53 years, this time there was no real controversy at the death.
Louth, as they were a decade and a half ago, were just the better team in the second half. This time though, they finished it out with a calmness that was lacking all those years ago.
No-one was hoofing the ball away, giving Meath oxygen and another shot at an equaliser as they controlled the ball with impressive composure.
Louth didn't have a great spread of scores, just six to Meath's eight, but they had real difference makers in Craig Lennon (1-1), Sam Mulroy (1-7) and Ryan Burns (1-3). That trio hit 3-11 of their 3-14.
It was really Louth skipper Mulroy, who bent this game to his will. After missing four shots at the start of the second half - three of them two point efforts and one 45 - Mulroy proceeded to go to town on Meath when it really mattered.
His mentality strong, he had five more shots, nailing every single one of them as he hit six of Louth's final eight points.
Louth had plenty of heroes though. One of them was Donal McKenny who bottled up James Conlon and took a couple of great kickouts on the wing, as well as retaining the last ball under severe pressure.
Conor Grimes was another, relentlessly carrying ball forward and breaking lines. Bevan Duffy, for a man in his late 30s who hadn't started this season, gave 65 huge minutes.
Tommy Durnin powered into it late on with two huge catches on the Meath kickout, while Ciaran Keenan and Ciaran Byrne gave Louth a spark off the bench.
Taking out the emotion, the boring nuts and bolts of it all are that Meath couldn't get a hold of their own kick out in the second half as Louth showed great patience to reel them in and then over take them.
Meath lost seven of their own kickouts in the second half, but then Louth had similar issues in the first half, but the difference was they got three goals to stay in touch when they were under the cosh.
That Louth dominance of possession was shown by Meath managing just five scores in the second half. They had eight shots after the break compared to Louth's 16.
Two of Meath's inside three men, Conlon and Eoghan Frayne barely got a ball in the second half, as Louth got on the kickout breaks, winning 10 of them.
Only Matthew Costello's 62nd minute goal kept Meath afloat, coming off a big Sean Coffey turnover on Mulroy and a quick break involving Ruairi Kinsella and Jordan Morris.
That put Meath one up again, but a big 65th minute call went against them when Conal McKeever looked to be well bottled up, but referee Martin McNally gave a free in.
There are plenty of marginal calls in a game, but a two point free opportunity (with the breeze) is a harsh punishment for what looked a textbook tackle. Sam Mulroy still had to convert and he did the business with the pressure on.
Late on, Louth kept the ball well. Young sub Dara McDonnell had a couple of hairy moments in the corner under the Cusack, but his side worked the ball out and around to that man Craig Lennon.
He tapped it over to put his side two up. Meath had one more kickout. They probably needed a short, but nothing opened up for Billy Hogan who had to go long with Emmet Carolan winning the most important break ball - or any ball - of his life.
They played it around, going backwards into their corner. Donal McKenny was under serious pressure from Costello, but he was awarded the free and that was it. Cue absolute bedlam.
Both sides were twitchy early on with Keith Curtis dropping a mark short for Meath, being blocked on a shot and turning over a ball, before hitting a point that settled him down and later winning a free for another point.
Louth had issues with their own kickout, booming most of them to the left and losing seven of 15 in the first half, with one of the others turned over for a Meath point.
It was only goals which kept them in the game in the first half.
The first one arrived on 20 minutes with Andy McDonnell and Tommy Durnin involved before Kieran McArdle was shoved by Donal Keogan.
Referee McNally said penalty and Mulroy slammed to the net to level the scores, walking back out coolly as if nothing had happened, as Croke Park erupted.
Louth's second goal came on 24 minutes. Up to this point there'd been no sign of All Star Craig Lennon.
Not for long though. The wing back sliced up the middle and fed Ryan Burns, who cut across Brian O'Halloran and shot to the net with Meath goalie Billy Hogan getting a big hand on it, but unable to keep it out.
Suddenly, Louth led by two despite Meath playing the vast majority of the football.
Undeterred, Meath hit a real purple patch, scoring seven points without reply in five minutes to lead 0-13 to 2-3 on 33 minutes.
Three of those came from the boot of the on fire Ruairi Kinsella, one of them a two pointer, as he took his first half tally to four points from play, while goalie Hogan would also nail a brace of two point frees.
James Conlon - the five point hero against Dublin - had been well shackled by Donal McKenny and turned over twice, as well as hitting a wide, but with his first early ball in, he scored.
Meath's four point lead would have been a fair reflection of the half, but that man Lennon had other ideas as Louth patiently worked the ball left and right.
Lennon arrived at pace and although he had Mulroy free to his right for a potential two pointer, he saw a gap and bolted up the middle like few others can, with Keogan and Jack Flynn unable to get a hand on him.
The wing back and had only one thing on his mind as he slammed to the corner of the net.
Matthew Costello had a two point effort for Meath, but he didn't catch it right and that was it for the half with Meath leading by one, 0-13 to 3-3, despite having scored more than double the amount of times Louth had.
The second half was all Louth though, as they seized the moment to go on and claim a first Leinster title since 1957 and just a ninth in total as they ended a run of back to back provincial decider defeats.