County under 21 Paul Hackett was very much to the fore as St Nicholas won the 2002 Division Three league title (Macardle Cup) in impressive fashion. Gerry Robinson speaks to the half forward about the Nicks' brilliant year and their imminent return to the intermediate grade. St Nicholas clinched promotion to Division 2B by virtue of outright victory in the 2002 Division Three league, winning ten of their twelve outings and amassing 21 points from a possible 24. The Nicks set the pace all year and guaranteed themselves the spoils by virtue of a 1-6 to 0-7 defeat of Na Piarsaigh in their last game at Rock Road on Saturday, September 7th. The table-toppers did most of the hard work in the first half when they compiled a 1-4 to 0-1 advantage. County Chairman Paddy McMahon was present at the Dundalk venue to present the winners with the Macardle Cup. The newly-promoted Drogheda side will participate in next season's intermediate championship. Having been relegated at the end of the 2000 season, the Nicks had expected to bounce back up in '01, but it wasn't to be and they had to wait an extra twelve months to secure their return ticket. Inspirational young wing forward Paul Hackett is delighted that the club have managed to make the cut at the second attempt and is fully appreciative of the fact that they could quite easily have finished the year empty-handed following their surprise 2-9 to 1-11 junior championship semi-final defeat to Dowdallshill. Fortunately, they managed to retain their focus and guaranteed themselves intermediate fare next term with that edgy victory over Na Piarsaigh. Hackett reflects: "After getting knocked out of the championship, we played Dowdallshill again the following Friday and winning that put us within touching distance of winning the division. All we needed from our last game against Na Piarsaigh was a draw. We knew we had to do it on the night because John Mitchells had two games in hand and we knew they'd win them if they had to. "We managed to beat Na Piarsaigh - but it was close! Na Piarsaigh put out their full team and they came at us with everything, even though they had nothing to play for and had a junior final to look forward to. Fair play to them. That's the way to do it and we wouldn't have wanted it any other way. We wanted to beat their best team and earn the right to be intermediate. They gave it their all and they certainly didn't let the John Mitchells down. They did the Mitchells proud and we were very relieved to get over that game..." Son of former club Chairman and current PRO Felix Hackett, Paul admits that the 2002 campaign was certainly a case of Mission Accomplished for St Nicholas. It could have been better - but it could also have been a lot worse! Consider this - "We won the league well but it was still close in the end even though we only dropped three points. That's how competitive it is. There's nothing easy in junior football in Louth. "We lost our opening league game of the year to Tullyallen and the only match we lost for the rest of the year after that was the championship semi-final. That's what it took to win promotion . . . anything less wouldn't have done." "Our main objective was to go up, and we achieved that. We thought we might win the double but it didn't happen. Dowdallshill caught us on the night and we're just glad we still managed to go up. "We had beaten Young Irelands by 3-17 to 0-2 in the quarter-final and we were going really well in the league too. We hadn't been beaten for three and a half months, and a lot of people were tipping us to win the championship. But Dowdallshill came with a late burst and beat us by a point - they were definitely the best team on the night." That game took place two weeks before the Nicks finally secured promotion via the league - on August 25th - and the Nicks led by five points at the three-quarters stage. A converted penalty nine minutes from time proved the killer blow and - despite rallying desperately in the final four minutes - the Drogheda side failed to reproduce the sort of form that marked them out as the outstanding junior side in the Wee County all year. In hindsight, Paul Hackett says the game was a hiccup rather than a bitter pill to swallow: "The way we look at it is that we are happy because we still managed to get promoted, which was the only target we set ourselves at the start of the year." Having achieved promotion as recently as 1999 - via a play-off defeat of Glen Emmets - only to be demoted again the following year, St Nicholas will be hoping to find intermediate football more accommodating this time around. Certainly, Paul feels they are now much better equipped to cope with the demands that lie ahead: "We have a very strong team of youngsters at the moment, including three of last year's Louth minors. We added a few more young lads in and the team has really clicked together. And there are even more young lads in the pipeline, ready to come through from various successful underage teams, which must surely augur well for the future." Paul believes it's imperative that - having now earned their stripes for the second time in four seasons - St Nicholas manage to stay up next term, as slipping down into junior grade is a precarious and potentially stifling pastime. "When you're junior you have no guarantees. It took us two years to get back up and it could have been a lot worse. The junior league is very tough physically and it's dogged. It's difficult to get out of. I expected both John Mitchells and Na Piarsaigh to be very strong in 2002 and we were delighted to finish top. "We had lost most of our Shield games earlier in the year, but we kept plugging away and worked hard and we were very fit. That stood to us. Physically, we're not the biggest team in the county, but other sides couldn't stay with us. Hugh Downey and Jim McCullen did great work on the sideline and they had us in super shape." The influential Nicks attacker is confident about the team's prospects: "The last time we only scraped our way up. This time we have been a lot more convincing. We did it by winning a lot of games in the league and we had a long unbeaten run that lasted most of the season. We feel capable of stringing together a good run of results . . . it's not as if we've gone up by just winning two or three championship games. "We had a good consistent season and should do well next year. The team is young and talented and we're all willing to give it a good shot..." The Nicks have strength in depth now - a quality that has been patently lacking in past seasons. "It was a real squad effort last year and the quality was there to step in and that makes a big difference. Fellas are fighting hard for places and the lads on the line aren't necessarily any worse than those on the starting team." Paul himself has been a permanent fixture on that starting XV for the past five years, since he was 16. He has represented the Wee County at U14 and U16 levels and was on the U21 squad in 2002. Essentially right half forward with his club, the St Nicholas man says he would love to get a chance with the county juniors one day and, who knows, perhaps even the seniors. He believes Aidan Carter has an excellent opportunity of getting back into senior intercounty reckoning: "He won a B All-Ireland with Louth a few years ago and he had a great year with us in 2002. He's playing wonderful football again and playing in Division Two will bring him along even further - I think he'll be very close to the county senior panel." Naturally, the higher the grade the Nicks are playing at, the better a player's prospects of grabbing the attention of the intercounty selectors. "It's hard to get noticed at junior level and it's also difficult to force your way into contention as you're playing at a lower level every week. But the Nicks are very much on the up now. We've had a lot of work done on the grounds and there's a real buzz about the club. There's a great sense of teamwork and everybody is pulling together." What are St Nicholas' objectives for 2003? "Next year is a really big year for us. We have to stay up this time and get a year or two of intermediate football under our belts. We played the Brides in junior four years ago and they were only average but a group of players came along together and look at the progress they've made. "The likes of Sean McDermotts and Dreadnots have also done well coming out of junior. There's no reason why we can't do something similar because there is an exciting crop of players coming through here. We may have earned a bit of a reputation in the past but those days are behind us. Now we are more disciplined, we are focused on fitness and our philosophy is Football, Football, Football." Tweet

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