'Why not us?' - Sam Mulroy on Louth's belief as they end 68-year wait for Leinster glory
'IT'S HARD TO find the words, probably, right now,' Sam Mulroy begins.
He has just captained Louth to their first Leinster title in 68 years.
'It's a very special feeling, and I suppose like I said when we were collecting the cup, it's probably that group of players believed when no one else believed. To stand up there for them and collect that trophy was something I can remember for the rest of my life.'
A day of days in Croke Park, a 3-14 to 1-18 victory over neighbours Meath.
The tables turned on 2010, as the Wee county ended a long wait to get their hands on the Delaney Cup.
Their rise has been well documented; Ger Brennan overseeing the Leinster breakthrough after previous progression under Mickey Harte.
Belief has been at the heart of it all, Mulroy insists.
Advertisement
'I suppose it's a case of, do we keep going on like we don't believe or keep playing like that or keep believing like that.
'You have to change something. If nothing changes, nothing changes.
'I suppose when we set out on this journey a number of years back, it was about taking it step by step, setback by setback — and this group is very resilient.
'You're just building. You're stacking evidence every day that you can do something special. Obviously the lads have come in and pushed us on further.
'It's one of those things. Why not us? That was in the back of my head.'
Mulroy hailed the 'dedication, effort and buy-in from everyone bringing it to a new level and demanding more of themselves' through the upturn.
'People coming in, like Ger, and demanding more from us and seeing the bigger picture that we can do it,' he added.
'As Ger always says, they have two legs and two arms, just like us. No matter who we're playing. It was just a case of bringing everyone up to a level and up the ante and going after what we had to go after.'
Mulroy in action. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
That they did, in a dramatic Croke Park decider. Mulroy led the charge with 1-7 in a Player of the Match performance, putting some disappointing wides behind him to land key scores down the stretch.
'Ger was giving out to me in the first half. I was probably trying to look for them too soon. I knew then in the second half the space would open up a bit more. I snatched at one or two early on. You have to keep backing yourself and take a shot.'
Mulroy's two-point free in the 65th minute moved Louth ahead, before All-Star Craig Lennon added the insurance score as they controlled the closing stages.
'I thought our boys showed serious composure and strategy. We managed it really well.'
And then, up the steps of the Hogan.
Why not Louth?
No words needed.
- With reporting from Fintan O'Toole
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Extra.ie
an hour ago
- Extra.ie
Connacht lost their way after Pro12 triumph in 2016. Lancaster can bring the glory days back to Galway
There was a serious buzz around Connacht HQ yesterday. The new high-performance centre is up and running. A new 7,000-capacity North Stand isn't far from completion and the new head coach was doing the rounds. It's been a few days since Stuart Lancaster was announced as the province's new supremo but there is still an element of shock and giddy excitement among the fanbase. It's been a few days since Stuart Lancaster was announced as the province's new supremo but there is still an element of shock and giddy excitement among the fanbase. Pic: INPHO/Tom Maher Along with Joe Schmidt, the affable Englishman is arguably the most influential coach to grace these shores. And now he's back for a second chapter with Connacht. Lancaster did phenomenal work during his seven-season stay with Leinster. It wasn't just on the training pitch where he had a major impact. Players and staff still speak about the influence he had on the culture of the environment while Lancaster is revered by club and schools coaches for his time and dedication to the grassroots. He was incredibly generous with his time and saw the value in bringing young coaches into the inner sanctum. It merely reinforces the feeling that the former Leinster head coach can reinvigorate an operation which has lost its way in recent times. Lancaster was on site at Dexcom Stadium yesterday and gave his first media interview. He spoke of Connacht having a 'sense of identity' as one of his major goals. And that's the big project for the 55-year-old in the coming months and years. Lancaster knows that this Connacht reboot won't be an overnight success, but the foundations are strong. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile A sense of identity has been the missing link for quite some time. What have Connacht stood for and hoped to achieve in recent seasons? At times, this squad hasn't looked especially organised or motivated in big games. Too often, Connacht checked out long before the final whistle. In truth, the club has been on the wane since Pat Lam departed in the summer of 2017. Andy Friend brought consistency, direction and good vibes during his stint as head coach. The likeable Aussie bookended the fairly disastrous reigns of Kieran Keane and the recently departed Pete Wilkins. Pic: INPHO/Tom Maher Lancaster is a different level. He will bring world class coaching to the field. He will streamline the pathway from grassroots to the senior setup. He will challenge the playing group to evolve. He will inject a much-needed boost of adrenaline into the entire setup. Most importantly, the presence of Lancaster at the forefront of the coaching ticket might encourage a few more fringe players at rival provinces to make the move out west. Connacht has always been Ireland's development province. It hasn't felt like that for a while, however. If anything, the other provinces – who have superior resources – have been benefiting more from Connacht than the other way around. Tom Farrell, Diarmuid Kilgallen and Andrew Smith have all left to join Munster. All three have won rave reviews down in Thomond Park. It harks back to a time when a host of quality players were leaving in their droves. Robbie Henshaw, Mike McCarthy, Fionn Carr, Sean Cronin and Jamie Hagan all left Connacht in a short spell of time to pursue new opportunities with Leinster and Munster. It was a kick in the teeth for the fanbase at the time. With Lancaster on board, the hope is that the flow of players will be in the opposite direction. There's been a worrying turnover in the Connacht squad, season on season. The province desperately needs a bit of stability. The current squad is a bit imbalanced. Connacht have an abundance of riches in certain departments. Scrum-half is one such position, with Ben Murphy, Caolin Blade and Matthew Devine battling it out for game time. But the playing group looks worryingly shallow in other positions. Connacht could benefit from some reinforcements in the summer. Perhaps Lancaster could convince a few fringe Leinster players to head west? Will Connors has been approached about moving to Connacht in the past but the Leinster openside declined the province's advances. Maybe his head might be turned now that his former mentor is at the helm? Connors has only featured for Leinster eight times this season and he has struggled to break into the matchday 23 on big Champions Cup days. He would be a smash hit in Galway. The likes of Brian Deeny and Alex Soroka could benefit from a move, too. Academy prospects such as promising out-half Casper Gabriel, hooker Stephen Smyth – who will tour with Ireland next month – and young loosehead prop Alex Usanov are other Leinster players on the periphery who could thrive at Connacht. Max Clein, Sean Edogbo, Michael Foy and Gordon Wood are a clutch of Munster rookies who would benefit from a few years in Galway. If Leinster, Munster and Ulster fringe players begin to move towards Connacht in the next few years then Lancaster's project will be a huge success. Players need to start seeing Connacht as an alternative route into the national setup when they are struggling for exposure at their home province. Ben Murphy is a great recent example of a player who took a gamble early in his career and made the switch. Murphy is reaping the rewards and is likely to win his first Test cap for Ireland next month. The perfect template for Connacht is a batch of homegrown players, supplemented by arrivals from rival provinces with a smattering of high-quality overseas recruits. The Connacht squad which claimed Pro12 glory in 2016 was the perfect example. The team had hometown heroes such as Tiernan O'Halloran (Clifden), Robbie Henshaw (Athlone), Ronan Loughney, Eoin McKeon (both Galway) and John Muldoon (Portumna), while Matt Healy and Niyi Adeolokun were talented wings who had fallen through the cracks in the Leinster system. AJ McGinty, Kieran Marmion and Ultan Dillane also took the scenic route to Connacht. Bundee Aki, Tom McCartney, Aly Muldowny and Jake Heenan were smart, high-quality NIQ signings. This was a group which tore a star-studded Leinster to shreds in that memorable Pro12 final at Murrayfield nine years ago. It will take a bit of time but Lancaster's Connacht will be built on similar foundations. This is win-win for everyone. Connacht and the IRFU stand to benefit from Lancaster's presence. The Westerners have looked rudderless for too long. Finishing 13th in the URC standings, missing out on the playoffs and Champions Cup rugby is simply not good enough. The only way is up and, luckily, the province have a serious operator overseeing the rebuild. Lancaster will lean on the likes of Aki, Mack Hansen, Finlay Bealham and Cian Prendergast to lead by example. Connacht have a young squad brimming with potential. Now, they have world class facilities, a proper stadium and a proven head coach. There's hasn't been much to shout about in Connacht for quite some time. That's about to change. The West is about to wake up.
Irish Examiner
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
Handling the pressure, not peaking, key to Leinster's hopes
It all started this week three years ago. Thirteen days had passed since a late La Rochelle try in Marseille deprived Leinster of a fifth Champions Cup title and now the Bulls were in Dublin for a URC semi-final at the RDS. Incredible as it may seem looking back, Jake White's side were 14/1 outsiders, but then they had never won on Irish soil before. That changed by the time they left with a deserved one-point win having outplayed their hosts for much of the game in Ballsbridge. Leinster had reason to rue some of the officiating, but they let slip a series of prime attacking positions through their own errors. The bottom line was that ambitions of a double had evaporated into emptiness inside two torturous weeks. 'It's going to be pretty dark in there, isn't it?" said Rob Kearney on Premier Sports. The TV cameras had already zoomed in on the Leinster coaching box at the final whistle and they illuminated a room dominated by a shocked silence. Still, there was no reason to think that this was some sign of things to come. A harbinger of doom. When Leinster regrouped for pre-season they would have felt sure of the fact that amends could be made inside the next nine months. They weren't. They still haven't. The province approaches Saturday's latest URC semi-final, against Glasgow at the Aviva Stadium, having lost another pair of Champions Cup deciders and a last four tie to Northampton Saints. Two of them were in their own back yard. That Bulls defeat in 2022 has since been followed by another pair of exits at the very same stage, Munster making them pay for fielding a far-from-full-strength side at the RDS and then the Bulls having their number in Pretoria 12 months ago. By now it feels as if the province has tried everything and anything. The recruitment policy has been changed, there is a new No.10 in the cockpit, and Jacques Nienaber has replaced Stuart Lancaster as the strategic mastermind. If the tactical shift towards a more rugged defensive approach has left some cold then the real wonder is in how Nienaber has been in situ for three tight knockout losses having made such a habit of squeezing through such contests with the Springboks. So his take on the idea of 'peaking' is worth digesting. 'You don't peak. It's not that you try and peak. You have to handle the pressure of the game. It's not about peaking. It's just, listen, you have to handle the pressure of a knockout game because there is a lot more pressure. 'If you think South Africa played in the World Cup and lost to Ireland, yeah it's bad, but it's not defining. Knockouts is defining. You can be as good as you want to and play as brilliant rugby as you want to in the league stage of the competition. 'Where it counts is you just have to make sure you are a little bit better than the team you play against on that specific day of a knockout game. We must just be better than Glasgow this weekend. That's all. Like last weekend, we just had to be a little bit better than Scarlets.' This is the theme Leinster are pushing this week. Forget the path taken, the quality involved, or the margin of victory. All that matters now is getting over the lien this week and next. The question is whether their current form and mindset will be enough for that to happen. There has been talk of lessons, a realisation that the rugby being played in the playoffs is different gravy to the 18 rounds of URC action or the pool stages of the Champions Cup. Glasgow learned that lesson last year, Munster the year before. Both clubs claimed the URC title by virtue of away wins in the last two games, which should make the Sharks feel good about themselves as they face the Bulls in Loftus Versfeld this weekend, and the Warriors are a very clear and present danger here. Leinster have won ten of the last 12 meetings stretching back to, and including, the PRO12 final at Celtic Park in May of 2019, and that dominance is even greater in Dublin where they have won all six and scored 276 points against 64 conceded. But, again, none of that matters in a semi-final. 'If you think back to last year, they went to Munster in Thomond Park,' said Nienaber. 'It's a tall order to win in Thomond Park and they did that. Then it's an even taller order to fly over, go to altitude, play the Bulls, which we struggled with. 'We got knocked out the week before by the Bulls. They went over there and got a result. The same thing with Munster going to South Africa [in 2023] and doing a job on the Stormers. It's a completely different game.'
Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
Galway's Cathal Mannion only too aware of Kilkenny's extra-time threat
The last thing Cathal Mannion needs any reminding about is what happened the last time Galway played Kilkenny in a Leinster hurling final. Which is perfectly understandable, because if Galway are to win this Sunday, then Mannion knows it won't be over even as the fat lady is clearing her throat. Conceding an injury-time goal, with no hope of recovery, can happen to any team. Not just against Kilkenny. And while Mannion wasn't directly involved in that unforgettably chaotic endgame in Croke Park two years ago, his older brother Pádraic was. Here's the scene again. Five minutes of injury time are almost up, the clock on 75:05. Galway are two points up, and jaded players from both teams are scrambling for the last grip on possession, where the Hogan Stand meets the Canal End. Clear the sliotar, anywhere at all, and it's Galway's Leinster title. READ MORE When it eventually pops out in front of Pádraic, now without his hurl, he simply boots it away, assuming that will be enough – just not realising Kilkenny's Cillian Buckley is waiting for one last pounce. A quick shimmy and then his deftly aimed shot rocks the Galway net, Mannion a split second too late in his despairing dive to stop it. It happens. Kilkenny, remember, were treated to the same fate in the Leinster semi-final in 2004, when Wexford's Michael Jacob hit them with a last-minute goal, ending their championship interest in the process. 'It was a difficult day, disappointing obviously, the way we lost it,' says Cathal, without putting any blame whatsoever on Pádraic. 'You can say the goal at the end [lost it], but how many things were thrown at him [Pádraic]? [ Galway's Pádraic Mannion not beating himself up over his part in Kilkenny's late winner Opens in new window ] 'Anyone that knows Kilkenny knows it'll go to 73, 74 minutes, and there'll be no difference this Sunday. If we want to win on Sunday, you have to perform to your best. We moved on from the game fairly quickly. It's two years ago, it's a different team, different players to a certain extent.' Indeed, while Pádraic is now a pillar in the Galway full-back line, Cathal is playing a different role among the forwards, including as chief free-taker. He's Galway's top scorer in this Leinster campaign, hitting 2-43 (28 from frees) in their five games to date. Galway's Cathal Mannion celebrates after scoring a goal against Offaly at O'Connor Park in Tullamore on April 26th. Photograph: Andrew Paton/Inpho 'Whatever you're asked to do, you'll do it,' Mannion says, admitting the conversation with Galway manager Micheál Donoghue about taking over the frees was short and sweet. 'They just said, 'Will you take them?' and I said, 'I would.' I started to practice them a lot and just started putting more time into them. 'Even for my club [Ahascragh-Fohenagh] I didn't take too many frees, an odd time here and there, sometimes. Frees are obviously important and, particularly as the season goes on, you need to be scoring the frees.' A secondary school teacher in his home parish, Mannion (30) is two years younger than Pádraic, and credits his return to more consistent form this season to a clear run from injury, especially a nagging problem with his Achilles tendon. 'My Achilles was at me for three years, probably. Then, as a result, I was pulling hamstrings and so on. You couldn't get a run, and you'd feel you're coming back, and then get another setback and whatever. 'Obviously, as a player, it's hugely frustrating when you can't get a run, so I had probably two years there of just on and off injuries. I got a bit of procedure done in the winter, and it's definitely helped, cleared it up.' Another thing Mannion doesn't need reminding about is Galway's recent Leinster record against Kilkenny. In their opening round-robin game back in April, Galway lost by 12 points and haven't beaten the Cats in Leinster since their round-robin game in 2022 – losing the final to the same side a few weeks later. [ Joe Canning: Galway are growing in confidence and if they beat Kilkenny, the crowds will follow Opens in new window ] Since joining Leinster in 2009, they've won three finals, beating Kilkenny in 2012 and 2018 (after a replay), and Wexford in 2017. Kilkenny have beaten them in the finals of 2010, '15, '16, '20, '22, and '23 – and are going for six-in-a-row on Sunday. 'Obviously, we had a poor performance, didn't perform as well as we wanted to against Kilkenny the first day,' says Mannion. 'We'd Offaly the week after, which was probably a good thing. The games come in fairly quick, and we got a few wins, obviously, and it gives you a bit of momentum.' Galway manager Micheál Donoghue during the Leinster SHC game between Dublin and Galway at Parnell Park on May 25th. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho Mannion also reckons Donoghue's liberal use of the panel during the league, which touched on 40 different players, is paying dividends now. It also helps that players such as Daithí and David Burke and Conor Whelan are finding their groove again. 'Definitely. I suppose in our group now, you have younger players coming in, and you have a few experienced players. Since the league, the panel has been trimmed. Micheál and the management team, that was what they set out to do when they came in, to get a look at as many players as they could. 'As the league goes on, you mightn't be seeing the results that you want, but when you look at the bigger picture, there's loads of players getting games, which is definitely a huge positive. There's huge competition there now, which is very good.' Win or lose on Sunday, by injury-time goal or otherwise, Mannion also knows there is ultimately a bigger prize on offer. 'Obviously, you have a prize of a Leinster final, but you also have a prize going forward to an All-Ireland semi-final. When you finish up, of course you'd want to have a second or a third or as many All-Ireland medals as you can. It's something we'd love to get back to.'
