League winners
December 30, 2009The county's oldest club, who played in the first ever All-Ireland final against the now defunct Limerick Commercials, are building again towards better things with 2009 most definitely another step in the right direction.
The Pairc Eire Og outfit might be 125 years old but they boast one of the youngest panels in the county and this year saw them mature even further.
While last season, they were lucky to hold onto their intermediate status after beating the Sean McDermotts in a play-off, this time around they were desperately unlucky not to reach the knock-out stages.
It was the league where the Irelanders really flourished, however, putting near misses in each of the last two seasons behind them to clinch the title with a game to spare after beating nearest challengers Lannleire by 2-9 to 1-11.
Early goals from Joseph Flynn and Johnny Lynch put them firmly in the driving seat but after having goalkeeper Craig McKenna sent off before the break, the Young Irelands were forced to grind out a hard fought result before finally booking their place in Division Two next season.
No one could argue they didn't deserve their success either having gone through the entire campaign undefeated with 11 wins from 12 matches. Their only dropped point came on the opening day when they were held to a 0-11 to 1-8 draw away to reigning Junior Champions St Nicholas in Rathmullen.
After that they were flawless.
The Irelanders were also unlucky not to reach the latter stages of the championship.
Despite flirting with relegation 12 months earlier in their first campaign back in the intermediate grade, this time around the Dundalk side started with a bang, beating the O Raghallaigh's in their opening match in Haggardstown on a 0-14 to 0-6 scoreline before following it up with another win, this time against the Oliver Plunketts, on a 2-11 to 2-3 scoreline in Stabannon.
After the break, things did not go quite according to plan for them as they lost their first match to town rivals Clan na Gael on a 3-11 to 1-12 scoreline in Dowdallshill with a controversial Paddy McEneaney goal effectively turning the game.
They then lost out to Naomh Malachi on a 1-11 to 1-9 scoreline in Clan na Gael Park despite having led for most of the way before missing out a place in the latter stages to St Joseph's when they lost out to the Darver and Dromiskin men on a 2-9 to 2-8 scoreline in Haggardstown - a match in which they hit 12 wides.
Still, despite their disappointment of missing out on the knock-out stages it was a significant improvement on 12 months earlier and that, along with the Division Three title, meant that manager Kieran Maguire was very happy with his side's season.
He said: "We set out our goals at the start of the year and they were to stay in intermediate football and win the league.
"The league was really our main priority because we found that playing at a junior level was a disadvantage when you were competing in the intermediate championship.
"People say it doesn't really matter but we can say from experience that moving up another level is a massive difference.
"Having said that though we set out our goal at the start and we got it and no one deserved that more than these lads because they've been quite unlucky in the past.
"We won the league one year but there was no promotion then we got pipped to the title in each of the last two seasons, firstly by St Mochta's and then the Finbarrs.
"We finally gained promotion though and, certainly from the management end of things, we'd be very happy with how the year turned out," said Maguire.
With one of the youngest panels in the county and continued improvement year on year, the former Louth minor manager feels the future is certainly looking bright at Pairc Eire Og.
"Our captain Aaron Rogers would be the elder statesman of the team and after that you have a three or four lads like Conor McCrory, Graham Carr and Andrew and Gerry Nixon who are around 27 or 28.
"After that there's probably two or three in or around the 23 age mark and then the rest are all under 20 with some of them only 17.
"Certainly if things keep going the way they have been then the future is bright but we know we won't get there easily.
"From last year we have another four or five young lads added to the team and they've been used to winning at underage level so they go out and still expect to win at an adult level.
"They're not afraid to go at it and that's tremendous to have in a side," he said.
Maguire said that character was most evident in their league win over Lannleire, which seen them clinch the Division Three title.
"They really gave it everything in that game.
"We were down to 14 men and Lannleire came back level with about 12 minutes to go and it was looking bad for us at that stage because they had all the momentum and they were at home.
"Our lads showed great character though to lift it another gear at that stage. Our big players stood up and the younger lads rowed in behind them. We never let them get their noses in front and we won well in the end.
"I definitely think having a few players involved with the county helped though. You can give out about the county panel for whatever reason but I have to say what Eamonn McEneaney did for Derek (Maguire) and Peter (Nixon) was tremendous.
"He got them ready for adult football and brought them on immensely. The Louth setup has taken them on another step and some of the other lads have responded as a result," he said.
The Irelanders' continued improvement was evident for all to see in the championship where they ran out comfortable winners over the O Raghallaigh's and the Oliver Plunketts in the opening two rounds before narrowly missing out on the knock-out stages after narrow defeats to Clan na Gael, Naomh Malachi and St Joseph's.
Maguire took heart from each of those performances though and believes this year will stand to the side in the long term.
"We played the two Drogheda teams off the field in the opening two games and we really were playing some great football at that stage," said Maguire.
"The break in the championship came too early for us though because we really would have loved to have played another game.
"Although we didn't make the knock-out stages though I think we can be happy with how we performed. We played most of the year without Andrew Nixon because he was injured at first and then he was suspended and he'd be a big player for us.
"What we have now though is a depth in the panel of good young players.
"A lot more of them were blooded this year and that should take them on another bit.
"I think the Clans game showed how much we had come on as a team in a short space of time. Last year they beat us by 16 or 17 points and to turn that around in the space of a year and push them all the way shows the improvement we made was colossal.
"There's no team we're afraid of now and that can only be a good thing going into the future," said Maguire.
The future of the club certainly looks bright after further success at underage level this season but Maguire insists that now, more than ever, the club cannot afford to rest on its laurels if it wants to get back to senior football.
"Our U-14s got to two finals this year and the majority of them are only U-13 so things are going well at underage level.
"Our minors were beaten in the league final and some of them are very good players as well.
"There are three of them on the first team and three more are subs already so the underage system we have there is reaping some rewards.
"We have a system there that goes back 12 years now and we're reaping the benefits of it now but we have to keep it going and that is the biggest challenge we face," said Maguire.
Things are certainly looking promising for Dundalk Young Irelands and Maguire is hopeful that the club will continue to make some major progress in the years to come.
"It was fitting that this year we were 125 years old and we got back up to the intermediate league.
"We had been down in junior football for nine or ten years and now we're finally going back in the direction we want to be.
"It's not as handy to get out of junior football as some people might think but we're out now and next year we'll be hoping to stay up in both the league and championship and hopefully progress some more from there," he said. Tweet
