O'Connells' objective for the year was a familiar one: to win the Louth IFC. The Castlebellingham / Kilsaran men started the 2010 season as competition favourites and played like champions-elect at times. However, defeat to O'Raghallaighs in a replayed semi-final ended the dream for another year. On a positive note, O'Connells enjoyed a superb campaign in Division One of the all-county league and also collected the Junior 2B football championship.

The final of the 2010 Louth Junior 2B football championship took place at Monasterboice on Friday night, October 22nd, and O'Connells took the silverware with a fantastic 2-7 to 0-8 victory over St Fechins. While it wasn't ideally the trophy the club had craved, it nonetheless represented a superb success for the men in maroon - one which will hopefully instil a winning mentality in the clubhouse at The Grove.
In the 2B decider, O'Connells were up and running with two points inside the opening seven minutes, courtesy of Cillian Brennan and Kevin McGeough, and the former added a goal shortly before the break to give them a 1-4 to 0-3 interval lead. Patrick Clarke's point at the end of the third quarter effectively ended the game as a contest - 2-7 to 0-7 - and captain David Neacy had the honour of accepting the Terry Maher Cup from Declan Byrne.
O'Connells - 2010 Louth Junior 2B football champions: David Egar; Brenden Tuite, Brian Hanratty, David Neacy; TJ Doyle, Alan Brennan, David Hoey; Wayne McKeever, Keith Woods; Cillian Brennan (1-3), Colm Doyle, Patrick Clarke (1-1); Kevin McGeough (0-1), Wayne Kierans (0-2), Emmet Byrne. Subs: Stephen White, Liam Daly.
Earlier in the year, in the IFC, O'Connells came close but didn't quite get there. When the draw was made for the group stage of the twelve-club competition in February, they were pitted against Geraldines and St Mochtas in Group A - not an easy section but O'Connells were expected to have the edge as they were playing their bread and butter in Division One. They beat the Gers by 0-13 to 0-7 in their opener and followed up with a 0-11 apiece draw with St Mochtas, striking the equalising point in the ninth minute of additional time to just about fall into the knockout phase (albeit as group winners).
This set up an extremely difficult quarter-final tie against fellow 'nearly men' Na Piarsaigh (finalists of the previous two years) and 14-man O'Connells (who had corner back David Doyle dismissed for a second yellow card after only 17 minutes) clawed back a five-point deficit to claim a stunning 1-11 to 1-10 victory at Clan na Gael Park on Saturday, September 4th. The following team was on duty: Sean Connolly; Conor Byrne, PJ Tuite, David Doyle; Stephen Hoey, Jackie Agnew. Killian Shields; Mark Stanfield (0-1), Colm Kearney (0-2); Salem Rafai, Paul McKeever (0-2), Stuart Reynolds (1-5); Dean Stanfield, John Flanagan (0-1), Niall Conlon; Subs: Sean Cairns, Andrew Sharkey.
O'Connells were agonisingly close to a place in the final only for O'Raghallaighs to hit a late equalising point in the drawn semi-final at Ardee (1-10 to 0-13) and it was the Hoops who won the replay with a 59th-minute goal at Haggardstown - 2-6 to 0-11 - as the Seamus Flood Cup once more slipped out of O'Connells' reach. The losers had led by 0-10 to 1-2 with ten minutes left but were unable to shut out the game. Agonisingly, it was the second successive year that they had lost at the semi-final stage by a mere point.
Meanwhile, in Division One of the league, O'Connells were in contention for a top-four finish - and a Cardinal O'Donnell Cup semi-final appearance - for much of the year but a late fade-out (and two points docked) saw them miss out narrowly, by three points. All in all, it had been an encouraging effort in the top flight, however - the kind of performances that suggest O'Connells are good enough to hold their own in the SFC.
Niall Conlon, who represented his club with distinction in 2010 as captain of the Louth U21 team that pushed Dublin all the way in the Leinster championship, admits that it was a disappointing year for O'Connells for one reason and one reason only - no intermediate championship: "We set out at the start of the year to win the IFC, so I'd
definitely classify it as a disappointing year. We went up to the senior league and we aimed for the top four so that we'd have a consistent level of performance by the time the championship came around. Unfortunately, we fell short at the semi-final stage for the second successive year…"
The league form is surely a major source of encouragement, however, bearing in mind that the team looked set for a surprise O'Donnell Cup semi-final appearance for much of the year, standing toe-to-toe with the county's big boys? "We got off to a good start and took it from there. In the first few weeks, we ran the Pats close, losing by just a point, and we also gave Collon a good run - and they won another senior championship. We'd always see ourselves as a decent side, when things gel together for us. We believe we're good enough to play senior football and we think we could match any team in the county on our day.
"Unfortunately, the league form doesn't count for much. History remembers championships and this club has been waiting since 1988 for a major championship win. It's been a long, long time and that's what we're aiming for every year.
"This group has been together for a few years now and we all have the same goal. We gelled a few new lads in last year but it's still essentially the same team with a few fresh faces. There's a very good atmosphere in the clubhouse and a good bond between all the players. If we keep working hard, I'm sure we'll get there eventually."
In 2010, the first team was managed by Paul Litchfield, with assistance from Malcolm McDonnell, Alan Brennan, Martin O'Hanrahan and Bernard Callaghan. Training went extremely well and there was nothing lacking in terms of effort from anyone. The mentors and players had a clear objective in mind and the target will be a familiar one in 2011:
"Every year, we aim to win the intermediate championship. This club will not be happy until we have won a championship. Every single player in the club wants to win the IFC and we won't rest until we've done it. Next year, it'll be the same again - that's what we're gunning for. Hopefully, this time we won't be favourites. We've been favourites for the last two years and have been beaten in the semi-finals, so maybe expectations will be a bit lower now. We've had the favourite's tag since we lost the 2006 final and - even though I'm sure it makes very little difference - I think we'd prefer to go in as underdogs this time."
As for captaining the county at U21 level during the year, Niall admits: "It was a great privilege and we had a very strong team. We did very well, only losing to the eventual All-Ireland champions after extra time. They never should have got out of Dowdallshill that day … we should have beaten them. Louth hasn't a great recent record at U21 level but that was a solid team and the majority of those lads are eligible again next year, so hopefully they can go on and do even better."
With U21 football now behind him, Niall is hoping to make an impression with the Wee County seniors ASAP. "I sat on the bench with the seniors last year, but I'm finished with underage football now and every player wants to play at the highest level with their county. I'm no different."
And Niall was delighted to see his clubmates bringing home the Terry Maher Cup in October: "That's the first championship for the club since '88, so it's a big boost. They were a great bunch of lads and they were up training with us all year and then, even after we went out of the championship, they kept it going two nights a week. They came through some tough games and they are a credit to the club.
"O'Connells is a club first and foremost and it's not all about the first team. Every team is very important, from underage level right up, and every championship is important to the club. So we were thrilled to win that. Hopefully there's another one coming next year." Tweet

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