8 hours ago
Sam Mulroy doubles down on brave All-Ireland claim he ‘took a lot of slack for' after inspiring Louth to Leinster glory
SAM MULROY is determined to secure a second date with his silver namesake after a summer of love so far.
The
neighbours
Meath in last month's
2
Louth footballer Sam Mulroy poses for a portrait at the national launch of the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Series
Credit: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
2
Louth footballer Sam Mulroy poses for a portrait with the Sam Maguire Cup at the national launch of the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Series
Credit: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
On a day when the country fell back in love with the maligned provincial
Championship
,
With
Dublin
aiming for a 15th Delaney Cup in a row, the public's
relationship
with the Leinster Championship had turned sour.
But Louth's heroics — after Meath had
Mulroy got his hands on Sam Maguire at the launch of the All-Ireland knockout series this week before a preliminary quarter-final trip to
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And the confident hitman has reiterated his belief that the Wee County can take home the big prize for the first time since 1957, a claim he reveals he has copped flak for.
He said: 'Absolutely, I took a little bit of slack for it before, which was fine but I suppose it was a case of putting it out there into the world and saying, 'Why could we not be in contention?'
'The group's gone about doing the
work
to put us in contention and to play in these games. Obviously last week Meath beat
Kerry
and they beat Dublin.
'They're results you wouldn't be calling maybe last year with the rule changes and the two-pointers and the expansive game.
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'So I don't think you can rule anything out going into the
next
few weeks.'
Winning Leinster for just the ninth time in their
history
understandable took its toll.
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The hangover carried into the All-Ireland group stages as back-to-back defeats against Monaghan and Down left their
summer
hanging by a thread.
Ger Brennan's men did the
business
in the final round against Clare, but only just.
They eventually banished the Banner 2-17 to 2-14 last weekend to advance in third.
Mulroy said: 'Winning Leinster has been the main goal over the last number of years for this group. I suppose when you get there and you do it, maybe there is a case of coming down a little bit.
'There was obviously a lot of celebrating going on for a few days after but you have to, because it took a long time to get there and you have to enjoy it and live in the moment.
'But our performances against Monaghan and Down weren't up to scratch and we knew going into last weekend that we had to win to save the Championship.
'I don't know if we played better that way with our backs against the wall a little bit, but maybe it was the best thing for us.
'I thought at times last week we were good, so hopefully we're coming back to some sort of form.
'It's 68 years, so for the people of Louth it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing for a lot of people.
'Hopefully the gap is not as big the next time. I suppose it's hard to get back on track, maybe, even just for people around the county and talking about it and not getting caught up in that.
'We were back training on the Wednesday, obviously with a job to do and we knew we were going into a tough group.
'It was a case of maybe you didn't get to bask in it as much as you'd like, but we enjoyed the few days we got.'
TOP MARKS
Mulroy has the mindset of a top marksman as, despite firing a number of wides against the Royals, he still ran up a huge total.
The Naomh Máirtín hotshot admits putting those off-target efforts behind him was key, allowing him to
fire
a two-point free in the 65th minute to move Louth ahead of their neighbours and put one hand on the Delaney Cup.
The 27-year-old said: 'Moments come and pass and it's trying to stay on track and not get too caught up in it.
'By the time I took the last kick, I'd completely forgotten about the few before.
'The few I missed at the start of the second half, when you're watching the clips back with the boys at the Wednesday training, you're like, 'Why did I
take that
shot' or, 'What was I doing there?'
'You nearly forget about them and I think that's an ability and a skill that you develop over the years.
'Not getting too high and not getting too low with your shots or your chances or whatever it is because the game's so fast.
'There's no time. A younger Sam maybe would've dwelled on them and let it get to me and affect me.
'But I suppose now as I've grown as a player, I've definitely learned to just move on and forget about it.'
Louth have a free shot tomorrow. And their
star
man is full of belief ahead of their trip to Ballybofey for a battle of the Ulster and Leinster champs.
They are familiar foes too with Louth asking plenty of questions of Jim McGuinness' side in an All-Ireland quarter-final loss last year.
Mulroy said: 'I will putting that message to the group that we're not going up to Ballybofey for the craic or to fulfil a fixture.
'We're in a preliminary quarter-final for the All-Ireland series and we played in a quarter-final at Croke Park last year, so it's a case of let's try and go better again this year and progress as a team.
'It won't be, 'Let Donegal go through into a quarter-final'.
'It was either Killarney, Croke Park against Dublin or Ballybofey against Donegal so the options weren't massively in our favour.
'It was always going to be a tough test no matter who we got, but you see there's an opportunity and you try to say how are we going to go about winning this game.
'That's the case now. so we'll do our best to prepare and hopefully we'll give it our all.'
