RE-LIVING THE LEINSTER FINAL

John Savage: We’ll start with you Paddy because if you hadn’t saved Seamus Kenny’s shot and he hit the net, Meath would have won fair and square. You were right in the thick of it, so talk us through those few seconds from when the ball went in to the goal being given.

Paddy Keenan: We kind of hit the ground or whatever. You can kind of see in the photos, I ended up laying on the ground beside Joe Sheridan, and he I remember him having the ball in his hands, and I went to actually kick the ball out of his hands and I ended up catching him. You’ll see the interview with Joe Sheridan afterwards and he has a cut above his eye. I ended up giving him a boot right in the head because I was trying to kick the ball out of his hands and caught him square on the top of the eye. I remember he did try, in my opinion anyway, he tried to kick it in. He kind of threw the ball down to his foot and just swing the leg at it and missed the ball and that’s how he just ended up throwing it in. In my opinion he tried to kick it into the net but just missed it with everything that was going on.

Then I remember Brian White and Jobser (John O’Brien) and Aaron Hoey came running in. Then Sludden came running in and he just said put up the flag. That was all he said, ‘put up the flag, put up the flag’ and he gave the goal.

There was absolutely no consultation and I don’t remember him saying anything else apart from that. I knew straight away we were getting screwed. There was no turning him because he just walked straight in and told the umpire what to do. That was it.

JS: It was significant that they hadn’t already put up the flag, they normally would just grab it and not need to be told.

PK: Yeah, I’d say if you had the umpires, one on one, you know, and in a square room, they’d probably tell you that they knew it wasn’t a goal at the time and probably with the pressure and the panic and the mayhem that was going on and then with Sludden coming in to tell them to put up the flag, they just did what they were told. They were so close to it I don’t think they could have thought it was a legitimate goal to be honest with you.

JS: You knew?

PK: Definitely. And even the way the boys were reacting after that it was blatant the way it panned out, but certainly it wasn’t a goal from where I was lying.

JS: What about you Shane, you were obviously a lot further away from it, you were probably like everyone else in the ground and thought, something’s up here, but didn’t really know what had happened?

Shane Lennon: Yeah, I was actually off at that stage and I was a good bit away from it. We were that far away that we didn’t realise just how blatant it was. We knew it was well into injury time and that something happened, but we didn’t really know how bad it was until we got home and saw. People who saw it on TV were ringing and texting after the game to say what actually happened.

PK: Did we even see that night?

SL: I think it might have been on the bus that we actually saw pictures of it, and maybe recordings on Twitter and stuff like that.

But I remember like, like we knew it was controversial and we knew it was last-minute, well over time and then to just see how blatant it was, it was just unbelievable. There was probably a bit of a shock amongst the Louth players that it happened so late. But if Paddy had even blocked it and it spun up over the bar and it was a draw game we would have just went at it again. It was just an unbelievable block and then for it to fall directly to Sheridan, and Dessie (Finnegan) kind of slipped too. It was just freak turn of events in the space of 10 seconds. Like Graham Reilly took the shot and he was going for a point and if he kicked it two yards further it was wide. I spoke to a couple of reporters during the week and, while there were other things that heppened like Seamus Darby and I’m sure stuff like this has happened in plenty of club games, but for it to happen to us was just so disappointing.

JS: The Leinster final is Louth’s All-Ireland in a way, and even more so now.

SL: Yeah back then, Wexford were up-and-coming, they nearly turned over Dublin. We turned over Kildare and Meath turned over Dublin. So everyone had a realistic chance. Nowadays I think Dublin’s average winning margin since that is something 19 points which is crazy. I think the provincials need teams back competing in games like that. I don’t know how we do it to get up to Dublin’s level. You have to give credit to Dublin too. It’s not all money, they have good systems in place.

JS: Everyone saw what went on on the pitch after the game, but what was it like in the dressing room and on the bus? Paddy you alluded to it earlier, obviously the mood was terrible, but when did you start talking about it?

PK: I honestly can’t remember much about the dressing room or the bus on the way home. Maybe it until it was a bit of a blur or whatever, I don’t know. I remember the dressing room when we came in first, it was just deadly deadly silent. I think there was barely any Louth players out for the presentation. Most of the players were in the dressing room as the presentation was going on. I was in the dressing room and actually came back out for the presentation, and I think there was only a handful of Louth players or back room or whatever in the tunnel, looking at the presentation. Most of the players had already left the pitch and were in the dressing room and my recollection of that was there barely a word said at all. And maybe I’m wrong but I think we were we in one of the rooms downstairs Shane, having a drink and a bit of food or something like that before we got on the bus?

SL: Yeah, I think usually the two teams go to the same players’ lounge, but I think we were in separate rooms that day and I don’t know whether it was planned or changed very suddenly. We were in one of the boxes, maybe at the Canal End.

JS: That night did you go out?

PK: We were in the Fairways that night, there was a meal. We actually stopped in Dunleer, do you remember that on the way up the road? I think they had a big festival or something that day, or that was the last day of the festival. They had a band and a stage and all set up in the square or whatever. They wanted the team to come in so we pulled up in the bus and sure we were after having a few beers or whatever and drinking on the bus and Dunleer was absolutely black. I think me and Fitzer maybe said a few words but for me it was already fuzzy enough at that stage. We had a meal in the Fairways that night and I think all hell broke loose, so the recollections wouldn’t be great after that.

JS: What else could you do at that stage. In the week after when did the whole replay thing start to snowball? Shane did the panel have to discuss it and decide if you wanted a replay, or was it all on Meath and the GAA? Would you have wanted one?

SL: I think it was put to bed fairly shortly. The next day was the 12th of July and we went to the racing on the Monday. I didn’t know but listening to Joe Sheridan on the Sunday Game a few weeks ago, he mentioned they had a meeting on the Monday night about the prospect of a replay. So I’d say by the time we woke up Tuesday morning, after the racing on the Monday, it was kind of put to bed and there wasn’t an option on a replay. So it was kind of put back on the GAA and I think, Paddy, we went to Darver Castle for a meal and we watched the Qualifier draw and we got the Dubs and that all transpired so quickly? I think that was the Saturday or Sunday after the final. The prospect of a replay, I don’t know how it would have sat with either team. It would have been very strange. Of course we would have taken on, but I don’t know what the atmosphere would have been like. Looking back it didn’t do Meath any good either, winning that Leinster title, a lot of their players moved on and retired fairly soon after that. We largely stuck together and we had a few good performances and wins under Aidan O’Rourke. But I do think it would have speeded up the whole stadium thing and we’d very possibly be in a home of our own now that young lads would aspire to playing in.

PK: It was an opportunity to capitalise on people going to games that maybe wouldn’t have normally went and, you know the supporters and people who jumped on the bandwagon and then obviously people with the finances might have jumped on that bandwagon as well and come in and support it. But the way things went just the opportunity to capitalise on it wasn’t there or maybe wasn’t taken by the powers that be at the time, I don’t know. But we just never got the bounce after that really.

JS: Shane from a coaching point of view you would have seen that first hand. Do you think it might have made a difference to kids and their perception of Gaelic games in the county?

SL: Just looking back if it was written in history that we were Leinster champions in 2010 it would be something for kids to aspire to. Me and Paaddy have had many discussions about this, but nobody feels at home in Drogheda. That’s nothing against the O Raghallaigh’s, it just isn’t fit for purpose and I think the bounce we would have got if we had got over the line we could have capitalised on the good run we had and it would have inspired more young kids. There’s massive numbers playing Gaelic Games but we just have to get them dreaming of winning a Leinster and getting to the highest level they can. I think DkIT has a massive role to play in it too. It’s a facility that attracts players from all over the region and young Louth lads get to play with the likes of Rian O’Neill and they get to hear what other counties are doing, and I think we could make more of DkIT it’s a fantastic facility on our doorstep.

JS: Going back to the aftermath in 2010 how did you feel personally. How did you feel at the time and have your feelings changed over the years? Are you still angry about it?

PK: Yeah you would be angry about it certainly. It knocked the shit out of that team. We did