In 2004, O'Raghallaighs came extremely close to winning the Louth intermediate football championship for the first time. They went all the way to the final, only to be beaten by a single point. Defeat brought the Green & Whites back to earth with a resounding bang - suddenly they found themselves in a dogfight to avoid relegation to the junior grade. High-scoring attacker Eoghan Farrelly reflects on a bizarre season… It was a case of deja-vu. For the second year running, O'Raghallaighs found themselves pushing for senior football in the championship while struggling to avoid junior football in the league. The only real difference between the two years was that this time they went even closer to the Holy Grail AND closer to the brink. Indeed, at the time of writing, the Drogheda club's fate had yet to be resolved. They were embroiled in a real battle to retain their intermediate status only weeks after losing the IFC final to Dreadnots by a solitary point. With one round of games remaining, Dowdallshill had already been relegated. One team from three - St Nicholas, Sean McDermotts or O'Raghallaighs - would join them in taking the fall to junior football. Their plight highlights the thin line between success and failure in gaelic football these days, and also underlines the highly competitive nature of intermediate football in the Wee County. "It was a long journey," says Eoghan Farrelly, who had an inspirational year in attack. "There were a lot of disappointed heads in the dressing room after the intermediate final. A lot of work had been invested by the management, players and ordinary club members and there was a great feeling in the club in the build-up to the final, especially as we'd never won an intermediate championship before. "It was the second year in a row that we found ourselves in a situation where we were within a point of being either promoted or relegated. I think that shows how competitive Division 2B is. When you look at the championship runs the Kevins and ourselves have had in recent years but still ended up in relegation fights, it shows that not only is there a small gap between intermediate 1 and intermediate 2, but also between intermediate 2 and junior." The 2004 Louth intermediate football championship final took place at Dunleer on Sunday October 3, with Dreadnots beating O'Raghallaighs by the narrowest of margins, 2-7 to 1-9. Conditions were poor and it was a difficult day for football, but O'Raghallaighs gave a spirited display, even though they went into the game as underdogs. There was little between the teams from start to finish and the Clogherhead men were lucky to come away with a win. O'Raghallaighs, on the other hand, were unfortunate not to at least get a second chance. They could hardly have come closer to securing promotion to the top grade. Ultimately, though, they were left to rue a wides tally of twelve, many of which were from scoreable positions. In the end, the would-be losers had all the momentum and they reduced a three-point gap to one point late on but ran out of time. They had beaten another Division 2A team at the semi-final stage at the same venue, edging out Hunterstown Rovers by 0-9 to 0-8 on September 12 on another terrible day for football. The winners laid the foundations for that success with a gutsy first-half display against the wind, restricting their opponents to four points while grabbing three themselves. It was a superb win for the Drogheda men who progressed directly to the last four by finishing top of their group. O'Raghallaighs were in Group A, and came out of this section unbeaten in four games. They opened up their account with a 2-7 to 0-8 defeat of St Nicholas at the Newtown Blues grounds on May 14 and followed up with a high-scoring draw (3-7 to 0-16) with St Fechins at Ardee. Lannleire were beaten by 1-8 to 0-8 at Castlebellingham, meaning that the final group game against Naomh Fionnbarra would determine who topped the group and thereby advanced directly to the semi-final stage. Despite going into the game as second favourites, O'Raghallaighs produced a stirring performance at The Grove on July 22 to prevail by 1-13 to 2-6. Eoghan Farrelly led the attack either at full forward or centre forward during the year and was the team's top scorer. He reflects: "For the group stage of the championship, we knew St Nicholas and St Fechins well from the league. The Nicks game was very close but we got two goals in the second half to clinch it. The second match was a patchy display against the Fechins. We thought we had done enough to clinch it but they got a draw with the last kick. It was a fair result, though. "We then stepped into the unknown against Lannleire. After that game we knew we were good enough to step it up another level against the teams from Division 2A. It came down to a goal in the first half and we managed to keep that cushion. We knew after those three games that we had a good chance of going further. "We knew a lot about Togher because we had met them twice in 2003, winning one and drawing one. It was a 50/50 game which could have gone either way but we came through in the closing stages." While a semi-final place beckoned, things weren't going so well in the bread-and-butter competition. O'Raghallaighs had a poor start to the league but won two games in a row, against the Nicks and Na Piarsaigh, coming into the championship: "But we had left ourselves with a lot of work to do and when the championship final was over we were in deep trouble. We had four league games remaining and they were all championship finals really because our intermediate status was on the line." After eleven rounds of games, O'Raghallaighs were still in a perilous position. But their last outing of the campaign was against Dowdallshill, who had failed to pick up a point all year, while the other two relegation candidates (the Nicks and the McDermotts) were playing each other. O'Raghallaighs, therefore, had cause for optimism. Returning to the championship and on the second Sunday in September, there was the small matter of an IFC semi-final against Hunterstown: "We weren't in awe of them as we had beaten Lannleire. The game was played in disastrous conditions and the young lads on our team played really well. We went into the game confident that we could beat a team from a higher division. The bounce of the ball went our way and we got a late winner." In the final, however, the 2001 junior champions were on the wrong end of a one-point defeat: "We missed a lot of chances in the first half and that came back to haunt us. Dreadnots' experience showed in the last few minutes. We have a lot of young lads on the team and couldn't match their big-match experience, but hopefully we can learn from it and step it up again in the future." With the chance of senior football gone, there was no time for feeling sorry for themselves. O'Raghallaighs were in dire straits in the league, second from bottom of Division 2B and staring the prospect of relegation to junior ranks square in the face. "We had four games left and we had to win them all to be certain of staying alive. There's no point getting to an intermediate final if you end up playing junior football. Suddenly the task at hand was to remain intermediate and to hopefully show more consistent league form in 2005. The league is probably a better way of moving up through the grades." Still, it was a great achievement to get to a first-ever intermediate final and the management team of Josh Carolan, Mark O'Neill and Aidan "Chops" Lambe deserve a great deal of credit for masterminding that dream run. Eoghan notes: "It was a great experience for the players and management. We had a lot of minors and U21s who acquitted themselves well but, at the end of it all, it was important that they came through in the league. The management put in the work and the players responded - the attitude was excellent. "This year, we knew what to expect in the latter stages of the championship and we were better prepared. The programme went straight into the main league this year and, with the new management team in place, we struggled to get going. We lost a lot of early games by one or two points and it was only really when the championship started that we had a settled team. The target at the start of the year had been the league, but having to go straight into it upset that plan and we were caught out. "Towards the end of the year, our priority was to stay intermediate. You can't win an intermediate championship playing junior football." Would the team have been ready for senior or would they have found themselves out of their depth? "I think we'd have done okay because a younger team will adapt easier and you wouldn't have the fear factor. O'Raghallaighs, 2004 Louth intermediate football championship finalists: Stephen Smith; Graham Leech, Cathal McGinty, Martin McArdle; Ciaran Brassil, Craig McEnteggart (0-1), Gary O'Rourke; Andrew Rogan, Anthony Briscoe (0-1); Robert Mulroy, Eoghan Farrelly (0-4), James Moonan; Chris Smith (0-1), Paul Farrelly, Anthony McGee (1-0). Subs: Aidan Lambe (0-1), Neil Clarke Tweet

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