# Louth GAA

The Louth County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) (Irish: Cumann Lúthchleas Gael, Coiste Chontae an Lú) or Louth GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Louth.
It oversees competitions such as the Louth Senior Football Championship (SFC), Louth Intermediate Football Championship (IFC), Louth Junior Football Championship (JFC) and Louth Senior Hurling Championship (SHC), as well as numerous underage and secondary competitions.
The county board is also responsible for the Louth county teams in both football and hurling. The county football team won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) in 1910, 1912 and again in 1957.

## Governance

The officials who have chaired the Board since the establishment of the Gaelic Athletic Association are named below.
Elections for Chairman and other positions take place at the board's annual convention and are held at County headquarters in Darver. The maximum term for any position under current county board rules is five years.
| Name | Year(s) | Club |
| James Moore | 1886 | Dundalk Nationals |
| Thomas Smyth | 1887 | Dundalk Young Irelands |
| Fr. Arthur Smyth | 1888 | Togher |
| James Weldon | 1889 | Drogheda Gaelics |
| Tom Brannigan | 1890 | Drogheda Gaelics |
| No Convention | 1891–94 | — |
| Alfred Palmer | 1895 | Drogheda Commercials |
| John Corr | 1896 | Drogheda Emmets |
| Jim Carolan | 1897 | Dreadnots |
| John Landy | 1898 | Dunleer Emmets |
| No Convention | 1899–1901 | — |
| Larry Stanley | 1902 | Drogheda Independents |
| Pat McKeever | 1903 | Ardee Volunteers |
| Tom O'Connell | 1904–06 | Mountpleasant Gaels |
| Fr. John Mullen | 1907–09 | Cooley Kickhams |
| Joe Ward | 1910 | Dundalk Young Irelands |
| Jack Clarke | 1911–12 | Tredaghs (Drogheda) |
| Tom McNello | 1913–15 | Ardee St Mochta's |
| Denis Trainor | 1916 | Hearts of Oriel |
| Joe Ward | 1917–20 | Dundalk Young Irelands |
| Nick Butterly | 1921–22 | Hitchestown |
| Patrick Duffy | 1923–24 | Newtown Blues |
| Séamus Flood | 1925 | Clan na Gael |
| Christy Bellew | 1925–27 | Larks (Killineer) |
| Tom Burke | 1928–31 | Wolfe Tones |
| Séamus Flood | 1932–38 | Clan na Gael |
| Name | Year(s) | Club |
| Peter Woods | 1939–41 | Cooley Kickhams |
| James Jordan | 1942–43 | Geraldines |
| Fr. Paddy Downey | 1944–45 | Dundalk Gaels |
| James Jordan | 1946 | Geraldines |
| J. J. Matthews | 1947–56 | Newtown Blues |
| Jimmy Mullen | 1957–61 | St Dominic's (Drogheda) |
| J. J. Matthews | 1962 | Newtown Blues |
| Brendan Breathnach | 1963 | St Bride's |
| Joseph Reilly | 1964–66 | Parnells (Drogheda) |
| Seán Murray | 1967–69 | Oliver Plunketts |
| Nicky Marry | 1970–76 | St Bride's |
| Frank Lynch | 1977–79 | Geraldines |
| Paddy Kenny | 1980–84 | Dundalk Gaels/Na Piarsaigh |
| Jim Lennon | 1985–87 | St Mochta's |
| Paddy McGlew | 1988–91 | St Fechin's |
| John Lynch | 1992 | Geraldines |
| Peter Brannigan | 1993–98 | Clan na Gael |
| Terry Maher | 1999–2001 | Oliver Plunketts |
| Paddy McMahon | 2002–04 | Seán O'Mahony's |
| Paddy Oliver | 2005–09 | St Patrick's |
| Pádraig O'Connor | 2010–14 | St Patrick's |
| Des Halpenny | 2015–19 | John Mitchels |
| Peter Fitzpatrick | 2020–23 | Clan na Gael |
| Seán McClean | 2024– | Hunterstown Rovers |

## Crest

In 2010, the Drogheda Gaelic football club, O'Raghallaighs, tabled a motion for convention calling for the Boyne Valley Cable Bridge symbol to be removed from the Louth GAA crest because of the bridge's main location being in the neighbouring county of Meath; this led to the county crest being changed to a simpler version.

## Football
### Clubs

Clubs contest the Louth Senior Football Championship. That competition's most successful club is Newtown Blues, with 23 titles.
Dundalk Young Irelands is the county's oldest GAA club. The club represented Louth in the first All-Ireland Football final which was played at Beech Hill on 29 April 1888 against Limerick Commercials.

### County team

The earliest recorded inter-county football match took place in 1712 when Louth faced Meath at Slane. A fragment of a poem from 1806 records a football match between Louth and Fermanagh at Inniskeen, Co Monaghan.
When Louth GAA sent the team into training in Dundalk for the 1913 Croke Memorial replay under a soccer trainer from Belfast, the move caused more than a ripple through the Association. For thirty years full-time training in bursts of a week or so before a big match were common. After that the two or three times a week gatherings became more popular.
Between 1945 and 1953 Louth and Meath met 13 times. The crowds got bigger and bigger each time as they played draw after draw in the Championship. The attendance of 42,858 at a thrilling 1951 replay remained a record for a provincial match other than a final for forty years the four match series between Meath and Dublin in 1991. The rivalry with Meath has never fizzled out, as witnessed by a stirring Leinster SFC semi-final in 1998. Nor has controversy, as witnessed by Graham Geraghty's "wide" 45th minute point.
In 1957 showband star Dermot O'Brien was late for the All-Ireland SFC final and joined the team when the parade was completed. Prior to the game O'Brien had captained the side in the semi-final success, when the regular captain Patsy Coleman had been injured very early in the season, leaving O'Brien to resume his previous role as captain. Coleman today still has the match ball. O'Brien played a key role as Louth beat Cork with the help of a goal from Sean Cunningham with five minutes to go. As both Cork and Louth wear Red and White, on that day Louth wore the green of Leinster, while Cork wore the blue of Munster. Dermot O'Brien died on 22 May 2007.
On 27 June 2010, Louth reached their first Leinster SFC final in 50 years. During the decider, which was played on 11 July that year, anger and controversy erupted when, during the 74th minute of the match against Meath, a goal was awarded by the referee after brief consultation with only one of the match umpires (although close circuit camera evidence shown on RTÉ Two's coverage of the game proved that the ball was carried over the line by a Meath player). However, Meath received the 2010 Leinster Title and the cup. More on that in the main article linked above.

## Hurling
### Clubs

Clubs contest the Louth Senior Hurling Championship. That competition's most successful club is Naomh Moninne, with 22 titles.

### County team

The Louth hurling team plays its championship hurling in the Nicky Rackard Cup. The Louth hurlers finished as runner-up to London in the 2005 final at Croke Park, and to Sligo in 2008. In 2016, they competed in the Lory Meagher Cup, defeating Sligo in the final 4–15 to 4–11, and Fermanagh in the 2020 final by 2–19 to 2–8.
By winning the 2022 Lory Meagher Cup, Louth became the first team to win that competition on three occasions.

## Camogie

Louth contested two All Ireland senior finals. Fr Tom Soraghan was zealously promoting the game in Darver, where players such as Ros Quigley and her Darver team-mates were involved. Other notable players include junior player of the year winner in 1982 Vivianne Kelley. As of 2025, the manager of Louth is Donal Kelly and his side operate in Division 3A of the National Camogie League.
Under Camogie's National Development Plan 2010-2015, "Our Game, Our Passion", Carlow, Cavan, Laois, Louth and Roscommon were to get a total of 17 new clubs by 2015.
Louth has the following achievements in camogie.
* All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship runners-up: 1934, 1936

## Ladies' football

Louth has a ladies' football team.