Louth boss Peter Fitzpatrick has said that his side's NFL Division Three final triumph over Westmeath on Saturday "was as good as winning any Leinster title".

The Wee County banished some of their demons from last year's Leinster final at Croke Park, where an illegal injury-time goal from Meath's Joe Sheridan buried their provincial title hopes, by defeating Westmeath on the same turf by 1-15 to 0-13 to claim their first piece of silverware for 2011.

"The big plus today coming into the game was knowing we're in Division Two next year. It's always nice to come to Croke Park and win a trophy and I think the people in Louth are very, very happy," Fitzpatrick told The Irish Independent.

"Just do me one favour - from now on, what happened last year in the Leinster final is over and done with. This win was as good as winning any Leinster title. I'm just delighted."

'Man of the Match' Paddy Keenan stated afterwards that Louth are looking to move on from their "bad luck" and hopes that the team could use the triumph come championship time.

"We're trying to move on from that. We had a couple of years there we had a bit of bad luck, maybe a bounce of a ball," said the 2010 All Star.

"We're a small county, we need every bounce of the ball to go with us. We'll put as much work as we can into it, hopefully get a bit of luck along the way, and use this win towards building for the championship." Tweet

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