Glenn Ryan's resignation after Kildare's loss to Laois came as no surprise. Photo: Sportsfile From the stony grey soil of Patrick Kavanagh’s youth, Louth will seek to harvest another victory tomorrow and one more historic landmark in this eventful debut season for their manager, Ger Brennan. Over two decades on from when All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals became a staple of the GAA calendar, Louth have never contested a single one.
But if they can beat Cork in Inniskeen, their adopted home from home just across the Monaghan border, Louth will be proud members of 2024’s top-eight elite. Cork are 4/7 favourites, but this is no Rebel shoo-in. Without question, Louth are now firmly established as the second-best team in Leinster.
But then you take a pregnant pause to ponder: what does that actually mean? Perversely, Leinster football has never had it so good – all thanks to Dublin. Nine All-Irelands out of 13 constitutes a strike rate that no other province, let alone county, has ever achieved. Now scratch beneath that veneer to reveal almost an entire province in rag order.
Last weekend was another grim chapter in the never-ending story of Leinster football’s collapse as a competitive entity. Blaming Dublin’s monopoly on the Delaney Cup, for sucking all life and hope from the rest, is an arguable thesis. What cannot be denied is that Leinster counties haven’t merely been cast adrift by the Dubs; they are falling further behind the rest.
For years, league tables never lie.