In the early stages of the race for Mattie McDonnell Cup honours, Nobber were nicely positioned and looked highly likely to play a big hand in the finish. But the second half of the season proved disastrous for Ciaran Conlon's charges and two defeats from their final three outings consigned them to a shock exit at the end of the group stages. Nobber's name has appeared towards the head of the IFC market before the last couple of ultra-competitive 16-runner renewals have got underway. In 2007 they took a crashing fall at the second last fence at the hands of eventual winners Donaghmore/Ashbourne and hopes were high that they would gain compensation this time around. They certainly looked be possess one of the best equipped armies around and with their general Brian Farrell one of the most feared attackers in the county, it was easy to see why so many astute judges felt it was their turn to step up onto the senior stage. And after two rounds of the Mattie McDonnell Cup, Nobber's price at the head of the market shortened even further following impressive success over Na Fianna and St Colmcille's. At that stage if someone had suggested that Ciaran Conlon's men wouldn't make it to the knockout stages of the competition, you would have advised them to pay a visit to the men in white coats. But things turned sour for Nobber when the championship resumed following the break for county action and despite edging out Oldcastle by the narrowest of margins, that success was flanked either side by disappointing reversals at the hands of St Michaels and Cortown. Reflecting back on the campaign, intermediate boss Ciaran Conlon felt that it the most disappointing aspect of his side's exit was the fact that they finish jointed top of the group but didn't quality due to score difference. It is a problem that Conlon feels should be rectified with championships in different counties. "It was very disappointing to finish top of the group but then to go out on score difference. I know that other counties have come to the same conclusion of sorting out the league part of the championship that way but I feel it is an unfair way of doing it," Conlon said. With so many games between leagues and the championship, Conlon revealed that he found it hard to make progress when he was without three of his better players due to commitments with the Meath senior and minor sides. "You are really sacrificing clubs for the sake of squeezing fixtures in because at one stage we had, between 'A' league and 'B' league, six games in the space of ten days." "With so many fixtures the situation we find ourselves in is that with Brian Farrell and Brian O'Reilly involved with the Meath seniors and Jamie Owens with the minors, we were without three of our main players for the league matches and it was very hard to try and find out your best team and try different tactics when you are missing those players." But it certainly looked as though things were going like clockwork for Conlon and his troops in the early stages of the championship. They kicked off with a 1-10 to 0-10 victory over Na Fianna and given how well the Enfield club went on to perform, this was an excellent result. They followed that result with another impressive display against St Colmcille's, this time having two points to spare over their seaside opponents - 0-12 to 2-5, but Conlon felt even at that early stage, despite winning, it was worrying that his side were not turning possession into scores. "The first two matches were two close and hard fought games. We were fairly evenly matched with the teams and they were tough games." "The first game of the championship you are feeling yourself around and lads put pressure on themselves because it is the first game and you want to make a good start." "Then, we went out against St Colmcille's in Slane and we got a few injuries early on but we just didn't get enough scores for the domination that we had. That was probably our downfall against Na Fianna as well as we really should have scored a lot more." But like a lot of teams both at senior and intermediate level, the break from action due to county sides taking part in the Leinster championship, knocked Nobber off their stride and they seemed to be unsettled by the lengthy absence. "After our first two wins we had a break when Meath were out in the championship and when the county team is going well, club fixtures take a backward step and it is very hard for the fixtures secretary to fit games in." "That made it difficult for Nobber as we had Jamie Owens playing at midfield for the minors and the two Brian's with the seniors so we only really had them for the championship matches and even in league and challenge matches we had to carry on without them." "Challenge matches are great if you have your full panel to choose from but it is very hard to fine tune your starting fifteen when you are missing players." "I think certainly the league format has to be looked at. We didn't play our last league game until October and we started in February so it is very stretched out and it is very hard to keep lads motivated for that length of time. Maybe if the league was played out earlier in the year it might be a big help. But I think it is something that has to be looked at from Croke Park level to try and facilitate the club footballer." "Challenges matches are there to try and develop patters of play and try and get players to develop an understanding with one another and when you have young players coming in for those games it is very hard to get the right balance when neither Brian Farrell nor Brian O'Reilly is playing." A surprise two-point defeat to St Michael's - 2-8 to 0-12 - was a major setback for Conlon's charges but they got their campaign back on track with a minimum margin success over Oldcastle - 0-10 to 0-9 - and the stage was set for a dramatic conclusion in which they faced Cortown to decide who would progress to the last eight. But after exploding from the traps and accelerating into an early lead, Nobber were unable to sustain that momentum after the resumption and despite Alan and Brian Farrell making plenty of contributions to the scoreboard, they were forced to sample the sour flavour of defeat on a scoreline of 0-12 to 0-13. Cortown went on to contest the IFC decider. "Going into our last match we were fairly confident that we would get the right result. We started well and got a few scores on the board but John Henry very cleverly threw an extra man into midfield to try and close it out and it was very difficult for our midfielders to get enough possession to get the ball into the forwards. "Alan Farrell kicked a few lovely points and Brian (Farrell) was getting on the ball a fair bit so our game plan was working very well in the early stages. I still thought until five or ten minutes that we could still sneak a draw. A draw would have done us. Would we have got any further had we got it? It's hard to know." But Conlon certainly feels that the breakthrough is around the corner and stressed that there is an abundance of talent in the club at present and it is just a case of trying to develop a winning mentality." "The Nobber team at the moment is very young on average. A lot of people were saying that this was Nobber's year to go from intermediate to senior and I think that could come in the next few years. "There is an underage structure in Nobber that is top class and you have lads like Larry McEntee that are helping bring lads on but you have the problem in North Meath that it hasn't had the same population explosion that South Meath has had. The number of players coming through at underage level is not as big as some of the other clubs and therefore the numbers mightn't be as big at senior level in a few years time. "I definitely feel that the Nobber team can go all the way and win the intermediate championship, if not next year, definitely in 2009 or 2010. The football talent is there. The ability is there. It is just a case of players within themselves finding the real will to win that the likes of Cortown and St Ultan's found this year," Conlon concluded. Tweet

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