Steps in the right direction
December 30, 2009Over the two decades, the Castletown side claimed four Joe Ward titles but inevitably that high could not be sustained and over the past number of years the club has been going through a rebuilding process.
It hasn't always been easy for the famous Dundalk club in recent times and the drop down to Intermediate football highlighted how quickly fortunes can change in sport.
The past couple of seasons have seen the Clans steady the ship and while they were unable to seriously push for a place back in Senior football, a lot of hard work has been done and the signs for the future are encouraging.
Although the 2009 season ended in disappointment in terms of the championship, one of the stars of the current team, JJ Quigley, believes that this year could signal the start of the revival of the Clans.
This year witnessed the Dundalk side emerge as serious challengers in both Division 2 League and Intermediate Championship and while they were unfortunate not to win at least one trophy, Quigley hopes the experience will help them return to their rightful position.
"I suppose we all consider the Clans to be a senior club and our aim is to get back to that level as soon as possible. It is a mental thing in that you have to aim high and if you settle for anything less then that is where you will remain.
"Over the last few years things didn't really go that well for the club but at the start of this season we made a conscious effort to push hard and try to get back to the senior ranks in both league and championship," explained JJ.
The appointment of a new coach to assist the management team gave the squad a boost heading into the new season, although Quigley admits that it was not looking too promising at the start.
"We got Declan Smyth in as coach and he certainly made a big difference along with Barry O'Connor and Andrew Griffith who were managing the team.
"Unfortunately it looked as if that hard work was not going to pay off as we lost our first four games of the league. The thing was that we weren't playing that badly, it was just that we couldn't seem to take our scores and ended up losing games that we could have won.
"In one of the early games I think we kicked 19 wides and ended up losing by four points, which summed up our season at that stage.
"I suppose people were getting a bit worried but it came to the point where we knew we just had to start winning games or we would end up fighting a relegation battle which was not in our plan at the start of the year."
However, there was no real sense of panic in the team and eventually their efforts paid off when they went on a very impressive winning streak.
"It was great to see the way everybody just pulled together and suddenly things just clicked into place for us. Not only did the ball start going over the bar, but it also started to go into the net and we just got on to a great winning streak," said JJ.
The upturn in fortunes came at the right time for the club as Quigley reveals that it sent them into the championship in confident mood and they showed their quality by coming through the group with maximum points.
Boosted by a narrow victory over one of the early favourites, Naomh Malachi, Clans went on to account for St Joseph's and Young Irelands to put themselves in with an excellent chance of making it through to the knock-out stages.
They followed up with victory over Oliver Plunketts and then sealed top spot in Group A and a semi-final place thanks to a win over O Raghallaigh in the final game.
At that point, many people had Clans as favourites to win the title for the first time in their history, but a very disappointing display against Na Piarsaigh in the last four saw their hopes dashed. According to JJ, it was a bitter pill to swallow after such a good season.
"We went into the semi-final against Na Piarsaigh relatively confident as we had won five group games, including victory over Naomh Malachi who are always considered to be one of the strongest sides, and we had been working well in training.
"However, there was no sense of us being over-confident as the lads were all very level headed and knew what they had to do to win.
"Unfortunately it was just one of those games where we couldn't buy a score. I think we ended up with 12 wides and eight shots into the goalkeeper's hands, which you can't get away with in a semi-final and we finished up losing by four points.
"It certainly wasn't for the want of trying on the day as we gave it everything which makes it all the more frustrating, particularly after the good performances we had been putting in.
"We had been trailing by 0-7 to 0-5 at the break and managed to get back level but crucially we kicked five successive wides when we had a chance to go in front. I think that gave Na Piarsaigh great confidence and they hit back with the goal that killed us," he explained.
Despite that disappointment, Quigley believes that this season will represent a beginning for the Clans and that the challenge is to maintain the effort of this year, learn from their mistakes and make another effort to go all the way in 2010.
In a year when Clan na Gael celebrated the 50th anniversary of their 1959 Senior Championship success, they haven't been short on good news at the Castletown club. They received a boost with the news that Peter Fitzpatrick has been named as the first Clans man to manage the Louth Senior team, while JJ Quigley was part of the successful side that won the Leinster Junior Championship.
"Being part of the team that won the Leinster title was a real bonus for me as I was lucky to be involved in the end. Because of exam commitments, I couldn't join the panel earlier and in fact I was listening to the drawn Leinster Final on the radio.
"When it came to the replay I was available and the likes of Sean McCann and Derek Maguire couldn't play so I started against Longford. It was great to pick up a medal and overall the team deserved it as they played very well and it shows that there is plenty of talent coming through."
As a result, JJ has plenty of reasons to be positive and he will be hoping that the new season will bring success on both the club and county front. Tweet
