That McEneaney is barely a protagonist inside the Louth county bounds suits him fine.

A Division Two title and a Tommy Murphy Cup are a decent haul from a first year in charge but the real warmth for the Louth manager comes with the knowledge that the progress graph is in the ascendancy. The good words on the streets of Dundalk, the whispers of encouragement he receives around the rest of Louth are reward enough.

From now on though, the trick will be to keep the mercury rising.

For all that Kerry achieved this year and for all the talk and column inches about Kieran Donaghy, Louth are the quiet football story of 2006. Last spring they came from nowhere to take charge of their division, they played with consistency throughout the remainder of the season and took the All Ireland champions to a second game in the qualifiers. They did it all without the adrenaline shot that names such as O Se or O'Dwyer have traditionally brought to counties of their standing. That's significant in itself.

When McEneaney took the job, he did so with the vision that he wanted control of senior football matters for five years. It hadn't been heard of in Louth and though the move surprised some of his players, it showed that the new man was in for the long haul. It was, as Mickey Moran might say, the first chink of faith.

"I suppose the first day I realised things were moving on the right track was when we won the National League in Breffni Park in a replay against Donegal. People said we hadn't the bottle to do it the first day, that we had missed the boat and all those usual cliches. After that [the replay] the lads realised they could do it against teams of the calibre of Donegal. Victories like that build confidence."

Apart from a desire to see a long-term structure in place, McEneaney had specific ideas about the type of football he wanted his team to play and the type of footballers he was going to use.

He set about marrying the two and to good effect.

"This season we've just had, a certain amount of it comes down to looking at the players we had at our disposal and then getting them to play in a certain way. I have strong opinions about the way I want football played and by and large I have Louth playing that way. It's a mixture of all types of football. Long and short. That way teams will never break you down easily.

Anybody who saw us play this season will say that, so I don't think I'm giving away any trade secrets here."

Ask him to measure success and he registers it by a team's ability to keep going, to never quit. He's a realist and knows that only one team will win Leinster, one team will win the All Ireland.

"Sometime, somewhere along the line, if you keep working hard you'll get your chance for one of those. But the lift that last season has given Louth people in general, it just couldn't be put down in words. There's always been such a sense of pride in the county team and they have regained some of that this year. But it's not down to the manager. I know from playing myself the time and effort players put in and these boys have been unreal."

It's a similar situation in Longford. It helps that Luke Dempsey has seen it before, too. He brought Westmeath to the springboard but just wasn't around to see them take the ultimate leap.

With Longford, there are glaring signs of improvement as well. That game against Dublin, the high summer exploits against Derry.

"In the dressing room after the Dublin game I told the players that this can't just be about one big performance on a sunny day in June. I told them they had to show the same levels of intensity again.

They knew they left that game after them. But it showed what Longford was capable of. We destroyed Dublin's full-back line. Played well at midfield. Shane Ryan had to be taken off."

Little victories that snowball the mind's confidence.

All year Dempsey set about a regime of tough challenge games against strong opponents. He put his tactical vision in place, stood on the sideline and hoped the game plan would stick. Two weeks before the arrival of Dublin in Pearse Park, Longford played Mayo in another challenge.

They didn't beat them, but they ran them close enough to realise they could at least contribute to the story of the summer.

"A lot of it is about confidence alright and it's only with a breakthrough on the field that there's finally a sense of belief."

As with Louth, the feelgood factor that the season just ended has brought is bounty enough. The winter will pass a little quicker and that's all anybody can really ask.

"It's a pressure cooker being in management and with the way we played and performed there will be new targets, higher targets. I feel more at home in Longford than I did in my first year.

When you walk into Pearse Park there's a mood of change and expectancy now and hopefully the place will see a few more good days as well."

The sun has barely set over the season and already there's talk and plans of next year. That's what happens when a county like Louth or Longford punches above their weight and troubles a contender. It gives renewal and enthusiasm. As much as Sam Maguires and All Stars, it's what the championship is truly about.