YOU PROBABLY THOUGHT you remembered everything about the play; Graham Reilly’s long ball in, Seamus Kenny’s catch and shot, Paddy Keenan’s block and Joe Sheridan’s dive over the goal line with the loose ball.
That’s Meath’s match winning goal from the 2010 Leinster final, of course, at Louth’s expense, though if you look back on the footage, Andy McDonnell is in there too.
He and Louth full-back Dessie Finnegan both tried to grab the breaking ball immediately after Keenan’s block on Kenny but collided and it squirmed loose to Sheridan.
Joe Sheridan scoring that goal in the 2010 Leinster final. Donall Farmer / INPHO
Donall Farmer / INPHO / INPHO
A full 15 years on, Louth beat Meath at the second attempt in Sunday’s final to land a first title since 1957 and McDonnell, now 34, was the only player from 2010 to feature.
He refused to call it ‘redemption’ for the 2010 episode, when Sheridan’s illegal goal was somehow allowed to stand, but did acknowledge that he carried some of the guilt for years for his part.
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“The likes of Kieran McArdle, in our team now, he was only five at the time,” said McDonnell. “He knows nothing about it. Other lads were only seven and eight. They don’t know anything about it either. But I was involved, maybe the cause of it. So it’s nice to actually be on the other side of it.”
Asked what he felt he could have done better, McDonnell delved back into a horror story he rarely talks about.
“Obviously you’re dropping the ball and there’s a goal,” he said. “You don’t want to talk about it too much but, yeah, 15 years later and we’ve won it. You were a young lad there at the time and the ball went in over the goal line, whether it was a goal or not, that’s for a different day.”
McDonnell wore number 10 in that final 15 years ago.
“That was me, number 10,” he nodded. “Obviously Dessie went up to catch the ball and I kind of flicked it out of his hands. That’s how the goal came about. It’s nice now 15 years on to say, ‘I actually have a medal’, to put that to bed. I don’t talk about it. There’s people saying, ‘redemption’ and all of this and that but I’m like, ‘No, I just go out and play the game and leave it at that’.
McDonnell on the ball in 2010. Donall Farmer / INPHO
Donall Farmer / INPHO / INPHO
“It’s just nice to be a Leinster medallist and park everything that happened a few years ago. That’s basically it. We don’t have to listen and talk about that anymore. It’s now, ‘Louth are Leinster champions 2025′.”
McDonnell’s story is all the more remarkable because he called it quits as a Louth player six years ago.
He was troubled by knee problems and lasted just a single game in 2021 when he tried to make a comeback under Harte.
“A few physios and doctors would have said to me that it’s time to pack it up, three or four years ago,” revealed the Newtown Blues man. “But I went to a physio, he’s actually a Meath man, Liam Hogan from Curraha. He’s involved with Williams Formula One now, as their Performance Coach.
“He got me back. He said, ‘No, I’ll fix you in a couple of months’. It was a lot of rehab, a lot of dark days too in the gym on your own. But he got me back. I’m forever indebted to him, he’s a great man.”
Louth were at a low ebb when McDonnell first walked away in 2019. They’d just been beaten by Antrim in a qualifier. The previous year, Leitrim shocked them in the qualifiers.
“I’ve been part of lots of those bad days with Louth,” he said. “Obviously Mickey Harte came in. And Fitzer (county chairman Peter Fitzpatrick) used to say, ‘Whatever Mickey Harte wanted, Mickey got’. He obviously went on to think there was better things with Derry – there wasn’t.
McDonnell (9) facing Meath on Sunday. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
“Then Ger Brennan came in. He didn’t try to change it up. And the players drive it on as well. It’s not just the management, the players drive it on.”
The really exciting thing for Louth is that this doesn’t look like being a flash in the pan win.
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Boss Brennan has promised ‘much more’ success and realises there’s a conveyor belt of talent coming through. If Louth win next Monday’s Leinster minor final, the county will have collected minor, U-20 and senior provincial titles in the same year.
There’s plenty more to run in the senior Championship for McDonnell too. They’ll play Monaghan in Round 1 of the All-Ireland SFC on Saturday or Sunday week. After that there will be ties against Down and Clare.
“We don’t want this to stop,” said McDonnell. “We’ll enjoy ourselves because these wins don’t come around too often but we have to go back to training then and focus on it from there because there’s a lot of football still to be played.”
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'It’s nice now 15 years on to say, ‘I actually have a medal’, to put that to bed'
YOU PROBABLY THOUGHT you remembered everything about the play; Graham Reilly’s long ball in, Seamus Kenny’s catch and shot, Paddy Keenan’s block and Joe Sheridan’s dive over the goal line with the loose ball.
That’s Meath’s match winning goal from the 2010 Leinster final, of course, at Louth’s expense, though if you look back on the footage, Andy McDonnell is in there too.
He and Louth full-back Dessie Finnegan both tried to grab the breaking ball immediately after Keenan’s block on Kenny but collided and it squirmed loose to Sheridan.
A full 15 years on, Louth beat Meath at the second attempt in Sunday’s final to land a first title since 1957 and McDonnell, now 34, was the only player from 2010 to feature.
He refused to call it ‘redemption’ for the 2010 episode, when Sheridan’s illegal goal was somehow allowed to stand, but did acknowledge that he carried some of the guilt for years for his part.
“The likes of Kieran McArdle, in our team now, he was only five at the time,” said McDonnell. “He knows nothing about it. Other lads were only seven and eight. They don’t know anything about it either. But I was involved, maybe the cause of it. So it’s nice to actually be on the other side of it.”
Asked what he felt he could have done better, McDonnell delved back into a horror story he rarely talks about.
“Obviously you’re dropping the ball and there’s a goal,” he said. “You don’t want to talk about it too much but, yeah, 15 years later and we’ve won it. You were a young lad there at the time and the ball went in over the goal line, whether it was a goal or not, that’s for a different day.”
McDonnell wore number 10 in that final 15 years ago.
“That was me, number 10,” he nodded. “Obviously Dessie went up to catch the ball and I kind of flicked it out of his hands. That’s how the goal came about. It’s nice now 15 years on to say, ‘I actually have a medal’, to put that to bed. I don’t talk about it. There’s people saying, ‘redemption’ and all of this and that but I’m like, ‘No, I just go out and play the game and leave it at that’.
“It’s just nice to be a Leinster medallist and park everything that happened a few years ago. That’s basically it. We don’t have to listen and talk about that anymore. It’s now, ‘Louth are Leinster champions 2025′.”
McDonnell’s story is all the more remarkable because he called it quits as a Louth player six years ago.
He was troubled by knee problems and lasted just a single game in 2021 when he tried to make a comeback under Harte.
“A few physios and doctors would have said to me that it’s time to pack it up, three or four years ago,” revealed the Newtown Blues man. “But I went to a physio, he’s actually a Meath man, Liam Hogan from Curraha. He’s involved with Williams Formula One now, as their Performance Coach.
“He got me back. He said, ‘No, I’ll fix you in a couple of months’. It was a lot of rehab, a lot of dark days too in the gym on your own. But he got me back. I’m forever indebted to him, he’s a great man.”
Louth were at a low ebb when McDonnell first walked away in 2019. They’d just been beaten by Antrim in a qualifier. The previous year, Leitrim shocked them in the qualifiers.
“I’ve been part of lots of those bad days with Louth,” he said. “Obviously Mickey Harte came in. And Fitzer (county chairman Peter Fitzpatrick) used to say, ‘Whatever Mickey Harte wanted, Mickey got’. He obviously went on to think there was better things with Derry – there wasn’t.
“Then Ger Brennan came in. He didn’t try to change it up. And the players drive it on as well. It’s not just the management, the players drive it on.”
The really exciting thing for Louth is that this doesn’t look like being a flash in the pan win.
Boss Brennan has promised ‘much more’ success and realises there’s a conveyor belt of talent coming through. If Louth win next Monday’s Leinster minor final, the county will have collected minor, U-20 and senior provincial titles in the same year.
There’s plenty more to run in the senior Championship for McDonnell too. They’ll play Monaghan in Round 1 of the All-Ireland SFC on Saturday or Sunday week. After that there will be ties against Down and Clare.
“We don’t want this to stop,” said McDonnell. “We’ll enjoy ourselves because these wins don’t come around too often but we have to go back to training then and focus on it from there because there’s a lot of football still to be played.”
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Andy McDonnell GAA Gaelic Football Louth and proud