Drogheda is a town that has really thrived on the sporting front in recent years. There's been success on the soccer front both at adult and underage level while in terms of Gaelic football this year saw the south of the county complete a clean sweep of honours. Oh, and Boyne Rugby Club haven't been going so badly either. With all that success, something inevitably has to suffer and in Drogheda in recent years the sport that has suffered more than most is hurling. Despite a glorious tradition as Louth's longest running hurling club, the Wolfe Tones have been forced to bear the brunt of the decline in the sport's popularity in Drogheda. They haven't reached a senior championship final since 2003 while you have to go back to 1996 to find the last time the Paddy Kelly Cup was brought back across the Boyne. In recent years, fielding a team at all has become a success story in itself for the Tones with many even fearing that they will not be able to do so at adult level for too much longer. When you're at the bottom though the only way is up and the Drogheda outfit have began to rejuvenate the club from the ground up in an attempt to restore their fortunes. So far, so good as well with the club's youth policy currently thriving as more and more youngsters are getting involved from the age of four upwards. One of the key individuals behind that success is juvenile hurling programme co-ordinator Declan Power, who has began entering the Tones in a number of competitions in Meath in order to provide the club's youngsters with as many games as possible. He said: "I work with Leinster Council and, as a result, I find myself helping to organise a lot of projects in Meath and I've got the Wolfe Tones involved in them. "Our main focus now is providing coaching and games training for children between the ages of four and 10. This is our second year doing this. We have no home base so we were in the O Raghallaigh's for a while but now we're based in the local leisure complex. "It's going quite well at the moment. We've been able to field teams in the Meath regional hurling blitzes at U-8 and U-10 level for the first time ever. Before this we would have had the likes of U-12, U-14 and U-16 teams but never anything younger than that. We're starting at the grassroots level again and hopefully it'll pay dividends for us in the long term," said the Clare native. Despite how well things have gone for the club at underage level in the past two years, fortunes have not been so good at senior level. The Tones weren't helped in their causes this year by drawing the two favourites in the opening two rounds of the senior championship - going down to Pearse Og in their opening match in Drogheda on a 1-19 to 1-7 scoreline before losing out to eventual champions Knockbridge by 2-13 to 1-6 in Darver. They then lost out by 1-16 to 3-9 against old rivals Naomh Moninne despite a superb second half fightback before claiming their first win at the end of August when they got the better of St Fechins on a 0-13 to 1-6 scoreline in Dunleer. They then rounded off their campaign with a 0-14 to 2-5 defeat to Mattock Rangers in Darver in mid-September but there were some better results in the Special Hurling League where they claimed victories over St Fechins, Pearse Og and Naomh Moninne. Power, who played in many of those matches himself, admits it is becoming more and more of a struggle for the club to meet their commitments at adult level. "We've struggled at adult level for the last couple of years now and I'd say the average age of the side now is about 31 or 32. "The way Drogheda has developed with the motorway right beside it means that it is now more accessible for hurlers living in the town to go back up to Dublin or Meath or wherever and play with their home club. "We have a very small adult panel at present with only about 18 or 19 players. Inevitably, you always have someone who can't make a game and then if there are injuries or anything else then you are really in trouble. "We were very disappointed with how we performed though but we could barely field 15 players at times. "It was a difficult year and we'll definitely have to launch a recruitment campaign in the New Year to keep us afloat. We're a senior club in name at the moment but really we're a junior club. "There's always a fear there of the club folding at adult level but you just have to stick at it and keep going. "I'm sure a few of the players we have at the moment would love to retire but they know the club would suffer if they did," said Power. Regardless of what happens at adult level, Power is hopeful that the club's youth structure will benefit the Tones in the long term. "We are running a parent and child programme at the moment which encourages the parents to get involved with the programme. It encourages the kids to keep involved and it's a great way to get them involved in the club. "It has helped increase membership in the last couple of years and I think we have to be happy with where we are at the minute. "We'll sit down now after Christmas and plan out the next 12 months. We plan to have an U-11 team for the first time next year so that's a clear sign that we're moving in the right direction. "The more progression we make at underage level the more people we'll need involved though and that'll be the next big step. "We're lucky in a way that we got 10,000 euro funding from the RAPID agency and we're trying to put it towards projects like facilities and coach education. We've also spent a lot on equipment that we're selling on to the kids for a reduced cost. "Overall, we're delighted with their attitude. They just love to play the game and the parents have been brilliant in encouraging them." Power also praised the club's two inter-county stars Aidan and Johnny Carter for the role they have played in encouraging the club's youngsters. "This year we only have two players from the club on the county panel but that's still a big plus for us. "These lads have won some major silverware this year and got to the Nicky Rackard Cup final in Croke Park and that gives the kids something to aim for and aspire to. "The Carters are local role models and have now played in Croke Park twice and the kids are aware of that. "It's another small encouragement for them and they need that because they are the future of the club. "We're all putting in a lot of hard work at the moment to get the club back to where it once was and that work will only get harder but we're ready for that. "Our main aim is to give these young lads as many games as possible. If we sit back and wait on the County Board it will be difficult for us to keep them involved. We have to be proactive and keep the games coming for them," he said. Hurling has certainly lost out to the success of other sports in Drogheda in recent years. With the hard work of the Wolfe Tones, however, that is all set to change in the years to come. Tweet

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