'A bit of a disgrace' to put club game before Louth's win over Kildare, says Brennan
Louth manager Ger Brennan has described as 'horseshit' the decision to put a Leinster club football game on as a curtain-raiser before the county's provincial SFC semi-final win over Kildare in Tullamore last Sunday.
Speaking at the launch of the Leinster final at The Battle of The Boyne Visitor Centre outside Drogheda yesterday, Brennan said he was upset Louth didn't have access to two dressing rooms for their clash in Glenisk O'Connor Park as the two other changing areas were required by Kildare's Milltown and Westmeath club Rosemount.
"It was a silly venue and there was a Leinster intermediate league final on before the Louth and Kildare match, so we didn't have access to two dressing rooms," explained Brennan. "We were all squashed into one dressing room. How that was organised before a semi-final of the Leinster championship was just incredible.'
Brennan claims the experience was a difficult one for Kildare too. 'I was talking to Brian Flanagan beforehand, I know him over the years and he's a sound fella. And we were there looking at each other because you have the guts of 15 or 16 in a backroom team and then you have 30 lads togging out, your 26 and your four reserves. And you have another seven or eight fellas who didn't make the squad or are injured. We were like sardines in one changing room. Dare I say, it was a bit of a disgrace and badly organised from the Leinster Council."
Brennan only became aware of it when the priest that married him and his wife Aisling and baptised his children, Fr Joe Campbell, told him the match was on. 'He's from the parish and he said, 'I'll be down supporting Rosemount before your match' and he sent me on the advertisement for it. So I rang the county board and asked them were they aware of it and they said no. It was just horseshit."
The former Dublin defender felt the game should have been staged in Croke Park. 'I know the Louth and Kildare lads would rather have played in Croke Park, so I actually don't think it was a good move to take the semi-finals out of Croke Park on this occasion. But then would Meath have finished the game as strongly? I don't know."
Over 32,000 tickets have already been sold for Sunday week's Louth-Meath Leinster SFC final. The attendance is on course to be the biggest for the event since 47,027 attended the Dublin-Meath decider in 2019. The 2010 Louth-Meath decider attracted 48,875.
At the launch, Leinster vice-chairman Martin Byrne said: 'I think the council showed a good bit of leadership this year. We tried a few things, we brought the semi-finals out of Croke Park for the first time in a long time. Kildare played their first game in a Leinster championship at home this year, Dublin went to Wicklow. All those things help create the occasions for those special days, which ends up with where we are on Sunday week.'
Meanwhile, Louth captain Sam Mulroy has welcomed the news that funding has been secured for the county board to go ahead with the first phase of a new 14,000-capacity stadium outside Dundalk.
"There has been a big push on to get it done over the last number of years. I think everyone who saw the news the other day was absolutely buzzing that they were getting the green light and can push it on again. I know in the background from talking to Seán [McClean, county chairman] and even Peter [Fitzpatrick, former chairman] in times gone past how hard they have worked to get it done and it's great credit to them. It's a massive thing for Louth's future and somewhere to call home."
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