Despite an electrified start to the year, Hunterstown Rovers lost their way somewhat as 2008 unfolded and it was ultimately a disappointing seasons. However, attacking sensation Alan Landy - who was instrumental in Mellifont Rovers' deferred 2007 county U21 championship final defeat of Cooley in March - is adamant that Hunterstown's future can be a decidedly bright one. Hunterstown raised quite a few eyebrows with their early-season form in the ACC/Sheelan Cup competition. They opened their Group A campaign with a 1-11 to 1-7 victory away to Dundalk Gaels on Sunday February 17 and followed up a week later with a 2-4 to 0-5 defeat of another senior club - Sean O'Mahonys. Victory in Clogherhead against the would-be intermediate champions preceded a thrilling 3-10 to 2-13 draw with O'Raghallaighs. On Thursday March 20, the mid-Louth club closed their group programme by beating a THIRD senior outfit - Naomh Malachi. By powering into the semi-finals of the subsidiary league, Hunterstown had laid down an early marker. Unfortunately, they failed to live up to this early promise, struggling to make an impression in an extremely competitive Group Two of the IFC and finishing bottom of Division Two of the league. The latter outcome means that they will play Division Three football in 2009. All in all, there was a stark contrast between the early-season displays and the remainder of Hunterstown's season. "We were very disappointed," reflects Alan Landy., who is one of the club's most exciting young talents. "We got off to a great start in the winter league and hoped to build on that. The league started with a few narrow defeats - in games that we should have won - and we paid the price for that later in the year. Hopefully, we have learned our lesson from that. Once you stop winning, it's hard to get back into the habit. "Those were games we were in control of but we just kept letting teams back into it and losing by a point or two. We really should have picked up more points in the first half of the season. We ended up with a real uphill battle on our hands. Looking back, we were left to rue a few missed chances and the year seemed to just get away from us." Hunterstown won only two of their eleven matches in the league and only one group game in the championship. They lost their Group Two opener to O'Raghallaighs by four points at Dunleer on May 4 and fell to the Plunketts by two points at Collon six days later. On June 19, Na Piarsaigh recorded a 1-12 to 1-7 win at Tallanstown before Hunterstown finally got off the mark with a battling 0-13 to 1-9 defeat of Geraldines at Louth village on August 8. The closing group encounter with bottom side Sean McDermotts finished 1-10 apiece at Ballybailie on August 15. Alan agrees that Hunterstown didn't show what they are really made of in 2008: "Probably not," he shrugs. "We know we have some very good young players and it was really only late in the year that we gave a kick and showed our potential. But it was too late. Against the Geraldines, we came back from five points down to win and that showed what we can do. We ended up with three points from the last two games, but it was too little, too late." Still, with the spectre of relegation looming and their intermediate status very much on the line, Hunterstown had responded positively. Jim Matthews took charge of team affairs, with Gerry Reaborn and Ciaran Matthews as selectors. Training started in February and Hunterstown hit the ground running with those superb ACC Cup results. Roche Emmets ended their march at the semi-final stage but there were mitigating circumstances - that was the team's third game in a week and the 2007 U21 football championship final was played around the same time. The latter game in particular augurs well for the future of Hunterstown Rovers At Haggardstown in mid-March, Mellifont Rovers - an amalgamation of Hunterstown and Mattock - defeated Cooley Kickhams by 1-10 to 1-9 to capture the county crown. Lining out at full forward, Alan Landy gave an exhibition of pace, power and precision, notching 0-6 and providing the assist for Tom O'Reilly's first-half goal. The Man of the Match from that game believes that Hunterstown's contribution to the Mellifont axis shows that they have plenty of ammunition to carry into coming battles: "I think Hunterstown had ten on the panel and seven on the starting team, so it was roughly 50-50 between Mattock and Hunterstown players, and most of the lads who featured from our club would be on the first team already. That has to be encouraging. We've been putting out very young sides in recent years and people have criticised us, saying we're too young or too light or whatever, but we're all gathering experience and it augurs well for the future. Hopefully a few more young lads can come through as well. A few of us have been playing adult football for two or three years now without really doing anything, so it's probably time we stood up to be counted." Alan joined the first-team squad when he was 16 and made his championship debut against Newtown Blues in the SFC. He's almost like an old man of the team already! "I've been there a while alright, along with a few others, and there's another crop of younger lads coming through too. A few of the older lads will soon hang up their boots and it'll be sad to see them go because they have been great servants to the club. But it's important that we replace them. We also have a good minor team coming on this year, so we'll try to add some of those lads to the senior panel as well." What's a realistic objective for Hunterstown Rovers in 2009? "In the championship, we would hope to get out of the group. It's three years now since we managed to get into the knockout stage of the championship and that's something we need to change. We haven't really performed at all in the championship these past two years, so a few steady performances would be nice to set us up for a run in the competition. "We've always been known as a bit of a championship side and probably could rise to the occasion, so hopefully next year we can get that aura back. Perhaps there will be some people who'll be thinking of Hunterstown as an easy touch, and that could work in our favour" Finally, when asked to assess the overall mood in the clubhouse at the end of the 2008 season, Alan revealed: "It's a mixed mood, really, but overall we are very disappointed. Getting relegated to Division Three is a major blow and - no disrespect to the other teams in Division Three - we don't feel like we belong there. But, on the other hand, the results don't lie and we have to get ourselves out of there now. "We know we're a lot better than we've been showing. We know we can do an awful lot better. We have the players so we have to get the squad together now and work hard on building morale and on getting it right on the pitch. The team showed some character towards the end of the year and we'll need to show that kind of strength all year in 2009. "Even though we're at a bit of a low, there's also hope. We believe the situation presents us with a good opportunity to turn things around. We definitely have players who would be able to play senior football in a few years. That's where we want to be. We want to be up there with the best teams in the county, playing the best brand of football. We think we can put it up to anybody on our day. "We're good enough, but we have to prove that over the course of a season." Tweet

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