Louth and Armagh: The best of neighbours?

Former Louth footballer Mark Stanfield and journalist Caoimhín Reilly speak to Niall Gartland ahead of the Wee County’s date with Armagh…

TICKETS for Sunday’s first ever championship encounter between Louth and Armagh are like gold-dust, but the Stanfield family will still get into the spirit of the occasion even if they’re unable to make it to Inniskeen.

When former Louth footballer Mark Stanfield spoke to Gaelic Life last Wednesday evening, he said that his brood were in the process of sorting out their half-and-half Louth and Armagh jerseys for the occasion. In that respect, Sunday is very much a win-win.

Stanfield, who played for Louth during the noughties, has lived across the border in nearby Killeavy for 22 years. The reason for crossing enemy lines? The love of a good woman – his wife Rosaleen, whom he met on a Monday evening in Dundalk many moons ago.

In saying that, Killeavy is now very much a home away from home. He even lined out alongside Stevie McDonnell for a number of years before transferring back to his native Castlebellingham for a spell (he notes that playing against the Francie Bellews of this world ‘toughened him up’).

Speaking about his initial transfer to Killeavy and all it entailed, Stanfield said: “In 2004 I moved here. I bought a house in Meigh and we settled down. My daughter was born in 2006. As you know, it was 40 or 45 minutes of a jaunt back to Castlebellingham for training and stuff, and Killeavy were onto me about it – ‘sure Mark, it’d be easier for you just to walk across the road.’

“Stevie and a few of the boys were onto me. Dromintee had actually approached me first because Meigh village is nearly closer to Dromintee’s pitch, but that’s another story. Anyway, Killeavy said the door was open and they’d love to have me. I made a very, very tough decision to leave my small club in Castlebellingham. It broke me going. I left a brother playing up there and very good friends. But look, we’d a young child here and stuff like that. I played senior football here from, I think, 2006 to 2009.

“I played three seasons and we were very unlucky in a senior semi-final against Barry O’Hagan’s Clan na Gael in the Armagh championship.They put us out by a point.”

Stanfield was already firmly established as a senior intercounty footballer by the time he made the move, but he says the bearpit of Armagh club football was an educational experience.

“Coming here to Killeavy for those three years made me a better footballer because Armagh football was tough. Killeavy were senior and Armagh had won an All-Ireland in 2002, Tyrone beat them in 2003, and a few years later Barry O’Hagan, McGeeney, McGrane and Oisín McConville were all still playing. It was a real, real tough senior league here and it hardened me up big time.

“I came up against those boys, Francie Bellew and others, and it toughened me up, no doubt about it. I went back up the road [to Castlebellingham] a bit older, but I was a wiser player.”

The emergence of a new generation at Castlebellingham pre-empted his move back to his home club, O’Connell’s. It was the classic fairytale story – he played a key role as they landed a first ever Louth Intermediate Championship title in 2012.

“My brother and a few people came back to me in 2010 and said, ‘Look, there’s a few younger boys growing up here at home. We’d love to have you back. Can you put the commitment in?’

“Look, I felt good. I really enjoyed the three years I was in Killeavy and made good friends here as well. But I left feeling there was unfinished business. We as a club were always junior or intermediate and then all of a sudden the boys got to a final when I left and they lost it. I went up to watch it and, Jesus Christ, it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I just said to my wife in 2010: ‘Look, I’m going back up the road.’

“We had a new manager – he was the best man at my wedding. Anyway, I went back up, lost an Intermediate semi-final in 2010 and another in 2011. In 2012, when I was 35 years of age, we won our first one ever. Thankfully, we pushed on and got to a Leinster final. For a wee club with 100 people, it was an amazing achievement. We just came up short in the Leinster final. We hadn’t a big panel and had a few injuries.”

Stanfield’s children have inherited the sports gene. Burgeoning soccer star Paul is rising through the ranks of Cliftonville and recently put pen to paper for his first professional contract at the club. Mark also coached his daughter when he jointly-managed the Armagh minor girls team alongside Fergal Reel, and between the gaelic and the soccer, Stanfield says that they’re all ‘football mad’.

“I’ve two boys and two girls. One of my boys [Paul] signed a professional contract the other night. He’s only 17. He got U18 Player of the Year last year, so he’s flying with the soccer.

“He’s played three or four minor games here with Killeavy. It was on Armagh TV the other night. I asked someone what the camera was and they said it was Armagh TV. If you can get footage of that game against Silverbridge, you should get a look –. He scored two absolutely worldies with the outside of the boot – both two-pointers.

“He’s very fit from the soccer. He’s probably going to stick with the soccer route for now.

“I’ve another boy coming behind him who plays for Cliftonville as well. He’s out injured at the minute. The youngest girl is captain of Killeavy U14 girls. We’re football-mad here. We don’t do much else.”

Stanfield remains hugely invested in all-things Louth and was a proud spectator in Croke Park as they edged a titanic battle against Meath in last year’s Leinster final. In saying that, he’s lived in Armagh nearly half-a-lifetime and the Orchard County is close to his heart.

I absolutely love where I live. I live in a wee village called Meigh. It’s part of the Killeavy parish here. It’s just under Slieve Gullion and it’s a beautiful area.

I’m sitting in my car here looking out at the mountains. It’s a bad enough evening, but I’ve loved it from the day I set foot here. I’ve been working in the South all my life, driving back up from Dublin, and it never bothered me. I’m only off the motorway.

“It’s a real, real nice place. I know South Armagh gets bad press sometimes, but I thoroughly enjoy it.”

Caomhín Reilly formally announced his final day as Drogheda Independent group sports editor on August 20, 2024. He made quite an impression in his time reporting on Louth GAA: his passion for the gig – and by extension his native county – was very, very obvious. And like any good local reporter, he wasn’t afraid to ruffle a few feathers when the occasion demanded it.

These days he’s living in Toronto and it’s unlikely you’ll see him in a press box, notepad in hand, any time soon at a Louth venue – he isn’t exactly enamoured with certain aspects of the county’s GAA scene, but he remains first and foremost a supporter and would dearly love them to get the better of Armagh this weekend.

His homestead in Kilcurry is a stone’s throw from the border with Armagh, and he doesn’t sugarcoat it – he’s not especially fond of his near neighbours. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with a little honesty.

“It’s the draw, realistically, that I didn’t want. Part of that is born out of the hatred I have for Armagh! I live alongside them on the border. I’m north of Dundalk, about two kilometres from the border.

“We’re literally right beside Forkhill and Dromintee. Crossmaglen is only over the road too.”

He continued: “Having a Down mother and a Louth father, Armagh wouldn’t necessarily be my flavour of the month.

“My dad is from the same place as me – Kilcurry. My mother is from near Hilltown.”

“If you look it from my perspective, at the end of the road I live on there was a sign put up by Silverbridge wishing Armagh the best of luck ahead of the All-Ireland final two years ago. That sickens my arse. Put it up in your own county, not my county.”

He admits he’s pretty much a lone voice in the wilderness. Others from the north Louth region traditionally lend their support to Armagh, though Reilly can’t really understand why.

“For years there would’ve been a sympathetic or supportive view towards Armagh. I don’t know whether that’s born out of people’s Irishness or the fact that Louth weren’t very good and Armagh were contending. A lot of people in north Louth would’ve actively gone to support Armagh.

“When Armagh were in the All-Ireland final, half of Dundalk was decked out in Armagh gear.

“If it was Monaghan or Down, that wouldn’t happen.

“There is that attitude towards Armagh. There are people in north Louth who would support Armagh and wouldn’t support Louth. I suppose for a lot of people in South Armagh, the closest town is Dundalk. If they’re socialising or celebrating, they’ll end up in Dundalk.”

But anyway, Reilly is well-placed to assess Louth’s rise through the ranks in recent years. It wasn’t your classic building-from-the-ground-up tale. Instead, Mickey Harte came in and gave the senior intercounty team a good shake and it all flowed from there. And Reilly says it never would have happened without Peter Fitzpatrick coming on board as chairman.

“For many years, the cart went before the horse with Louth. We started performing at adult level and then the juvenile teams latched onto it.

“The big thing was Peter Fitzpatrick coming in as chairman. We were among the lowest-spending counties in the country on our county teams. I’d have no doubt saying we were among the lowest fundraisers too.

“Around 2018 or 2019, Louth raised about €10,000 and that was a half-hearted attempt at a golf classic. The accounts proved that.

“Peter has an infectious positivity. Nobody else would’ve been mad enough to ask Mickey to come to Louth.”

Reilly continued: “Mickey wanted to raise standards and one thing he always said was, “Beg, borrow or steal – we’ll get what we need and finance it back.

“Peter got former sponsors back on board and benefactors in place. Anything Mickey wanted, Mickey got. That was the mantra.”

While Reilly wasn’t impressed with the nature of Mickey Harte and his right-hand man’s Gavin Devlin’s switch to Derry in 2023, he does acknowledge that they played a massive role in raising standards. Gavin is back in as manager and they’re in the midst of a strong-looking season, though Reilly also wonders whether they would have won last year’s Leinster title under Harte and Devlin.

“Probably the biggest thing Mickey and Gavin did was instill belief in players and raise standards. The big days we got in Croke Park and the improvements we made gave players belief that they could beat teams who, for years beforehand, we weren’t even in the same conversation as.

“Young lads are willing to play for Louth now. They’re willing to do anything to play for Louth. There’s very little turnover in the squad. I’d say 60 per cent of that team have more than 50 appearances. That settled nature helps.

“One thing Mickey always said about strength and conditioning was that it takes years. These players have been committed to that process.”

He added: “The beauty of the Brennan era is that it probably took some of the intensity out of it. Gavin and Mickey are two very intense, demanding, all-consuming characters. Brennan was more relaxed. It was a different approach.

“Under Mickey and Gavin, everything was structured. The players were led by the hand. There was very little off-the-cuff football.

“It was probably no coincidence that when Brennan came in, Louth started scoring more goals. He put Ciarán Keenan and Ryan Burns into the team.

“Under the previous regime, they spent more time in the half-forward line than the full-forward line.

There was a more off-the-cuff element. We were opening teams up through the middle and Craig Lennon got an All-Star through it.

“I’ll give you another example – Mickey and Gavin didn’t fancy Niall McDonnell as goalkeeper. It was only when Brennan came in that it became clear he wanted more of a Stephen Cluxton-type goalkeeper rather than a Niall Morgan or Rory Beggan-style wanderer.

“At the beginning of the year it’s no secret that Gavin probably wasn’t convinced by McDonnell and was looking for alternatives. But he had to go back to him because the alternatives weren’t there and it was simply the right thing to do.

“Niall McDonnell is probably among the top half-dozen goalkeepers in the country. To me, that’s no exaggeration.”