The 2009 season was a memorable one for St Mochtas as Louth Village welcomed back the Christy Bellew Cup after the team's superb victory in the Junior Championship Final. By Eunan Whyte.

Having come close to reclaiming the title in each of the past two years, St Mochtas made no mistake this time around with a series of impressive displays over the course of the season, culminating in a thoroughly deserved victory over St Fechins at McGeough Park on Saturday September 19th.
It certainly was the perfect way to celebrate the club's 75th anniversary and a reward not only for the players, but the hard-working committee and club members who have made St Mochtas one of the best clubs in the county.
The Louth Village men, managed by Glen O'Reilly, came out on top on a 0-15 to 0-12 scoreline, with Nigel Farrell turning in a Man of the Match display as he notched up a total of 11 points, allowing Gervaise Marron to accept the trophy on behalf of his team.
The victory was not only a fitting reward for the efforts of this season, but an important step in the club's recent impressive progress as they will now take their place in the Intermediate grade next season.
Given that the Louth Village side are already competing in Division 2 of the league, they are now ideally placed to see their young side continue their development and hopefully make an impression on the Intermediate Championship in the near future.
Over the course of the season, few could argue with the merits of the St Mochtas success as, after suffering an early defeat in Group A, they were a model of consistency, while their league form at the higher level also stood to them when the pressure was on.
After losing to Young Irelands in the 2007 final, and to eventual winners, St Nicholas at the semi-final stage 12 months later, St Mochtas began this season as one of the favourites for the title.
However, perhaps that expectation weighed heavily on them at the outset as they made a disappointing start by losing their opening game to Sean McDermotts by 1-7 to 0-7 after a below par performance at Knockbridge on May 5th.
Given that Group A also contained the highly fancied Glen Emmets and Lannleire, many observers felt that this defeat would leave the Mochtas facing an uphill battle in their efforts to qualify for the knock-out stages.
However, perhaps it was to prove the turning point of the season as Glen O'Reilly's charges responded in impressive fashion by raising their performance level for the remainder of the competition and ensuring they came out on top in the end.
The first step on that road saw them get their campaign back on track at the end of May with a 1-19 to 0-7 win over Westerns at Ardee.
Boosted by that display, St Mochtas grabbed their second win of the competition on June 11th when they ran up another big score in a 1-16 to 1-3 defeat of parish rivals, Annaghminnon Rovers.
Having seen off two of the weaker sides in the group, the Louth Village outfit then faced a crunch match with the 2008 runners-up, Lannleire, side who had made an encouraging start to the campaign.
Going into the game, St Mochtas knew they couldn't afford another slip-up if they were going to remain in contention. With Lannleire in a similar position, it was no surprise that the game at Dromiskin on July 5th resulted in a tense first half which ended with St Mochtas leading by just 0-6 to 0-5.
However, they upped their game in the second half and goals from a Declan Byrne penalty and Nigel Farrell saw them through by 2-10 to 0-9.
Another of the title contenders, Glen Emmets, provided the opposition in the final group game with a top of the table finish and a place in the semi-final the reward for the winners.
The game at Ardee on July 25th saw a Declan Byrne goal help his side go into the break level at 1-4 to 0-7. However, the Mochtas were the dominant force after the break and a second goal from Shane McMahon securing a comprehensive 2-11 to 0-8 victory.
St Mochtas came up against familiar faces in the semi-final when they met Sean McDermotts in Tallanstown on August 29th in what proved to be their most difficult game of the campaign.
A Gervaise Marron goal early in the second half put his side 1-7 to 0-8 in front but it looked as if the Seans would claim victory as they led by a point as the game entered injury time. However, Colin Hoey stepped up to rescue his side with a last gasp point.
The replay a week later saw St Mochtas raise their performance and they had the edge over their opponents throughout before claiming a place in the final on a 2-10 to 2-7 scoreline.
Goals in the first half from a Colin Hoey penalty and Gervaise Marron had their side in the driving seat and a solid second half display saw them through with three points to spare.
St Mochtas were hot favourites against an inexperienced St Fechins side in the decider and from the opening whistle made it clear that they had the hunger to claim the title in front of a large crowd of enthusiastic supporters from the village.
Nigel Farrell showed that he was certainly in the mood as he kicked over five early points and when Gary Connolly added another after 14 minutes, the Mochtas were firmly in control with a 0-6 to 0-1 lead. It could have been even better but Ken Meegan was unlucky to have a goal ruled out for a square ball.
However, St Fechins were determined not to throw in the towel and the impressive Ronan Holdcroft kicked three points to reduce the gap to just two.
Farrell and Declan Byrne were among the scores as St Mochtas rallied and went into the break leading by 0-10 to 0-6.
The winners did go five points clear early in the second half, but again had to be at the best to stay in front as the Termonfeckin men hit back.
It took a brilliant save from Conor Ryan to deny Holdcroft a goal while Philip Englishby blocked Niall Devlin's goal-bound attempt to keep their side in front, as St Fechins reduced the gap to 0-12 to 0-10.
Farrell then pointed a crucial free on 52 minutes but his side looked to be under pressure when substitute Liam Byrne was sent off and Fechins added two points to reduce the gap to just one with two minutes remaining.
However, the experience of St Mochtas proved vital in the end as they maintained cool heads to hold off the challenge and injury-time points from Farrell and Gareth O'Reilly sealed a memorable victory.
The scores for the Louth Village outfit on that historic day were: Nigel Farrell (0-11, 8f), Gary Connolly, Declan Byrne, Gareth O'Reilly, Colin Hoey (0-1 each).
Team: Conor Ryan; Barry Mulholland, Barry Cassidy, Paul Marron; Donal Gernon, Philip Englishby, Gary Connolly; Declan Byrne, Gareth O'Reilly; Shane McMahon, Colin Hoey, Liam McGranaghan; Ken Meegan, Gervaise Marron, Nigel Farrell. Subs: Eamon O'Neill for S McMahon, Sean Crawley for L McGranaghan, Liam Byrne for B Cassidy, Liam McGranaghan for K Meegan. Tweet

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