WHO SAW THIS pairing emerge from the crowded Gaelic football pack, celebrating with gusto in late June after securing membership to the Final Four Club?
An explosion of blue joy crowned a brilliant quarter-final weekend, Dublin underlining that they are a resurgent force as they overhauled Galway to place themselves firmly back in the conversation for the big prize. Earlier in the afternoon came the latest red letter day for Louth football, as they made light of Seán Callaghan’s dismissal to claim a victory over Monaghan that looked improbable.
For Louth, it is just shy of seven decades since the county last graced All-Ireland semi-final day. For Dublin, it is only three years since their most recent appearance. Yet the short-term reflection illustrates just how sizeable a feat it has been by both Gavin Devlin and Ger Brennan to rehabilitate their respective teams and get them firing in this fashion.
Ger Brennan celebrates at full-time with his daughter Aoibheann and son Patrick. james lawlor photos
james lawlor photos
Gavin Devlin celebrates Louth's victory with his son Niall. james lawlor
james lawlor
Rewind eight weeks when Louth’s Leinster title defence was emphatically brought to a halt, Dublin flattening them by 10 points in Portlaoise. For a team who had seen their run end on such a low note last year, dismissed by Donegal in a preliminary quarter-final by 16 points, there was a sense that the momentum generated by that famous provincial final win in 2025, was slipping away.
Go back six weeks to a Sunday when Dublin were subdued in the face of Westmeath’s excellence in the Leinster final, or cast your mind back four weeks to the sight of them collapsing under the pressure of a goal-hungry Louth team, played out to the backdrop of rows of empty seats in Croke Park.
Dublin’s aura looked to have disappeared, and this was happening off the back of a league that delivered relegation from the top tier. They’ll join Louth in Division 2 next season, after their own promotion bid came up short.
But now all has changed utterly. For the first time since 2010, Leinster will supply half of the All-Ireland semi-finalists. There isn’t an Ulster team in sight, the first time since 2016 that has happened. If Ger Brennan and Gavin Devlin crossed paths on Sunday evening, perhaps they would have created a Paul Rudd-Sean Evans inspired collaboration.
“Hey, look at us. Look at us, huh? Who would have thought? Not me.”
How has this transformation taken place? Sunday demonstrated the various factors that have fused together successfully for both camps. Brennan’s return on the sideline has clearly had a stabilising effect. The fallout from the Salthill league game was messy and distracting, Dublin robbed of the guiding presence of their manager. It felt fitting in a sense that he enjoyed a full-circle moment against Galway, savouring a blinding finish by his team in outscoring them 1-8 to 0-1 in the last 15 minutes to book a semi-final spot.
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Basquel
The return of Colm Basquel has been equally critical. He has changed the picture for their half-forward line, raiding from his position to score 0-11 over the course of the last two games, while drawing the foul for the crucial penalty Con O’Callaghan netted on Sunday. In the Donegal game, it was Basquel who stepped up in front of Hill 16 to nail a vital two-pointer in the closing stages of normal time. He did something similar on Sunday, sweeping over a third-quarter shot during a period where Galway were in the ascendancy.
The wellbeing of O’Callaghan’s hamstring continues to be matter of intense concern for the Dublin faithful. Considering he has scored 1-9, 1-5, and 1-7 over the course of his last three games, it is a scary thought for opponents if he is not yet hitting full speed.
Scully
And then there was the Niall Scully effect on Sunday. Perhaps cast into the position of foot soldier during the glittering Jim Gavin era when the Dublin dressing-room was overflowing with options, he is now a general.
Consider his contributions in that pulsating finale.
A turnover on Shane Walsh near the Davin End that led to Paddy Small scoring at the other end.
Delivers the kick pass that stretches the Galway defence before Basquel is fouled for the penalty.
When Galway regained a one-point lead with five minutes to go, demands the ball and clips over the two-pointer that puts Dublin into a lead they would not relinquish.
He hoovered up a key break from a kick out before the end and was involved in the breakaway move that led to Seán Guiden’s insurance late score.
'We're all old lads trying to run around there, we need a bit of youth'
Basquel, O’Callaghan, and Scully were joined in the scoring stakes by notable inputs from Paddy Small and Cormac Costello. That quintet all got game-time in the 2020 All-Ireland final against Mayo, on Sunday they scored a combined 1-23 out of Dublin’s 1-25 tally as they continue to lead the county through a new era.
Dublin have got other aspects right. Evan Comerford’s kickouts had a better return while around the middle they bossed Galway on both sides of the ball in the first half. Eoin Kennedy and Charlie McMorrow are bringing a dynamic offering. The concession of cheap goals, so costly against Westmeath and Louth, has been reduced. A team that has knocked out Donegal and Galway on successive Sundays, enters the semi-finals armed with striking momentum.
Achieved
That’s a quality in good supply as well in Louth. Remind yourself what they have achieved in the past four weeks alone. A landmark defeat of Dublin in the All-Ireland series, amassing 4-18 in the process. They took down Armagh, a leading Sam Maguire contender and fresh off Ulster glory, in sensational fashion – the second where the ball slipped out of Ethan Rafferty’s grasp is the great sliding doors’ moment of the 2026 season.
And then they passed their quarter-final assignment, taking the significant step forward for this current group and the county as a whole, of reaching the semi-final arena for the first time since 1957.
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Monaghan may have been hit hard beforehand, their team sheet stripped of key figures like Rory Beggan, Karl Gallagher, and Stephen Mooney, although the latter was introduced.
Referee Sean Hurson gives a red card to Louth's Sean Callaghan. james lawlor photos
james lawlor photos
But victory still didn’t seem achievable for Louth when their start featured the concession of four points and the suffering of Callaghan’s red card. They are a team full of smarts and composure, expertly drilled by characters like Devlin on the sideline, Donal McKennie at the back and Sam Mulroy in attack.
As the game unfolded, Dara McDonnell at centre-back and James Maguire at wing-forward continued to be dominant personalities they have been this summer, bending the game to their will.
Gavin Devlin and Dara McDonnell celebrate after the match. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
And then when Monaghan looked poised to make that personnel advantage count – they went a point ahead on 55 minutes and again on 65 minutes – Louth were emboldened by the options they had unloaded off the bench.
The sight of Tadgh McDonnell coming into a game must spark extreme anxiety in defences, his red-hot pace burning paths in the Monaghan defence as he grabbed three points. That tally was matched by Ciarán Byrne, who replicated his heroics last month against Dublin. Byrne’s career may have been plagued by injuries, and he kicked ball on the other side of the world for a time with Carlton, but he is getting his Louth reward now in shaping the outcomes of games, rifling over three high-quality points here. Throw in one from Conor Early and that 0-7 return from substitutes was the extra energy source to push Louth over the line.
So here they are, the two east coast football forces with different modern and long-term histories, but united by the sense of doubt they faced at various stages this year and the renewal they have enjoyed in recent weeks.
Dublin and Louth, the Leinster football flag-bearers who are now finding summer 2026 to be an inviting prospect.
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Dublin and Louth have turned their summers around in way no one saw coming
WHO SAW THIS pairing emerge from the crowded Gaelic football pack, celebrating with gusto in late June after securing membership to the Final Four Club?
An explosion of blue joy crowned a brilliant quarter-final weekend, Dublin underlining that they are a resurgent force as they overhauled Galway to place themselves firmly back in the conversation for the big prize. Earlier in the afternoon came the latest red letter day for Louth football, as they made light of Seán Callaghan’s dismissal to claim a victory over Monaghan that looked improbable.
For Louth, it is just shy of seven decades since the county last graced All-Ireland semi-final day. For Dublin, it is only three years since their most recent appearance. Yet the short-term reflection illustrates just how sizeable a feat it has been by both Gavin Devlin and Ger Brennan to rehabilitate their respective teams and get them firing in this fashion.
Rewind eight weeks when Louth’s Leinster title defence was emphatically brought to a halt, Dublin flattening them by 10 points in Portlaoise. For a team who had seen their run end on such a low note last year, dismissed by Donegal in a preliminary quarter-final by 16 points, there was a sense that the momentum generated by that famous provincial final win in 2025, was slipping away.
Go back six weeks to a Sunday when Dublin were subdued in the face of Westmeath’s excellence in the Leinster final, or cast your mind back four weeks to the sight of them collapsing under the pressure of a goal-hungry Louth team, played out to the backdrop of rows of empty seats in Croke Park.
Dublin’s aura looked to have disappeared, and this was happening off the back of a league that delivered relegation from the top tier. They’ll join Louth in Division 2 next season, after their own promotion bid came up short.
But now all has changed utterly. For the first time since 2010, Leinster will supply half of the All-Ireland semi-finalists. There isn’t an Ulster team in sight, the first time since 2016 that has happened. If Ger Brennan and Gavin Devlin crossed paths on Sunday evening, perhaps they would have created a Paul Rudd-Sean Evans inspired collaboration.
How has this transformation taken place? Sunday demonstrated the various factors that have fused together successfully for both camps. Brennan’s return on the sideline has clearly had a stabilising effect. The fallout from the Salthill league game was messy and distracting, Dublin robbed of the guiding presence of their manager. It felt fitting in a sense that he enjoyed a full-circle moment against Galway, savouring a blinding finish by his team in outscoring them 1-8 to 0-1 in the last 15 minutes to book a semi-final spot.
Basquel
The return of Colm Basquel has been equally critical. He has changed the picture for their half-forward line, raiding from his position to score 0-11 over the course of the last two games, while drawing the foul for the crucial penalty Con O’Callaghan netted on Sunday. In the Donegal game, it was Basquel who stepped up in front of Hill 16 to nail a vital two-pointer in the closing stages of normal time. He did something similar on Sunday, sweeping over a third-quarter shot during a period where Galway were in the ascendancy.
The wellbeing of O’Callaghan’s hamstring continues to be matter of intense concern for the Dublin faithful. Considering he has scored 1-9, 1-5, and 1-7 over the course of his last three games, it is a scary thought for opponents if he is not yet hitting full speed.
Scully
And then there was the Niall Scully effect on Sunday. Perhaps cast into the position of foot soldier during the glittering Jim Gavin era when the Dublin dressing-room was overflowing with options, he is now a general.
Consider his contributions in that pulsating finale.
A turnover on Shane Walsh near the Davin End that led to Paddy Small scoring at the other end.
Delivers the kick pass that stretches the Galway defence before Basquel is fouled for the penalty.
When Galway regained a one-point lead with five minutes to go, demands the ball and clips over the two-pointer that puts Dublin into a lead they would not relinquish.
He hoovered up a key break from a kick out before the end and was involved in the breakaway move that led to Seán Guiden’s insurance late score.
Basquel, O’Callaghan, and Scully were joined in the scoring stakes by notable inputs from Paddy Small and Cormac Costello. That quintet all got game-time in the 2020 All-Ireland final against Mayo, on Sunday they scored a combined 1-23 out of Dublin’s 1-25 tally as they continue to lead the county through a new era.
Dublin have got other aspects right. Evan Comerford’s kickouts had a better return while around the middle they bossed Galway on both sides of the ball in the first half. Eoin Kennedy and Charlie McMorrow are bringing a dynamic offering. The concession of cheap goals, so costly against Westmeath and Louth, has been reduced. A team that has knocked out Donegal and Galway on successive Sundays, enters the semi-finals armed with striking momentum.
Achieved
That’s a quality in good supply as well in Louth. Remind yourself what they have achieved in the past four weeks alone. A landmark defeat of Dublin in the All-Ireland series, amassing 4-18 in the process. They took down Armagh, a leading Sam Maguire contender and fresh off Ulster glory, in sensational fashion – the second where the ball slipped out of Ethan Rafferty’s grasp is the great sliding doors’ moment of the 2026 season.
And then they passed their quarter-final assignment, taking the significant step forward for this current group and the county as a whole, of reaching the semi-final arena for the first time since 1957.
Monaghan may have been hit hard beforehand, their team sheet stripped of key figures like Rory Beggan, Karl Gallagher, and Stephen Mooney, although the latter was introduced.
But victory still didn’t seem achievable for Louth when their start featured the concession of four points and the suffering of Callaghan’s red card. They are a team full of smarts and composure, expertly drilled by characters like Devlin on the sideline, Donal McKennie at the back and Sam Mulroy in attack.
As the game unfolded, Dara McDonnell at centre-back and James Maguire at wing-forward continued to be dominant personalities they have been this summer, bending the game to their will.
And then when Monaghan looked poised to make that personnel advantage count – they went a point ahead on 55 minutes and again on 65 minutes – Louth were emboldened by the options they had unloaded off the bench.
The sight of Tadgh McDonnell coming into a game must spark extreme anxiety in defences, his red-hot pace burning paths in the Monaghan defence as he grabbed three points. That tally was matched by Ciarán Byrne, who replicated his heroics last month against Dublin. Byrne’s career may have been plagued by injuries, and he kicked ball on the other side of the world for a time with Carlton, but he is getting his Louth reward now in shaping the outcomes of games, rifling over three high-quality points here. Throw in one from Conor Early and that 0-7 return from substitutes was the extra energy source to push Louth over the line.
So here they are, the two east coast football forces with different modern and long-term histories, but united by the sense of doubt they faced at various stages this year and the renewal they have enjoyed in recent weeks.
Dublin and Louth, the Leinster football flag-bearers who are now finding summer 2026 to be an inviting prospect.
Anyone forecast that back in the middle of May?
*****
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All-Ireland column Dublin GAA Leinster Leaders Louth