With one last chance to escape junior ranks before the lower grade becomes congested once more, John Mitchells probably fancied their chances of making an impression in 2006. However, the Ballybailie men lost both their JFC outings and are faced with the prospect of an even more difficult '07 season. Looking on the bright side, club captain Alan Mackin insists that the experience of playing against a higher calibre of opposition can only work in the Whites' favour. If ever there was a time to get out of junior football, then the year 2006 was probably it. With the number of clubs in the bottom tier due to almost double (from seven to twelve), there was never a better time to move up to intermediate level. It was a bit like fleeing a burning building or a sinking ship in many ways but, alas, John Mitchells never heard the sirens sound and went under with barely a whimper. Faced with a daunting 2007 campaign, the mid-Louth outfit could be forgiven for thinking that somebody has it in for them, but Alan Mackin - who captained the team last season - believes there are positives to be drawn from the new structure and is hoping that an overall improvement in the standard of junior football in the Wee County will be beneficial to all concerned: "It'll be good to play against a higher calibre of team. It's easy to get stuck in a rut when you're playing junior football. There are a lot of decent teams coming down from intermediate level and that's going to make it better for everybody. We'll have to raise our game and hopefully we'll be able to do that…" The Mitchells were in Group B of the 2006 Louth junior football championship, a three-team group also containing Dundalk Young Irelands and St Fechins. The top team would progress to a semi-final meeting with the runners-up from Group A. Disappointingly, John Mitchells were well beaten in their first game, losing to the Irelanders by 2-15 to 1-7. They may still have had a glimmer of a hope of forcing a play-off if they'd managed to overcome St Fechins in their second group game but a 2-9 to 0-10 defeat meant that their year was effectively over (no promotion was available via the league and, besides, a poor start had quickly ruled the Mitchells out of contention anyway). The team captain, who was inspirational at either midfield or centre back all year, reflects: "We were very disappointed with our performances and the way things worked out. Having said that, we were missing a lot of players all year and that left us facing an uphill battle. A couple of lads went to Australia and we were also without key players due to injuries, so it was a difficult year for everybody. A club our size can't afford to be missing players from the starting fifteen. "We only managed to get a full-strength team out once all year and we were never able to field the same team twice in successive matches. As there was no stability in the team, we were never really able to get into any sort of rhythm. Despite all that, we were still in with a chance but didn't really produce the goods on the pitch." Resources are scarce out Ballybailie way: "There are a lot of clubs pulling out of the town. The Marys are the main team in Ardee but there's also the likes of the Westerns, Seans and Hunterstown all drawing from largely the same area." To an extent, Mitchells' season amounted to a numbers game (otherwise known as a lottery). "It was a struggle to get lads out," Alan concedes. "When you're missing at least five or six lads who would easily have been on the first team, then you know you're in trouble. We were without our county man Brendan Reilly all year and that was an obvious setback. Brendan is a very important player and it's very hard for a small club to go through a whole season without their best player." One of the positives is that some of the lads who wouldn't otherwise have tasted first team action had to step up to the plate - the experience garnered is sure to stand these players in good stead for the future. "Some of them played great stuff and we'll be hoping to see an improvement on that in 2007," says the club captain. As captain, Alan was frustrated by the manner in which interest faded as the year unravelled: "We found it very hard to get lads out. I know the numbers we're drawing from are limited to begin with, but when you look around and see only 16 lads available for the second round of the championship, it's very disappointing. We'll need to show a much better attitude if we're to have any chance next year…" Colm Carey, Ray Sweeney and Eddie Coyle took charge of team affairs for 2006, with help from trainer Toca Duff. They set their stall out early on and the target was promotion to intermediate ranks: "We thought this was our best chance to win it because next year it'll be way more difficult, with half of intermediate coming down. There'll be nowhere to hide in 2007, that's for sure." There'll be no more relatively handy looking three-man groups either. Mitchells must surely have fancied their chances of nicking top spot in Group B last season? "We knew Young Irelands and the Fechins were both very strong, but we also knew that if we got our strongest team out then we were as good as any of them. Unfortunately, we fell apart on the day against Young Irelands in Louth village. "That was our most important game of the year, and the league was already over for us after losing our first four games. We knew we could beat them, but it didn't happen for us on the day. "We put in an improved performance against the Fechins but it wouldn't have made any difference anyway, as Young Irelands beat them in the last game to top the group." Alan has been a regular on the John Mitchells first team for about six years now and the club has been stranded in junior ranks for the entirely of his adult career to date. "We've been trying our best to get up but it just hasn't been happening for us," he says. "Hopefully next year we'll have everybody available again and we'll get a big push on." Regretfully, John Mitchells don't have as many players featuring with the progressive Baile Talun minor club as they did a few years back. "I think the next crop of players we have coming through is around the U12 mark at the moment, so it's up to the current Mitchells players to tough it out," says Alan, who was one of six or seven players from his club who featured on the minor squad that contested the 1999 county MFC final. The same personnel now form the backbone of the John Mitchells first team and they'll be trying their best to find something extra in 2007. Tweet

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