Fanning the flames
December 30, 2009So close they could almost touch it… That was the story of Naomh Mairtin's '09 senior football championship campaign, gift-wrapped in a tidy little nutshell. Nicky Malone's charges had demonstrated some encouraging form in the latter part of '08 and they went into the new season as true dark horses, generally unfancied but certainly possessing enough gunpowder in their weaponry to do some damage.
The lopsided draw for the group stage of the main competition was unkind, pitting the Mairtins in a section that contained more genuine contenders than no-hopers. All the teams in Group A could claim with justification to be in with a chance of landing the Joe Ward Cup. The Brides are invariably there or thereabouts; Cooley are perennial challengers; Mattock needed no introduction; Glyde had developed into real contenders; and defending champions Newtown Blues made up a ridiculously difficult section.
As it transpired, Naomh Mairtin acquitted themselves well, finishing close to the top of a very tight group, just one point behind the winners but still edged out of the qualification places on points difference. Cooley and Mattock finished first and second respectively with six points apiece; Glyde, the Blues and the Mairtins each had five points. But it was the Tallanstown men who advanced by virtue of scoring averages, with the holders and the Monasterboice men bowing out in frustrating fashion.
Naomh Mairtin's dependable county full back Mick Fanning was disappointed with the club's failure to progress to the latter stages of the SFC, but believes they can embark on a serious championship run if they introduce more consistency to their brew. They've failed to advance for three straight seasons now and inconsistency has invariably proven their Achilles heel, with 2009 being a case in point - a brilliant win over the Blues in the county grounds on May 2 (0-10 to 0-9) followed by a seven-point defeat to Collon at the same venue three weeks later. Then came a 0-12 each draw with the Brides in Castlebellingham on July 25 and a real thumping at the hands of resurgent Cooley in a re-fixed match at Dowdallshill on August 21. Naomh Mairtin managed to close their group campaign in style with an excellent 1-13 to 0-10 victory over Glyde in Drogheda on August 30 but it was too little, too late and the lasting legacy of that heavy Cooley defeat was that they exited the fray on points difference, with Glyde advancing.
By mid-September - after Mattock had eliminated Ardee St Marys and Group B winners St Patricks and Glyde had pipped Dundalk Gaels - there were only three teams remaining in the race for Joe Ward. And ALL THREE had emerged from Group A! This fact gives a good indication of just how close Naomh Mairtin came…
"Inconsistency is our biggest problem," Mick notes. "On our day, we can beat anyone in the county, but we can't seem to do it back-to-back. That's what we need to work on.
"All in all, it was another disappointing year. We got off to a great start against the Blues and expected big things after that, but we then lost to Collon and drew with the Brides and got hammered by Cooley. One point from those three games wasn't ever going to be enough. Losing out on points difference was disappointing. We thought we might break through to the quarter-finals or semi-finals but got caught at the group stage again."
Mick feels there's the makings of a decent team in Monasterboice: "JP [Rooney] and Nicky [McDonnell] would be the two oldest players and the rest of us are under 26. So we have a team there that can get stronger. We just have to get it right. The panel is there, but it takes a little time to bring the young lads through and gel it all together."
Where was it lost in 2009? Group A was very, very close all the way and every team dropped points, but at what stage did Naomh Mairtin let it slip? "In hindsight, it was the Group of Death, but we still could have gone through if we'd conceded less scores. I think we blew it in the game against the Brides. The rest of the top teams beat them. They were missing Aaron Hoey on the day and we should have beaten them. We went two points up with three or four minutes to go, but let them back on level terms. Drawing that game was a definite turning point. If we'd won that one and picked up an extra point, we'd have snuck through to the quarter-finals."
The Mairtins could cause a real stir if they got through to the latter stages. They have some big-game players in their ranks, but you have to first earn the right to contest big games! In straight knockout action, they would be a force. "We have the experience of JP and Nicky and we also have talented young lads like Brian Berrill coming through and the likes of Francis McCullough can mix it with anybody in the county.
"This was the first time in a long time that we had no major injuries and nobody away. We had a strong panel of 23 / 24 and we thought we had a real chance. We prepared well and things looked fine, but we just couldn't produce it in every game. You lose your focus when you aren't playing championship for two or three weeks, but every team has to deal with that…"
What's a realistic, attainable objective for next season? "We have to aim for a semi-final at least. We really have to get to the knockout stages and kick on from there. Most teams in the senior championship will set out to try to win it and that's an obvious starting goal, but we can't look that far. We haven't been beyond the group stage for three years now, so we have to concentrate on that and then see what happens."
Two-thousand-and-nine was Mick's fourth year on the Louth senior panel and his third season as a regular on the Wee County XV. "It's a great honour to represent your county," he states. "Of course, it's not as easy when things aren't going well but we're hoping to move up a division next year and to push for a bit of success.
"Last year wasn't a great year for Louth by any means - nothing to write home about. We struggled through the national league and we struggled past Carlow and then got beaten by Laois and Tipperary. You'd have to put it down as a bad year."
Louth did start the year with an O'Byrne Cup win - would it be fair to say that the much-talked-about four trophies won in the past four years are of little true significance? "No, I wouldn't say that at all. In the first year of Eamonn's management, winning Division 2B would have to go down as a notable success. From a personal point of view, I started playing for the county during the successful Tommy Murphy Cup campaign, so I think that was worthwhile too. But there's certainly room for more success…"
How aware are the players of Louth's glorious past and to what extent do they feel the pressure to emulate those fabulous teams of times gone by? "We know Louth football shouldn't be down where it is and it's up to the players to bring it back up to where it should be. Meath reached an All-Ireland semi-final this year and Wexford were in the semi-finals the year before, so that shows what can be achieved. I don't think there's that much difference between the footballers in Louth, Meath and Wexford, so I see no reason why we couldn't achieve something if we get on a run.
"Maybe we need a bit more belief that we are a good team. And to be a bit more ruthless and close games out more efficiently. When we go through a bad patch in a game, we seem to concede six or seven points, whereas other teams might just concede two or three."
As for the club scene, Mick is confident that 2010 could be a good year for Naomh Mairtin: "Nicky Malone is staying on as manager and that's a big boost. It'll bring continuity. He has brought this team through for the past two years and we hope to repay him with a decent run in the championship. We're hoping to fulfil our potential next year." Tweet
