Seán Moran: Louth's historic success shows the power - and limitations
Louth
walked their high-wire routines of running down the clock and keeping possession out of
Meath
hands for nearly all of seven minutes, they were effectively chasing the past.
The major achievement of winning Leinster for the first time since 1957 will of course influence their future and how football is seen in the county – but it also connects with their history.
Unlike many of the heartwarming tales of landmark provincial success that the GAA has seen in recent decades – Leitrim, Laois, Westmeath – last weekend's outcome revived a county that has three All-Irelands and a significant place in the history of football.
Four decades before Sam Maguire was captured in the 1957 All-Ireland final against Cork, Louth had been one of the top teams in football, winning All-Irelands in 1910 and 1912. Their rivalry with Kerry had provided the money to buy Croke Park with the gate receipts taken in the 1913 Croke Memorial final, which went to a replay.
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Originally hoped to provide funds for a statue to commemorate the GAA's first patron, the tournament final generated huge interest among the public. The draw brought a crowd of 26,000 and the replay attendance was estimated at anything between 35,000 and 50,000.
The Great Southern and Western Railway company had trains running on every line, accounting for nearly 12,000 of the attendance. Kerry won but so munificent were the gate receipts that they accounted for more than half of the £3,500 acquisition price for what is now Croke Park.
Coincidentally, just as this year's spectacle has benefited from the FRC 4v3 rule, limiting numbers in the middle third, 112 years ago the reduction of players on a team, from 17 to 15, also opened up space on the field. This made the game more exciting.
Micheál Reid, Dylan Shevlin, Ryan Shevlin, Adam Gillespie and Keelin Martin celebrate with their teacher Bridget Smith after Louth won the Leinster under-20 football title. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
There is therefore a different quality to triumphs such as Louth's. It brings a sense of paradise regained, even if not that many people are still around from 68 years ago when the county surprised Dublin in the provincial final and went on to win that year's All-Ireland.
Sunday's victory against Meath was an exceptional result which will bring significant promotional benefits. This will especially be the case now that it is being accompanied by underage success. The county has won its first under-20/under-21 provincial title in 43 years and next Monday, the Louth minors face Offaly looking for a first minor championship in 72 years.
What will this do for Leinster football in general? That depends. Last Sunday's attendance was 65,786 – a record crowd at Croke Park for a final not featuring Dublin. The healthy crowd illustrates the attraction of matches offering a realistic chance of silverware.
This has been endemic in Munster football forever
The Dubs, though, are never far away and the current team, still laden with All-Ireland medals, are generally expected to be back after the cold-shower effect of losing to Meath. Other Leinster counties will undoubtedly be emboldened by the Sky Blues' decline but there will also be apprehension.
Or will the province return to the 2000s and become more open and competitive – there were historic titles for Laois and Westmeath – but adrift in national terms? This happened to the point where the province's representatives became back markers in the All-Ireland series.
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Conor McManus: Rule changes make Gaelic football more exciting and managing the clock even more crucial
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Provincial championships clearly matter, but their link to the All-Ireland remains a problem
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Already, there is an unparalleled drought in Leinster when Dublin are stripped out. They may have won nine All-Irelands in the past 14 years but no other Leinster county has claimed the prize this century. The gap of 26 years since Meath were last champions is already longer than the previously longest interval between Kildare in 1928 and Meath in 1949.
This makes winning provincial titles all the more desirable because they are the ceiling of realistic ambition as opposed to what we have seen in Connacht and Ulster. There, elite teams pursue their provincial title in search of a momentum that might lead to ultimate success, or at least to avoid the damage to morale of disappointment.
Limerick's Cian Lynch celebrates with the Liam MacCarthy Cup after the 2023 All-Ireland SHC final against Kilkenny. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho
For all of that, the connection between the provincial championships and All-Ireland victory is being weakened all the time. Donegal may have put Ulster titles back-to-back but they will be conscious that Armagh survived losing last year's provincial final and rebounded to win the All-Ireland.
Neither is it just football. Hurling has been travelling on parallel tracks for a while. In the five years of the round-robin format, Munster counties have won every All-Ireland, but despite the dominance of Limerick in both, the provincial champions have not gone on to win Liam MacCarthy in three seasons.
Leinster hurling has become more of a Northern Conference with Galway and Antrim present and no team from the geographical province has won an All-Ireland in 10 years. If Kilkenny are excluded, it's 27 years since a county from the province won the national championship – again, like football, the longest blank in history.
It can be argued that the situations are similar in both games – historically dominant teams casting a shadow in which their provincial rivals struggle to grow and thrive. Even when the domination is disrupted, other counties need time to develop a challenge at the upper end.
This has been endemic in Munster football forever. Cork's occasional resistance has been enough to land seven All-Irelands but none of the province's supporting cast has managed even one in the last century.
It makes perfect sense that at this stage, the championship is so conspicuously two competitions. There will be arguments over how one should accommodate the other, but as was obvious last weekend, dreams of provincial success remain vivid no matter what the likelihood of further advancement.
sean.moran@irishtimes.com
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