Louth GAA

infobox GAA county
county gaa = Louth GAA
crest =
irish = "Lughbhadh" or "An Lú"
province = Leinster
nickname = The Wee County
chairman = Paddy Oliver
county colours = Red and white
grounds = Drogheda Park, Drogheda
dominant sport = Gaelic football
nfl div = Division 1B
nhl div = Division 3
football champ = Sam Maguire Cup
hurling champ = Nicky Rackard Cup
ladies football =
camogie =
pattern_la=_whiteshoulders |pattern_b=_thinwhitesides |pattern_ra=_whiteshoulders
leftarm=ff0000 |body=ff0000 |rightarm=ff0000 |shorts=FFFFFF |socks=ff0000
|The Louth County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( _ga. Cummann Luthchleas Gael Coiste 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. The county board is also responsible for the Louth inter-county teams The current county champions are St. Patrick's from the Lordship area beating bitter peninsula rivals Cooley Kickhams with ease in yet another county final. The 2008 Final is to be played on Sunday with Mattock Rangers and Newton Blues of Drogheda.

History

A fragment of a poem from 1806 records a football match between Louth and Fermanagh at Inniskeen, Co Monaghan.

Gaelic football

Louth invented team-training for big Gaelic football matches. When they 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 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 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. Both Ardee men tossed a coin to see who would captain the team. O'Brien won the toss. 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. Dermot O'Brien died on 21st of May 2007.

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.

Trivia

The Louth GAA crest features the landmark M1 Motorway bridge which crosses the River Boyne west of Drogheda.

Honours

*All-Ireland Senior Football Championships: 3
**1910, 1912, 1957

*All-Ireland Minor Football Championships: 2
**1940

*All-Ireland Junior Football Championships: 4
**1964

*Leinster Senior Football Championships: 8
**1909, 1910, 1912, 1943, 1948, 1950, 1953, 1957

*Leinster Minor Football Championships: 8
**1931, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1951, 1953

*Owen Treacy Cup: 1
**2006

*Tommy Murphy Cup: 1
**2006

Hurling

Honours

*All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championship 2
**1976, 1977

Camogie

Honours

External links

* [http://www.hoganstand.com/Louth/ Louth on Hoganstand.com]
* [http://www.hoganstand.com/Louth/Profile.aspx National and provincial titles won by Louth teams]
* [http://louth.gaa.ie/ Louth GAA site]