Louth attacker Ciarán Downey says the reigning Leinster football champions have finally got their house in order and could realistically win an All-Ireland "in the next five, six years".
The in-form forward acknowledged that Louth used to be a yo-yo county that spent years bouncing between the divisions.
But they've made huge strides in recent seasons under Mickey Harte, Ger Brennan and current boss Gavin Devlin.
The Wee County will host Derry in Ardee on Saturday afternoon in a crucial National Football League Division 2 encounter.
Derry are joint-top of the table and know that two more wins will secure their return to Division 1.
But a home win for Louth, who are fresh off big victories over Tyrone and Cavan, would propel them right into the mix for promotion too.
Downey, who hit Cavan for 1-04 last time out, bringing his league takings to 2-11, said reaching Division 1 and even pushing hard for Sam Maguire Cup success is achievable.
"I know Sam Mulroy got a bit of stick a few years ago for mentioning, 'Why can't we win an All-Ireland?'" said Downey.
"Of course there's a long way to go between here now and getting there. There's definitely a lot in the middle to cover first. But our goal isn't just to be a Division 2 team.
"We're an ambitious group and we believe that we can mix it with anybody in Ireland.
"It's about consistently getting there and challenging at that level and taking the scalps when they come. I wouldn't be ruling us out, that we can't win an All-Ireland in the next five, six years."
It comes down to a simple comparison for Downey (above), if neighbours Monaghan regularly contend for honours, then why not Louth?
Monaghan have less than half the population of Louth, yet have competed in four Ulster finals in the last 13 seasons, winning two. In that same period, they have played in Division 1 for 10 seasons and contested two All-Ireland semi finals.
"We have more of a population than Monaghan and look at how they've maxed out and got the best out of their players, out of their playing pool," said Downey.
"There are 60,000 people in Drogheda, there are 50,000 in Dundalk. We can definitely start to get into these regions a bit more and, in fairness, I think we're doing that now."
That's where Downey himself comes in, as a GAA development coach at St Oliver's Community School in Drogheda.
It's a new job for him after the school devised a 'programme to support excellence in Gaelic football' for its 1,600 students.
"A new state of the art training facility has been opened in Drogheda, the Drogheda Sports Dome," said Downey, referencing the giant structure adjoining the nearby St Nick's club grounds on the Rathmullan Road.
"It's open to St Oliver's as part of the programme and has been brilliant. With the weather conditions we've had, it's been no problem because we can train indoor full-time, basically.
"It's a bit shorter than the dome in Connacht but it's not a million miles off that and we're very lucky to have that on our doorstep."
Positive stories like that are popping up all around Louth. And with all of the county's flagship football teams making solid progress and construction ongoing on the county's new stadium in Dundalk, things are looking good.
"We probably neglected a lot of that for 20, 30 years, there's no point saying any different," said Downey.
"That wasn't through any badness or fault of people, they were trying but definitely when you get a bit of success and have people all on the same page, it makes things a little easier. There's definitely a clearer train of thought now."
Downey puts a lot of the progress, certainly the senior team's, down to the arrival of Mickey Harte (above) in late 2020. The Tyrone legend may have frustrated supporters when he left for this weekend's opponents Derry after the 2023 season, but he did get a ball rolling that hasn't yet stopped.
"There are some lads on our panel for the last 11, 12 years and when Mickey and Gavin came in first together, we're kind of counting back from then," he said.
"A bit of a project started then and the amount of movement that has happened in that five years, in terms of facilities, how the team is treated, how we act as players, it really is night and day.
"Peter Fitzpatrick was chairman at the time and he deserves an awful lot of credit. I don't know how many men would have gone chasing Mickey Harte at the time, and then to be able to get him. Peter had big aspirations for us as a county and he got him. The lads came in and really started to get into the belly of the structures, improving the facilities as I said, and showing us how to act as Division 1 counties do. It was all new information for us. We were at the bottom of Division 4 at the time so we couldn't go any lower really."
Fast forward back to the present and Louth know that if they can beat Derry this weekend and overcome Kildare in the final round of group games, they'll have a great chance of promotion. Then it'll be on to the championship and the defence of the Leinster title.
"It is a possibility," said Downey of getting up to Division 1. "Obviously we've left ourselves with a little bit to do after losing to Cork and Meath but we're after bouncing back with two wins. It's a massive game now on Saturday, the same for Derry.
"It's a bit more straightforward for Derry because they know they just need the wins. We'd obviously need other results to go our way but there's a lot on the line on Saturday for sure."
Louth should have Ryan Burns available for the Derry date. Burns hit 0-04 against Cavan but came off early in the second half with an apparent injury.
"He seems OK," said Downey. "I think it was more so just precaution the last day. He was under the weather and the body can be under more pressure then. There were a few boys in the same boat but I'd be hopeful enough he'll be OK."
Watch Kerry v Mayo in the Allianz Football League on Saturday from 3.45pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on the RTÉ News app and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
Watch Allianz League Sunday from 9.35pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on all matches on the RTÉ News app and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
