Though they found themselves out of their depth in the Leinster championship, Louth ladies took a major step in the right direction in 2004 when they earned promotion to Division One of the national league. Wily campaigner Sharon Drumgoole reflects on an eventful year with both club and county… Sharon Drumgoole kept herself busy in 2004, as indeed the Dromiskin girl has tended to do every season since bursting onto the Wee County ladies football scene a decade ago. In '04, the county attacker helped Louth move into Division One of the national football league, wherein they will pit their wits against the big hitters in the ladies game. She also won a second successive county SFC with Naomh Malachi, earning the Player of the Match award for a powerful midfield performance in the county final victory over Cooley Kickhams. Sharon is now one of the most experienced players on the Louth team. Her talent and commitment are beyond question and she is a real asset to the ladies game in the Wee County. A central figure on the side that earned promotion to the top flight by qualifying for the national league Division Two final in May, she has been a mainstay of the county team since the mid-90s. There were glory years in 1998 and '99 when All-Ireland titles were scooped at junior and intermediate levels and the Louth girls also took a positive step in 2004 when qualifying for Division One of the league (having missed out on promotion through an injury-time goal in 2003). However, Louth's performances in the Leinster championship - where they were heavily beaten in all their games - removed much of the gloss from an otherwise memorable year, as Sharon concedes: "It all seemed to fall apart for us in the latter part of the year. The league went really well and we were delighted to move up to Division One, especially after the disappointment of the previous year, but the championship was a shambles. "We were missing a lot of our better players for the championship and suffered some heavy defeats. It was a hard time for everybody associated with the team but hopefully we can turn it around and get back on track for the new league campaign. We have Division One football to look forward to and that should be a big incentive to all the girls in the county." The manner in which Louth booked their place in the higher echelons of ladies football was a joy to behold. Their excellent early season form was epitomised by a mighty 5-6 to 0-9 Division 2A defeat of Cork at Timahoe in Laois on February 8. Seven days later, at Hunterstown, the Wee County girls hammered Tipperary by 3-17 to 1-1 - their third successive win of the campaign. This was an excellent all-round team performance from the winners, who were especially well served on the day by captain Orlaith Kirk, Vicki McGinn, Bronagh Leonard, Ann-Marie Murphy and Sharon Drumgoole. Cavan were beaten in the fourth round at Ballyjamesduff (3-9 to 1-9 on March 7) and Louth were already guaranteed passage to the knockout stage as table-toppers by the time they lost their final group game in Clare. Thus, they were in a confident frame of mind as they took their place in the last eight. The quarter-final was against Leitrim at Carrick-on-Shannon on Sunday April 4. After trailing by three points at the break, the visitors battled gamely to deservedly prevail by 2-10 to 1-11. Hunterstown was the venue for the semi-final a fortnight later and David Fedigan's charges earned a final spot and promotion by virtue of a great 1-11 to 1-8 win. The 2004 Division Two ladies national football league final was played at Swords on Sunday May 16. Louth put in a magnificent display and were most unfortunate to be pipped by the ladies of Kildare in an exciting encounter, 3-10 to 2-9. Despite the disappointment of defeat, the prime objective of promotion had been achieved and great credit is due to all concerned. Louth could hardly have been in a better frame of mind heading into their Leinster championship opener against Meath on June 6. Unfortunately, their participation in the premier competition didn't go quite according to script… "I suppose things can't go well the whole time," says Sharon philosophically. "A lot of things have gone really well for Louth - winning the All-Irelands, and even getting up to Division 1B and reaching the league final in 2004, so it hasn't been all bad. "Getting to Division One provides us with a good platform. We'll be up against the eight best teams in the country and can only learn from that. We could have won the league final against Kildare but we conceded 1-5 before we started playing, and we never managed to get back into it. But our performance in the league was fairly good and we're worthy of our place in Division One, so hopefully we can get our act together for the 2004/05 league. "The championship was a disaster, though. Some girls were on holidays and others were unavailable and there were times when we actually found it hard to get enough players to field a team. We had put it up to Dublin in 2003, but they gave us two bad beatings this time around. "It was all very disappointing, We've been in the senior championship since 1998 and there was a time when we held our own against Dublin, Laois and Meath. But for some reason it all went wrong this year and we were well beaten in all our championship outings. We played Dublin twice in a week and suffered two heavy defeats, although we did a bit better the second time. "It can be difficult against teams like Dublin because they are so fit and so professional in their approach. We had to field a lot of very young girls this year and they were in awe of Dublin and were intimidated by their sheer physical presence. I've been playing ten years and I was even intimidated by them! We have a lot of 15-year-olds and it's going to take time to get things together." Before the start of the new season, a concerted effort was made by all concerned with ladies football in Louth to get all the clubs more involved with the county team, which is suffering through an obvious lack of interest. Division One starts on November 14 and Louth will be up against the likes of Dublin, Meath, Tyrone and Waterford, so they have little time to get it right. Sharon continues: "Some girls left the panel and it's not easy to replace experienced players. We had about seven players making their debuts in the second championship game against Dublin, which was a difficult situation for everybody. With some girls no longer expressing an interest in playing for Louth, morale has been low, but I'm confident we'll get through this. "The Fedigan family have been brilliant. They've done a lot for ladies football in the county and David is trying to bring in a three-man management team to look after the county team, which is a good idea. "But we need the backing of the clubs. It's a privilege to play for your county and hopefully more girls will realise that. Players have to put aside club rivalries and declare an interest in the county team because, at the end of the day, county football is what it's all about." As a young girl, Sharon won a number of county championships as well as a Leinster club title with the now disbanded St Josephs ladies club. She has been lining out for the Naomh Malachi club since 2002 and helped them to a breakthrough senior county championship success in 2003. In '04, the Sheelagh girls retained the county crown. Naomh Malachi claimed the 2004 ladies senior championship with a three-point (1-7 to 1-4) defeat of arch rivals Cooley in the final on Sunday July 25. Sharon notes: "The Malachis lost so many finals in a row to Cooley, it has been brilliant to win it last year and again this year. Barry O'Connor has done a great job since he took the team over and he has given us a belief that we never had before." Forming an impressive midfield partnership with county captain Orlaith Kirk, Sharon Drumgoole was Player of the Match in the 2004 county final. She has been a magnificent ambassador for Wee County GAA and has her fingers crossed that there are more good times ahead: "I'm hoping for more good years, for the club and the county," she concludes. "I have no doubt that the players are in Louth. We're in Division One and the senior championship … it wouldn't take that much to get things up and running again." Tweet

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