Louth GAA
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| Irish: | Lughbhadh An Lú |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s): | The Wee County |
| Province: | Leinster |
| Dominant sport: | Gaelic football |
| Ground(s): | DEFY Páirc Mhuire |
| County colours: | Red White |
| Executive | |
| Chairman: | Seán McClean |
| County teams | |
| NFL: | Division 2 |
| NHL: | Division 3A |
| Football Championship: | Sam Maguire Cup |
| Hurling Championship: | Lory Meagher Cup |
The Louth County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) (Irish: Cumann Lúthchleas Gael, Coiste Chontae an Lú) or Louth GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Louth.
It oversees competitions such as the Louth Senior Football Championship (SFC), Louth Intermediate Football Championship (IFC), Louth Junior Football Championship (JFC) and Louth Senior Hurling Championship (SHC), as well as numerous underage and secondary competitions.
The county board is also responsible for the Louth county teams in both football and hurling. The county football team won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) in 1910, 1912 and again in 1957.
Governance
[edit]The officials who have chaired the Board since the establishment of the Gaelic Athletic Association are named below.
Elections for Chairman and other positions take place at the board's annual convention and are held at County headquarters in Darver.[1] The maximum term for any position under current county board rules is five years.
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Crest
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In 2010, the Drogheda Gaelic football club, O'Raghallaighs, tabled a motion for convention calling for the Boyne Valley Cable Bridge symbol to be removed from the Louth GAA crest because of the bridge's main location being in the neighbouring county of Meath; this led to the county crest being changed to a simpler version.[3]
Football
[edit]Clubs
[edit]Clubs contest the Louth Senior Football Championship. That competition's most successful club is Newtown Blues, with 23 titles.
Dundalk Young Irelands is the county's oldest GAA club.[4] The club represented Louth in the first All-Ireland Football final which was played at Beech Hill on 29 April 1888 against Limerick Commercials.[5]
County team
[edit]The earliest recorded inter-county football match took place in 1712 when Louth faced Meath at Slane.[citation needed] A fragment of a poem from 1806 records a football match between Louth and Fermanagh at Inniskeen, Co Monaghan.[citation needed]
When Louth GAA sent the team into training in Dundalk for the 1913 Croke Memorial replay under a soccer trainer from Belfast, the move caused more than a ripple through the Association. For thirty years full-time training in bursts of a week or so before a big match were common. After that the two or three times a week gatherings became more popular.
Between 1945 and 1953 Louth and Meath met 13 times. The crowds got bigger and bigger each time as they played draw after draw in the Championship. The attendance of 42,858 at a thrilling 1951 replay remained a record for a provincial match other than a final for forty years the four match series between Meath and Dublin in 1991. The rivalry with Meath has never fizzled out, as witnessed by a stirring Leinster SFC semi-final in 1998. Nor has controversy, as witnessed by Graham Geraghty's "wide" 45th minute point.
In 1957 showband star Dermot O'Brien was late for the All-Ireland SFC final and joined the team when the parade was completed. Prior to the game O'Brien had captained the side in the semi-final success, when the regular captain Patsy Coleman had been injured very early in the season, leaving O'Brien to resume his previous role as captain. Coleman today still has the match ball. O'Brien played a key role as Louth beat Cork with the help of a goal from Sean Cunningham with five minutes to go. As both Cork and Louth wear Red and White, on that day Louth wore the green of Leinster, while Cork wore the blue of Munster. Dermot O'Brien died on 22 May 2007.
On 27 June 2010, Louth reached their first Leinster SFC final in 50 years. During the decider, which was played on 11 July that year, anger and controversy erupted when, during the 74th minute of the match against Meath, a goal was awarded by the referee after brief consultation with only one of the match umpires (although close circuit camera evidence shown on RTÉ Two's coverage of the game proved that the ball was carried over the line by a Meath player). However, Meath received the 2010 Leinster Title and the cup. More on that in the main article linked above.
Hurling
[edit]Clubs
[edit]Clubs contest the Louth Senior Hurling Championship. That competition's most successful club is Naomh Moninne, with 22 titles.
County team
[edit]The Louth hurling team plays its championship hurling in the Nicky Rackard Cup. The Louth hurlers finished as runner-up to London in the 2005 final at Croke Park, and to Sligo in 2008. In 2016, they competed in the Lory Meagher Cup, defeating Sligo in the final 4–15 to 4–11, and Fermanagh in the 2020 final by 2–19 to 2–8.[6]
By winning the 2022 Lory Meagher Cup, Louth became the first team to win that competition on three occasions.[7]
Camogie
[edit]Louth contested two All Ireland senior finals. Fr Tom Soraghan was zealously promoting the game in Darver, where players such as Ros Quigley and her Darver team-mates were involved. Other notable players include junior player of the year winner in 1982 Vivianne Kelley. As of 2025, the manager of Louth is Donal Kelly and his side operate in Division 3A of the National Camogie League.[8]
Under Camogie's National Development Plan 2010-2015, "Our Game, Our Passion",[9] Carlow, Cavan, Laois, Louth and Roscommon were to get a total of 17 new clubs by 2015.[10]
Louth has the following achievements in camogie.
- All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship runners-up: 1934, 1936
Ladies' football
[edit]Louth has a ladies' football team.[11]
Further reading
[edit]- Mulligan, Fr John (1984). The GAA in Louth - An Historical Record.
- Mulligan, Fr John (2000). The GAA in Louth - An Historical Record (updated).
References
[edit]- ^ "Seán McClean elected Louth GAA chairman at a fraught Convention where officers clash". The Argus. 16 December 2023.
- ^ "Short History Of Louth G.A.A. Clubs". Drogheda Independent. 10 July 1954.
- ^ "Review of the Year (November): Cable bridge gets the boot from Louth county crest - Independent.ie". independent.ie. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
- ^ "What a year for Louths most famous club". Hogan Stand. 30 December 2010. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
- ^ "Final Recalled". The Argus. 15 June 2001.
- ^ Mooney, Francis (4 June 2016). "Late goal blitz secures Lory Meagher Cup for Louth". rte.ie. Archived from the original on 27 May 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
- ^ "Wicklow win Tailteann Cup opener, Croke Park hurling glory for Tyrone and Louth". The42.ie. 21 May 2022.
- ^ Welsh, Paul (22 February 2025). "Ruthless Wicklow power past Louth in Camogie National League opener". The Argus.
- ^ "Final goal for camogie". Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. 29 March 2010. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
- ^ National Development Plan 2010-2015, Our Game, Our Passion information page on camogie.ie Archived 2010-09-01 at the Wayback Machine, pdf download (778k) from Camogie.ie download site Archived 2011-09-16 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Refreshing Louth begin the Kit Henry era with a clinical LGFA NFL victory at home to Longford". Drogheda Independent. 22 January 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
External links
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