Young Irelands continue to be one of Louth's most progressive clubs and 2005 proved to be another busy year. The 2004 season ended with the launch of Fr Mulligan's history book and this year they continued to improve their impressive facilities while on the field of play there was great success at underage level, pointing to a very bright future for the club. Book Launch On Wednesday 8th December, 2004, nearly 30 years of work came to fruition when Fr. John Mulligan SM launched his book on the history of Dundalk Young Irelands GFC "1884-2004 - An Historical Record of the Green & Blacks". Fr. John's "labour of love" was completed in conjunction with the clubs 120th anniversary in 2004. It was appropriate that the launch took place in the County Library as it was here (and in the old Chapel Street Library) that Fr. John spent many hours researching the history of the county's oldest club. The book also contains a wonderful collection of photographs and memorabilia compiled by Fr. John charting back to the clubs foundation in 1884. A few copies priced E30 are still available from club Secretary, Tony Hande Chapel Street (086) 8174083 or by emailing [email protected]. Presentation Night On Saturday 31st January 2005, Dundalk Young Irelands GFC and Seatown/Cluan Enda hosted their annual presentation night in St. Gerard's Hall, St. Alphonsus Road. Pride of place on the night went to the 2005 U-16 Division 2 League winners. The awards for 2004 underage Players of the Year were presented, followed by awards for Senior, Junior and Club Person of the Year. U-10 Aidan Sheehy, U-12 Sean Bailey, U-13 Robert McKinley, U-14 Eoin Whearty, U-14 Merit Award Sean Laverty, U-15 Derek Maguire, U-16 Mark Savage, U-18 Derek Rogers, Junior II Barry McDermott, Junior I Graham Carr and Club Person Enda Murray. Junior I The adult team had mixed fortunes in 2005. Under coach Michael Heeney the team got off to a fine start winning at home to Dowdallshill and away to the fancied Sean McDermotts. Many view the turning point of the season was the loss of form and players to injury and suspension over a disastrous ten day period in June. Young Irelands never made up this lost ground and finished mid-table. It was a deflated team that lost Championship group games to Sean McDermotts and John Mitchels. Overall the season should be viewed positively as Young Irelands showed patches of returning to better days with more young players being introduced to adult football. Junior II Young Irelands can still be pleased with much improved performances in 2005 in Div 4C and the clubs second string were in contention for a final place with one round of games remaining. Unfortunately O Raghallaighs proved too strong, while in the Junior 2B Championship, the Irelanders lost out to neighbours Sean O'Mahonys. Juvenile The club's drive to improve juvenile structures over the last number of years is continuing strongly with 2005 wins in the U-18 "B" Championship, U-16 Division 1 League and U-16 "A" Secondary Competition. The club had an increased number of players on the Louth Juvenile Development Squads, 13 in all played in 2005. U-18 Shane O'Connell, U-16 Barry Piper, Derek Maguire, Cian Byrne, Peter Nixon, Shane Greene U-15 Peter Flynn, Robert Agnew, Eoin Whearty, Kevin Keelan U-14 Nicholas O'Connor, Ciaran Murray, Robert McKinley. Our nursery unit, Seatown/Cluan Enda also enjoyed a successful year with good numbers at weekly coaching sessions on Cluan Enda Green and the U-10s reaching League and Championship Finals. Coaching for 6-12 year olds will start again in March 2006 on Cluan Enda Green every Monday for one hour approx. New players should contact John Laverty (086) 8558614 or Kieran Maguire (087) 2251861 U-18 "B" Championship Final Young Irelands defeated St. Michaels on a 1-11 to 1-10 scoreline in August to capture the club's first ever Minor Championship title. Centre-half forward Mark Savage got the Irelanders goal five minutes before half-time and they never lost this lead although St. Michaels rallied well in the second half reducing Irelands' lead from seven points to the bare minimum in a tense and thrilling finish. The town team held out however with fine displays from Chris McCormick in defence and midfielder Barry Piper. Afterwards Louth Minor Board Chairman, Tomas O hEochaidh presented the Cup to winning Young Irelands captain Shane O'Connell. Young Irelands team and scorers: Cian Byrne, Robert Agnew, Cian O Naraigh, Peter Flynn, Peter Nixon, Chris McCormick, James Byrne, Barry Piper (0-1), Shane O'Connell (0-1)(c), Conor Nixon, Mark Savage (1-2), Derek Maguire (0-5)3f, Michael Mone (0-1), Craig McKenna (0-1), Brian McCloskey. Subs: Dermot Keelan for Conor Nixon (inj), Sean Laverty for Peter Nixon (inj), Kevin Keelan for Dermot Keelan. U-16 Division 1 League Final Dundalk Young Irelands 3-13 Wolfe Tones/St. Nicholas 0-3 Young Irelands won the U-16 Division 1 League in fine style with victory over a lack lustre Wolfe Tones/St. Nicholas combination. Irelands dominated the midfield exchanges from the beginning and led 0-9 to 0-1 at half-time thanks to fine points from Derek Maguire (5), Colin Farrell, Shane Greene and Conor Nixon (2) to hold a comfortable lead at the break. The game was effectively over when Derek Maguire netted the first of Irelands' three goals on 11 minutes to leave the score 1-12 to 0-2. Barry Piper rocked the net on 20 minutes with a powerful drive and Conor Nixon added another with time almost up. For Irelands, captain Craig McKenna was dominant at full-back, Barry Piper and Cian Byrne won all the midfield exchanges while Conor Nixon, Derek Maguire and Shane Greene also impressed. Young Irelands: Kevin Keelan, Eoin Whearty, Craig McKenna (c), Sean Laverty, Peter Nixon, Paul McDonald, Niall Fergus, Barry Piper (1-1), Cian Byrne, Conor Nixon (1-3), Derek Maguire (1-5)2f, Robert Agnew, Colin Farrell (0-1), Shane Greene (0-3), Gavin Coleman. Subs: David Lally for Robert Agnew (inj) (21 mins), Sean Newberry for Gavin Coleman (inj) (50 mins), Ciaran Murray for Colin Farrell (54 mins). U-16 "A" Secondary Competition Final The U-16 win was achieved after a 1-7 to 1-5 win over the O'Connells/Stabannon combination at Haggardstown. On a wet night with slippery underfoot conditions, scores did not come easy. The teams were well matched and it took two late points from Shane Greene and Derek Maguire to snatch victory for the town team. Afterwards, Louth Minor Board Chairman Tomás O hEochaidh presented the trophy to the Young Irelands winning captain, Peter Nixon. Young Irelands: Kevin Keelan, Sean Laverty, Craig McKenna, Peter Flynn, Robert Agnew, Peter Nixon (c), Niall Fergus, Barry Piper, Cian Byrne (0-1), Conor Nixon, Derek Maguire (1-3)1f, Shane Greene (0-3)1f, Gavin Coleman, Daniel McLoughlin. Eoin Whearty, Subs: Colin Farrell for Coleman, Joseph Flynn for Whearty, Eoin Whearty for Daniel McLoughlin. Developments In 2001, the committee commenced a new four year development. Under the supervision of committee members Derek O'Donoghue and Jimmy Maguire, the club completed extended clubrooms with shower rooms, kitchen, referees room, garage and storage area, public toilets, laundry room and meeting room/office. The clubs new floodlighting was switched on early in 2005 and the year also saw a new perimeter fence, goalposts and ball-stop netting installed. During the year the club employed professional pitch maintenance contractors in a major project to improve the playing surfaces of both adult and juvenile fields. The hard working committee also hope to have the car-park tarmaced and a field rail installed on the main pitch before the end of 2005. A new entrance is currently being installed with better parking facilities with the old drive/parking area from Pitch & Putt course now incorporated into the juvenile field. All club information is available on our very popular website www.dundalkyoungirelands.com. Anyone interested in becoming involved in Dundalk Young Irelands GFC can contact any committee member at [email protected] " Tweet

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