Having suffered the decided disappointment of demotion to junior ranks at the end of the 2004 season, Sean McDermotts issued the ideal riposte by annexing two of the three trophies available to them in '05. The JFC may have eluded them but the Seans laid claim to both the Kevin Mullen Shield and Macardle Cup as they booked an instant return to intermediate ranks. Midfielder Declan Carroll is confident that the Mountrush men have learned their lesson and will be more guarded against the threat of relegation in the coming year. By Gerry Robinson In 2001, Sean McDermotts came closer than they had ever done to capturing the Louth intermediate football championship. Three years later, they arrived back to earth with a bang when suffering relegation to junior football. Never before was the fine line between success and failure so clearly painted. The Seans had two choices: they could sit around feeling sorry for themselves or they could do something about it. They opted for the latter option and enjoyed a very successful year in 2005, winning promotion via the Division Three league in November, having clinched the Kevin Mullen Shield five months earlier. They also eased through to the last four of the JFC but were caught on the hop by St Kevins in a low-scoring semi-final. While failing to win the junior championship represents the undoubted low point of Sean McDermotts' year, it wasn't the most costly aberration in the world. The clean sweep would have been nice but knockout competitions are notoriously fickle and unpredictable. Anything can happen on the day and that's all part of the drama. For justice, read league. Invariably, the most consistent (i.e. the best) team finishes top of the league table and this cannot be argued with. Thus, while they might have left one trophy behind them, the Seans still achieved their prime objective of promotion and have every reason to look back on their year with plentiful fulfilment. The Seans are back and chances are they'll be a force in intermediate football in 2006, all the stronger for their brief but successful flirtation with junior fare. Midfielder Declan Carroll agrees with the clichéd Meat Loaf assertion that two out of three ain't bad: "We're happy. The main thing is that we've gone back up. If we'd missed out on promotion, it would've been a disaster. But we got there. The aim at the start of the year was to go up by any means possible. In hindsight, the big one got away. The junior championship was the one we really wanted to win most. But we'll be playing intermediate football in 2006 and that's the most important thing." Sean McDermotts beat Dowdallshill by 0-14 to 0-5 in a one-sided Kevin Mullen Shield final at Louth village on Friday June 3. Despite falling behind early on, the winners struck back with points from Ronan Valentine (2), Colin Curran and full back Peter Osborne. Though the Dowdallers closed within a point, Seans took a three-point interval cushion with further scores from Valentine and Curran. Four excellent scores on the restart from Adam Finlay, Brendan McGahon and Valentine (2) put the game out of reach and the Seans finished with another flurry of scores from Curran (2), Tommy Durnin and David O'Neill to take the first junior trophy of the year. It was as emphatic a win as one could wish for. McDermotts finished the competition with a 100% record, having won all five of their league stage matches - 0-12 to 0-2 against Dowdallshill; 2-8 to 0-7 against Dundalk Young Irelands; 0-16 to 0-5 against John Mitchells; 3-11 to 0-6 against Annaghminnon Rovers; and 1-6 to 0-6 against the Kevins. Little wonder they went into the JFC as red-hot favourites! In Group B of the championship, Seans opened with a 1-12 to 1-6 victory at Young Irelands' expense in Castlebellingham on August 9 but only drew their second group match against neighbours John Mitchells (1-9 each at the Clans on September 18). This meant a play-off against the same opposition to determine the group six days later and McDermotts made absolutely no mistake at the second time of asking, romping to a facile 0-15 to 0-1 win at Louth village. Two championship outings in a week (and three in a fortnight) proved too much for the competition favourites, though, as they slipped to a shock 1-7 to 0-7 reversal at the hands of Group A runners-up St Kevins at Pairc Mhuire on Saturday October 1. Was it case of too many games too close together? "Possibly. It was probably to do with playing the Mitchells the week before and winning by so much. Maybe some of the younger lads got a bit carried away after that result and didn't realise that we still had a lot of football to play." Did being favourites upset the team? "It did and it didn't. We drew with the Mitchells and then went from one extreme to another when we beat them so easily. It was difficult to come back to earth after that game and maybe we got a bit carried away. Losing out on the championship was a big regret, but we still achieved promotion which was a nice consolation!" Declan (whose younger brother Kevin captained the double-winning team in 2005) has been manning a midfield berth on the first team for five years and became more accustomed to knocking on the door of senior football than fighting off junior fare. "We also won the Macardle Cup, Division Three, in my first year playing and we thought we'd push on. We got close to senior football but between one thing and another ended up going back down." After winning the 2000 Division Three league, Sean McDermotts led the 2001 IFC final by four points in injury time but ended up losing after a replay. How would they have done at senior level? "It might have been a struggle but, if we had gone senior, it couldn't have done any harm. We couldn't have gone any lower than junior anyway! The experience of playing senior football certainly wouldn't do any harm and that is still our aim. "During last year, we beat Na Piarsaigh three times and they were pushing for senior football in 2005. We lost the relegation play-off to O'Raghallaighs and they lost the intermediate final by a point. There's not an awful lot in it." Kevin is convinced that the Seans are now better equipped for intermediate football than they were in 2004: "The difference between now and two years ago is that we have another bunch of young lads coming on. We probably ran short of numbers and didn't have a big enough panel in the past, but things are looking better on that front now. "One of the biggest problems we encountered last year was that we only had about three meaningful games during three months of the summer and it's hard to keep it going in training when lads have nothing to aim for at the end of the week." Two trophies in one season is a return that most clubs in Louth would dearly love, all the same. "It was a good year and the league was hard won," Declan Carroll reflects. "It was very close. We beat the Mitchells [2-10 to 0-9] towards the end and if they had won that match they'd have been up. We only won it right at the end. Junior football is very competitive and it's a pity there's only six or seven clubs involved. The way it is now, if you win something, there's no real value placed on it." What are the hopes for 2006? "We've never won an intermediate championship. Our aim is to win one and go senior. That has to be the objective of everyone in the club. We think we're good enough to compete and to push on a bit. Everyone's a bit older and wiser now and it's time to put our experience to good use. We have the numbers now that we never had before and it's looking good. We responded in the best way possible. Our successes in 2005 were hard-earned and now it's time for Sean McDermotts to think about covering new ground." Tweet

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