Understandable as Hoops take a breather
December 30, 2009the players are too good NOT to be in the hunt for promotion!
O'Raghallaighs started 2009 as one of the favourites to win the Louth intermediate football championship. They'd been there or thereabouts in recent seasons and looked to have the necessary ingredients to finally make the step-up to the top table. However, things didn't go quite according to script.
Despite the best efforts of the committee, players and management, the season never took off and the Hoops failed to get out of the group stage of the IFC. They were in Group B and finished joint-fourth from six teams. Of their five outings, there were two wins and three defeats. The undoubted highlight was a superb 1-12 to 1-8 victory over would-be champions Naomh Malachi on May 23. O'Raghallaighs' other championship victory was secured at the expense of Oliver Plunketts: 0-12 to 0-7 at Ardee on July 25.
At that stage, with two games remaining, they were still very much in the shake-up for a place in the business end of the knockout competition. However, successive defeat to the Joes and the Clans put paid to any aspirations the Drogheda club had of making the long-awaited leap into the highest echelons of Wee County club fare.
There were positives, too, of course. The club did make strides at juvenile level (particularly with a good minor team) and they also opened their new dressing-rooms in honour of Gerry Morgan as well as re-establishing themselves as something of a force in handball. But it was the unexpected dip of the first team that attracted most attention, leading some to suggest that the current O'Raghallaighs side is perhaps a spent force. To the contrary, club chairman PJ Moore is confident they'll be back with a bang in 2010 after an inevitable, excusable off year:
"Football-wise, it was a disappointing year coming off the back of five successful years where we contested three intermediate semi-finals and a final. We had a flat year, but maybe that was to be expected after knocking on the door for so long. We've appointed Colin Kelly as our manager for next year and hopefully that will prove to be part of the solution.
"On the juvenile front, we have a fantastic number of kids out training from aged five up and that continued unabated in 2009. Our minor team was very unlucky to be beaten by one point in the Division Three minor championship final, and they were narrowly beaten in the league final too. It's a pity because they were a good side and we were hopeful they'd get some silverware for their efforts. We had a good bunch of lads there and some of them will come on board with the intermediate panel next year."
PJ has total faith in the first team. He strongly believes that 2009 was a one-off and is convinced O'Raghallaighs will be in the mix for major honours again in the coming year: "It was one bad year out of six and I'm sure we can put it behind us," he reasons. "I'm satisfied that it's no more than a blip. We have fantastic players here. The bulk of them are under 25 and they have it in them. When guys lose three semi-finals in a row, you can understand that they will have an off year.
"I'm very confident that this squad can get up to senior and do well there. But intermediate is a hotly-contested championship. There are always three or four teams who can win it any year. Last year, everybody would have chosen O'Connells after the group stages but Naomh Malachi peaked at just the right time to surprise us all. It just goes to show: there's nothing predictable about intermediate football.
"It's a very long season that lasts nine or ten months and it just didn't get going for us at all this time. For some reason, there was no spark and we struggled from the outset. No-one was to blame. The players and management gave their all. Josh Carolan was back in charge for the fourth or fifth time and Josh did everything he could. He has been our most successful manager of the past 15 years and he did everything in his power. Seamus O'Hanlon was brought in to help with coaching and training, but we couldn't get the reaction…"
Perhaps, having given so much in the previous five campaigns only to meet with disappointment each time, the players needed a break psychologically? "We just didn't get any momentum going. The attitude was right at training and the lads were exactly the same as other years. Everything was there and was in place. We have a really good set-up in the club and the players don't want for anything, but sometimes it just doesn't happen and there's nothing you can do about it."
Is there a danger than the team could get stuck in a rut if they don't turn things around next year? "I'm not concerned at all about next year," says the chairman. "We have a good panel of players with some minors coming through and, if they get the bit of luck they've been lacking in the last five or six years, then they have the ability to move up to Division One and the senior championship. If they do get up, I believe they would thrive as a senior team."
O'Raghallaighs made great strides with their facilities in 2009. New dressing-rooms were built alongside the training pitch, predominantly to accommodate juvenile teams, with a six-figure sum spent on that particular development. This has been named in honour of the late Gerry Morgan, who was the heartbeat of juvenile football in O'Raghallaighs, with a special plaque erected in his name. "Gerry was an outstanding juvenile mentor and we were delighted to launch the dressing-rooms this year in his honour," PJ notes.
"We've spent a lot of money in the club this year, including much-needed nets behind the goals, and all of this money was generated internally, through our own fund-raising activities."
It was also heartening to see O'Raghallaighs re-emerge as a handball force in the months gone by. "Handball is going well in the club again," the chairman concludes. "O'Raghallaighs handball club produced Leinster and All-Ireland champions at various grades this year, from juvenile up to Over 45s. We're delighted to see the handball taking off again under the chairmanship of Alan Smith." Tweet
