Fitzpatrick vows never to speak of 2010 again

Peter Fitzpatrick insists 2010 ‘is gone’ after Louth ended their Leinster SFC famine.

The former Louth manager and county board chairman was one of the proudest men in Croke Park on Sunday after the Wee County finally laid the ghost of Joe Sheridan’s infamous last-minute winning goal in the 2010 provincial final to rest against neighbours Meath.

"2010 is gone, it's about 2025 and going forward," he declared on RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland.

"I won't even speak about 2010 anymore. After the game I met Joe Sheriden's dad and we had a great wee chat on Jones' Road."

The ex-Fine Gael TD believes the foundations for Louth’s current success – they remain on course to complete a clean sweep of Leinster senior, U20 and minor titles – were laid in 2020 when they appointed Mickey Harte as manager.

"I always believed Louth had the players to do this here. Most important thing for a very small county, we needed to get the best players playing for Louth,” he said.

"In 2020, in Division 4, we had the foresight to go away and chase Mickey Harte and Cathal Devlin from Tyrone. Mickey was just after being let go by Tyrone, Louth were at a very low point. The gratitude that we owe Mickey and Gavin, they did a lot of work over the last five years."

He continued: "With the help of Pat Gilroy and Jim Gavin we went away and got Ger Brennan to manage the Louth senior football team (after Harte departed in 2023) and the rest is history."