Since they last featured in the SFC final (2003), no club has radiated such a slow-burning glow in Louth as the 'Mary's. At this stage, even eternally-optimistic club Secretary Anthony Courtney has taken to some introspection. Kevin Carney reports.


So, just how long can a club be deemed to be going through a transition period? What signifies the end of a team's natural cycle and when does the start of its second-coming kick in?
For those inextricably attached to the St. Mary's of Ardee club, patience has long been the name of the game.
The blast furnace heat that once lit up their days now smacks of a 2009 Waterford Crystal model rather than one which coloured the company's illustrious past.
Charged with the business of winning important matches, St. Mary's have seen their share rating plummet since their last bluechip days of 1995. These are fire-fighting times.
But keeping the flame burning is the clarion call among all clubs seeking to revive their drooping spirits and, in that respect, 'Mary's long-time administrator Anthony Courtney hits the customary high notes.
Courtney waits anxiously for the spirit of '95 to be re-awakened and for the latent promise borne out by the club's championship odyssey six years ago to be fully realised.
Sadly, things went awry in 2009 as the year morphed into an abattoir for the Deesiders' hopes of silverware on both the league and championship fronts.
Unusually, Courtney's greatest upset was spawned by the sight of his beloved club being stuck in the cloying mass of the also-rans in division two of the senior league.
"The biggest disappointment for me over the past year was not regaining our division one status," the popular local Credit Union official laments.
"We had set our sights on getting promoted because that's where we feel we must be, first and foremost, if we are to start building a better future for ourselves.
"Unfortunately we had a bad start in the league and simply didn't get enough wins under our belt to get among the top two in the table.
"I feel that we have to be playing against the likes of Cooley, the Blues and 'Pat's if we're to make an impression in the championship which is the high-profile competition of course.
"Looking ahead, I think our priority for 2010 will have to be promotion 'cause operating in division one would be a big step forward for us."
For the 'Mary's to achieve their objectives at senior level in the coming year, the club's incomings will have to exceed its outgoings in terms of the quality of those togging out for the club.
In fairness, losing behemoth attackers of the calibre of Darren Clarke (to Dublin) and Alan Doherty (to Liverpool) was highly unfortunate but, on the credit side, Paul Malone came back into the fold.
Bolstered by the experience of having played for London seniors in the Connacht SFC (where he went head-to-head with Michael Meehan), schoolteacher Malone was a huge addition to the town team.
However his championship innings sort of mirrored that of his club's ill-luck as his quick-fire early dismissal in the quarter-final match against Mattock Rangers had the words 'curate' and 'egg' ricocheting off the footpaths all the way out the Drogheda road by season's-end.
The Rangers' game saw a pouring of salt into the 'Mary's by then gaping wound; wound opened and then deepened by successive championship defeats to Kilkerley Emmets (0-7 to 0-13) and then St. Pat's (0-6 to 2-13).
At first aggrieved, Ardee's finest were then reprieved with back-to-back victories over Sean O'Mahony's (1-12 to 0-13) and the Dreadnoughts (2-7 to 1-8).
"We should have beaten the (Dundalk) Gaels as well but the lads threw it away on the day," Courtney recalls.
"In fairness to the Gaels, they stuck it out to the very end and finished really fast by scoring four points in a row to tie it up."
As stated earlier, September 5th saw 'Mary's - in the words of the club Secretary - "self-destruct" in the quarter-finals with their 0-5 to 0-11 reversal to Rangers fairly reflective of the gulf between the sides over the hour-plus.
"When you see what happened in the county final afterwards, maybe that result doesn't seem so bad for us and hopefully our younger lads especially can learn from their quarter-final experience," says Courtney.
"The fact that we won the U16 championship title in 2008 and were able to bring on Paudie Clarke from that group up to the seniors gives us hope that we can unearth another couple of young lads to help boost the senior squad in 2010.
"I'd like to think that we can make a charge for promotion in the coming year and ruffle some feathers in the championship with possibly a run out in the play-offs."
Courtney's optimistic view of 'Mary's future is an important currency as the club attempts to carve a path away from the lower slopes of Louth senior football.
He admits though that the consistency so bereft of the club's standard bearers in 2009 must be courted and retained on every front next year if redemption is to be achieved.
Losing to the Na Piarsaighs of this world one week and then beating the likes of the Dreadnoughts the next is a sure-fire way of adding to the level of frustration that has gripped St. Mary's for quite some time now.
For some, the changing of the guard - along the sideline - during the past season fairly underpinned the feeling of a club desperate to be the real deal once more.
When team-manager Mattie McCabe and his selectors Barney Carrie and Davy McCoy exited the stage, having felt they had done all they could to galvanise the dressing-room, it was felt county-wide that the 'Mary's would find it very difficult to engineer the sort of revivalist zeal in the camp needed to put some fizz back in their season.
However the replacement think-tank of Tommy Kirk, Ken Rooney, Sean Carroll and Enda Kerr did trojan work to transform a funeral into a mini-second coming.
So what's needed most for 2010? A team teeming with talent and brio or totemic mentors capable of turning unconvincing players into invincibles?
"Obviously most of the responsibility for a good or a bad season rests with the players at any club," three-times (1968, '72 and '75) SFC medallist Courtney opines.
"We have struggled to get back to where we were in 2003 but I think a lot of it is in the players' hands.
"They have to be prepared to give a bit more if they really want to succeed but I'm sure they know that themselves.
"We have to aspire to the heights that Collon, for instance, have reached but to do that, you need to have the forwards of course.
"Over the past while, we've lost five of the best forwards that any club could wish to have; fellas like Darren Clarke, Alan Doherty, Niall Sharkey, Eoin McCartney and Shane McCoy and you know that they say, 'forwards win matches'."
Mention of Collon and Courtney is suffused with admiration for what his near-neighbours have achieved.
That said, he isn't enamoured by the standard of football in the Wee County these days; calling it "sub-standard" and "little more than average."
He looks forward to seeing Ronan Carroll consolidate his role at intercounty level and feels that Donal Matthews "is worth a run with the seniors."
Courtney has been acting out the role of club Secretary for the past 13 years, citing his "love of the club" as his motivation for doing so.
Pointedly, he concedes that it's difficult to re-discover the same vim and vigour every year but has been energised by the club's success in chiselling out such brilliant facilities at Pairc Mhuire.
A man for whom the glass seems to be always half-full, our man Courtney sincerely believes that, for all the Saints' travails right now, on-field success to match the club's off-field exploits is closer at hand than some might believe.
The following poem was written by Sean Ross and recited at the opening of St Mary's new clubrooms in September 2009.

Pairc Mhuire (Ardee)

Sitting in the garden in Pairc Mhuire's bliss
As the westerly breeze blows an Autumn mist
Flowers planted and wooden houses for the birds
As a playful stream flows onwards towards
Dee's bosom in it slapping melodious waters.

In the hungry years of 28'
St. Marys club had a big date
In the town of Louth's proud land
The acorn of St. Mary's began
rom Eoin Markeys volunteers band.

The Nissan huts and Tom McKenna
Emerged the year of that Nelson fella.
The dressing rooms took shape quickly
It was my father pride and earthly
St. Marys beautiful field of dreams.

We De La Salled in our schooled filed
Gaelic game,s the Dubliners and Beatles deals
Carnivals galore upon the Swanee river
Money for the club, the real winner
The hub of St Marys athletic prowess.

The golden boys of the 1940s and 50s
Stand shoulders high like heroes gifties
We all lived in their proud embrace
The steely men of the Ardonian race.
Trains and buses left this place.

Men like Boyle, Kelly, Markey and Ross
Behan, McGuinness, Reilly, Mooney the boss.
Trained hard to capture major trophies.
Stabannon and the Mhuire, Gaels approaching
Against the night of sprightly Ardonia.

Minor successes in the early sixties
Mentors Philips, Roe, Gorman and Leavy
The street leagues and the bould Paddy Farrelly.
Sent hope tentacles to senior parties
With some success in the early 70s.

The Rices, Whatelys, Clarkes, Walshes and Rosses
McCoys, McDonnells, Courtney, Malone and Landy bosses.
Freddie Matthews took the helm of Satanta
As father Michael Bennet flew out to Africa.
To the cultural mission field of plenty.

Then came the Rooneys, Sharkeys, McCoys
McKenny, McCagues, Kerrs and Kirk boys.
As I sauntered between Maynooth and teach
Proud of my beloved club in our meetings
The lady of healing in Pairc Mhuires embrace.

Endas became the watering house of thirsty souls.
As the committees sat and worked their rules.
With field extensions in the early 1990s.
Dressing rooms sweet and mighty matched
The all-weather pitch nightly.

We pitched a juvenile sod in 2009
And today we open our new clubrooms fine
What a history for a marvellous club.
Sean Sweeney and Ruth Kelly another hub
Major Scot All-Ireland trophies too.

Bearded Tom Rice, Paul Sharkey and Paddy Callan
Men of the calibre of Ward and Lennon
Gatemen and women at the shops
Watching the punters give us the chop.
Taking the Joe Ward Cup home too.

The catch and kick gave way to the passing movements of today.
Fast and furious gaelic sparkle
As television captured the market
Watching the addictive All-Ireland series

The many folk that I have missed
have not unfortunately been on my list.
Our lady's values of the heart and prayer.
Will see our club in the spirits air.

There's Colemans, O'Brien and Jack Bell too
The Midge of course and the bould Gua
Barney McGuinness and Barney Carrie
And Noel and Maureen and the many Larries.

We were down in Cork of Blackrock fame
When Jack Duffy took all the blame
He said he was a Buddish monk,
and was very fond of all the grub.

Of one deed I will now relate,
that was of course Niall Sharkey, the great.
He scored twelve points in the 2003 Senior Final.
But St. Pats of Lordship took the title.

Our under 16s wonderful team
With Ken Rooney and Austin McKenny's Dream
They won the final in Dromiskin pitch
Blue flags few in an Autumn mist.

I leave you with the names I've missed
In my humble trip beyond the mists.
The mists of time that took so many
Of clubmen great, and women buried.

By Sean Ross Tweet

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