In the Press
A pub you could easily call home
Country roads take you home but also back in time, and the winding lanes around Carlingford Lough promise exactly this.
About 2km from Carlingford town you’ll be encouraged to divert off the main road by a sign reading “Pub”. On closer inspection it also reads Lily Finnegan’s, although in much smaller type, because, if you’re going off-road around this part of the Cooley peninsula there can be only one pub you’re searching for and that’s the 180-year-old whitewashed home of Lily Finnegan. Lily is gone now, but her picture still hangs proudly on the bar, where local man Derek McGarrity is at the helm.
18 Irish pubs you have to try before you die
Just 5km from Carlingford on the Cooley Peninsula in Louth, this quaint whitewashed pub is a world apart from the boozy stags and hens that descend on the seaside town. At Lily Finnegan's, you'll find that distinctive old world charm that you're after.
Our favourite places to go out for a drink
Ciaran Gormley
My favourite watering hole is Lily Finnegan's in Whitestown, County Louth. It's an old, whitewashed pub with a crooked roof and shore stones pave your way to the front door. Inside there are few right angles and the old tiled floor is as level as the Giant's Causeway. The walls and ceiling are painted and clean, with bright happy colours. The bar counter tilts towards the taps, so you have to put your pint only halfway across the bar mat to stop loss of your tipple. The fire is lit most of the year apart from the summer months and even though it's draughty, it's really cosy. The local people are rural and friendly. If you're not being slagged to death after your third visit to it, they haven't sussed you out yet. The owner of Lily's cleans to high standards and will appear like an apparition beside you, mop/bucket in hand to whisk away any spillages.
Lilys has the authenticity others copy 
Lily Finnegans is one of the oldest known public houses in Louth, if not the country. Officially it dates back to the early 1800's when it was known as 'Sloans Bar' but it is thought it first opened its doors many years before that.
You Share your hidden Irish gems
The Cooley Peninsula is by far the best place I know. Lily Finnegans have the best pints of Guinness