Wolfe Tones' recovery from the brink of extinction continued unabated in 2006. The born-again Drogheda club put together a very strong campaign in Division 4C of the all-county football league and also continued to make impressive progress at underage level, with their minor amalgamation pushing eventual champions Cooley all the way in a MFC semi-final at The Grove and the outstanding Niall Smith captaining the Louth U16 development squad team. Things are looking up. Just a few years ago, there was a real fear that one of Louth's oldest clubs would become extinct. However, Wolfe Tones have staged a remarkable revival in recent seasons and they can approach their 85th year with a general feeling of satisfaction. The Drogheda underdogs enjoyed a relatively successful 2006, with their first team competing well in Division 4C and their younger members also making an impression, so there is much cause for optimism in the clubhouse these days. The first team's priority for the year was to find some consistency in the league and they achieved this with decent performances that saw them competing at the business end of the Division 4C table, challenging for a semi-final place all year. Okay, the club's involvement in the JFC may not have gone to script, but they kept their heads up and continued to plug away in the league, displaying a strain of pride and determination that must encourage those who are working so hard to keep the club alive. The Wolfe Tones/St Nicholas U16s and minors were both beaten by the eventual winners at the semi-final stage of their respective championships (the minors also contested a league final); one of the club's most promising young protégé's captained the Wee County at U16 level; and the Tones also made inroads in various Drogheda leagues at U13-U10 levels. As success is relative, 2006 can certainly be termed a successful year for the Tones, whose modest aspirations were met as they continue to regroup, recover and rebuild. St Patricks contested a senior championship final in '06, yet they may well look back on the year with more regret than Wolfe Tones! It all depends on the resources available to a club and the targets they set. For now, the Tones are doing pretty well… "We've done okay for the level we chose," says chairman Paddy Fanning, who formed the Division 4C team's management triumvirate alongside David Tully and Brendan O'Connell. "Our first task in 2006 was to set about trying to bring back lads who had played in the past but had slipped away from football. We managed to encourage some of them back and we had about 25 or 30 players on our books, which is a pretty good response. We knocked on doors in January/February and started training in late February… "We decided that Division 4C represented our best chance of getting a bit of team spirit going and getting some worthwhile games under our belts. The midweek matches suited us better for the short term at least, so we enrolled in Division 4C again and it was the right choice." The first match of the year was against the newly-formed Cuchulainn Gaels club from Omeath. It was the fledgling peninsula side's first-ever competitive game but the Drogheda lads spoiled the party with a fine 2-10 to 2-7 victory in early April, a result that set Wolfe Tones up for a good year. "It went reasonably well," says Paddy. "We got a few lads back who we didn't expect and were happy enough with our team. We won six of our first ten league matches, and drew two, so that was very satisfying and it kept everybody interested as we were in with a good chance of reaching the semi-finals or maybe even a final." Unfortunately, the club's participation in the county JFC wasn't as successful. Pitted in Group B, they suffered heavy defeats in all three outings, against Annaghminnon Rovers, Westerns and eventual winners St Kevins. "The championship wasn't a success," Paddy admits. "We thought we might do a little better but injuries and lads being away on holidays didn't help. The first game against Annaghminnon wasn't too bad but the other two were disasters altogether. We were short at least four or five for each game, though, so we know we're nowhere near as bad as those scorelines suggest. "We're prepared to take those defeats on the chin. The championship was never our priority. Our main objective was to fulfil all our fixtures and to maintain interest through the entire season, which we did. It's absolutely vital to the club that we have a flagship team. We have lads coming through who are thinking of their futures and we need to have a team here for them. "In previous years, once the championship was over we had a dramatic drop-off in interest but that didn't happen in 2006. We managed to keep the buzz going, and that was really satisfying. The only disappointing thing was that the league wasn't played off quicker. This is Division 4C after all and the county team should have no bearing on proceedings whatsoever. It was left to ruin, though. It's the same every year and it doesn't help your cause when you're trying to persuade lads to train for two or three weeks without a game at the end of it. The County Board has to tighten the fixtures up. "Having said that, the County Board has met us halfway on a number of matters to help keep the club in existence and they have done what they can to ensure that we get games at a level that suits us." Wolfe Tones have a core of young players at their disposal, with more in the pipeline, which has to be healthy for their immediate future. "If we can get things up and running, there is plenty of young talent in the club," Paddy confirms. "We should be bringing two or three new players through to first team football each year from now on. There's no shortage of good U16s and minors at our disposal and they'll be filtering through gradually, so we should end up with a strong first team eventually. "We were lucky that Alan O'Connor joined us in 2006 and we're hoping he'll be a big asset to us. Alan has been involved with Dublin county teams in the past and we're delighted to have him on board." So, will the Tones be back as a genuine force in five years, competing in the all-county league proper and perhaps winning games in the junior championship? "Hopefully. Outside of two players, the rest of the lads are under 24. They're still fairly raw, but with two or three years' experience, hopefully they'll be competitive in the junior 1 championship." Two-thousand-and-six was an outstanding year at underage level, as Miceyk Kelly relates: "We [Wolfe Tones/St Nicholas] got to the semi-final of the minor championship and were only beaten by four points by holders Cooley, who went on to win it. We were amalgamated with the Nicks at U14 and U16 level as well, and the U16s also got to a championship semi-final and were also beaten by the eventual winners - Geraldines. We reached a minor league final as well, so it was a successful year to a point, even though we never won anything. "Wolfe Tones haven't won a minor championship since the 1930s so it was great to get those championship wins over Sean O'Mahonys and Oliver Plunketts. The Cooley game in Castlebellingham could have gone either way and it was a great experience for our players. All but four of that minor team will be eligible again next year, so maybe we can go a step further in 2007. We had eight on the starting team, and we clearly have good young talent coming through. "Personally, I'm delighted with the way things have gone," Mickey continues. "We've had tremendous support from the community. People don't want to see us disappearing. Niall Smith captained the county U16s this year and is an exceptional footballer. We have tended to lose our best players in the past - including Trevor Walsh to the Plunketts and Barry Kelly to the Blues in the past two years - so we have to reverse that trend and hold onto players like Niall. If we could win something or even get to a final, it would give everyone in the club a great lift. "Our younger teams are in the Top Four in the Drogheda Minor Board competitions. There's no shortage of young lads prepared to play for us and we've brought in a lot of new managers and helpers this year, so it's looking encouraging on all fronts." Tweet

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