Having surrendered their senior status at the end of the previous year, Oliver Plunketts went into the 2007 season hopeful of challenging for an instant return to the top flight. However, things didn't go according to plan and the Slane Road club endured a forgettable campaign, struggling to cope with the demands of intermediate football. Oliver Plunketts' year could best be described as an aberration. Their form in the 2007 IFC was peculiar to say the least; mystifying, to put it mildly. But at least the heroics of the club's U16s gave them something to smile about. Nobody could have predicted that the Drogheda club would struggle so much in their new surroundings. Remember, the Plunketts were something of a revelation in the SFCs of 2005 and 2006. In '05, they reached the knockout stage before losing narrowly to eventual champions Mattock Rangers after a replay. In '06, they acquitted themselves well in the same group that produced both finalists, losing to the Pats by just a few points. Thus, ante-post, they would have been expected to challenge strongly for the 2007 intermediate championship. Instead, Oliver Plunketts failed to win a game in the group stage and needed a relegation play-off to guarantee their place on the middle rung for another season. Amazingly, they were just one hour away from suffering successive relegations! Demotion from senior to junior ranks in consecutive seasons would have been unthinkable for one of Drogheda's biggest clubs. So, how could a team with aspirations of senior football almost slip down to junior? Club secretary Brian Carrig - who doubles up as corner back on the first team - is as bewildered as anybody. He's hoping that 2007 was a one-off and that the Plunketts can erase it from their minds and move on. The club certainly possesses the talent and wherewithal to turn things around and the Kerry native is confident that the Plunketts will be battling at the right end of the IFC in '08. There's plenty of exciting young talent coming through and the juvenile section of the club received a welcome boost when the all-county U16 Division One league was culled in early September, so there is still much cause for optimism on the Slane Road. But 2007 was a wash-out for the first team. They lost all five games in Group A of the IFC. The unexpected losing sequence began against Geraldines on Friday April 20 (0-15 to 1-6) and continued six days later when Clan na Gael prevailed by a point, 1-10 to 2-6. Another narrow defeat followed to Sean McDermotts at Clan na Gael Park on Saturday July 26 (2-11 to 2-8) and Plunketts also slumped against Na Piarsaigh at Ardee on Friday August 17 (1-13 to 0-12) and O'Connells at Dunleer on Friday August 24 (4-14 to 3-8). With the year threatening to turn into a nightmare, long-overdue salvation came in the shape of a comfortable 1-15 to 1-5 relegations final victory over a struggling St Kevins side, who were clearly out of their depth in the middle grade. Though the outcome of this contest was never in any doubt, this doesn't mask the fact that Plunketts shouldn't have been here in the first place. Realistically, they should have emerged from the group to take part in the business end of the IFC. A return of zero points from five matches falls well short of their pre-season target of at least six points. "We trained hard all year but we were disappointing on the field of play," Brian reflects. "I suppose we did well enough in the league, finishing mid-table, but the championship was very disappointing. We expected to do much better after coming down from senior. Our second team got to the final of the junior B championship but the first team didn't get going at all. "We're confident that we can turn it around. Our new all-weather astro turf pitch should be ready next year and that should help drum up a bit more interest in the club. We have the players and the improved facilities will provide the club with an added boost." Originally from Tarbert in Kerry, Brian has been based in Drogheda and lining out for Oliver Plunketts for four years. "We seem to have gone downhill since the good performance against the Pats in last year's championship, but we still have more or less the same players and there's no reason why we can't pick it up again. I'm probably the oldest on the team now but, apart from myself, we have an average age of 23 or 24. We had two lads on the county minor team this year and those two should be breaking through onto the Plunketts first team in 2008. They played towards the end of the league and were very impressive. "Expectations were high in 2007 but we were late appointing a manager and probably lost a bit of ground there." Was the IFC tougher than the Plunketts expected? "All the championships in Louth are difficult. You only have to look at what happened to the Joes in 2007 to see that. "We knew it wasn't going to be easy but we certainly didn't expect to do so badly. Finishing bottom of the group was very poor. We played well against Na Piarsaigh, who got to the semi-finals and were only beaten after a replay, but that was probably as good as it got for us. We beat the Geraldines in the league but were well beaten by them in the championship. Sean McDermotts is another team we'd have expected to beat but we were well off the pace in the championship all year." Was there ever any concern that the ultimate disaster might transpire and the Plunketts could be relegated to junior football? "We were a bit anxious but the Kevins game was never really in doubt. We were confident that we'd beat them but that doesn't change the fact that we had a bad year. I don't remember the Plunketts ever losing five championship matches in a row before. It was a very disappointing run of results." Arguably the highlight of Oliver Plunketts' year arrived when they defeated St Josephs by 1-14 to 1-8 to win the Louth U16 Division One league final at Dunleer on Monday September 3. Full forward Ronan McEnteggart gave an exhibition in that match, accounting for 0-8 of the winners' tally and also creating his side's goal. It was a real grudge game as the Joes had earlier knocked the Plunketts out of the championship but the Drogheda side controlled the second half of the league decider and were full value for their six-point winning margin. There was just a point in it at the interval before a run of four points upon the resumption from McEnteggart (2), Bernard Rogan and Dean Carolan effectively established an unassailable lead. Carolan added two late points to the Plunketts tally after the Joes had closed a seven-point gap to four and the honour of escorting the Padraig Duffy Cup to the Slane Road fell to captain Karl Tuite. "The club is very strong at juvenile level and the talent is coming through," Brian says. "The U16s did brilliantly and our U13s also had a good year, getting to a major final. We need to bring these lads through. Hopefully, our county minors from this year will be fighting hard for starting places in 2008 and there are also a couple of young lads from this year's junior team who I'd like to see featuring. There's no doubt we have the players to challenge for intermediate honours next season." Oliver Plunketts, 2007 Louth U16 Division One league winners: Cian Smith; Jason Swift, Colm Clinton, Micheal Matthews; Sean O'Callaghan (0-1), Karl Tuite, Conor Healy; James Quigley, David McTeggart; Stephen Malone, Bernard Rogan (0-2), Harry O'Mahony; Dean Carolan (0-3), Ronan McEnteggart (0-8), Darragh Matthews. Subs: Joe Rogan, Cormac Everitt. Tweet

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