Pride of place in the Clan na Gael clubhouse in 2010 went to the club's brilliant batch of U16s, who brought glory to the Castletown Road by winning the league and championship double. It was a wonderful success for this outstanding crop of players; one which augurs extremely well for the future of the Clans.

Clan na Gael's U16s completed a magnificent year in considerable style when beating St Patrick's by 3-7 to 1-4 in the 2010 Louth U16 football championship final. The decider was played at Pairc Mhuire, Ardee on Sunday, October 10th as curtain-raiser to the IFC final between Dundalk Young Irelands and O'Raghallaighs, with victory meaning that the young Clans had completed the coveted clean sweep of league and championship.
Having already beaten the Pats in the league final, they squared up to the Lordship youngsters again and the Green & Golds delivered the type of wonderful display that was a feature of their season. Consistently throughout 2010, this troupe looked the part.
With so much at stake, the game started slowly as the teams sized each other up. There were no scores inside the opening 18 minutes. When corner forward Mark Newell actually burst the ball with a shot inside the opening quarter, there was no questioning the Clans' intent! Playing with fierce determination and no little skill, the Dundalk club claimed the Dermot O'Brien Cup in worthy fashion.
Pats opened the scoring with a point before the champions-elect responded with a goal fromNewell, who was a constant thorn in the losers' defence all afternoon. The No.15 showed great awareness to react first to midfielder Ola Olajabu's delivery and stab the ball to the net. At half time, the sides were level, 1-0 to 0-3, and there was little indication of the maelstrom of majesty that was to come from Paddy McKeever's excellent team…
The Clans - now with the wind at their backs and the management team's encouraging words stinging their ears - effectively won the match with a devastating unanswered return of 2-6 in the third quarter (including 1-3 in the first four minutes of the second half). Brian McDonnell pointed at the end of a flowing four-man move within a minute of the restart and substitute Dylan Thornton (assisted by Stephen Cooney and Olajabu) followed up with the second goal of the game. Super No.13 Cooney pointed immediately while Conal Cooney and Brendan O'Carroll also got in on the scoring act as the points flowed.
Thornton and Stephen Cooney (with a glancing header!) both came close to adding a third Clans major before Conor Noonan and Newell (free) stretched their advantage. And the match was well and truly settled as a contest when Newell despatched his second goal after collecting a precise Craig Long pass. Leading by 3-6 to 0-3 after 46 minutes, the Clans were never going to let this one slip!
The Pats kept fighting and bagged a couple of consolation scores before that man Newell closed the scoring with a lovely point. There were scenes of great jubilation as captain Conal Cooney accepted the Dermot O'Brien Cup from Minor Board chairman Brendan Carthy. Corner backs Robert Curran and Daniel English were the 'youngsters' of the team, as both were still U15. Overall, it was an accomplished display from a highly-impressive outfit.
Clan na Gael - 2010 Louth U16 football champions: Ralwan Kadiri; Robert Curran, Emmet Cooney, Daniel English; Ian Carr, Craig Long, Wayne O'Shaughnessy; Conal Cooney (0-1), Ola Olajabu; Pauric McKeever, Conor Noonan (0-1), Brendan O'Carroll (0-1); Stephen Cooney (0-1), Brian McDonnell (0-1), Mark Newell (2-2). Subs: Dylan Thornton (1-0), Adam Lynch, Jason Murphy.
The Clans had opened their U16 championship programme with a thumping 5-16 to 2-6 defeat of Oliver Plunketts at the quarter-final stage, after leading by 1-13 to 0-3 at the interval. The goals came from Brendan O'Carroll (2), Stephen Cooney, Brian McDonnell and substitute Jason Murphy, while Mark Newell floated over seven points. Plunketts went into that game full of hope as they had been the only team to have beaten the Clans in any competition all year, but on this occasion the famous green & gold stripes proved way too hot to handle. St Fechins really put it up to the Clans at the semi-final stage of the championship, but the champions-to-be showed that they have plenty of steel as well as craft, battling to a 2-5 to 2-3 victory, which secured a county final meeting with St Patrick's in what would be a repeat of the U16 league decider.
The Division 1A league final was a thoroughly-enjoyable tussle between two quality sides, with the Clans prevailing by 4-6 to 1-9 at Darver on Monday August 30th. Not for the last time in 2010, Mark Newell was prominent for the winners, producing a Man of the Match display as he accounted for 3-2 of the Clans tally (with sub Brendan O'Carroll firing the other goal). Indeed, this game was effectively changed in the Clans' favour after the introductions of O'Carroll and Dylan Thornton at half time.
Goalkeeper Ralwan Kadiri also pulled off two wondersaves when the game was very much in the balance, while the likes of Robert Curran, Emmet Cooney and Ian Carr excelled at the back. The Pats had looked virtually unbeatable before the break, leading by eight points at one stage in the first half (1-6 to 0-1), but Clan na Gael produced a stunning effort in the second half. It was nip and tuck coming up to the final whistle, but Newell delivered a fantastic chipped goal to seal the contest.
Clan na Gael, 2010 Louth U16 football league Division 1A winners: Ralwan Kadiri; Robert Curran, Emmet Cooney, Ciaran O'Connor; Ian Carr, Craig Long, Wayne O'Shaughnessey; Conal Cooney (0-1), Ola Olajabu; Pauric McKeever, Conor Noonan (0-1), Adam Lynch; Stephen Cooney (0-2), Brian McDonnell, Mark Newell (3-2) . Subs Brendan O'Carroll (1-0), Dylan Thornton, Conor Boland, Conor McCrave, Mohammed Iemen.
These players should go very close to securing silverware for the club at minor level over the next two seasons. Even in 2010, some of them featured prominently in the Louth MFC, wherein the Clans were unfortunately edged out by St Marys in one of the best games of the year: 3-9 to 3-8. Some of them have already had the opportunity of representing Louth at Development Squad level and it seems inevitable that we'll also see them line out for the Wee County at minor level in the not-too-distant future. Furthermore, there's no reason why the bulk of this team can't go on to fly the Clan na Gael flag at senior level for many years to come.
At adult level, Clan na Gael struggled to make an impression in Division One of the 2010 all-county league and their year ended in disappointment as - after finishing second from bottom in controversial fashion - they were relegated to Division Two, losing the promotion/relegation play-off to a last-minute Oliver Plunketts point.
They were in Group C of the Louth IFC - a real group of death as it contained three Dundalk teams! With Conall McKeever (0-5) to the fore, they opened their account with a stunning 1-14 to 0-12 victory over Sean O'Mahonys at Dowdallshill on Thursday, August 12th and qualified for the Last Eight despite a 2-7 to 0-12 defeat to Na Piarsaigh in their other group outing. This set up a quarter-final clash with St Mochtas, which the villagers won convincingly on Knockbridge on Friday, September 3rd.
Thus, while it was a disappointing year for the first team, it was anything but for the Clans U16s! Tweet

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