Much to the obvious dismay of everyone associated with the club, St Fechins' 2005 Division 2B campaign saw them relegated to junior ranks. Vincent Mulholland accepts that it's a major blow but believes the Termonfeckin men have the necessary resources in place to bounce straight back into the intermediate grade. Six points from a possible 24 in Division 2B of the all-county football league was not what the doctor ordered for St Fechins in 2005. Victories over Westerns and St Nicholas and draws with Westerns and Glen Emmets represented the total return from the Fechins' league endeavours and it was no surprise that relegation was their lot at the end of the season. The fall-out is that St Fechins will play junior football in the coming year, a disappointing outcome considering that they went into '05 intent on moving up a division and perhaps even pushing for intermediate honours. The Fechins opened their IFC programme convincingly with back-to-back victories, but failed to make the knockout stage of the middle-grade championship. All in all, it was a frustrating year for the Hoops and a decided improvement will be expected in 2006. Long-serving Vincent Mulholland says there's no point in the players sitting around feeling sorry for themselves. Instead, they must accept their fate and try to do something about it. Casting his mind back upon the events of the year, he comments: "At the start of the year we would have been aiming to get promoted out of Intermediate 2 and maybe for a good run in the championship. Everybody worked towards that but things didn't go our way. We were unlucky at times during the season but the table doesn't lie at the end of the year and we have to accept the fact that we deserved to go down." Tony McEntaggart looked after the first team, with help from selector and club chairman John Savage. In Group B of the 2005 IFC, St Fechins opened with June victories over St Nicholas (1-5 to 1-4 in Drogheda) and Naomh Fionnbarra (1-11 to 0-10 in Dunleer) but lost their other two group games to Dundalk Gaels and Geraldines within a week in August. That was the end of that. Geraldines topped the group with six points and went on to win the championship; Gaels finished second on five points and progressed to the last eight; the Fechins narrowly missed out, with four points to their credit from those two early wins. "We had a good run mid-season when things weren't too bad on the injury front," says Vinny. "We beat Westerns and the Nicks and then had a great performance against Naomh Fionnbarra. We were on a bit of a high and everybody was confident at that stage. But we had a break of seven weeks without a match and that really hit us. "The club had no games at junior or intermediate during that time and it's very hard to keep it going under those circumstances. The lay-off put a big spanner in the works. We were lifeless when we came back into the championship against Dundalk Gaels and Geraldines. It was a very disappointing end to our championship campaign. "In the league, there wasn't an awful lot in it. I think we had something like four one-point defeats as well as two draws. Things could have been a lot different if we'd picked up another few points from those games. Our backs did well all year but we didn't really put the scores in the board. We need an improvement up front." Regular league games would also be a help, surely? "We can't use that as an excuse. I spoke to players from other clubs and they were all affected by long breaks. Nobody was happy with it but it was the same for everybody. Other teams faced the same problems and coped better, whereas we just lost our way. The draws and narrow defeats cost us our intermediate status. There was very little between us going down and doing reasonably well in the division - we just need to sharpen up in attack and play with more of a cutting edge next year." Did it even cross the players' minds at the start of the season that they might end up getting relegated? "No - our aim was definitely to stay up and even to earn promotion. We wanted to keep the momentum going for the young lads coming through. But unfortunately three of our young county men got injured and, without them, we struggled to produce the goods on the pitch. "We had big numbers at training all year and plenty of enthusiasm. Nobody walked away from the challenge. There was a massive effort from everybody and numbers remained high all year. Players and management invested huge effort. "Unfortunately, in some games we just weren't good enough. But we have lots of good young players coming through and we're hoping that this experience will stand us in good stead. Hopefully, we can learn from it and improve gradually over the next two or three years. This is a wake-up call and we can use it to spur ourselves on. "We were a big club in the 1980s and we have terrific facilities now. We have a great chairman and there's massive interest in the juvenile structures, with underage teams regularly contesting county finals. Our U17s reached a final this year. Everything is in place - all that's missing is a strong first team - so we need to claw our way back to senior, starting with a big performance in Division Three in 2006." Vincent knows only too well that things can turn around very quickly indeed: "Winning is a habit, and so is losing. If we could get two wins under our belt early on, it's amazing what it could do for confidence. Everybody is up for it, but we know it's going to be a hard year in junior football. It's a competitive grade, but we need to get out quickly." St Fechins had two players on the Louth minor team in 2005 - Colm O'Neill and captain Bevan Duffy - while Brian Devlin was involved with the county U16s. "We felt these forwards could get important scores for us, but they got injured and that took its toll. We still have plenty of other good players, though, and we should do well next year if we have everyone available." At 30, Vincent Mulholland is now one of the more seasoned campaigners on the St Fechins first team. Looking to the future, he admits: "I'm anxious to get my hands on a trophy at this stage, so hopefully we can win one next year. A few of the lads have played senior before, but I wasn't good enough to make the team at the time. "We owe it to the people of Termonfeckin to bounce back. You can't fault the committee or the backing we get from the entire parish. We have wonderful support and everything is in place. The club is thriving except for the fact that the first team isn't going as well as we'd all like. Hopefully we can turn it around. "I'm sure every team that gets relegated sets out with the intention of regrouping and coming straight back up. We know it won't be easy and there won't be much between any of the junior teams. We have to get all shoulders to the wheel and make a strong push. As a team, we have let ourselves and the club down. Nobody is happy with us. "So we have to get back up. We have to put it right." Juveniles showing the way The year 2005 was a great year for our Juvenile teams from Under 8 up to under 13. The year started with our own club tournament, which consists of teams from under 11 to under 13 all joining together to make many teams, competing against each other. This was played in March and kicked off the season at the club. Our season training starts in April and it was great to see all the players starting back eagerly. Our teams start at 6 years of age, which is a prime time to begin under the watchful eye of the coaches. Our Under 8's would generally play about 18 matches both inside and outside the county and have a home blitz. Our under 9's compete in the Toby Carroll Cup, which is a 9-a-side competition. They finished at semi-final level, beaten by Newtown Blues. At St. Fechin's we believe that the 9 or 10 a side game at this age instrumental in development, especially with the introduction of the GAA first touch, quick touch and smart touch. Under 10 Paddy Smith Cup Our Under 10 team had an excellent year in this competition and were unfortunate not to make the final. They were beaten by Wolfe Tones by a few points in the semi-final. This team had also played teams outside the county and had played in the St. Colmcille's Under 10 Blitz, putting on a great display against their Meath counterparts. Under 11 Clogherhead Trader's Cup The Under 11 team went all the way in this competition and beat Newtown Blues in the final to win the Cup. This Under 11 team is very strong, with 27 players. There should be a good future ahead for these lads. Under 12 George Hoey Cup The Under 12 team deserved to win this cup with a great display against Oliver Plunkett's in the final. Their basic skills of blocking and tackling were most effective on the night. This was the first trophy that this team won. Under 13 Kavanagh Cup The Kavanagh Cup was taken back to St. Fechin's after beating Dreadnots in the final. On winning this competition, the Under 13 team went on to compete in the All County Final. They beat Tallanstown, Geraldine's and Na Piarsaigh in order to get to the final against Cooley Kickhams. Unfortunately they were beaten in the final. We look forward to meeting this team sometime in the near future to even up the score. Next year St. Fechin's will field an Under 14 side, and these lads will lead the way. Best of luck to the Dreadnots also as they will present an Under 14 side next year also. Both clubs have amalgamated at this age in the past, but are staying separate in future. Juvenile Committee A Juvenile Committee was set up in 2002 at St. Fechin's and they have set up a programme of underage development. This entailed Foundation Coaching Courses and Level One Coaching Courses being attached in Clan na nGael by 13 members of the club. The committee have also run presentation nights for the juveniles. These were attended by Peter Canavan in 2004 and Mickey Harte in 2005. This night proved to be a great success. The main aim of the Juvenile Committee is to continue developing the underage players and return the club to senior status. This can only be achieved through hard work. Skills Day A skills day was organised during the summer at the club grounds, attended by children from our under 9 to under 13 teams. Over one hundred youngsters took part in the basic skills of gaelic. This event was attended by Val Andrews, JP Rooney and inter-county referee Seamus McCormack. They were very impressed with the drills and spoke to the children and took part in coaching sessions. The Skills Day was a very successful venture. All participants were awarded medals. We hope that this will become a yearly event at St. Fechins. Coaches Hard work is the only way forward in any club, especially at underage level, with coaches volunteering their time during the whole year, not just from April to September. By coaching all year around, we hope to mould and fine-tune the players for the future, so that St Fechins will be a club to be reckoned with in years to come. Under 8 - Tony Morgan, Joe Gibney, Alan Brodigan, Frank Hughes, Franz Keller, Gary Lally. Under 9 - David Savage, Paddy Matthews, Shane Higgins. Under 10 - Padraic O'Connor, John Browne, Denis O'Connell Under 11 & Under 12 - Frank Flanagan, Michael McDonnell, Fergal McGeough Under 13 - Alf McGlew, Aidan Greene, Ger de Loughrey, Pat Murphy, Michael Synnott Tweet

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