There's an old saying that Rome wasn't built in a day. That's a phrase that could be attributed to the O'Connells after a season in which they failed to achieve some of their lofty aims. Despite the fact the Castlebellingham outfit were listed among the favourites to challenge for this year's intermediate championship, things simply never got going for them. By James Rogers. An opening round 1-10 to 0-7 defeat to Roche Emmets in a match in which they failed to score from play, set the tone for what was a disappointing campaign. A draw with neighbours St Joseph's was to follow before a narrow one point defeat to Clan na Gael meant that hopes of reaching the latter stages were replaced with a simple desire to avoid relegation. A subsequent 1-12 to 0-11 defeat to eventual champions the Dreadnots killed off any slim hopes the O'Connell's had of reaching the quarter-finals and left them bottom of the group going into the final round of matches with just one point to show from their four matches to date. What that meant was that the Mid-Louth outfit had to win their final match against Dundalk Young Irelands to avoid a dreaded relegation play-off match. In the end their class shone through, however, as two first half strikes from Sean Geeney helped them to a 2-12 to 1-7 victory over the Dundalk side in Dunleer. Their score difference meant that they had avoided an fear of relegation. Things were drastically better for the O'Connell's in the league, however, and they went into the final round of games still in contention for the title. However, two defeats in the space of a week at the end of May and start of June to firstly the Dreadnots and then the O Raghallaigh's meant that the Castlebellingham men were always playing catch up. In the end a disappointing final round 5-9 to 3-13 defeat to the Oliver Plunketts the night after their presentation night on the October Bank Holiday weekend meant that they finished outside the top four in fifth place on the basis of score difference. Most clubs would be happy with a season that seen them survive relegation in the championship and push for league honours for most of the way. The O'Connell's are not most clubs, however, and manager Dessie Callan admitted that things could have been a bit better for his side in the past year. "Overall it wasn't really what I wanted to achieve," he said. "We had a good run in the league but we were very bad in the championship. We could've actually finished second in the league if we had won our last match and it was a bit of a blow to miss out on a place in the top four in the end." Callan is hopeful that the experience of the season just gone will benefit his side in 2009, however, as a number of players were blooded for the future throughout the year. "Taking everything into account I wouldn't be overly pleased with how we did this year but the season will act as a good building block for the future. "There were a lot of lads who came in this year who hadn't played intermediate football before like Conor Byrne and Killian and Andrew Shiels. There were a lot more as well but this season will definitely stand to the likes of them lads. "It didn't really help us that we had a lot of lads up in Dublin at college. Overall though, they tried to get down every night for training and in fairness to them they were very good. "When they went back after the summer they couldn't get down as much because they were starting to play up there with their colleges and they could only really get back for U-21 games. That set us back a wee bit but it was only about four or five lads so we can't use that as an excuse," he said. The biggest frustration for the manager throughout the year was his side's failure to get going in the championship. Things had actually been going well for the O'Connell's prior to their opening game against Roche with back-to-back wins against the Sean McDermotts and Glyde Rangers being followed up with a draw against Na Piarsaigh in a match in which they trailed by eight points with 17 minutes left on the clock. Callan admitted, however, that that run of form might have left his side a bit cocky going into their opening match against Sheelan Cup champions Roche Emmets. He said: "Up until the start of the championship we had had a great start to the campaign. "We won our first two games and drew the third one so it meant that we had only dropped one point before going into the Roche game. "We were probably a bit cock-a-hoop going into that game because Roche had just lost their first two league games but they played us off the field on the night. We just never turned up and things never really picked up for us in terms of the championship after that. "We were unlucky in a few games that we didn't get better results. We could have beaten the Clans and the Joe's but overall we didn't play up to standard at all in the championship this year. "The league went well though for the most part. I suppose our best result was our second match against Glyde Rangers. "Nobody was expecting us to beat them but we played really well despite the fact we were without the likes of Stuart Reynolds and Dean Stanfield, who would be two of our top players. That was our second win against them because we had already beaten them in the Sheelan Cup so beating a team twice that went on to reach the senior championship semi-finals would definitely be one of the highlights of the year for us. "We probably should have finished higher up the league though. We had a bad result against the O Raghallaigh's when we should have done better and it was the same in the last game against the Plunketts. We were just terrible in the last game." However, with the O'Connell's building for the future with a new clubroom development at The Grove, Callan admitted that everything was geared towards the years to come rather than the present. "It's all about building for the future really," he said. "The development at The Grove is coming on in leaps and bounds and will set us up nicely for the years to come. The real highlight though was seeing our U-14s win the A Championship. That was a major thing because it shows the future is bright. "In terms of the development the structural work is finished but it's just a matter of finishing it by fitting it out. The club is going well but we're just not getting the result on the field at the minute the way we'd want to. The last year will be a good experience for us though because with the exception of one or two players, it's quite a young team." Underage level has been one area where the O'Connell's have really flourished this year. A strong U-21 campaign was complimented by their U-16 team winning the U-16 B secondary competition in November against the Glen Emmets. However, the real highlight was the triumph of their U-14 side in the A Championship as their combination with Stabannon Parnells - St Michael's - came out on top by the narrowest of margins against the Oliver Plunketts on a 3-8 to 3-7 scoreline in Monasterboice at the end of August. St Michael's made a dreadful start to the game by conceding two goals inside the opening three minutes before they steadied the ship slightly with points from Cian Doyle and captain Robert Quigley. Evan Caldwell then hit the net to leave it 2-0 to 1-2. Plunketts then extended their lead once more before points from Quigley and Caldwell brought the sides level for the first time since the start. The Drogheda men then tagged on two more points before Conor Connolly's goal three minutes before the break left St Michael's in the ascendancy at the break on a 2-4 to 2-3 scoreline. Within four minutes of the restart, however, the Plunketts were back in front thanks to another goal. It was a nip and tuck affair after that with some fine scores from Caldwell and Quigley keeping St Michael's in touch right up until the closing stages. Then five minutes from time substitute Tom Byrne found the net to clinch the title for Pat Kierans and Des Campbell's side. The St Michael's U-14 side that beat Oliver Plunketts was as follows: Shane McGrory; Micheal Cairns, Conor Kierans, Declan Byrne; Conor McGuill, Thomas Campbell, Daniel Bannon; Colin Goggins, Cian Doyle (0-2); Andrew Keenan, Robert Quigley (0-4), Evan Caldwell (1-2); Lee Hack, Conor Connolly (1-0), Dylan Hack. Sub: Tom Byrne (1-0) for D Hack. It was a fitting reward for Youth Officer Gordon McDonnell and Chairman Seamus Cairns, who have done tremendous work on behalf of the club. Off the field, it was another busy year for the O'Connell's. Aside from the construction of their new clubrooms, which were greatly aided by a grant of 60,000 euro from the 2008 Sport Capital Programme, the club also held their first ever golf classic in Ardee Golf Club which Callan deemed an incredible success. "There were something like 40 teams in the golf classic and the club made a good few pound out of it but above all it was a great day out. "That was the first time we ever held one and I'd say it is something we'd do again," he said. The club also honoured their Christy Bellew Cup winning team of 1983 at their annual dinner dance and presentation night in Bellingham Castle Hotel on the October Bank Holiday weekend - a side which Callan was a part of. "It was a nice touch that the Junior Championship winning team of 25 years ago were honoured at the dinner dance. We'll have another one coming up now again in five years because we won it in '88 as well," he laughed. "It was a good night though and I think everybody attended. There were only two people, who are deceased, that didn't turn up. One was my father, Joe, and the other was John Galligan. "Apart from that though everyone was there that was involved with the team. It was good to see some of the lads from '83 again. The majority are still local but the likes of Frank Kelledy, Stefan White and Tony Prunty were back for it and it was good to see the likes of them." Some of those in attendance on the night were Jim Byrne, Seamus Daly, Paul Fox, Stefan White, Paddy O'Connor, Brendan Bannon, Peter Bannon, Benjy Conlon, Frank Kelledy, Benny Kelledy, Damien Murtagh, Jim Connolly, Dessie Callan, Tony Prunty, Sean Geeney, Dominic Kearney, David O'Brien, Pat Byrne, Martin Carroll, Gerry McKeever, Patsy Clarke, Aidan Murtagh, Jim Ryan, Martin Bannon, Bernard Culligan and Peter Tuite. It marked the perfect end to a year of ups and downs for the O'Connell's. Unfortunately for Callan, he was forced to look on the next day as his side lost out to the Oliver Plunketts in their final league game. It wasn't the end to the year he had hoped for but he is hopeful of the future. "There's no doubt in my mind that we were capable of doing a bit better this year but overall things are looking encouraging for the future," he said. "I suppose if you took the Plunketts game out of it in the last game of the league, then I'd say we were maybe three or four games from having a brilliant year. That's all it was but hopefully we'll win those three or four games next year and keep things moving in the right direction." Rome wasn't built in a day but when it was complete it was regarded as one of the finest cities in the world, withstanding the test of time to keep such an accolade to this very day. The O'Connell's won't get to where they want in a year but 2008 was one small step. When they finally get to where they want to be, they'll be acknowledged as one of the finest clubs in the county. In fact, they're not far from being called that already. Tweet

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