After reaching the intermediate championship semi-final in 2003, Maryland found themselves fighting for their intermediate survival last year. Needless to say, goalkeeper Eoinie Farrell is hoping for a big improvement in the season ahead. For a club that has made a big contribution to Westmeath's underage successes over the past decade, Maryland have consistently flattered to deceive in the intermediate championship. In the modern era, the closest they came to making the breakthrough to the senior ranks was in 1999 when they lost the intermediate final to Ballynacargy after two replays. In 2003, they reached the semi-final but were forced to give second best to Rosemount. Last year the Drumraney men were expected to make a bold bid for championship honours but after losing five of their group matches, they needed to beat Mullingar Shamrocks in a relegation play-off to retain their intermediate status. "We're seriously underachieving," says goalkeeper Eoinie Farrell, who himself won a Leinster minor championship medal with the county side in 2000. "When you see the talent at our disposal, you'd have to wonder why we haven't won an intermediate championship by now. Seven or eight of us have played for Westmeath at different levels and that doesn't include Richie Browne who transferred to Shannonbridge last year. "Most of us are now in our early-to-mid twenties so it's high time we started delivering. We never got going last year and I don't think we played to our potential in any of our games, with perhaps the exception of the play-off against Mullingar Shamrocks when it was very much a case of win or bust," he adds. Farrell, who captained Athlone IT in this year's Sigerson Cup, attributes last season's poor showing to a lack of confidence. "We suffered a couple of setbacks early in the championship campaign and that knocked the confidence of us," he claims. "In a number of our games, we lost by narrow margins and that chipped away at our confidence. The long break caused by the county team's extended championship run didn't help us either, but I suppose it was the same for all teams and I wouldn't like to use that as an excuse. "I think the problem with Maryland is that we aren't ruthless enough. We're known as a team that plays nice football but that doesn't guarantee you success. We need to toughen up and last the pace better. We are also badly in need of a few six-footers, especially down the middle." The tone for the year was set when Maryland lost their opening game of the championship to neighbours Caulry by 1-7 to 0-14. The Drumraney men took an early lead with points from former All-Ireland minor winner David Martin and Vinny Browne, but Caulry battled back to lead by two points at the interval. Caulry restarted with points from Alan Carroll and Ernest Buckley, but Maryland were back in contention after David Martin slotted home a penalty in the 37th minute. However, after David Reynolds was unlucky to see his rasping shot rebound from the crossbar, Maryland lost their way and eventually succumbed to a four-point defeat. Tommy McCormack's charges put that disappointment behind them when they defeated Ballynacargy by 2-10 to 0-10 in their second outing. Maryland led by 1-4 to 0-6 at the break and a second goal midway through the second half effectively wrapped up victory. The first of three consecutive defeats followed when Maryland succumbed to Kilbeggan Shamrocks by 1-11 to 2-14. The game appeared to be finely poised with Maryland trailing by a point at the half-time, 1-6 to 1-7, but Kilbeggan pulled away after the restart to avenge their controversial defeat to the blue and whites in 2003. Against Killucan in their fourth outing, Maryland started brightly and were four points to the good after David Martin was successful from the penalty spot in the seventh minute. But Killucan had levelled the scoring by half-time, 1-5 each, and while Maryland regained the lead through Ronan Moran just after the restart, Killucan scored seven points without reply in a blistering 15-minute spell to turn the game on its head. To their credit, Maryland replied with points from Moran, Martin and James Reynolds but Killucan held on for a 1-13 to 1-10 victory. Maryland's faint hopes of reaching the knock-out stages were ended a week later when a late fade-out saw them lose to Shandonagh on a 1-10 to 1-14 scoreline. Two points from wing back Philip Rainey helped the Drumraney side to a 0-6 to 0-5 advantage at the break and the tit-for-tat nature of the exchanges continued until the end of the third quarter when a Colin Galligan goal put Shandonagh on the road to victory. Joe Harte replied with a similar score for Maryland with eight minutes remaining but three late points from Alan Hickey saw Shandonagh prevail. Maryland's losing streak ended when a late point from David Martin gave them a dramatic 0-9 to 0-8 victory over arch rivals Tang. Apart from landing the winning point from 45 metres, Martin also chipped in with two more points and although named at full forward, he lined out at midfield where his passing and running was too much for Tang to cope with. Tang had the better of the first half exchanges until two points late in the half from Damien Reynolds and Joe Harte ensured Maryland of parity at the break. With Paul Conway beginning to make his presence felt, Tang regained the lead midway through the second half but Maryland were not to be denied and after Harte had levelled the match for a seventh time, centre back David Reynolds found Martin in space who duly finished over the bar to give Maryland a much-needed win. Tommy McCormack's side looked set to end the campaign on a winning note when they headed Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall by a point in injury-time of their final group match, but a last gasp goal from substitute Ollie Gaffney saw them lose out to the northerners by 0-12 to 3-5. Castletown-Finea took a 1-4 to 0-5 lead into the interval but with the two Davids, Martin and Reynolds, in fine scoring form, Maryland fought back following the restart to take the lead. However, Gaffney's late strike left them facing up to the prospect of a relegation play-off. Castletown-Geoghegan was the venue for the do-or-die showdown with Mullingar Shamrocks in early November. Maryland made much of the early running to lead by 0-6 to 0-4 at the half-way stage. On the restart, Shamrocks came back strongly and quickly hauled themselves back onto level terms. But then Maryland full forward David Martin stepped up to the plate, hitting three points to give his side a 0-10 to 0-7 lead. Shamrocks reduced the deficit to the minimum again when Noel Gavin and Mickey Reilly both pointed, but with the game on a knife-edge, man of the match Martin struck the only goal late on to give Maryland a 1-11 to 0-10 victory and save their intermediate status in the process. While 2004 was a disappointing year for the Maryland intermediate team, the success of Maryland/Tang at under 14 level provides plenty of optimism for the future. In the months of October and November, this talented team captured both the under 14 'premier' championship and club '2' championship titles. They defeated St. Loman's by 3-6 to 1-10 to claim the 'premier' title and were 2-11 to 3-2 winners over Coralstown/Kinnegad in the club '2' championship decider. They also finished the year as Division 3 league champions. Despite last year's poor showing, Farrell is confident that Maryland will show a return to form in the season ahead. "We'll be hoping to show a big improvement this year. Our aim is to reach the knock-out stages of the championship and to retain our Division 2 status. Last year we finished in the top half of Division 2 but unfortunately we weren't able to produce the same form in the championship. But hopefully we'll be able to make amends this year." The Maryland team which defeated Mullingar Shamrocks in their IFC relegation play-off was: Eoin Farrell; Conor Farrell, John Cunningham, Cyril Molloy; Vinny Browne, David Reynolds, Philip Rainey; Brian Martin, Damien Reynolds; Ollie Moran, Stephen Martin, James Reynolds; Ronan Moran, David Martin, Joe Harte. Sub used: John Murray Tweet

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