Many column inches are taken up by musings on the unpredictability of sport. Never was this phenomenon more in evidence than in the fate that befell St Josephs in 2007, as the Dromiskin/Darver combo went from the ultimate high of capturing a second-ever SFC to the embarrassment of suffering demotion to intermediate ranks - all within twelve months. Having claimed the Joe Ward Cup for the second time in their history with a series of stunning performances against the county's big guns in 2006, St Josephs went into the new season intent on defending their SFC crown with pride and tenacity. Nobody would have predicted that the Joes' defence of the Wee County's premier trophy would end in a humiliating slide to intermediate football. It was an almost unthinkable decline. And it was all so sudden. One minute, the Joes were the best senior club in Louth; next thing, they were officially the worst and they had relinquished their grip on top-flight football. There is no doubt the players were caught cold to a certain extent but relegation is a sobering experience and the 2006 Louth senior football champions are now faced with a new - and potentially treacherous - challenge as the IFC is a notoriously difficult hurdle to negotiate. Young gun Derek Mulligan is backing the Joes to bounce back, however. The gifted attacker, who contributed so handsomely to the '06 success despite his relative youthfulness (he netted the clinching goal against the Pats in the county final - as a mere 17-year-old!), is here for the long haul and is determined to help the Cluskey Park outfit back onto the top rung: "We're under no illusions because intermediate football could be awkward, but we're hopeful of bouncing straight back up. We have a few lads coming to the end of their careers now, but we also have a few young lads coming through, so we should have a strong enough side next year. We're hoping that 2007 was a transition year and that we can pick it up again." Even though he acknowledges the presence of some potential landmines, Derek insists that a club with the Joes' pedigree of senior football should have what it takes to win the intermediate championship. "It'll be a tough time and there will be no easy games, but at the same time the standard isn't as strong as senior football," he notes. "We know there are three or four strong teams there that would be well fit to take on senior football, and we will have to be wary of them. There is plenty of talent and plenty of experience in intermediate football, so we'll have to be on top of our game." Though he's only been on the senior team for two years, Derek already knows only too well about the fine line that exists between success and failure. In two seasons, he has experienced sharply contrasting emotions in the Joes jersey - the absolute ecstasy of a surprise senior championship triumph followed swiftly by the abject misery of demotion. Two contrasting shocks and a lesson to any footballer in the vagaries of sport, not to mention the fickleness of fate. Thus, the Joes will have to be at their best throughout the 2008 IFC. One slip could prove fatal and it would be far from ideal to get marooned on the second rung for any length of time as many's the fine club has been swallowed up by second-tier football over the years. The Joes bade farewell to senior football when losing a relegation play-off to Sean O Mahonys by 0-12 to 0-9 at Castlebellingham on Thursday September 6. The defending champions were consigned to the play-off after managing to win only one of their five group games and therefore finishing bottom of Group A. It was the first year relegation had been decided via the championship and how ironic that the team that had gained most from the knockout competition in '06 now lost so much. The holders' 2007 SFC campaign got off to the worst possible start when they lost heavily to St Brides (0-18 to 0-8) at Castlebellingham on Thursday April 19. In the second round, the reigning champions got back on track momentarily with a narrow win over Naomh Mairtin, 2-9 to 2-7, but St Marys were on fire as they annihilated St Josephs by 1-18 to 0-10 in Dundalk on Saturday night, July 28. The pressure was on with two round remaining. The Joes were officially ruled out of the running for the senior championship when they were comprehensively beaten by Newtown Blues at Ardee on Saturday night, August 18 and their place in the relegation play-off was confirmed when they lost their final group match to Mattock Rangers. It had been a tough group but both finalists emerged from the other section so the Dromiskin/Darver men couldn't complain about the cards they'd been dealt. Derek Mulligan admits that it was a tremendously disappointing year for everyone associated with the club: "It was disastrous. We had really high expectations after the previous year but things didn't work out like that. Everybody is very disheartened because no-one expected this. We wanted to go out there and prove ourselves by winning another senior championship - and we felt we had a good chance of doing it - but things didn't go as expected and it was just a really disappointing year all round." Where did it start to go wrong? Obviously, relegation is the culmination of a number of mishaps, but at what stage did the Joes realise that things were starting to go much more pear-shaped than they ever would have imagined? "We started very badly in the championship against the Brides. They thrashed us and that really set the mood for our championship campaign. We never recovered from that beating, even though we won our second game." Was there a sense of complacency in the Joes camp? "Perhaps a little bit but I don't think that was a major factor. We knew what had to be done. Maybe the attitude wasn't quite right. We thought the Brides game was a good wake-up call and we expected to turn it around because things had been going well in training, but we couldn't get any kind of momentum going. "The whole club was on a high after winning the senior championship and now we find ourselves on a low. But the setback will probably make us a stronger team. It's a test of our character and it'll be interesting to see how we cope with the adversity. At the start of the year, we got back into pre-season training as usual and everything was going well. The lads were all up for it and there was nothing to suggest that we'd have such a poor campaign." Enda McKeown took over the reins for the 2007 season, with assistance from Stephen Melia and Aidan Gorham. The trio prepared the team well but for some reason the Joes couldn't get going on big match day. What with a great year followed by a poor one, it promises to be an interesting 2008. From a personal point of view, it'll also be intriguing to see how things pan out for Derek Mulligan. He had an unbelievable 2006 and a disappointing 2007 - what's next for the young man who's already worn the county shirt at minor and U21 level? "Two-thousand-and-six was a fantastic year. It was my first year on the senior team and to win a senior championship alongside so many lads who'd waited so long for one was really brilliant. It was a great experience." Derek was on the county U21 panel in 2007 and has two more years left at that grade - does he aspire to play for the Wee County at senior level one day? "That would definitely be a goal of mine so hopefully I can continue to improve. I really enjoyed being part of the U21 panel this year and we had some opportunities to train with the seniors, which was a good experience. "At the moment, though, I'm fully focused on the club. We've dug ourselves into a bit of a hole and we have to react positively. I'm looking forward to playing championship football with the Joes again. We might be intermediate next year but it's still a championship and we'll be going all out to win it." Tweet

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