Louth maintained their Division 2 status by the skin of their teeth on Sunday, after a surprisingly comprehensive victory over rivals Meath at their adopted home of Grattan Park in Monaghan.
The Wee County went into the massive final day game against one of the fancied teams to reach the final, knowing that victory would just about preserve their place in Division 2 over Down by virtue of points difference.
With a remarkably ruthless performance, Ger Brennan's side upset the odds, and a first-half flurry of scores was enough to see them over the line. Leading by 11 at half-time, Louth's lead had been cut to five by the full-time whistle. But, crucially, they will be playing Division 2 football in 2026.
In maintaining their Division 2 status, Louth also cost their local rivals promotion to Division 1.
The minnows fought their way to safety without captain Sam Mulroy or All-Star Craig Lennon, two of the vital cogs of the team which reached the Leinster SFC final and All-Ireland quarter-finals last summer.
It was for those reasons that Peter Canavan chose them as their standout team in Division 2, despite their sixth-placed finish.
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Peter Canavan makes surprise selection of Louth as standout Division 2 performers
23 March 2025; Daire McConnon of Louth celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the Allianz Football League Division 2 match between Louth and Meath at Grattan Park in Inniskeen, Monaghan. Photo by Daire Brennan/Sportsfile
Speaking on RTÉ's GAA Podcast this week, Peter Canavan explained his somewhat surprising statement that Louth were the standout performers of this Division 2 campaign.
The Tyrone legend said that the manner in which Louth had upset the odds without some of their most important players had made their charge to safety made their performances the most impressive of all eight teams in the division.
To me, the success story of Division 2 has been Louth.
When you look at the amount of players that they are missing, for a team to come up, I would have thought, 'There's not a chance that they're going to manage to survive.'
There's a lot of quality teams there in Division 2. Even yesterday, minus Mulroy, minus Craig Lennon, and a number of other players, they've been decimated for the past 3-4 games but they've held their own and continued to play good football.
They're playing with a lot of cohesion and a lot of togetherness.
Kudos to Ger Brennan for how he's kept those men at it. They're going to be playing Division 2 football again next year.
Manager Brennan certainly deserves huge credit for the job he has done with Louth this year, with the team's achievement in staying afloat in Division 2 arguably as impressive as their exploits in the All-Ireland last year.
It will be another huge challenge for them to reach Sam Maguire again this year but, should they reach the Leinster final, they will be there yet again.
Their championship campaign gets underway against either Wexford or Laois on April 13th in the Leinster SFC quarter-final.
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