Peter Fitzpatrick: ‘Joe should have told the truth at the time in 2010, he knew it wasn't a goal'
This, he hopes, is the end. Though he knows it's unlikely to ever end. No matter what happens in Croke Park on Sunday a part of
Louth
football and a part of him will remain frozen in 2010. Nothing has ever been the same since.
Peter Fitzpatrick sits in the restaurant of the Gateway Hotel in Dundalk, sipping green tea and maintaining the same lean frame that granted him a 16-year Louth playing career. Two weeks ago, after destiny pulled Louth and
Meath
together for another Leinster final, the former Louth manager felt compelled to look back at the last one. A final that has never really ended.
He could run the game through his mind without the need for footage but he just wanted a gut-check. His thoughts on how it all unspooled haven't changed and neither has the result.
Meath left with the Delaney Cup and Louth left with nothing, but everybody lost something from the wreckage of that afternoon.
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'It still feels like only yesterday. Without a doubt that day changed my life,' says Fitzpatrick.
'After all these years, there's probably still not a day goes by that it doesn't cross my mind. It is brought up by people in conversation with me all the time. Some of us will be linked to that game forever.
'So, in that regard it's important for Louth to try to put some of the ghosts from that match to rest this Sunday.'
During the week Fitzpatrick was listening to LMFM when he heard a voice he recognised. Joe.
On the 10th anniversary of the 2010 Leinster final, The Sunday Game had gathered Fitzpatrick and Joe Sheridan together in studio to look back on the controversy.
Louth manager Peter Fitzpatrick remonstrates with referee Martin Sludden after the 2010 Leinster SFC final, which Meath won courtesy of a controversial goal.
Photograph: Donall Farmer/Inpho
Before going on air, the pair chatted and agreed to leave the jerry cans in the green room. It wouldn't have taken much for the whole thing to catch a spark.
'We were very courteous to each other, there was no point butting heads, what would it have achieved?'
Sheridan received threatening letters and messages in the aftermath of the game.
'Joe should have told the truth at the time in 2010, he knew himself it wasn't a legitimate goal,' adds Fitzpatrick.
Those umpires realised the mistake but the referee didn't have the decency to ask them or listen to them
—
Peter Fitzpatrick
'But he shouldn't have had to deal with that kind of stuff afterwards, it wasn't on.'
The build-up to Sunday's final has facilitated a meme-fest, introducing a piece of GAA folklore to a new generation.
But the sequence of that last play leading to Sheridan's match-winning goal continues to haunt Louth fans.
'Martin Sludden had very experienced umpires with him and those umpires realised the mistake but the referee didn't have the decency to ask them or listen to them. He just told them to put up the flag,' adds Fitzpatrick.
'That's the question I put to him in his dressingroom afterwards, 'Why didn't you check with your umpires?' He couldn't give me an answer and just told me to leave.
'He said he could have awarded a penalty, but a penalty could have been saved. He just wouldn't admit he'd made a mistake.'
In the immediate aftermath, Fitzpatrick likened Sludden to 'Dick Turpin without a mask'. He felt Louth were robbed back then. He still does today.
Fitzpatrick and Sludden have never spoken since.
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Eoghan Frayne and Meath out to right some wrongs against Louth in Leinster final
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Louth boss Ger Brennan declares neutrality but admits his players cheered Meath on in semi-final against Dublin
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He spotted the Tyrone referee at Michaela McAreavey's wake the following year but it wasn't the time. There are, ultimately, more important things.
In December 2022, Sludden was elected Tyrone chairman. Fitzpatrick was Louth chairperson then, but their paths never crossed.
'Look, I would love to sit down with Martin Sludden and have a chat about it, I'm not going to be vicious or anything but I would like to sit down and chat to him.'
The inaction of others also rankled.
Manager Peter Fitzpatrick with Adrian Reid after Louth's All-Ireland SFC qualifier defeat to Dublin in 2010. Photograph: Donall Farmer/Inpho
'Croke Park should never have asked the Meath players to sort the situation out. They should have made the decision themselves but Croke Park hadn't the balls, they tried to palm the decision off.
'And I thought Louth County Board was very weak in representing us, we all felt let down by our own county board.
'If I was Central Council rep at the time, Louth would have got a replay, I certainly would have fought for it anyway.'
It is often forgotten in the discourse that this was a breakthrough Leinster final for Louth – a first appearance in the decider for 50 years.
They hadn't won the Delaney Cup since 1957. On that July afternoon in 2010, Louth's great longing was seconds away from fulfilment. With the finish line in sight, Croke Park grew taut and anxious. An emotional timebomb. Tick, tock, boom!
At least one Louth fan suffered a heart attack in the stadium that afternoon. Dismay and despair for those in red and white, but the scenes after the final whistle were unacceptable. A clearly angry Fitzpatrick had to gather himself to protect Sludden from furious Louth fans who had stormed the pitch. Two men were later convicted and each fined €1,000 for attacking the referee.
'What happened to him after the game should never have occurred,' says Fitzpatrick.
'It was utterly wrong, I could see the fear in his eyes. I tried to calm the whole thing down. He has a family too. It wasn't right.'
But there has always been enough blame to go around, Fitzpatrick has never shied away from that. He knows Louth had plenty of opportunities to win the game, to not allow the mess of Sheridan's injury-time goal to come about. Mistakes were made. Still, the outcome has never sat right with him.
They needed a draw to stay up but we beat them in the last round and that relegated Meath, so I suppose we got something in the end
—
Peter Fitzpatrick
'I'm not trying to be smart, but it is tarnished,' adds Fitzpatrick. 'Meath are officially 2010 Leinster champions but I have spoken to a few players since that day and some of them don't recognise it.'
Andy McDonnell, who came out of retirement at the start of this year, is the only survivor of from the game 15 summers ago. Bryan Menton was part of Meath's extended panel in 2010 but did not play.
Louth captain Sam Mulroy was 12 at the time and remembers bawling his eyes out at Croke Park. Current Meath manager Robbie Brennan watched the drama unfold from the Hogan Stand. The ties that bind.
Louth footballer Sam Mulroy was 12 in 2010. The nature of the county's Leinster final defeat to Meath left him in tears. Photograph: Leah Scholes/Inpho
But the fallout damaged both counties.
Fitzpatrick stepped down at the end of the 2012 season with Louth's standout result that year a nine-point league win over Meath.
'They needed a draw to stay up but we beat them in the last round and that relegated Meath, so I suppose we got something in the end,' he smiles.
Louth football drifted thereafter, eventually plummeting to Division 4. Meath spent one season in Division 3 and 14 years in Dublin's back pocket.
In 2019, Fitzpatrick took on the role of Louth chairman, setting off with a clear dual ambition – to get Louth's eternally delayed stadium built and to restructure the development squads to ensure the best players would ultimately graduate to play for the senior team.
Louth were going to build a Leinster SFC winning team upon solid foundations. From the ground up.
Fitzpatrick cast an ambitious net to find a senior manager. Jim Gavin was approached. Pat Gilroy too. In November 2020 Mickey Harte said yes. For three years, Harte and Gavin Devlin propelled Louth football forward.
Mickey Harte in 2023, during his time as Louth manager. Photograph: Lorraine O'Sullivan/Inpho
Fitzpatrick pauses and points over to a cluster of seats in the hotel lobby. That's where Harte, on a Monday morning in September 2023, bolted Fitzpatrick to the chair with news he was absconding to Derry. It could have derailed everything.
'I was obviously disappointed but Mickey was always open and honest with me, I have nothing but admiration for him, great work was done here and great structures put in place, it's just a pity the way it ended.
'I still think Mickey made a mistake leaving Louth because there was an awful lot more for him to achieve here.'
In our lifetime, it could be the biggest day in the history of Louth GAA
—
Peter Fitzpatrick
In finding a replacement for Harte, Fitzpatrick landed on Ger Brennan. On Sunday, the Dubliner could become a trailblazer.
Just over a week ago, Louth's under-20s beat Meath to claim a first Leinster title at that grade since 1981. Fitzpatrick played on the team 44 years ago. Last Wednesday night the Louth minors beat Dublin by 12 points to qualify for their Leinster final.
For the first time ever, Louth will contest Leinster finals in all three grades in the same season. Those landmark moments don't just happen.
It's a rising tide.
Donal McKenny celebrates with manager Ger Brennan after Louth's league victory against Meath earlier this year. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
The stadium has finally got the go-ahead from the GAA too. Having stepped down as chairman in 2023, if all goes to plan Fitzpatrick will return to a position on the board next year to help oversee the project to completion.
But on Sunday he will travel as a fan to Croke Park with his kids and grandkids.
'I'm not a good watcher,' he says. 'I'm dreadful, I'll be sweating. In our lifetime, it could be the biggest day in the history of Louth GAA.'
It will be a day when past and present collide.
'Here we both are again, Louth and Meath. But instead of harping back to 2010 all the time, wouldn't it be great to wake up on Monday morning and be talking about Louth as Leinster champions. That's the dream.'
After all the tossing and turning, there might just be one more sleep left.
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