Ger Brennan says Louth triumph compares favourably with anything he's done as a player

RTÉ News​

11-05-2025

Ger Brennan was full of pride for his players after guiding Louth to a first Leinster title since 1957 at Croke Park.
And Brennan, who landed two Celtic Crosses in the Sky Blue of Dublin and another couple with his club St Vincent's, said the feeling compared favourably to anything he had experienced in winning All-Irelands as a player.
The Wee County timed their run to perfection against the Royals, scoring three points in the final eight minutes to come from one down and win by two.
"This is up here with winning an All-Ireland with my club and an All-Ireland with my county as a player. This is just incredible," Brennan told RTÉ Sport afterwards.
"Context is key. This is 68 years. It's 68 years for the people of Louth not to have won something and it's just incredible."
"Sixty-eight years is a long time. It's a long, long time for the people of Louth."
"It's up there with winning an All-Ireland as a player with Dublin"
Louth manager Ger Brennan chats to @damien_omeara
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And while the sense of history was weighing heavily on Brennan's shoulders shortly after the game, he made sure to heap praise on his players, who have written themselves into the folklore of the county.
"What a bunch of players to be able to find a way just to dig it out," Brennan continued.
"Meath had momentum in both halves but our lads they just managed to find a way. They never give up, they never give in and that resolve is just incredible and these lads have it in spades.
"I'm just delighted for the clubs, schools, development squad managers, even previous management, all the work that's gone into developing these boys.
"To be part of it here today with the management team, the a backroom team, it's a privilege."
While the celebrations are likely to last a few days, Brennan knows that there's still a bigger prize on offer later in the summer for Louth.
They're in an All-Ireland group with Clare, Monaghan and Down and already, thoughts have turned to tweaks that might be needed to go far in the Sam Maguire race.
"We were quite economic with the ball in hand. I wish we could grow in the games a bit quicker as we did in Inniskeen in [NFL] round seven but look, we'll keep working on it. It's something to work on for two weeks' time but we just have to enjoy the celebrations over the next few days."
For opposite number Robbie Brennan, there was that sense of a missed opportunity for his players, who had put themselves into an early three-point lead before conceding three first-half goals.
They battled back to lead once more inside the last 10 minutes, but Louth offered more from there to land the Delaney Cup.
"Hugely disappointing, but at the same time massively proud of the lads and they effort they put in," he told RTÉ Sport afterwards.
"They should be really proud of themselves and hopefully the supporters feel that too.
"At times we looked comfortable in that first half but the concession of the three goals are always going to leave you chasing and they didn't give us enough time to control the game as much as we'd have liked to.
"That's sport, it didn't go our way today unfortunately. [Mathew Costello's goal] was a big one and we were hoping that it would give us that little bit of momentum.
"More credit to Louth, they swung it back in their favour again. That's the sign of a really good experienced team, and fair play to them for that."
On being asked if it would be hard to regroup his players for an All-Ireland group featuring Kerry, Roscommon and Cork, Brennan added: "I don't think so, they're such a young group. They should be proud of what they've achieved.
"A huge 70,000 people in Croke Park coming to watch us play, that's a massive thing. We'll take time to reflect for a day or two but we'll be back up and at it and ready to go for Cork."