Former Louth manager and county board chairman Peter Fitzpatrick hailed an historic day for Louth and, in the wake of a first Leinster title in 68 years, declared he would not speak of 2010 again.
Fitzpatrick was the manager 15 years ago when a controversial goal from Meath's Joe Sheridan denied Louth a provincial crown, but the exploits of the 2025 crop - at senior, Under-20 and minor level - mean that Louth football is now focussed on the future, not the past.
Fitzpatrick was in the Hogan Stand for what he described as "one of the best days" of his life and on RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland he explained how the building blocks were put in place back in 2020.
"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.
"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 last five years."
Once Harte left for Derry in 2023, Fitzpatrick and Louth once more looked outside the county.
"With the help of Pat Gilroy and Jim Gavin we went away and got Ger Brennan to manage the Louth senior football team and the rest is history."
With plans for a new stadium once more in motion, Fitzpatrick insisted that Louth's success is built on coordinated planning.
"It's all about systems. In the last number of years we put good coaches over the seniors, U20s and U17s. And the amount of work that has been done by everyobody in Louth, the management teams, the coaches, the county board, everybody.
"Last night in Dundalk, the crowd that turned up to give the homecoming to that team, they fully deserved it."
Fitzpatrick (above) added: "This team has a lot more to achieve. There is a conveyor belt coming. It's all to do with structures, if you don't put the structures in place and have the right structures in place you're going nowhere."
Louth selector Niall Moyna said 2010 was never spoken of by the players or management ahead of Sunday's final, but the memories of that day would have been prevalent for the likes of Fitzpatrick and many Louth fans ahead of the weekend.
Fitzpatrick now insists that loss to neighbours Meath is well and truly consigned to history.
"2010 is gone, it's about 2025 and going forward," he said.
"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's Road."
