Hanging in there
December 30, 2009Everybody enjoys being involved with a successful club. It's easy to get players out on the training pitch when success is guaranteed, or at least likely. However, with many clubs in Louth, this is not the case... Instead, it's an achievement just to fulfil fixtures week in, week out and the players know in their hearts that medals are very unlikely. In 2009, Wolfe Tones hurlers were never in the shake-up for major honours but they won their own private battle by keeping the club going and fielding teams at senior, U10 and U8 levels. A credit-worthy accomplishment in itself…
Clare native Rory Walsh was captain of the first team. Acknowledging that the Tones didn't exactly set the world on fire, he was still happy that they got through the year intact and is hopeful they can turn the corner in 2010, perhaps by attracting some much-needed new blood into the club.
"It was nice to be asked to captain the team," he reflects. "We operate a rotating policy within the club for the captaincy and try to give everybody a chance to do their bit. It was my turn and I was honoured to take it on. Of course, it would have been nicer to be captain another year when we weren't dogged by injury and struggling with numbers. But it was still nice to lead them out and we had the support of everybody in the club every time we took to the field."
Having struggled through the year, Wolfe Tones' aspirations for next year are modest. They're not aiming at dethroning Knockbridge as senior champions. Their battle is much more serious than that… "At this stage, it's really just about keeping it going," says Rory. "We're trying to keep the club alive. We've held table quizzes and poker nights and hundreds of people support us on our social nights; hopefully more of them will come out and support the team on match day. We've printed fliers to promote the club in the area and make more people aware of what we're all about. We desperately need to attract new members but unfortunately a lot of people who move to Drogheda are commuting from here to work and just can't find the time to get involved."
In '09, the team never quite got going - but they did manage to fulfil most of their fixtures. In the round-robin stage of the SHC, the highlight was a 1-12 to 0-12 victory over Mattock Rangers at the county grounds on July 15. The Tones also racked up 1-12 against St Fechins but the concession of five goals in that game proved their undoing.
"We were missing a lot of our stronger players due to injury and we also have a lot of lads who've retired after giving years of outstanding service," Rory notes. "These lads have given twenty years to Wolfe Tones and some of them still have to fill in because we don't have the numbers. It can be a real struggle to get 15 out some days - the resources just aren't there.
"We tend to find at least one new player who's moved into Drogheda every year but for some reason it just didn't happen this year. It can be frustrating because there's a core of seven or eight lads there who are giving their all but it's a struggle after that and we often find ourselves ringing around trying to get the numbers up just before matches.
"On a positive note, there is talk of one or two transfers into the club for next year and I really hope that happens because Wolfe Tones have a great tradition in Louth hurling and it would be a shame if we had to call it a day."
How serious is the situation? Is there a real danger that Drogheda could lose its longest-established hurling club? "It is serious. There are times when we simply haven't had enough players to fulfil fixtures. For one match against Knockbridge, we had to borrow a couple of their subs just so we could play out some sort of game. That's obviously not good enough and there is a danger that if we don't get some players in next year then things could get a lot worse. We were missing the three Carters - Aidan, Brian and Johnny - for most of the year and they were a huge loss. I'd be hoping we'll have them available next year because we can't afford to be missing such quality players. We only had six or seven lads out training most nights this year, so we need to find some new blood."
Fingers crossed things will take a turn for the better in the months ahead!
Kevin "Buddha" McDonnell, Dee McCarthy and Niall McEneaney took charge of team affairs in '09 and did an excellent job with limited resources. Encouragingly, the club did extremely well at U8 and U10 levels - something which is a source of optimism for the future. "They're doing really well with the underage," Rory confirms. "Ollie Kelly, Dee McCarty, David Black and Declan Power [who started up a club website during the year] are doing tremendous work with young lads from U8 level up and we hope to bear fruits from that at some stage. The problem is that we don't have the resources to cater for players at U14 and U16 levels, so we lose them there and it remains to be seen whether they'll come back."
Rory Walsh has been a member of the Wolfe Tones club for six years. Originally from Clare, he joined forces with Wolfe Tones when he started working in the Drogheda area. "I was at college with Niall McEneaney and played Fitzgibbon with him. He got the transfer papers out when he heard I was moving to Drogheda. I've since moved to Dundalk but decided to stick with Wolfe Tones."
Bemused at the time of writing that the season was still dragging on into October, despite the fact that there are very few matches to be played, Rory is delighted to see Mattock and St Fechins emerging as senior teams. He's also encouraged by the fact that Tones players regularly feature for Louth. Though the battle ahead will be a tough one, Wolfe Tones are not about to give up the fight. "We have quality players; we just don't have enough of them," the 2009 club captain concludes. Tweet
