Sean O'Mahony's aim to prove a point in 2011
December 30, 2010According to manager, Barry O'Brien, things are moving in the right direction and if the Seans continue to progress as they have done in recent years, the club has the potential to be up with the elite in the not too distant future.
With a lot of hard work being done by dedicated members at all levels in the club and a lot of talented young players coming through the ranks, the O'Mahonys have every reason to be optimistic according to the manager.
"After coming down from senior last year, out main aim was the make sure that we consolidated our position in the Division 1 League and we have achieved that goal.
"Of course everyone wants to win a championship but given the competitive nature of the Intermediate grade, we wanted to concentrate on the league as our main priority.
"The championship really is a minefield at the best of times and then the fact that we were drawn in the all-Dundalk group made it even more difficult. The majority of teams are capable of beating anybody on their day so to come through and win the final, you really need a lot of luck to get the momentum going.
"Although that makes it very hard to win, it is great that it is so competitive and there certainly are no easy games. As a result we felt it was best to concentrate on staying in the senior league and if they championship worked out for us, then that would be a bonus."
In the end there was to be no bonus for the O'Mahonys as they were the unlucky ones to lose out in a "Group of Death" that couldn't have finished any closer, with Dundalk rivals, Clan na Gael and Na Piarsaigh ultimately going through to the quarter-finals.
"There was great interest in the championship games between all the Dundalk teams and it was great to have such big crowds out at Dowdallshill. In the end we would have to consider ourselves a bit unlucky to have gone out on score difference as one more point would have seen us through.
"However, the truth is that we didn't really turn up against the Clans for the first game and in the new format when you lose the first game it is difficult to recover. We did win the second game against Na Piarsaigh and it was good to put one over on our neighbours but in the end I think we were the only team to win a game and not go through," added Barry.
The O'Mahonys were also hampered by the fact that three players, Liam Dullaghan, Ronan Byrne and Conor Crawley, missed the championship as they were away on honeymoon.
While Barry was not offering their absence as excuse for the failure to qualify although the loss of three such experienced players was always going to have an impact. On the positive side, the club welcomed back Pat O'Brien from Australia and he proved to be a real addition once he regained match fitness.
However, it was the league form that offered the O'Mahonys most encouragement and Barry believes that if they club can continue to play at that level, while also bringing through the young talent, the club has the potential to compete with the leading clubs in the county.
"We got off to a great start in the league and picked up early points which is great for confidence as you don't want to be watching over your shoulder for relegation from the opening weeks.
"We had some very good wins this season including against the likes of Cooley Kickhams, Newtown Blues and Glyde Rangers, while most of the games that we lost were only by a small margin. Our aim is to take encouragement from those performances and improve on that again next year. Again I think the focus will be on the league over the coming seasons but if we can win a championship along the way then that would be brilliant for everyone.
"There is no doubt that we have the potential to continue to progress as we had a lot of young players coming in this year. The likes of Barry O'Brien, Mickey Clarke, Tiarnan Woods and Tiarnan Kilcoyne have established themselves. That is balanced by some experienced players such as John O'Brien and Shane Brennan who were involved with Louth teams, while Conor Finnegan has been excellent all year. Then we have David Crawley back and has been a great addition, while the likes of Brendan Nordon and David Dowling continue to lead by example.
"That gives us a good balance of youth and experience which have given me a bit of a headache in terms of team selection. For the first time we have strength in depth and there are games when we have had four or fives subs just as good as those on the pitch," explained the manager.
The challenge for Barry and the club is to continue to strengthen and he sees great hope with the success of the underage set-up, as he pointed out.
"There is great work being done from U-8 right up to U-18 and we are seeing the benefits of that policy as most teams are very competitive in their grades. We are a small club but we have a lot of dedicated members, most of whom are former players, so there is a great club spirit which is vital.
"My job is to keep the door open for these young lads coming through and if we can add two or three every year to the senior team then we will be making great progress.
"The lads are working really hard to bring players through and I really believe that we have a bright future, but that is why it is important that we can provide them with Division 1 football to assist their development.
"Ultimately, our aim is to be able to challenge the big teams such as Mattock Rangers and St Patricks and to know that we have a chance going in against teams like that. We have to aim high as we want to push ourselves and we believe that if we continue along the path we are going at the minute, the future for the club is very bright," he added. Tweet
