Despite never firing on all cylinders, Mattock Rangers still came close to claiming a second Louth SFC. The Collon men made it as far as the semi-final stage, before losing to Cooley by three points. It could all have been so different had as many as three good goalscoring opportunities not gone a begging at Knockbridge that fateful mid-August evening. Centre forward Mark Brennan makes no excuses, however, conceding that ultimately Mattock got what they deserved. Mark Brennan is honest and forthright in his assessment of Mattock Rangers' performances in the 2004 Louth senior football championship. The industrious centre half forward accepts that the Collon men failed to fulfil their potential in '04 and, consequently, have only themselves to blame. The 2002 county kingpins went into the year full of hope, determined to capture the Joe Ward Cup for the second time in three seasons. This objective was achievable - the 2004 race for senior glory was wide open and, with a full complement to choose from, Mattock appeared to have as good a chance as anybody. Though playing within themselves, the Collon men still managed to emerge from a difficult group at the expense of 2000 and 2001 champions Newtown Blues. In the knockout stages, they eliminated a high-flying Glyde outfit after a replay, leaving them within two hours of reclaiming Joe. Unfortunately, the wheels came off the wagon in the semi-final against Cooley at Knockbridge on Saturday August 14. Mattock had their chances that day, but never hit top form and slipped to a frustrating 2-11 to 0-14 defeat. If elimination was disappointing, then the manner of defeat was doubly so. Here was an excellent opportunity of qualifying for a third county final in four years, yet Mattock failed to take advantage of the situation. Alas, their year ended on a glum note. Though they had been unbeaten in the competition up until the semi-final, and the margin of defeat was narrow, Mattock Rangers are their own fiercest critics these days. Rather than wallowing in self-pity, Mark Brennan is quick to express the view that Collon could have - and should have - done better: "We were looking to win it," the straight-talking attacker reveals. "The previous year, we were missing a lot of players through injury and couldn't do ourselves justice but this time we had everybody back and had the same squad that won the championship in 2002 back together again. We know we have players capable of winning the county championship and we wanted to do it again. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way." In fairness, though, Mattock went close. They emerged from a very difficult Group B section unbeaten and then defeated a Glyde team that had been playing magnificent football all year. In the semi-final, they lost by a goal, having missed two or three gilt-edged goalscoring opportunities. Does Mark accept that Mattock could hardly have gone much closer to winning the SFC without actually bringing the Ward Cup back to Collon? "We were close, but that's not much use. We know ourselves that we hardly played any football at all over the year. We didn't play the football we're capable of playing. At most, we only performed for about 15 minutes in each game. In the semi-final, Cooley Kickhams were stronger and they were the better team over the hour. We can't argue with that." One gets the distinct impression that Mattock are not in the mood for arguing. They've accepted their fate and know they must do better. Is there a chance Mark's being overly critical, however? After all, St Patricks didn't set the world alight in 2004 yet they WON the senior championship! "In fairness to the Pats, they could only beat what was put in front of them, and they did that. They didn't have to play better. "We weren't really at the races in comparison. We were lucky to get the draw the first match against Tallanstown. We knew we could beat them but thought we'd do it the first day. But the stark reality is that you can't walk past a team without playing some football. "We played well in the replay. That was probably our best performance of the championship but we still could have played a lot better. We know ourselves that we didn't deliver this year. We underachieved and we're going to have to play a lot better if we want to win the championship in 2005." Mattock managed only four points in the first half of their '04 semi-final against Cooley and trailed by six at the interval. Cooley 'keeper Seamus Quigley was in inspirational form, pulling off four match-winning saves. Twice he denied Mark Brennan in breath-taking fashion and the Kickhams 'keeper also stopped an Adrian Reid shot and a Christy Grimes penalty. Cooley led by nine points when they netted for a second time twelve minutes into the second half. Mattock then managed six points without reply from Adrian Reid, David Reid (2), Brennan, Grimes and Niall Callan and they even closed within two points of their opponents thanks to further scores from David Reid and Grimes, but it was too little too late for the south county men who created at least as many goalscoring opportunities as the winners but converted none while conceding two. Looking back on proceedings at Knockbridge that day, Mark Brennan says: "We sat back in the first half and just waited for something to happen. We came more into it in the second half but didn't take our chances. Christy missed the penalty and the rebound and I missed two goals myself, so you could say we were unlucky but, in fairness, we didn't play well. Things didn't go for us on the day, but we didn't do enough to win the game. When you play like we did in the first half and you're six points down at half time then you can only blame yourself." Mattock qualified for the semi-final when beating Glyde by 2-10 to 1-8 in a quarter-final replay at Dunleer on Friday August 6. They trailed by a goal at half time, 1-4 to 0-4, but gave a wonderful display after the break. The drawn game had been played on July 25. Despite five points from the in-form Brennan, Mattock could never shake the Tallanstown men off and an injury-time point from a Gerard Sheridan free gave Glyde a second bite at the cherry. In the preliminary stage of the competition, Mattock were pitted in Group B, undoubtedly the toughest section of all as - in Newtown Blues, Cooley Kickhams and Collon - it contained three genuine Joe Ward Cup contenders. In the end, it was the Drogheda men who were squeezed out as Cooley and Mattock progressed, both unbeaten, with five and four points respectively. Brendan Reilly's team opened their account against the Blues at Drogheda on May 21. These two teams had won three of the last four SFCs and a cracking contest ensued. It finished all square: Mattock Rangers 2-10, Newtown Blues 0-16. In their second outing, against Cooley at Haggardstown on June 5, Mattock again failed to produce the flowing football they're capable of … but David Reid's goal within seconds of the restart earned them a precious point, 1-7 to 0-10. Mattock only needed to defeat group whipping boys Naomh Malachi in their final Group B outing to progress to the last eight. They duly obliged, albeit unconvincingly, 1-13 to 1-7, at The Grove on June 20. All in all, the mood in the Mattock camp at the end of the season was one of despondency, as Mark Brennan relates: "We just weren't good enough in the semi-final - or in most of our other games. This year, we were looking to win the championship. We know we have the team that can win it but we didn't put in a good solid 60-minute performance at any stage during the season and that's it all over again for another year. "Reaching a semi-final is no good to us any more. We've won it now and when you win it once you want to win it again." Following on from 2003, when they were almost relegated, Mattock Rangers (Cardinal O'Donnell finalists in 2002) failed to find any consistency or fluidity in the league and were relegated to Division 1B. Is this a source of concern? Do they need to be playing good football week in, week out to compete for the top honour, or can Mattock get away with being a good championship team? "We seem to worry too much about our opponents in the league, whereas in the championship we go out knowing we can beat anybody. No matter who we play in the league, there's always a doubt in our heads that we could slip up but that doesn't affect us in the championship. We are a championship team and we know we can get a result against any side in the county." A first-team regular for the past four years, Mark Brennan almost got to play in his third county final in 2004. He hopes that next year Mattock will leave nothing to chance: "Any one of five or six teams could have won the championship this year. Glyde and Clan na Gael were there as well as ourselves, Cooley and the Pats. "We know we're capable of beating all those teams so it's just a matter of getting our act together. We have the players. We know we're good enough. A final or a semi-final isn't good enough for Mattock Rangers anymore. We have to have the Joe Ward Cup back in Collon. It's as simple as that." Tweet

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