Next year marks the 50th anniversary of Naomh Moninne Hurling Club and, while the past couple of years may have marked some of the more difficult in the Dundalk outfit's history, they are heading into 2009 in better shape than ever. By James Rogers. Having dominated the Louth hurling scene for so long, the past decade has been a real test for all involved with the Fatima-based side. The emergence of Knockbridge and Pearse Og during that time has seen Moninne knocked off their perch but rather than cry about it, they have taken a proactive approach in their attempts to turn things around. In recent years a huge effort has been put in at underage level and although the true benefits of that work has yet to be seen, the commitment put in is beginning to bear some fruit. If any proof of that were needed then you need only look at how the club fared in this year's Senior Hurling Championship for evidence of how they have started to turn things around. On June 15 the club recorded their first victory in the competition in four years when they overcame Mattock Rangers by 0-14 to 1-8 in Drogheda with Diarmuid and Declan Murphy both contributing four points each on the day. Prior to that you had to go back to 2004 to find the club's last Paddy Kelly Cup win, when they beat town rivals Pearse Og in round three only to lose out to the same opponents in the final. Four years is a long time without a championship win but the club has been getting more and more competitive of late and the restructuring of the Senior Championship to include six clubs at the start of the year has only aided their progress even more. Further victories were to follow in the competition against the Wolfe Tones (1-16 to 3-9) and St Fechins (5-17 to 0-9) and although Moninne were to lose out to finalists Knockbridge and Pearse Og, they arguably produced their most competitive performances in some time in those matches. What that meant was that although there was no silverware to show for their efforts, they were the best of the rest apart from the two teams who have competed in each of the last four finals. It's still a bit off winning a senior championship once again but a clear sign that things are most definitely moving in the right direction with youngsters such as James Connolly, Donal and Stephen Rafferty, Andrew Mackin and Darren O'Hanrahan all growing in stature throughout the year. Aside from their undoubted improvement at senior level though, what gives Moninne real hope for the future is the exploits of their underage sides who all prospered throughout the year from U-5 level right up to the U-16 grade. Arguably the highlight of the year, however, was the U-12 side winning the O Broin Shield at a blitz in Darver in late September to claim the club's first piece of silverware of 2008. In the opening game they beat Knockbridge by 2-4 to 0-1 before following this up with a narrow 2-2 to 2-1 victory over St Fechins. A third successive victory then followed against Pearse Og on a 5-6 to 0-0 scoreline before they beat Knockbridge once again in the final by 3-2 to 0-1 as captain Ronan O'Reilly got his hands on the cup. All in all it helped cap off a good year for Moninne with PRO Maurice Murphy optimistic about the future as a result. He said: "The underage structures were very strong this year. "We didn't have a minor squad but our U-16s got to a league final and the championship semi-final while we just missed out on the U-14 Feile after losing to St Fechins by a goal having already beaten Mattock Rangers and Pearse Og. The U-14s also entered the North Leinster Meath and Kildare league for the first time this year and played four games in that. It was a big step for the club but they had a great win over Donaghmore/Ashbourne. "The real highlight though was the U-12s winning the O Broin Shield and we definitely have a good squad there. The McCreesh Shield is also coming up shortly for our U-11s and we'd be hopeful of doing well in that too. "We're delighted with how the underage setup is doing at the minute The club's County Board representative was also heartened by Moninne's progress in this year's Senior Hurling Championship. "The last couple of years we haven't been winning anything but the way the championship was formatted this year made it a lot more competitive. "We beat Mattock Rangers, the Wolfe Tones and St Fechins and what makes that all the more pleasing is that we did it with a young enough team. "I feel the gap is narrowing between ourselves and Knockbridge and Pearse Og as well because they've always beaten us well in the past couple of years whereas this year we really put it up to both of them and stayed competitive for longer. It was definitely a big improvement," he said. In fact, if Murphy had any criticism of this year's senior side then it was the fact they didn't claim any silverware. He said: "We probably should have won the Maurice Murphy Cup. "Clubs had to play in it without their county players but Pearse Og beat us out in Roche in the semi-final by 1-13 to 2-6. "We threw it away really though because we should have went ahead late in the game when we won an easy free in front of the posts but we put it wide and then they went up and scored 1-1. "They then went on to win easily against Knockbridge in the final so you can't help think about what might have been. "We were probably a bit unlucky in the All-Ireland Sevens as well. We beat St Gabriel's from London, Longford Slashers and Cappagh Gaels from Tyrone to get to the semi-final but we lost out to Castleblayney at that stage, who went on to win the competition "It's hard to be critical though because things are definitely moving in the right direction for us and we're very happy with the progress that we've been making," he said. Progress really is the name of the game for Naomh Moninne at the minute and, if all goes according to plan, they could take a step that no hurling club in the county has been able to take before by landing their own pitch. At present they are hoping to secure a plot of land from the local council in the Toberona area of Dundalk which would see them return to where it all began for them under an tAthair Pol MacSeain back at Hoey's Plot in 1959. That was where the club pucked its first ever sliotars and a return there to a place they could call home would be the ideal way for the club to mark its 50th anniversary next year, according to Murphy. "The council have a development at Toberona and they've said that if access can be made to the area then we can have it. "Our youth officer Joe Cunningham drew up plans and I think the council are in favour of them but these things take time and there are ongoing meetings at present. "The development at Toberona itself is on a backburner at the moment but they'd said if we can access the land then we could develop it. Unfortunately that means that the expense will be on our part, which we didn't originally think we would have but it's too good an opportunity to turn down. "We'll be 50 years in existence next year and the plan is to have a big dinner dance next September in the Lisdoo so it will definitely be a big year for us and if we could get everything sorted with regard to the pitch then everything would be just falling into place at the right time," said Murphy. So as Moninne closes in on its 50th anniversary the underage structures are strong, the senior team is steadily improving and a new pitch could be on its way. They are an example to all that if hard work is put in then rewards can follow. The best has very much still to come though. Tweet

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