They have been playing football on the shores of Clew Bay in Louisburgh for well over 100 years, but in 1929 the club was officially formed and in the 87 years in between they have given their supporters some great days, winning an intermediate title in 2003 to go with junior titles 1950, 1987, and 1994 and most recently four weeks ago when they saw off Balla right at the death, thanks to a Kevin Gibbons belter of an effort when the game was moving into injury time.
It has been a long road back for Louisburgh to get out of the junior ranks this year, and with that taken care of they have had plenty of time to concentrate on what is coming up, and the potential to follow in the footsteps of Ardnaree last year and claim the Connacht crown at this level. The intermediate crown they won 13 years ago is a long time now, but they have a trio of survivors from those heady days with full back Marcus O'Malley, wing back Alan Moran, and Austin O'Malley still doing their stuff in the starting 15 for them today.
Standing in their way on Sunday are the Galway champions Oranmore/Maree who will have home advantage when the sides meet in Pearse Stadium at 2pm. Oranmore-Maree had a much easier time of things in their county final seeing off St Gabriel's 4-16 to 1-7 to end a 26 year wait for a junior title last month, the main men for the Galway champions that day were Johnny Kelliher who kicked six points, Eoghan Stenson hit 1-2, as did Sean McInerny, with Shane Geoghegan chipping in with two goals.
Louisburgh will be hoping that Kevin Gibbons can keep up his scoring form, with their number 11 hitting five in the Mayo final, but they will need to see a greater spread of scoring return from the rest of their forward unit, if they are to come good on Sunday, James Gibbons, Paul McDonnell, and Michael Gibbons all chipped in with a point each that day, but John Kelly will be hoping for a lot more on Sunday from them. Both sides will feel they can do something in Connacht this winter, and on Sunday they will be leaving nothing behind them in the dressing room come game time.
