Brennan labels Leinster Council decision 'a disgrace' over double-header

The 42

02-05-2025

LOUTH MANAGER GER Brennan has called the decision by the Leinster Council to stage a double-header last Sunday at O'Connor Park in Tullamore, as 'a disgrace.'
The curtain-raiser to Louth's Leinster semi-final win over Kildare was a provincial club football league final between Rosemount and Milltown.
Brennan only found out the fixture was taking place after a friend of his, Fr Joe Campbell, who married himself and his wife Aisling, sent him an image advertising the league final.
'Dare I say, it was a bit of a disgrace and badly organised from the Leinster Council,' said Brennan, speaking at the launch of the Leinster football final yesterday at the Battle of the Boyne Visitor Centre in Drogheda.
'Also bringing the two teams to O'Connor Park, I'd rather have played in Croke Park myself.'
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When he learned about the first game, Brennan contacted the Louth county board.
'So I rang the county board and asked them were they aware of it and they said no. It was just horseshit.
'We were all squashed into one dressing room. How that was organised before a semi-final of the Leinster championship was just incredible.
'It was terrible. I was talking to (Kildare manager) 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.
'You couldn't swing a cat in there. It was the same for Kildare as well. There are two dressing rooms either side of the tunnel on the terrace side in Tullamore and the ones that are slightly bigger are the ones that the two club teams took.'
As he prepares for an unusual Leinster final on Sunday week, the first time Dublin have not featured in the decider since 2010, in a campaign that also coincides with them playing their semi-final loss to Meath in Portlaoise, Brennan conceded that Dublin have enjoyed a huge advantage by playing so many games in Croke Park.
'Dublin playing in Croke Park the whole time is an advantage. You're so familiar with the ground.
'For lads not used to playing there to go into Croke Park for a provincial final or a semi-final against Dublin, you're absolutely disadvantaged.
'I don't know about Robbie (Brennan, Meath manager), you'd have to ask him, but 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.'
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