Due to circumstances beyond their control, Sean McDermotts never fielded a full strength team in 2003. Still, young full back Brendan Finlay is confident the Seans (who reached the Grogan Cup final but made no impact in the IFC or in Division 2A of the league) are good enough to put the disappointing season behind them and make a concerted push for intermediate honours in '04. On the back of three phenomenally successful seasons, Sean McDermotts' expectations were understandably high going into the 2003 campaign. The Green & Reds escaped junior football in 2000 when cruising through their entire Division Three league campaign unbeaten (also winning the Kevin Mullen Shield that year) and followed this up by sensationally storming to the 2001 IFC final, only to lose therein to Naomh Fionnbarra after a replay. Last year, the Seans failed to build on that eye-catching championship performance but did manage to gain promotion to Division 2A, therefore marking '02 out as yet another thoroughly satisfactory season. And so to 2003. Hopes were high that McDermotts would push hard for a place in senior football but, alas, that's not how things worked out. With so many of their key men unavailable over the course of the season, the mid-Louth club struggled somewhat, losing all four of their Group B intermediate championship outings. At the time of writing, with the Division 2A programme almost complete, they had also failed to pick up a single point in the league. It was a disappointing eventuality for all concerned as the team had earmarked a place in the business end of the premier competition and their early-season Grogan Cup form suggested they were capable of achieving this. Unfortunately, a number of factors conspired against them and ruined their chances of making a major impression. It's not all doom and gloom in and around Mountrush, however, and Brendan Finlay - who starred on the Wee County junior team in 2003 - insists there's no reason whatsoever why the Seans can't bounce back stronger than ever next term: "I don't think anyone should be writing us off just yet. There's a great team spirit in the club and everyone on the team gets on very well. We still have a lot of potential and I can honestly see us having a very big year in 2004." There's no reason why this shouldn't be the case. The Seans had four players with the Louth juniors in '03 (John Curran, Kenneth Taaffe and substitute goalie Damien Curran joining corner back Finlay on the team beaten by Wexford by two points) and normally have a veritable abundance of talent at their disposal. Except in '03 too many players were unavailable. Brendan takes the story up: "At the start of the year, we were sure we'd be there or thereabouts, but the group stage was a total disaster. It went from bad to worse and before we knew it our season was over. "We lost a couple of major players and that definitely affected our chances. Ronan Valentine and Kevin Carroll are two very big players for Sean McDermotts and our centre half Eamonn Breen was in Australia for the year. We also had a number of other injury worries over the season and, as we're only a small country club, it's always going to be tough when so many players are unavailable. Altogether, I think we were missing eight of the players who played in the 2001 intermediate final..." McDermotts made a decent start to the year, reaching the Grogan Cup final. Herein, they took on Naomh Fionnbarra - the team that had famously pipped them in the '01 IFC decider after a replay: "We were happy to reach the final of the winter league but that game might have done us more harm than good," Brendan muses. "The Finbarrs gave us a bit of a beating in Stabannon and the result knocked us back. We thought we could beat them - and, indeed, I still think we can - but we didn't give a good account of ourselves on the day." As it turned out, that result didn't do Sean McDermotts' confidence much good with the championship looming. "You really need your best team out to give a good account of yourself," Brendan reflects. "You need a few older, wiser heads there to steady things as well. A lot of the lads on the team are around the same age as myself [20] and the majority of our players are under 24. We were lacking a bit of experience. "We needed more older heads in there to keep us settled and to provide a bit of leadership. We came good towards the end of some of our games - particularly against the Geraldines - and showed the kind of form we're capable of, but it was too late and were weren't able to make up for out sluggish starts." Understrength McDermotts' championship campaign got off to a nightmare start when Oliver Plunketts hammered them (0-20 to 0-5) in the first group game at Castlebellingham on Saturday May 31st. The losers were missing as many as six first-teamers and it showed. Three weeks later, a more spirited performance from the Green & Reds still ended in a big defeat, this time at the hands of Naomh Fionnbarra at Dunleer on June 20th, 4-12 to 2-8. Geraldines provided the opposition at Louth village on the first weekend of July and this time the Seans did much better, eventually losing by four points, 0-16 to 2-6. With their chances of a quarter-final spot well and truly up in smoke, the Seans produced their best performance of the competition in the last round against O'Raghallaighs at Dunleer a fortnight later, this time going under by the minimum margin, 1-9 to 1-8. Thus, they finished the year as Group B's whipping boys, pointless at the foot of the table. Are they good enough to bounce back next year? Brendan Finlay answers in the affirmative: "Even though some of the 2001 team retired, the young lads who weren't getting starts back then are coming through and are starting to shine. We've loads of talent and all we need is a better run of luck on the injury front. I know the ability is there to win an intermediate championship and to maybe even do better... "If we get into our stride, we could put it up to a lot of senior teams as well. There's a great spirit here and everybody pulls together and works for one another. That's extremely important in a club and will stand us in good stead for the challenges that lie ahead. "We've organised a holiday together to the Canaries for November and I think that's a good move. It'll help bond us all together even more and hopefully we'll reap the fruits of that next season. It's important to have social outlets like that to bring everyone together - the last time we went away together, to Donegal, we went unbeaten for nearly the whole next season, so hopefully this trip will have the same effect!" Sean McDermotts were managed and trained by (County Board coaching officer) John Byrne in 2003, with Gerry Melia, Eamonn Breen and Fergal Kerr acting as selectors at different stages during the year. Brendan Finlay was deployed at full back for most of the season and exudes optimism when asked about the forthcoming 2004 campaign: "I'm definitely optimistic. In fact, I don't think there's a single person in the club who's not expecting next year to be a big one. If the injuries clear up and we get knuckled down to training after the holiday, I think we're well capable of going out and winning promotion to senior football. "There's still a lot of enthusiasm in the club. We regularly have up to 40 young lads between 8 and 14 out training every Friday evening, which is some going considering how many other clubs there are in the area. We're also looking at getting the pitch drained, putting up floodlights and refurbishing the dressing-rooms, so it's All Systems Go..." Full back on the Baile Talun side that captured the Louth minor football championship in 2001, Brendan concludes on a touching note. After a serious road traffic accident almost deprived Sean McDermotts of two of their shining lights (chairman Kevin Carroll and his son Kevin, a key forward) in 2003, he points out that the pairls survival and return to full health was a godsend to all associated with the Seans: "It could've been a disastrous because we could have lost them both. To lose two men like that would be infinitely worse than anything that could ever happen on a football pitch. So we had a lucky escape in 2003 - it was a good year!" Tweet

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