Inside Track: Over seven decades since Louth last played Mayo in championship

This year’s Louth senior footballers’ championship season has had a plethora of questions surrounding it.  How long is it since there was a win over Dublin? Who was captain for the 2010 final with Meath? Has there been a win over Cork since the ’57 All-Ireland final? That sort of thing.

This one can be added to the list: When did Louth last play Mayo in the knock-out? It’s being asked quite of often since the draw for the All-Ireland preliminaries was made a few weeks ago. The Westerners are in the same group as Mickey Harte’s team, and next weekend the sides meet in Castlebar.

It’s not exactly a knock-out tie; regardless of how the match results, both sides will be out again a fortnight later, Louth playing Kerry at a neutral venue. And that, of course, will again have quizzers donning their thinking caps. But let’s leave that one there for the time being.

And the last Louth/Mayo tie? It’s as many as 73 years ago. It holds a special place in the GAA annals, because it was an All-Ireland final, the 1950 renewal.

This was at a time when the Wee County was among the best in the country. There’d been All-Ireland semi-final appearances in 1943 and again five years later, and in 1949, the epic three-match clash with Meath in the Leinster semi-final. After that, the 1950s brought with them two further Leinster wins, and, of course, an ’57 All-Ireland win.

Meath progressed to win the ’49 provincial title, beating Westmeath in the final, but there was an even greater reward down the line for the Royals. Their clash with Cavan was the first between neighbouring counties in an All-Ireland final, and by winning Meath took custody of the Sam Maguire for the first time.

Louth avenged the 1949 defeat twelve months later, beating Meath in a replayed Leinster final, with Ardee’s Nicky Roe scoring the winning point from a free. Kerry were next up, and again Louth were in form, winning by 1-7 to 0-8.

Meanwhile, Mayo were showing the others the way home in Connacht, winning the Nestor Cup for the third year running with a win over Roscommon. They then easily put paid to Armagh’s hopes on a score of 3-9 to 0-6.

Mayo were going for a second All-Ireland win, Louth for a third, when the sides met at Croke Park on September 24th. The crowd was huge, 76,176, and referee was Cavan’s Simon Deignan, who had played in the final the previous year, having won All-Irelands before that.

This wasn’t unusual for the time, current players refereeing finals. Meath’s Peter McDermott, “The Man With The Cap”, was another who had a change of jerseys on the big day, around the same time.

There’s little doubt that had Louth won instead of losing by 2-5 to 1-6, or, if it the game not been embroiled in controversy, it would have been seen as Nicky Roe’s day.

In playing himself to near exhaustion on the forty before being replaced by his St Mary’s clubmate, Ray ‘Gua’ Mooney, Roe scored all but one point of Louth’s total.

Did Mick Flanagan over-carry the ball on his way to scoring Mayo’s second goal late in the game? Louth supporters and many neutrals were adamant that he did.

And while the aftermath was nothing to compare with that which followed the 2010 Leinster final, any talk of the final centred on the Mayo winning goal for years afterwards, at least in this part of the country.

The only link your writer can make between the 1950 team and the one that lines out at Castlebar this weekend is the number of clubs with representatives on both. If there are others, let us know. The address is at the top of this page.

The 1950 line-up: Sean Thornton (Civil Service, Dublin); Michael ‘Huckle’ Byrne (St Bride’s), Tom Conlon, captain (Stabannon P), Jimmy Tuft (Young Irelands); Paddy McArdle (St Mary’s), Pat Markey (St Mary’s), Sean Boyle (St Mary’s); Jack Regan (Dundalk Gaels), Frank Reid (Dundalk Gaels); Jimmy McDonnell (Darver Volunteers), Nicky Roe (St Mary’s), Stephen White (Young Irelands); Roger Lynch (Geraldines), Hubert Reynolds (Dundalk Gaels), Mickey Reynolds (Stabannon P). 

Ray Mooney and Mickey McDonnell (Darver Volunteers) came in as subs.