Former Irish Independent GAA Editor looks back on the 2010 final controversy and and the effect it may have had on Louth football

HOW could the gods be so spitefully vindictive? And why pick on the smallest county in the country as the target for their warped sense of humour?

Having issued Louth with gold-embossed invitations for seats at football’s top table, they warmly welcomed them at the door and showed them into the room. But just as Paddy Keenan and his colleagues were about to sit down, the chairs were snatched away to the sounds of mocking laughter. Sunday, 11 July 2010 had become a date that would never be forgotten in Louth.

A blunder by the referee and his umpires had done more than rob them of a first Leinster title for 53 years. It had shattered an entire county, as deep down the squad and supporters knew it was most unlikely that a similar opportunity would return any time soon.

Ten years on, they are still waiting for another Leinster final appearance. In fact, they haven’t even reached a semi-final since 2010.

The attempt to persuade the Leinster Council to order a rematch raised hopes for a few days, but with Meath showing no inclination to support the move, it was never going to happen.

Meath damaged their reputation for sportsmanship by not offering a re-match, even if it probably wouldn’t have been accepted. Louth pointed to a broadly similar situation from 1995 when the Carlow-Laois Leinster quarter-final was refixed after the winning ‘point’ by Laois was later shown to be wide.

Laois offered a re-fixture (which they won) and the Leinster Council went ahead with it, despite there being no provision in rule for such a big decision.

Louth quoted the 1995 precedent as part of their argument why a re-match should be ordered in 2010, but with Meath not following the Laois example, there was little the Leinster Council could do.

In fairness to Meath, it’s unlikely that the game would have been re-fixed even if they offered to play. There was a lot of unease around the Croke Park corridors of power over the Leinster Council decision in 1995, so repeating it 15 years later in an even more important game wasn’t really an option.

If another exception were made, where would it all end? Okay, so Meath’s winning goal was illegal, but if incorrect refereeing decisions were to become the basis for ordering re-matches, the fixtures’ schedules – both at club and county level – could become unworkable.

Understandably, Louth didn’t see it that way. The referee had admitted to the error so why should the goal stand? From their perspective, it was a case of a blatant mistake costing them a precious Leinster title, yet they were powerless to do anything about it.

It left players, management and supporters deeply frustrated as they reflected on what was probably the most bizarre day in the county’s history.

And if having the Leinster title snatched from them wasn’t disappointing enough, the fourth round qualifier draw matched them with Dublin. And in Croke Park too! Truly, their luck had run out.

The pain of losing the Leinster final and elimination from the

All-Ireland qualifiers was intensified by subsequent events. Having beaten Kildare by six points in the Leinster quarter-final, Louth looked on as the Lilywhites demolished Meath in the All-Ireland quarter-final.

Sympathy for their neighbours was in short supply as Louth reflected on what might have been in the quarter-final if they won the Leinster final.

Okay, so it’s unlikely they would have gone on to win the All-Ireland title, but a provincial crown, followed by a shot at further glory, would have been more than enough to make it a special season. Instead, they were left traumatised and disconsolate.

There are many in Louth who believe that the shattering experience in 2010 had a serious long-term impact on the squad, pointing to the Leinster quarter-final defeat by Carlow in the following season as an example of how it had deflated the players.

They may well have a point, but even if they had beaten Carlow and Wexford in 2011, it’s highly unlikely they would have matched Dublin in the Leinster final.

The reality was that 2010 provided their big chance. It was the first time since 2004 that Dublin hadn’t reached the provincial decider, having lost out to a Meath goal-fest in the semi-final.

Dublin’s grip on Leinster tightened again in the following season, leaving the 2010 campaign as the prime opportunity for all others in the province.

Louth thought they had done enough to take the chance, only to be denied in such devastating circumstances. The impact would be damaging and enduring.