The 1950 meeting between Kerry and Louth was the first in four decades

Back we go again, to the next senior championship meeting of the counties. It came another 40 years after the 1910 non-event. A resurgence that had begun in 1943 had Louth in a third All-Ireland semi-final, following defeats by Roscommon, in ’43, and Cavan, five years later.

There was great rivalry between Louth and Meath at the time, the Royals winning a three-match epic in a 1949 Leinster semi-final. Twelve months later, in the provincial final, that result was reversed, this time after two matches.

Stephen White was the first day hero with a late point - in the replay, the vital score in a 3-5 to 0-13 win came from Nicky Roe.

Down south, Kerry had a goal win over Cork in the Munster final, thus setting the scene for their first-ever meeting with Louth in an All-Ireland semi-final. The crowd was huge, and, as expected, exchanges were keen.

Kerry had the better of things in the first half, leading by 0-7 to 0-2 at the change-over. Louth had more to offer in the second half, however, and with Sean Thornton brilliant in goals, his display making him the Irish Independent’s first-ever Sportstar of the Week, the game swung away from the Munster champions.

It ended 1-7 to 0-8 for Louth, qualifying them for the final with Mayo.

What happened in that game was chronicled at length here a fortnight ago. In short, Mayo won by 2-6 to 1-5, Nicky Roe scored all but one point of his side’s total, and, of course, there was controversy, Louth claiming Mick Flanagan over-ran the ball before scoring the deciding goal.

Three years later, the sides were back in Croker for another All-Ireland semi-final, Louth having beaten Wexford in the Leinster showpiece. And there was also room on the programme for the county minors; their provincial win was at the expense of Kildare.

Just over 64,000 turned up for the double-header, the day beginning poorly for Louth with the under-18s going down to a Clare team, which, it’s said, had players involved who were lucky not to be asked to produce their birth certificates, and may have spoken with a Kerry accent (another Louth whinge.)

The day wasn’t any better for the Louth seniors, at least not in the opening half. The Wee County scored the opening two points, but then conceded three goals to go in at the break losing by 3-1 to 0-5.

Minutes before the short whistle, the selectors felt a critical situation needed a roll of the dice. Fr Kevin Connolly had sat on the bench for most of the opening half, but hadn’t appeared in the team photo taken before the game.

At the time the hierarchy forbade priests from playing inter-county football.

It’s not known if Ravensdale-born Kevin looked to the heavens before agreeing to come in for his Cooley Kickhams colleague, Hughie O’Rourke, the referee having been told the No 16 was Kevin McArdle; but he played in the second half as if showered with divine inspiration.

Covering every blade of the Croke Park turf on his side of the field – but not too generous with his distribution, according to someone close to the team – “McArdle” and his colleagues began to eat into the Kerry lead.

And with the third quarter over, just two points divided the sides, 3-4 to 0-10. Kerry, however, had more to offer in the latter stages, and with Louth failing to add to their score, it ended 3-6 to 0-10.

An illustration of how lofty a position Louth occupied in the pecking order at the time, within four years another Leinster title was added, followed by the biggest prize of the lot.

Today’s generation of county team supporters can only imagine what it must have been like to be following county teams in those days.

That said, it’s good to be back with championship fixtures against teams such as Kerry, Mayo and Cork, and whether or not it ends the season for the county team, Sunday’s game will see Louth closer to the top rung than has been the case for years.