Naomh Moninne once again faltered in their bid to regain the Louth SHC but 2003 still presented plenty of encouraging signs. The club's rigorous underage training programme is in full swing and is starting to bear fruit, while a number of minors have already broken through onto the senior team, making quite an impression. Once serial winners of the competition, Naomh Moninne have now gone four seasons without laying their hands on the Louth senior hurling championship. While four years could hardly be described as a famine (not in sporting terms anyway!), the barren spell is nonetheless almost unthinkable for the traditional top dogs of Louth hurling. However, the club's performances across the board suggest that they'll be back on the winner's rostrum soon. And, more importantly, that they'll be there to stay. Moninne aren't particularly interested in winning one-off championships every now and again. They aim to once more challenge consistently at all levels and, on the evidence of their showing during 2003, look ready to do so. Club stalwart John Murphy - one of the driving forces behind Moninne's underage renaissance - is happy with the way things are shaping up: "In general we're coming along well as regards the underage structure, which is improving every year. We're making satisfactory progress, even though we still don't have enough bodies here to do the work that we'd ideally love to do. The club is getting bigger all the time and a lot of parents are actively involved, but we need more coaches. We're looking for more input from current and past players." What's the long-term aim of the club? John doesn't even draw breath before answering: "We want to be competitive at all levels - and stay competitive at all levels. We're going to try to win an U14 championship in the next three to four years, which would be a good starting point for our underage wing. We also want to regain the senior championship that we haven't won since 1999 ... that's a huge aim of the club. We won it the first year after the split with Knockbridge but have lost to them every year since. We're determined to set that particular record straight..." Moninne have been regarded as an aging team in recent years, but this is starting to change. For the first time in quite a while, the club blooded a number of minors onto the first team in '03, bringing the average age down drastically but sacrificing nothing by way of ability. A good start in the Armagh league saw the Dundalk outfit ensure their Division One status for another season (as they have done every year since entering the competition). Unfortunately, however, their championship season ended almost before it had begun when Moninne were again pipped by keen rivals and champions-elect Knockbridge at the first-round/semi-final stage. That match took place at The Ramparts on July 27th and the 'Bridge prevailed by the odd point out of 31, 0-16 to 0-15. John Murphy scored seven times for the losers but drew no personal satisfaction from the feat. At the end of the day, the result was the only thing that mattered and defeat was a bitter blow. "As the whole year is geared towards the championship, it was a very disappointing defeat. We get drawn against Knockbridge every year and we thought we were going to end their run of victories over us in semi-finals. It was a game we could and should have won but it just didn't work out that way. "But there was great effort put in and tremendous work done all year by the new manager Kieran Somers. Kieran, who is player-manager, took the job when we were struggling and nobody else wanted it. He stepped into the breach and made a massive contribution, especially by bringing so many young players along." This point cannot be emphasised enough: Naomh Moninne are thrilled to have introduced some fresh faces to the first team during the 2003 campaign. Says John: "A lot of our minors came through to feature on the senior team and that's a big boost. James Connolly, a young goalkeeper from O'Hanlon Park, is a tremendous prospect at 15. He played some games with the first team and has already represented the county at U14, U16 and minor level. "Eugene Litchfield and Ken Coleman also played regularly in 2003, while Keith Taaffe and Stephen Ryan are knocking on the door. Darren O'Hanrahan, an exceptional U16 who played for the county U16s, also took his chance well and is a star of the future. To have these young lads coming through is a huge plus to Naomh Moninne." John himself broke onto the first team in 1984 - when he was only 14! That same year he had the honour of captaining the first-ever Naomh Moninne team to take part in Feile Na nGael. During two decades in the black and amber, John has scooped nine SHC medals and who-knows-how-many league mementos. The Naomh Moninne clubman played for the county for 15 years, but opted out in 2003 as he simply had too much on his plate - playing, training, looking after the underage arm of the club and raising his own family. He's also club treasurer. The main thrust of Naomh Moninne's activities has been at underage level in recent years and John has been at the forefront of that. He is ably assisted by Paul Drumm, Alan Moore, Donal Connolly and Michael Woods, all of whom do Trojan work to promote juvenile hurling in the club. "When Knockbridge went out on their own we were left with nothing at underage," John notes. "That was four years ago and we knew we had to get stuck in. The work is already paying dividends. This year we fielded in all the Coiste Iomana competitions from minor to U16, U14, U12 and U11 levels. We're taking the lads on early - from the ages of four and five - to instill the skills in them early." The Friary School on Anne Street is Naomh Moninne's main nursery. Here, John and his brothers Maurice and Tim coach the young lads and also organise Cumann Na mBunscol teams. Fatima Primary School and the Christian Brothers Primary School are two more important nurseries. Indeed, the Murphy family are all very heavily involved in the club. Tim and John assisted Kieran Somers as first-team selectors in '03. John is treasurer, while Maurice doubles up as PRO and County Board rep. Meanwhile, their sister Josephine (Maguire) is secretary. They inherited their love of the game - and Naomh Moninne in particular - from their father, Maurice Murphy Snr., a Corkman originally. Maurice arrived in Dundalk in the early 'sixties, shortly after the club was founded ['59], and soon became Mr Hurling in the area, playing for the club and also serving in a number of other capacities (including club and county team manager). Returning to underage activities, John is anxious to get as many young lads involved as is humanly possible. To this end, he stresses: "We want the young lads to come up and get involved. We have training in the Marist Grounds in Dundalk every Saturday from 2:00 to 3:00 for the younger lads aged 4-12. Then on Monday evenings we take the 12s-16s from 6:00 'til 7:00. That's up until October and for the winter months we take them at the same times, indoors in the Friary Hall." The club's underage teams performed well in 2003. "In the U12 Blitz, we beat Termonfeckin in our group and they've been up and running at underage level for seven or eight years, so we've made a quick progression. Our U14s ran Knockbridge close in the league and beat Termonfeckin. "We also fielded in the U16 league, beating Pearse Og and only losing narrowly to Knockbridge. That's another huge step forward because that team was beaten by twelve or 15 points two years ago as U14s. "The future is bright. There's a good commitment from parents and a lot of goodwill being shown towards the club. Fundraising is going well too and things are looking up on all fronts." Naomh Moninne competed well in the Armagh league but getting only one championship outing for the year came as a huge disappointment. How demoralising is that? "It's disheartening. We're bringing a motion forward that from now on the senior championship be played on a league basis, the same as in football. It's ridiculous at the moment ... some lads have been with us for four years and have only played four championship games! "If the proposal is passed, every team will have four meaningful, competitive championship games every year. It makes sense and we're expecting the motion to be supported by the other clubs and by the County Board. The way things are at the moment, it's demoralising for a team to work hard all year and then only get one big game." Moninne are also delighted to have been granted a new pitch as part of a sprawling new development on the Rock Road. John says: "We've always been looking out for a pitch and a place to call home. The new pitch on the Rock Road will be the first hurling pitch in the county and is something we couldn't refuse. It's a playing field developed fully, fenced in, and with dressing-room facilities. Some people are upset that we've been given the pitch but we're not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. The county needs a hurling pitch and we'll have no problem allowing other clubs to use the facilities. Of course, we're not going to move our traditional base ... we'll still train in our own patch and draw our players from there. "While on the subject, we'd like to take this opportunity to thank the Geraldines and Clan Na Gael for the use of their pitches during the year and also Dowdallshill for the use of their grounds on an ongoing basis." Naomh Moninne had representatives at all levels with the various county teams in 2003. Three of the club's members also joined the 15 from the county who attended the DJ Carey School of Hurling. Andrew Mackin, Donal Rafferty and Kevin Keenan were invited to the coaching extravaganza (accompanied by adults Tony Corcoran and Alan Moore) and the Moninne trio passed with flying colours. Two-thousand-and-three also saw Naomh Moninne once again participate in the Kilmacud Crokes 'Sevens' Shield, a competition played on the eve of the All-Ireland hurling final, and one the Dundalk club has won twice previously, in 1993 and '99. Moninne were never quite at full strength in '03. Collins Connolly was in Australia for most of the year and Barry Murphy was ruled out through injury. Kieran Somers did his knee in a league game against Knockbridge and Thomas Coburn missed the championship clash. Meanwhile, one of the players brought in was Declan Byrne, who is originally from Bagenalstown in Carlow and is a great addition to the team. "We weren't too far off winning the championship and we realise that a little bit of extra effort could have made all the difference. We've a settled squad and the young lads who are coming through will all have the experience of a good year's hurling under their belts in 2004, so hopefully we'll make a major challenge for senior championship honours in the coming season," John Murphy notes. The Naomh Moninne revolution is gathering pace. Like the all-conquering Cats of Kilkenny, the black and amber be on the silverware trail in a big way during the various '04 campaigns. Account of Naomh Moninne juvenile activities in 2003 The activities of our juvenile teams commenced early in the year with indoor training at the Friary Sports Hall on Monday evening and Saturday afternoon over the winter months. The training then moved outdoors at the Marist College over the summer. Held over from the previous year, the U14 team took on Knockbridge in the U14 championship final (2002) at Dundalk Young Ireland's grounds in early March but unfortunately they lost out to a strong Knockbridge team. Naomh Moninne team - J Connolly, JW Lam, T Cooney, D Maloney, A McGee, S Drumm, D Rafferty, A Mackin, D McAreavy, N McConnon, D O'Hanrahan, B McConnon, C Clarke, M Taffee, D Carolan. The minor league/championship commenced on Saturday 15th March with an away match in Termonfeckin. This years team was managed by Patsy Mulholland and the results were as follows: Round One - Termonfeckin 5-11 Naomh Moninne 0-2; Round Two - Naomh Moninne 4-4, Naomh Medoc 0-1; Round Three - Naomh Moninne 0-3, Collon 4-5; Round Four - Knockbridge 4-15, Naomh Moninne 2-0. The competition was then held over until September with Moninne losing out to Pearse Og in a play off on a scoreline of 3-15 to 0-2. The U14 Feile na nGael competition commenced on Friday 2nd May with an away match in Knockbridge and it saw the competition favourities inflicting an opening round 7-4 to 1-1 defeat on a Moninne team managed by John Murphy and Paul Drumm. The other results were as follows: Round 2 - Naomh Medoc 1-1, Naomh Moninne 4-2; Round 3 - Naomh Moninne 3-4, Pearse Og 5-4. Naomh Moninne U14 panel - J McConville, O Drumm, D Maloney, D O'Connor, R McKinlay, T Cooney, D Rafferty, A Mackin, C Clarke, K Kernan, B McConnor, S Newbury, D Carolan, A Fretwell, N McConnon, C Herney, R Shaw, C Morgan, I Jamil. The side also took in an entertaining challenge match against Cushendall (Antrim) at St Brigid's Park, Dowdallshill on the morning of the All Ireland Senior Hurling quarter finals in Croke Park which saw Antrim in action. They also took in a couple of games home and away against a side from Banbridge. The Louth U16 League/Championship commenced on Thursday 4th September with a home match at Dowdallshill against Knockbridge. Following his welcome home from teaching duties in Saudi-Arabia club member Alan Moore took on the managers job of the U16 team assisted by Donal Connolly, Michael Woods, Gerry Mackin and Thomas Cooney. Results: Naomh Moninne 3-2, Knockbridge 2-10; Pearse Og 2-3, Naomh Moninne 2-5; Semi-final - Termonfeckin 4-3, Naomh Moninne 1-0. U16 panel - J Connolly, JW Lam, J Cosgrove, K Shields, D Rafferty, A Mackin, A McGee, C Lennon, D O'Hanrahan, S Drumm, J McConville, S Ryan, B McConnon, T Cooney, S Dillon, I McSorley, D Carolan, S McCoy, G Taffee, C Heeney, D Taffee, D Watters. At U12 level a side travelled to Termonfeckin on Saturday 6th September to compete in the O'Broinn Shield Blitz losing two and winning one of their matches. A fortnight later on Saturday 20th September the U11 side took part in the blitz for the McCreesh Shield. Having lost to both Collon and Pearse Og the team completed the competition with a draw against Knockbridge 'B'. The end of season U14 championship saw Moninne receiving a bye into the semi-finals where they faced Collon at Dowdallshill on Thursday 9th October. Conceding two early goals proved their downfall as they lost out on a scoreline of 3-5 to 2-1. U14 panel - J McConville, O Whearty, D Maloney, R Shaw, R McKinley, T Cooney, D Rafferty, A Mackin, C Clarke, B McConnon, N McConnon, K Keenan, D Carolan, C Heeney, J McCoy, F Reilly, J McCourt, M McDonnell, O Drumm, D O'Connor, S Newbury. The club would like to express its gratitude to the Friary National School, Dowdallshill GFC and the Marist College for the continued use of their facilities for the training and match activities of all their juvenile teams. Tweet

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