In mid-April an injured Sam Mulroy watched Louth struggle to get past Laois in the Leinster championship.
Mulroy had been sidelined with a hamstring injury and proved a very frustrated supporter at Cedral St Conleth's Park that day, as two second-half goals finally put a steely Laois challenge away.
The Louth and Naomh Mairtin captain was born to run free on the fields. With a dynamic engine and powerful kicking style, he has been one of the most impressive players in the game this decade.
The gym owner and personal trainer knew that rushing back from injury wouldn’t be the wisest of decisions, but it was hard to keep calm on the line.
"There were a few times in that Laois game where I nearly jumped the hoarding in Newbridge and joined the game," he told RTÉ Sport.
"It was very tough being sidelined and the injury needed time to recover and a lot of work, but you can’t rush it either. That’s the main thing."
When he got back against Kildare his patience made all the difference.
Lacking match sharpness, he was surprisingly named at full forward, roaming out on the field he contributed 0-07.
This was in a game where Louth only had three points to spare over the Lilywhites.
It was crucial to have him back in the ranks because Louth have, thus far, fielded 14 players in 2025 that didn’t feature last year.
This includes an entire new batch of eight young players.
Throw in the fact that their Under-20 side has now conquered Leinster, and their minor team are also flying high, it’s no surprise that the senior team reaching a third senior provincial final on the spin has seen the Wee County go football crazy.
There was a time in the past where promising young Gaelic footballers may have been swayed by the strong local soccer scene, and the possibilities that scene may have held, but in the last few years there is nothing but positivity everywhere in the underage and senior ranks.
Players like Mulroy, Craig Lennon and Tommy Durnin would grace any county team and the likes of Peter Lynch and Kieran McArdle look like serious footballers in their own right.
But after contesting successive Leinster finals, even though the 2024 defeat was the closest anyone had been to the Dubs in 12 years, there is now a huge drive to get over the line.
"A poor start has been a feature of our two games in the championship so far, and we will have to look into that and see what is going on," Mulroy said. "We are growing into games and taking positives from that, but we have been patchy too."
It’s put to Mulroy that they have shown serious resilience after coming from behind against both Laois and Kildare, but he says that’s a given.
"It’s in the DNA of our team to keep battling, no matter what the score or time of a game," he says.
"But after being in those two Leinster finals, a good start against Meath will be important as it settles you down.
"The truth is that in Gaelic football at this level you have to maximise every opportunity that comes your way.
"Staying in Division 2 was key, we want to stay near and at the top table for as long as possible and now there is another huge game coming our way."
Watch the Leinster Football Championship final, Meath v Louth, on Sunday from 3.45pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
