Shane Mulroy starred at wing forward on the last Louth team to beat Dublin in the Leinster SFC - in a replay at Pairc Tailteann on the first Sunday of June 1973. The O'Raghallaighs clubman was a dynamo in the red jersey in the first half of that decade and he's still a massive Louth supporter today, as Gerry Robinson found out when he gave him a call. In the early 1970s, Louth produced a team that knew no fear. The Wee County fancied their chances against anyone and had a side widely considered good enough to go all the way in the province. With the likes of Benny Gaughran, Leslie Toal, Anthony Hoey, Damien Reid, Terry Lennon and Joey McLoughlin on board, they had enough in the tank to give any opposing manager food for thought. Even Kevin Heffernan! In '73, Jimmy Mulroy took his Louth combination (who had disposed of Carlow in the first round at Dowdallshill - a first championship win in seven years) to nearby Navan, where they battled out a draw with a Dublin contingent, many of whom would go on to become household names. They brought the Dubs back to Tailteann for a replay seven days later and duly recorded a wonderful 1-8 to 0-9 victory. With his endless stamina, Drogheda footballer Shane Mulroy was an instantly-recognisable feature of the Louth team of that era. He had made his senior intercounty debut at Croker on May 30 1971, lining out on the 40 for the Leinster quarter-final against Kildare. Shane opted out the following year to play soccer (at centre half) with the Drogheda United reserves, which he did to tremendous effect for three years under the tutelage of none other than Paddy Clarke(!) and Christy Early, but, with the ban lifted, his Louth career took off again in '73 after a relative by the name of Jimmy Mulroy invited him back into the Louth fold. The Shamrock Villas man recalls: "Jimmy came on the scene in '73 and asked me back in. I started again that year in the national league and then played the two games against Dublin, playing on the wing in both. Heffo had just come in at the helm for Dublin and that team went on to win all around them, so it was great to put one over them in '73. Unfortunately, we then played Offaly at Croke Park in the semi-final and they beat us. The Iron Man from Rhode was full back on that Offaly team." What Shane neglects to mention is that the Faithful County were actually the defending All-Ireland champions of the previous two years! The O'Raghallaighs clubman carved a unique piece of history the following year. In 1974, Shane became the only player in the past 65 years to finish top scorer for Louth WITHOUT the assistance of frees. His return of 4-11 - all from open play - represents a feat that will surely never be equalled or beaten. In those days, Louth had no inferiority complex, regardless of who was in the opposition corner. Hard to believe that they haven't managed to repeat the dose against the Dubs in the intervening 35 years! "I remember in '71 we had the likes of Leslie Toal and Jimmy Mulroy and Benny Gaughran and Liam Leech, who were all older guys, but in '73 there were newer lads in the team and the names we came up against didn't mean much to us. We had no fear and thought we were as good as anybody." Great support, too, it should be added "Well, in fairness, Louth have always had fantastic support, even today," says the former Wee County minor, who was also an accomplished athlete (and still is). There's always a huge following in Louth for championship games and it was very big back in those days, too. Dublin also had a really big support and they used to come in and take over the near side in Navan." Shane admits that the Dublin win was the highlight of his GAA career. Looking back, is he disappointed that the Louth team of that era didn't go a little further? "Absolutely. Especially in '73. We could have beaten Offaly and took our place in the Leinster final. Unfortunately, the following year we went backwards and Dublin went forward." Some have suggested that the Louth side of the early 'seventies was the last good XV produced in the county, but Shane doesn't agree. The Drogheda man believes other great players have represented the Wee County since: "I coached different teams after that and knew what was there. When Colin Kelly and Stefan White were on the team, with the O'Hanlons and the Clans contingent, we had some tremendous players who would have walked onto any other county team in the country." Mulroy's own intercounty career was effectively ended when he sustained an injury in a national league match against Monaghan at Ardee in 1975. He was on the bench when Louth defeated neighbours Meath in the first round of Leinster at Croke Park later that summer, but never really featured for the county team properly thereafter. But his club career continued to flourish. He played well into the 'eighties. At the time, O'Raghallaighs were senior and Shane was on the first team from he was 17 until well into his mid 30s. Incredibly, silverware proved elusive even though the Drogheda club had some super talent: "We had the likes of Muckle McKeown, Joe McLoughlin and the Kellys and we could beat any team in the league, but we never won a single championship," the former county man reflects ruefully. "In fact, I never won any championship at all during my playing career, which was a big disappointment." Working with Irish Cement at Platin, Shane transferred to St Mary's, Donore for four seasons towards the end of his career, reaching two Meath intermediate championship finals with his adoptive club. "Having played for so long in Louth, the change was good," he says. "Sean Boylan was trawling the county at the time looking at players for his Meath team and, of course, he picked a lot of lads from junior and intermediate clubs, and I was delighted to get the opportunity to play against quite a few of the Meath players of that era at club level." Shane subsequently took his coaching courses and went on to coach numerous clubs, including O'Raghallaighs, Hunterstown, Naomh Mairtin, St Mary's Donore and Rathkenny. His youngest son Robert garnered a junior championship medal with O'Raghalliaghs in 2001 sparking much ribbing and friendly banter in the Mulroy homestead! Indeed, the Mulroy name has always been synonymous with football in Louth and Drogheda. There was a Mulroy on the Louth side that won All-Irelands way back in 1910 and 1912, and that man was a grand-uncle of both Jimmy and Shane." Though the modern game has its critics, particularly amongst past players, Shane says he loves the way football is played today and would relish to have been able to try his hand at the modern game: "My other sport was athletics and I'm still active as a veteran runner. I'd love to play the running game that's prevalent now. Of course, Jimmy Mulroy was years ahead of himself as a coach and he actually encouraged a running game anyway, with players like Damien Reid, a brilliant skilful footballer who suited that style perfectly. Damien was tremendous - a player of pure skill. I ran against him in athletics too and he could run all day. "I really enjoy the modern game and I can appreciate the training and preparations that go into it. When a team can perform like that and always support one another, it's great stuff. 'The Gooch' and 'Star' [of Kerry] would be two big favourites in our house. On the Louth scene, JP Rooney was another we really admired." With that, Shane had to head off to the O'Raghallaighs. He'd recently been invited back into the club to oversee running exercises on Wednesday nights. There was only going to be one response to such a request and, true to form, I had called the Louth GAA stalwart on a Wednesday evening Tweet

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