Though they lost only one of their four games in Group A of the 2004 Louth intermediate football championship, St Fechins narrowly failed to make the cut for the knock-out stage of the competition. Young goalkeeper Mark Savage, who featured on the senior county panel in the early part of the year, reflects on an eventful season out Termonfeckin way… Let it be known that St Fechins gave as good as they got in the 2004 Louth intermediate football championship! Playing out of Group A, the Hoops performed well in three of their four championship outings and were decidedly unfortunate not to qualify for a place in the business end of the competition. Despite avoiding defeat in 75% of their Group A championship matches, the Fechins paid the ultimate price for their June 13 defeat to Naomh Fionnbarra in Round Three of the competition, bowing out while the Togher men progressed to the knock-out stage accompanied by O'Raghallaighs. It was a frustrating eventuality for the Fechins. Seven days before the Finbarrs game, they had completely outplayed O'Raghallaighs, scoring sixteen points in the process, but were held to a draw due to the concession of three soft goals. Their year was effectively over but the Termonfeckin representatives showed enough promise during the season to suggest that there could by plentiful good times ahead. They also reached the final of the Grogan Cup, losing to Oliver Plunketts under floodlights at Monasterboice on Saturday October 2. Mark Savage forced his way into the reckoning for the position of Louth senior goalkeeper, playing the second half of the national league game against Wicklow at Ardee. Meanwhile, the club's facilities and juvenile structures are second to none in the Wee County. Thus, while the story of 2004 is perhaps tinged with disappointment, Mark Savage and his St Fechins clubmates have a lot to be happy about. Naomh Feichin opened their 2004 IFC account with a creditable 0-11 apiece draw with Lannleire at Drogheda's Gaelic Grounds on May 13. They also drew their second Group A outing, this time with grateful O'Raghallaighs, on a scoreline of 0-16 to 3-7. However, Termonfeckin's participation in the competition was effectively ended when Naomh Fionnbarra defeated them by 2-9 to 0-5 at Castlebellingham on June 13. Still, they regrouped to beat St Nicholas by 0-7 to 0-6 in their final group game on Thursday July 1 to finish third in the five-team group. Casting his mind back over the events of 2004, club netminder Mark Savage admits: "It was a good year. We started well in the league and played well in the first two championship games, so we were disappointed in the end to be knocked out by the Finbarrs. It was a bit frustrating because that was our first defeat in the championship." At various stages during the year, Mark was involved with the county U21 and senior panels. Opportunities were at a premium, however, as Val Andrews' two first choice senior 'keepers, Shane McCoy and Sean Connor, were both also U21. Still, an injury to the latter meant a chink of an opening in springtime. The then 19-year-old St Fechins clubman notes: "I was togged out for the first four national league games, which was a good experience." He even got to taste first-team intercounty action, in the February 15th national football league Division 2B defeat to Wicklow at Pairc Mhuire. The St Fechins clubman explains: "I played the second half of the Wicklow game in Ardee. Shane picked up a dead leg and had to come off a minute after the re-start. To be honest, I was fairly nervous and made an error that resulted in a Wicklow goal, but it was a great honour to get out and wear the Louth jersey and I'm hoping to go on from there. "It's every player's ambition to get a run on the county team and I'd love to get back in again." With his club, Mark has excelled in goal at all levels coming up through the ranks. He's now firmly established as the Fechins' first choice No.1 and all indications are that this will remain the case for quite some time to come. The custodian is confident that the coastal club is heading in the right direction at present: "We have a great juvenile set-up and a superb underage committee, who are catering for the young lads. We also have our wonderful new facilities, so all the structures appear to be in place for a bright future. That's if we can hold our intermediate status for another couple of years and give the young lads a decent level of football when they come through onto the first team." It's been a decade now since the Fechins relinquished their senior status after a score of years in the highest echelon of Louth gaelic games. However, with their spectacular new Pairc Naomh Feichin facility in place at Beaulieu, a visionary and hardworking committee pushing the buttons, and a generous pool of enthusiastic young talent in the pipeline, all the signs are encouraging that St Fechins' return to the big time could be effected sooner rather than later. Coming through the grades, success proved elusive for Mark and his team-mates, as he relates: "We play as St Brigid's, which is an amalgamation with Clogherhead. We always threatened a breakthrough but never quite managed it. We consistently got to 'A' finals and semi-finals. I think we were beaten in three championship semi-finals and two Division One league finals altogether." Mark himself has been playing first team football for four years, since he was 15. He was on the periphery of the team for that first year but has now had three full seasons as the club's regular first choice goalie. In 2003, the Fechins secured promotion from Division 2B to Division 2A. The target for '04 was consolidation in the league and a decent championship run. Mark recalls: "Johnny McDonnell, Con Sands and Mal McEntaggart took charge of team affairs. Once we got it together, we had some good training sessions and things starting to go well, with good numbers turning up. We made a fairly good start in the league, having been promoted as Division 2B runners-up the previous year, and our main aim was to stay in Division 2A. "We have a very young team. Last year, we played with about six or seven U21s and three or four of those were still minor. With the exception of maybe two or three, the bulk of the team are under 25. Only one player is over 30, so I'd definitely say this team's best days are ahead of us. As for the '04 IFC: "It's always good to get a run and we were hopeful of getting out of the group. In hindsight, we probably should have got out. It was the draws in the first two games that did the damage. Dunleer scored a point in the last minute, in a game we should have won, and we scored 16 points against O'Raghallaighs but gifted them three sloppy goals. That undid all our good work. If we'd won those two games we'd have been in the quarter-final draw. "Once Naomh Fionnbarra beat us, we were out. We managed to beat St Nicholas in our last match, but that game was of no real significance. I suppose it was good to get four championship games and we're happy enough that we only lost once, but we left a couple of wins behind us. It would've been nice to get to a semi-final or final…" Mark, whose father John is club chairman, concedes: "We're probably not ready for senior football yet, so maybe we're better off in intermediate for the time being. I think you need to be competing at the top level of intermediate for a few years before you can be realistically expected to hold your own at senior level. Some teams that have gone senior in recent years have been totally outclassed and it would be a pity to go up and then come straight back down after suffering a number of heavy defeats. That could ruin a team altogether. "We played four games in the intermediate championship in 2004 and we'll learn from those. Of course, it was a pity we couldn't go further, but we only lost once and that's a good starting point for building a team. "The juvenile set-up in the club is very strong and there are a lot of good young lads who will emerge in the coming years, if the club can hold its status. The juvenile committee are putting plenty of time and effort into developing players and there are a lot of young lads on the intermediate team already. "Hopefully we can get it together and become a force at senior level again. But, ideally, you need a strong intermediate team first and that has to be our first aim. Having said that, we'll gladly take senior football if we get it!" Tweet

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