Dessie Dolan believes that the biggest task facing Louth manager Ger Brennan is to bring his side back to earth after their Leinster Championship final triumph.
Louth made history at Croke Park on Sunday as they claimed their first Leinster SFC title since 1957, with a 3-14 to 1-18 victory over Meath.
Brennan's side advance now to Group 3 of the All-Ireland SFC, along with Clare, Monaghan and Down, and will play the Farney first on May 24/25.
The Louth boss has two weeks to reset things within his squad as they prepare for the All-Ireland campaign and Dolan feels that will be easier said than done.
Dolan, who won the Leinster Championship with Westmeath in 2004, said: "It's a tricky thing to come down," while speaking on the RTÉ GAA Podcast.
"I remember we won Leinster in 2004 and we were playing Derry. We should have beaten Derry, but to be honest, I think we ran our course. We were happy with our lot at that stage.
"You got that sense from the [Westmeath] players. Even though there was another opportunity for us, the celebrations were kind of drifting on with the excitement.
"The hardest thing for Ger Brennan to do, and he will probably try to do it next weekend, is get the players away somewhere.
"Get them to a hotel down the country where there's no one around and try to get them to regroup and get ready for the All-Ireland series.
"It's a very, very quick turnaround, but at the same time, there's the other side of that. Their confidence is sky high now and they start with their hardest game against Monaghan."
Dolan believes that if Brennan can get Louth to refocus and reset, that they can go far in this year’s All-Ireland series.
"Three teams get out of the group and Louth are absolutely going to get out of the group, but I suppose it's where their ambitions lie now.
"They're a very tough team to break down, that's the platform that was built under with Mickey Harte.
"People were wondering with the new rules, how to adapt to it. But with the quality players that they have, they have figured it out, they have a style of play that works for them and they go zonal around the arc, so they're hard to break and then they counterattack.
"They're very honest, very hardworking, they have a lot of experience in the team that will stick at it and they'll be in the match at the last 15, 20 minutes."
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