Few clubs in the Wee County have as much cause as Geraldines to be optimistic about their future prospects. The Haggardstown/Blackrock club retained the county minor championship in 2008 and their first team put together a pretty decent effort, considering their relative youth. In a year or two, the Gers could be standing toe-to-toe with the very best in Louth. Paddy McGuinness, who managed the team in '08, is confident that things are heading in the right direction. The highlight of Geraldines' season was once more provided by the club's magnificent minors, who finished top of the pile for a second consecutive season. At Drogheda's Gaelic Grounds on Sunday September 28, the Gers annexed back-to-back MFCs with a super 1-12 to 2-5 defeat of St Brides/St Mochtas. Tiernan Hand gave a Man of the Match display and Patrick Hoey had the honour of spiriting the Fr Larry Murray Cup back to McGeough Park. With many of the minors from 2007 and 2008 already experiencing first-team football during the year gone by, the club's overall prospects look decidedly encouraging. Outgoing manager Paddy McGuinness is optimistic that '09 will be a big year for the Gers: "They will all be a year older and wiser and, with a strong squad to pick from next year, there's no reason why they won't be right up there. If they have everybody available, they have an excellent chance of winning promotion back to senior football, because there is plenty of good talent in the club now. "They will certainly be stronger with the extra year and they will have learned a lot from this year. The young lads coming through have a winning habit and some of them have tasted first-team action already. If the lads who were injured are 100% next year, then the Geraldines will be up there challenging for intermediate honours, rather than fighting relegation." Gers were in Group Two of the 2008 IFC. Their early-season form in the Sheelan Cup was patchy, though they did come up against some of the very best in the county - including the two teams that would contest the SFC decider! They lost to the Blues, beat Young Irelands, lost to Mattock and Oliver Plunketts, and drew with Naomh Mairtin. In the league, they defeated Hunterstown and lost to Dreadnots and O'Raghallaighs before opening their IFC account with a 2-5 to 0-5 defeat to Na Piarsaigh at Dowdallshill on Friday May 2. Nine days later, they suffered an unlucky 1-11 to 1-10 loss to O'Raghallaighs at Dunleer. Despite failing to win any of their next three league outings, Paddy McGuinness' charges found their form on June 19 at Tallanstown when beating Sean McDermotts by 1-11 to 2-6 in the championship. They continued this vein of good form against Roche and Oliver Plunketts in Division Two but were pipped by Hunterstown by the narrowest margin, after letting a four-point lead slip late on at Louth village in their fourth IFC group outing on Friday August 8 - 0-13 to 1-9. It was a case of too little, too late when they accounted for Oliver Plunketts by 1-9 to 0-10 in their final championship match of the year at Dunleer on August 15. Still, though they couldn't advance, that performance and result showed the players what they are capable of and served as a timely reminder of where they want to be at in 2009. Having only just hung up his boots, Paddy was a selector with the first team in 2007 and he took over at the helm in '08, with Paudie Lynch, Paddy Reenan and Paul Casey completing his backroom team. The players started back in training the third week in January and the mood in the camp was good. "The years are getting longer," Paddy notes. "We are no different than any other club and you will always have good numbers at the start of the year. Unfortunately, injuries to a number of key players affected us badly. Having to do without Gerry Hoey and Jim McEneaney for almost the entire year didn't help our cause. But everybody stuck at it and gave 100%. The nucleus of the team continued to work hard and they trained well right through to the end of the year. We'll be in the intermediate championship again next year and we'll hope to push for championship honours, but we also need to find a bit more consistency in the league." How impressed is Paddy with the influx of exciting young talent in the club? Does he think these players can bring Geraldines on to the next level? "Yes, I hope so. When any club wins two minor football championships in a row, it has to bode well for the future. It's an amazing achievement and there is obviously some very good talent there to work with. It's always tough for players to step up from underage level to senior football, but I think these lads have what it takes. I brought a good few of last year's minor team onto the senior side this year and a lot of them made those places their own. They proved they are capable of playing at that level, so the future of the club is in good hands. We have a lot of good players here now, so it's a matter of keeping them all interested and focused." Though the minors excelled, the intermediate team didn't quite set the world on fire. Reflecting on their campaign, Paddy admits to being a little disappointed: "The first game was against Na Piarsaigh, who went on to reach the final. We had them on the rack for 58 minutes but they got two late scores, which gave the scoreboard a different reflection. In the O'Raghallaighs game, we led by seven points at half time and we ended up losing by one point to a late flurry of scores. Those two defeats certainly didn't help us, but we were still in with a chance. "We got a good win against Sean McDermotts and we were still in contention for a place in the knockout stage going into the match with Hunterstown. But they finished with five unanswered points and that put paid to our hopes for another year. We had started to pick up and we had a much better balance in the team, but a result like that really doesn't help matters." Though it was disappointing, it was nonetheless a valuable lesson for the young players in particular, who should benefit immensely from the learning experience. "The players will learn that they have to put teams away when they have them on the ropes," Paddy agrees. "Everybody has to learn at some stage and you can only really learn from playing games and from losing some. They are more experienced now and should be stronger next year. "In fairness, the younger lads figured more prominently this year and they will look back on games that they should have won, where they only drew or lost, and they will become better players all around." Having played for the club for the best part of 17 years before his recent retirement, Paddy has enjoyed his time running the line but might take a backseat in 2009. He's looking forward to some bright days ahead for Geraldines GFC. Tweet

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