In what was an extremely eventful year for Ardee St Marys, the club's junior team captured the headlines by collecting the Division 4A league crown. Elsewhere, the minors were unfortunate to be edged out at the semi-final stage of the championship, while the first team showed their mettle in preserving the club's senior status with an excellent SFC relegation play-off final victory over St Brides on the second Saturday of October.  

Silverware was gleaned at the Roche Emmets grounds on Sunday, July 18th when St Marys beat Cooley Kickhams by 0-8 to 0-6 in the decider to win the 2010 Division 4A league. The match was played in monsoon conditions but it was the Ardee men who coped best in the first half to lead by 0-4 to 0-2 at the interval. They took control of proceedings after the restart and a late run of three Cooley points only served to put some respectability on the scoreboard.
Brian McCoy showed unerring accuracy from frees, while the winners' full back line of David Balfe, Niall Carroll and captain David Woods was outstanding throughout. When the final whistle sounded, the following team was full value for a hard-earned win in difficult conditions, with County Board chairman Padraig O'Connor on hand to present the club with a welcome piece of silverware…
St Marys, 2010 Division 4A league winners: Peter Duffy; David Balfe, Niall Carroll, David Woods; Jamie Rooney, Alan McKenny, RJ Callaghan; Lee Martin, Mark Quinn; Alan Balfe (0-1), Hugh Diamond (0-1), Shane McCoy (0-1); Conor Lynch, Brian McCoy, Fergal Diamond.
At U18 level, the Marys came close to bringing more silverware to the impressive new clubhouse, which was officially launched over the winter. The minors certainly looked the part as they beat the Clans by 3-9 to 3-8 in the first round of the all-county 'A' MFC, but were unluckily edged out by Dreadnots in a 50/50 game at the semi-final stage, 3-12 to 2-14, with the following personnel on duty: Padraig Malone; David Rooney, David McArdle, Robbie McHugh (1-0); Barry Faulkner, James McMullen, Wayne Matthews; Robert McCabe (0-1), Emmet Leavy (0-5); Brian Moran, Andrew Mahony (0-1), Cathal Corrigan (0-1); Mark Fay, Dean McCarron (1-1), Paudie Clarke (0-5). Sub: Martin Duffy.
The Marys hosted their first-ever AGM in the new clubhouse on the Drogheda Road in November 2009 and the new senior management team of Tommy Kirk, Sean Carroll and Pat Rice invited players to a team meeting on Friday, December 4th, where objectives were laid down for the new season. One of the main targets for the new year would be to secure promotion back into Division One. Unfortunately, despite a gallant effort from the Marys' new-look young side, their Division Two campaign never really caught fire and they missed out on the Top Four.
In the winter league, St Marys finished bottom of Group C, managing just three wins from ten outings in a section that also contained Glyde Rangers, Mattock Rangers and Dundalk triumvirate Na Piarsaigh, Sean O'Mahonys and Clan na Gael. They lost their opener to Na Piarsaigh by 0-13 to 2-6, despite the best efforts of Alan Kirk on the day. Three more defeats followed - 4-13 to 2-8 against Mattock; 1-15 to 0-9 at the Clans; and 1-10 to 1-8 at home to Glyde (with 0-4 from centre forward Alan Kirk and 1-1 from midfielder RJ Callaghan) - before the Deesiders recorded their first win of the competition, 0-11 to 1-6 against the Clans in mid-April. The St Marys team that day was: Peter Duffy; Lee Martin, Paul Malone, Niall Carroll; Wayne Matthews, David Whately,, Barry McCoy (0-1); RJ Callaghan, Donal Matthews (0-1); John Bingham (0-1), Alan Kirk (0-3), Sean Clarke; Hugh Diamond (0-1), Graham McCoy (0-1), Robert Leavy (0-2). Sub: Kevin Balfe (0-1).
In their next outing, Graham McCoy's goal proved decisive as the Ardee men recorded a shock 1-8 to 0-10 victory over Mattock in Collon, with this side doing the business: Lorcan Farrell; Mark Gorman, Niall Carroll, Lee Martin; Jamie Rooney, David Whately, Brian McCoy (0-4); Paul Malone, Dean McLaughlin; Fergal Diamond, John Bingham, Robert McCabe (0-2); Sean Clarke, Graham McCoy (1-0), Paudie Clarke.
There were more losses to O'Mahonys, Glyde and Na Piarsaigh but Paudie Clarke scored both goals in a 2-8 to 1-8 home win over Sean O'Mahonys. All in all, though it's not the most prestigious competition in the Wee County, the Marys' Paddy Sheelan Cup campaign was a disappointment.
The SFC assumed a new format in 2010, with the twelve competing clubs divided into four groups of three, from which the top two in each section progressed to the quarter-final stage, with the bottom side entering the dodgy realm of the relegation play-offs. When the draw was made for the group phase in late February, the Marys were handed arguably the most daunting prospect imaginable as they were placed in Group B alongside high-flying peninsula pair Cooley Kickhams and St Patricks, both of whom were strongly fancied for Joe Ward Cup glory. For a team in transition, this represented a nightmare draw, especially with the finer points of the draw determining that the 'Big Two' would have the luxury of facing each other in the third and final game…
At Haggardstown on Saturday evening, August 14th, Cooley beat St Marys in the group opener by 1-15 to 1-8. The Ardee lads made a great fist of it in the first half as scores from Alan Kirk (2), Brian McCoy (2) and Ronan Carroll (3) left them within a point of their opponents at half time, 1-5 to 0-7. But the Marys were stunned by the triple loss of Carroll, Paul Malone and Alan McKenny to injury in the second half and didn't score again until the dying minutes, with substitute Shane McCoy bagging their goal.
Eight days later, the Marys were sent packing into the relegation quagmire as they lost to the Pats by 3-20 to 2-7 at the same venue. Shane McCoy got the first Marys goal after ten minutes and Alan Kirk fired the second on 20 minutes, but the gap was twelve at half time: 3-12 to 2-3.
The dismissal of Wayne Reilly for a second yellow card just before half time didn't help Ardee's cause as they lost their relegation play-off semi-final to Glyde by 3-5 to 0-8 on Sunday, September 5th. This meant their entire season depended on the outcome of the relegation decider against St Brides, at The Grove on Saturday, October 9th…
When it mattered most, St Marys rolled up their sleeves to secure their place in the senior championship for another season as they came out on top by 0-11 to 1-5. Aided by the breeze, the winners clipped over the last three points of the first period to lead by 0-5 to 0-2 at the interval. When St Brides rallied in the second half to close within a point, the Marys had all the answers required.
St Marys, 2010 SFC relegation final V St Brides: Duane Crosby; Niall Carroll, Robbie Keenan, David Woods; Jamie Rooney, RJ Callaghan, Eamonn Callaghan (0-2); Donal Matthews, Robbie Leavy (0-1); John Bingham, Ronan Carroll (0-2), Shane McCoy; Fergal Diamond (0-1), Alan Kirk (0-5), Paudie Clarke.
The club did well at underage level during the year, holding their own in all grades and at various Blitzes around the county, and there was a poignant moment for all when they became the first-ever winners of the Francie Gillespie Cup. Tweet

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