For the second time in three years, Sean McDermotts found themselves in a play-off to determine whether they'd be playing intermediate or junior football. This game had not yet been played at the time of publication but, regardless of the outcome, there's no denying that goalkeeper Damien Curran and his team-mates put in a huge effort in 2006 as the Mountrush men endeavoured to preserve their status against the odds. After a brief flirtation with junior football, Sean McDermotts returned to intermediate ranks in 2006. Nothing was going to be easy, however, as only the top team from seven in Division 2B was guaranteed to retain its status for the following year, with the runners-up going into a junior/intermediate play-off against the second-from-bottom team in 2A. In keeping with the sense of drama that has surrounded the club in recent times, it was hardly a major surprise that the Seans found themselves involved in the play-off scenario. Edged out by Hunterstown Rovers for the Division 2B crown, the Mountrush men went into the vital end-of-season play-off knowing that anything less than victory would consign them to another year in the basement grade. As the year dragged on towards Christmas and McDermotts were left waiting to see whether their opponents would be Stabannon or St Nicholas (these two were at the bottom of 2A all year and seemed most likely play-off material at the time of writing), there was no season closure in sight for the club. Such a prolonged waiting game is certainly not ideal preparation for a vital match… The Seans could consider themselves somewhat unfortunate to find themselves in this situation. Having come agonisingly close to annexing their first-ever IFC title in 2001, the mid-county outfit were most unlucky to surrender their intermediate standing at the end of 2004, when O'Raghallaighs beat them by a point in a closely-contested relegation play-off. Having won the Macardle Cup (Division Three) in 2005 - as well as the Kevin Mullen Shield - they returned to the middle tier to be greeted by news that football structures in the Wee County were going to be radically restructured. Whereas previously only the bottom two teams in Division 2B would have been relegated, there was a completely different set of circumstances to contend with in '06: five of the seven teams in the division would surrender their intermediate status, with the table-toppers surviving and the runners-up entering a play-off. With little or no room for error, Sean McDermotts went into the year in great spirit and duly set about the task of trying to win the McGahon Cup (Division 2B). The Green & Reds found themselves in a duel with Hunterstown all year and were eventually squeezed into second place and a play-off against the team that finished sixth in Division 2A. (Ironically, in any other year, a runners-up spot in Division 2B would have been enough to earn promotion to 2A.) In the intermediate championship, McDermotts marginally missed out of a place in the knockout phase. A disappointing start to their Group B campaign, culminating in two narrow defeats, left them in a fragile condition from which it proved impossible to recover. Having lost their first two championship outings against O'Raghallaighs (2-7 to 2-5) and Hunterstown (2-8 to 1-6), the Seans rallied with back-to-back wins over Glen Emmets (0-12 to 0-6) and Na Piarsaigh (0-12 to 0-9), but neither O'Raghallaighs nor Hunterstown slipped sufficiently to allow the Mountrush men back into the equation. Those two emerged from the group with six points apiece, while the Seans were just behind on four. Reflecting on the zero-six season, the club's ever-dependable goalkeeper Damien Curran admits that Sean McDermotts knew their return to intermediate football would be rather difficult: "It was a bit of a nightmare with only two of the teams in our division in with a chance of staying up. The league had to be our priority because we were determined to avoid going back down junior for a second time in three years." The ideal scenario was to capture the Division 2B title but Hunterstown just about took that honour, even though the Seans were leading the way for much of the year. Alas, it was another play-off for a club with a decent recent pedigree at intermediate level: "We were junior in 2005 and won the Macardle Cup, but apart from that we've been fairly solid at intermediate level," Damien confirms. "Having come straight back up, we found ourselves in Division 2B at the wrong time as nearly the entire division was going to be relegated to junior football. "We felt that we had a good chance of winning 2B, but we slipped up in the away game against Hunterstown and that cost us the title. We had beaten them at home in the first round of games in March, but they beat us in the championship and again in the league, which was disappointing. But the runners-up spot in 2B was still a good prize as it left us with a one-off game to stay intermediate…" In the intermediate championship, the 2001 finalists never got going until it was too late: "We had a bad start against O'Raghallaighs in Ardee. We actually played alright in that game but were caught with a late goal. Then Hunterstown got a good run on us early on and we were eight points down at half time. We came back into it but couldn't overturn the deficit. "We beat Na Piarsaigh in Knockbridge and Glen Emmets in Collon but we needed other results to go our way at that stage and they didn't." Had Sean McDermotts taken anything from either of the two opening games then they probably would have progressed. Damien, who's been between the posts for about eight seasons now, notes: "Hunterstown and O'Raghallaighs qualified with six points and we had four, so there wasn't much in it. There never is in the intermediate championship and it's just a pity we didn't start better because we have a good young team and they are well capable of playing at that level. "There is a nucleus of young chaps here who are 18 and 19 and they are all committed and genuinely interested in playing football. That augurs well for the club and I can see us progressing with those lads on board. Obviously, it was important to try and maintain our intermediate status because the higher the level you're playing at the easier it is to get commitment from the players. "Junior football is going to be tough in 2007 and we knew from the start that it would be a bad year to go down with so many good teams down there. We had previous experience of losing a play-off to O'Raghallaighs in 2004. We went down with eleven points that time and that would have been enough to stay up any other year. If the restructuring wasn't taking place, we would have been delighted with our performance in '06. Finishing second would have seen us promoted to Division 2A any other year…" Having said that, Damien has no animosity whatsoever towards the County Board and accepts that the Seans' plight was just a case of being in the right place at the wrong time: "The County Board came in to make changes that probably need to be made, in fairness," the trusty 'keeper accepts. "There was an imbalance the way things were and the restructure should solve that. A lot of clubs got caught in the crossfire but if you're good enough you still had a chance to stake your claim. We had a shot at senior and intermediate football, so you can't ask for much more than that." For a while, it looked as if that shot would not be granted. Originally the powers-that-be deemed that all the teams in Division 2B would be relegated. Spotting an obvious injustice, Sean McDermotts led the revolt, bringing a successful appeal to Leinster Council. "It looked as if there was going to be no avenue left open to us for staying up and that would have been very unfair. Ourselves and the Mochtas appealed and it was only right that teams in Division 2B had something to play for. Unfortunately, the way the year went, with five teams going down, a lot of teams had little to play for anyway for most of the year…" Damien is pleased that the Seans still have youth on their side: "We've had a young team since we got to the intermediate final in 2001. Most of those lads are still playing and five or six new lads have come through as well to strengthen the squad. Peter Osborne is starting to get a run with the county and we have plenty of other good young players who could do very well for the club. We see Glyde Rangers as a good example of what we could achieve - the further they've gone, the better they've become - and we think we could emulate them, especially with so many young lads who'd be well fit to play at the highest level." To date, Damien Curran has won two Macardle Cups and two Kevin Mullen Shields. He was also in goal for Baile Talun against the Clans in the 1999 county minor final. One of his main footballing ambitions is to win a championship medal with the Seans. He concludes: "There are a lot of very good men in our club, doing great work. It's a good little club and we have a nice set-up from underage level right up. Gerry Corbally and Toss Duffy do unbelievable work with the U10s and it's great to see them out on a Friday night training. Every club needs men like that and hopefully we can repay them by winning more trophies in the coming seasons." Tweet

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