But, all of a sudden, it was like, ‘Jaysus, boys are going well here, I’ll shout a wee bit louder’. “The atmosphere, I suppose, was similar to when we played – and beat – Kildare in Navan in 2010 because no Louth supporter went with the expectation of winning. The afternoon just seemed to go on forever. “JP went away running with the jersey over his head after he scored, which he still gets stick for – I think the goal was in injury-time to draw the game. Watching the video back, after Stano’s goal, I happened to run past the camera and I’m just laughing to myself, more or less saying, ‘this can’t be happening. “Mark Stanfield got the first one and JP’s came from ‘Stano’ winning a flick on. But here we were, Ray and Brian knocking them over – and the goals. We were consistently reeling off these points that you would have said the All-Ireland champions should have been scoring. “This was the type of thing that was happening all over the pitch. Brian White came on and scored one with his left and his right in extra-time from 40 yards. “We just crept gradually back into the game – Ray Finnegan scored a class point with the outside of his boot. I can still see them winning balls they shouldn’t have. Mark Stanfield was an absolute monster and he could compete with anyone. “Mark Stanfield and Mark Brennan played almost like two 40-yards’ men and they absolutely tore Tyrone to shreds. “Stuart Reynolds in goals, ‘Snitchy’ was great at kicking the ball out and before Cluxton or any of these boys were doing it, Stuart was picking lads out and people probably don’t actually realise how good of a team we had at that stage, how good the individual players were. “I just remember Paddy Keenan absolutely lording it around midfield in the second half, the balls he was coming out of the sky with were outrageous – he was against Seán Cavanagh as well. We felt we were matching them and that the scoreline was a wee bit deceiving, but it was always going to be a massive task to get back into the game. “So, we went from being level or a point down to seven down at half-time, but I don’t remember anyone getting too bothered about it. I went in for a breaking ball and I had my hands on it – I think it got knocked out of my hands and they broke up the pitch and Mulligan got the goal out of it. “The goals weren’t great (to concede) – I remember one of them was scrappy and I was probably at fault for it.
“We got off to a decent start and it was very tight, and then Mulligan scored two goals just before half-time, which probably should have finished us. “I definitely don’t remember going out thinking we were going to struggle, I just remember thinking that it was unbelievable, playing the All-Ireland champions. “If they told me we were going to put it up to these boys, who was I to disagree? “There was a belief and I was obviously still very impressionable so anything Eamonn, Stephen Melia, Seamus O’Hanlon or Pat Mulligan would tell me, I’d take it as gospel,” O’Brien adds. Not that belief was necessarily an issue within Louth’s camp, an experienced management and cohort of players ensured that was the case. Tyrone, the holders and winners in 2003 as well, reeling in the aftermath of an Ulster Championship defeat by Derry, bidding to retain their title against a relative minnow. It was just a mental 12 months, going from not even being next or near the scene to ‘here we are in Navan, playing the All-Ireland champions’.” “The year before, being on the Louth team wasn’t even on the horizon. had somebody said to me that I was going to be playing against them next year – Cavanagh, Jordan, etc – I’d have asked if they were mental.
“In my first year like, to be playing against the All-Ireland champions in the qualifiers, fellas who I’d have watched on the tele the year before at home or in Clarke’s (bar) or in Croke Park. We absolutely tore them to shreds in the first half but didn’t score in the second half and they beat us. “For me, to be in and among those boys, I was still a bit shellshocked coming into the championship and we were after playing Meath in Leinster. “It was my first year with the Louth senior team and I was playing alongside players who I would have looked up to – Mark Stanfield, David Brennan, JP Rooney and Christy Grimes, lads who I grew up watching playing for Louth. It was going to be televised so for the likes of Brian White and myself, this was going to be great ‘craic’ and we probably weren’t old enough to be thinking about the other things – if ‘this’ or ‘that’ happens. “There was nearly a sense of giddiness among a few of us. Your weekly fix of local news and sport headlines from Louth, direct to your inboxĮnter email address This field is required Sign Up
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