The sort that slithers off into the summer unread and unnoticed, shrouded by a point here, a goal there and ultimately the result. For three weeks running Peter McGinnity turned out for the Louth footballers in their own little epic against Wicklow. Each time he captained the side from his berth at centre-half back, going about the game in his quiet but effective manner.

Chances are if you noticed him at all it was because of the foul he committed that gave Mick O'Dwyer's side a replay or the gash on the forehead he picked up late into the second game. And then he was gone, disappeared down the tunnel for another week, put into storage until the crowds returned, or so we thought.

Of all months he picked to get married. He could see it coming as well. When himself and Catherine sat down to pick dates he even had the nerve to mention it. Croke Park, 20 May, Leinster championship first round. She was tolerant about it too, but when word came back from the hotel that they were booked up until four days before the game, he knew it was time to stay quiet and nod. "Now that was pretty awkward. The place we wanted to get married is fairly hard to get a slot in but all along I was hoping something would come up a few weeks before the game. But what do you know, it's the Thursday before it. Christ Almighty.

It left me slightly tired going into that match and in a strange way people thought that about most of us. But I wouldn't say we were complacent although from watching the game you might think that.

"In fairness Wicklow showed more hunger than us which is really annoying. I got very frustrated and towards the end of that I was thinking this is slipping away.

We kept going and we got the goal but it was lucky. They should have beaten us. In fact Eamonn [McEnaney] kept us out on the pitch after that, got us in a huddle and told us just that. He drove home the fact we were still there, that we lifted the game when we had to and that was the main thing to take from Croke Park that day. We were still in the championship. But the whole week, I wouldn't do it again, put it that way. One of the two is enough in the week.

But thank God for the bride, she knew deep down this was going to be in my mind but at the same time she was great about it all, very supportive."

Behind every good man there's a good woman. Behind every good footballer there's a tolerant woman. Perhaps he was excused a little because this year he was made captain. At the start of the season the players sat around a dressing room near Ardee and when asked who should fill the role, his name kept cropping up. It took a while for the shock to go down and the pride to burst through but with a little less modesty he might have seen it coming. After all, he'd been there for all the pain of recent seasons having had his first outing against Kilkenny in the 1998 National League. His teammates remember him willing them on from the sideline after an injury forced him to miss their dramatic qualifier defeat to Meath in 2002.

He was there last season too when they threw it away against the same opposition.

"Maybe that helped a little, that I was captain, although I think when the final whistle went the first day and Catherine realised the honeymoon was set to be cut short that was pushing it a bit. And it crossed my mind the minute that game was over. She even spotted that it was me who fouled the man for the free that levelled it up in injury time. So the original plan was to go off for a week to Sorrento and then maybe for two or three weeks after that in the winter. But with the replay we really had four days. We got home on the Saturday, less than 24 hours until the replay, but the management were very supportive. They knew the position I was in and they bent over backwards. There was plenty of slagging too but I suppose that didn't really start until after the second game."

That, he admits, was deserved. Following the 1-9 to 0-12 draw in Parnell Park both sides left the field exhausted. The 100 minutes of football blended with the heat to leave them all dishevelled and a hefty blow McGinnity picked up in the dying moments didn't help his appearance. Heading for the dressing room slightly punch drunk he ended up walking straight into an RTE camera crew. It went like this. "So Peter, are you glad you came back early from the honeymoon?" "Ah sure I'm after putting in eight or nine months of hard training, it was an easy decision. I'd do it again."

"Jesus, what was I thinking, welcome to married life. Ah no, I got a bit of slagging but Catherine has been amazing and I don't think people realise what guys' wives and girlfriends and families have to put up with throughout the season and I don't think they get the credit they deserve. And this was a case in point. I came back the Saturday afternoon but I can't say I was tired, I was rested in fact. I had a week off work, there was a gym in the hotel and I did quite a bit of cardio work and sure you would be swimming during the day so I was really well up for the that game. I think people presumed we were going to be exhausted after that because I looked so bad and they had us written us off for the third game but we all know what happened."

Louth were outstanding and for the first time in 2007 the forwards put in a game to rival the defence. Mark Stanfield hit a goal and three. JP Rooney was only a point off that mark. Aaron Hoey tallied four points, Paul Keenan three and Shane Lennon two.

In fact despite the opposition, Louth's tally of 2-18 cast many people's minds back to when they ran Tyrone so close last season before falling in a replay.

"We put on a lot of pressure in the first half and we were only a couple of points up but I think we were turning the screw.

Then the forwards just hit form and we started moving the ball well and it just opened up. The forwards started kicking scores and showed what they can do. That will be a huge boost for them because they need to realise they can do it. This game against Wexford will be the fourth game and as long as I'm playing with Louth I never had four games. But there's a debate then about whether that many games is good at this stage of the year or whether freshness will suit them better."

But the hardest part is over, right? "You could say that although I had better make that winter break three weeks.

Another draw and it'll be a month."

LACK OF MEANINGFUL GAMES COULD WORK AGAINST WEXFORD LEINSTER SFC QUARTER-FINAL LOUTH v WEXFORD Croke Park, 2.20 Referee Paddy Russell (Tipperary)

WEXFORD manager Paul Bealin has been growing frustrated in recent weeks at the lack of competitive action his side has seen. In fact the last time they played a meaningful game was 8 April and the chances are Bealin's comments have been borne out of worry. Wexford could be caught cold today and if Louth can produce the sort of football they did on their last trip to Croke Park, they could get a game-winning jump.

If anything Bealin should be grateful at the extra two weeks his side have had before taking to the championship stage. The loss of PJ Banville is a major blow but had this game been on schedule, Matty Forde and Phillip Wallace could have missed out as well. Today both are vital. Louth's forwards will be full of confidence and the fullback could have his hands full, not just with Mark Stanfield but with Aaron Hoey and JP Rooney cutting in from the flanks. And then there's Forde. Always crucial and if his side are to have any hope of getting a result, he needs to pitch in heavily. Louth can't afford to give him the sort of time and space afforded to Tommy Gill during the first game against Wicklow. Away from Forde, Wexford don't look the attacking threat they were a couple of years ago. They don't look to have the presence in midfield either. Tie all the strands together and Bealin might not welcome competitive action after all.

Verdict Louth by a goal LOUTH S Reynolds; A Page, C Goss, J Carr; D Finnegan, P McGinnity, R Finnegan; P Keenan, R Carroll; M Farrelly, M Brennan, J O'Brien; A Hoey, M Stan"eld, JP Rooney WEXFORD J Cooper; C Morris; P Wallace, B Malone; A Morrisey, D Murphy, N Murphy; R Stafford, E Bradley; C Deely, R Barry, A Flynn; C Lyng, P Colfer, M Forde