One-hundred-and-twenty years on, Louth's oldest club is still looking to the future and laying solid foundations. In 2004, Dundalk Young Irelands continued to sow seeds for a future that promises to be every bit as glorious as their illustrious past. To coincide with their 120th anniversary celebrations, the Irelanders launched their official website www.dundalkyoungirelands.com, unveiled a new club crest, excelled at juvenile and nursery levels, and held a spectacular celebratory Dinner Dance in the Fairways on Friday October 29. It was a year that will be remembered for quite some time by all associated with the GAA's longest-established club. Not many clubs have celebrated their 120th anniversary. In fact, Dundalk Young Irelands are the very first to do so. The Wee County trailblazers marked their big One-Two-O in style with a huge celebration in the Fairways Hotel on Friday October 29 2004. It was a fitting occasion to officially honour the legacy of the Wee County's most durable and most successful club. Founded on March 10 1884, the Irelanders are true pioneers of gaelic football in Louth. They have set the standards that others have followed. The club won the inaugural Louth SFC and went on to play in the first ever All-Ireland final, losing to Limerick Commercials. They also had six players on the Louth side that brought Sam Maguire home in 1957 - Sean Og Flood, Stephen White, Sean Cunningham, Jim McArdle, Mickey Flood and Tom Carroll. Young Irelands dominated club football in the county in the 1940s and early '50s and won their most recent senior championship in 1979. They played their first league game at their Pairc Eire Og grounds in the Upper Marshes in 1989, renovating the clubrooms to the tune of £165,000 in 2002 and installing floodlights during the present year. Targeting a revival of its fortunes, the club has placed a major emphasis on its juveniles in recent years. Every week, vast numbers of youngsters participate in training sessions at Pairc Eire Og and on Cluan Enda Green. This is going extremely well and was one of the highlights of the club's on-field activities in 2004, as well as encouraging performances at U13, U14 and U16 levels. Pride of place goes to the U16s who won the Division Two league with a stunning 5-11 to 1-6 victory over Newtown Blues in the final. Mark Savage (4-1) was the scoring hero in that final, which took place at Dunleer on Thursday August 12. After losing their first game to the Blues, Young Irelands won all five of their remaining games en route to the knockout stage of the competition, accounting for St Furseys, Oliver Plunketts, Wolfe Tones, Dundalk Gaels and St Josephs/Vincents. The Furseys were again beaten (5-10 to 0-7) in a semi-final on July 28. The final belonged to young full forward Savage, who completed his fourth U16 hat-trick of the season inside the first half, firing his side to a 3-8 to 1-2 advantage. The Blues attempted a fightback upon the resumption but this was effectively killed off when Barry Piper set up Shane Greene for Irelands' fourth major. Of particular encouragement to the Irelanders is the fact that this was a very young team, consisting mostly of players who'll be eligible for the U16 grade again next year. After the final whistle, Minor Board chairman Tomas O hEochaidh presented the Cup to winning captain Chris McCormack. It was one of many good days enjoyed by the Young Irelands club at juvenile level during the course of the 2004 season. Indeed, it was a busy year on and off the field for the GAA's oldest club. While Young Irelands continue to promote the new club crest that was first unveiled in 2003, the club also launched its official website in March. This was designed by club PRO Paul McArdle in conjunction with well-known Cooley ladies footballer Lorraine White, who's a student at DKIT. Paul maintains the site himself and it is a treasure chest of information, detailing every event taking place within the club - past, future and present. The U14s also enjoyed a good year, finishing third in the Division One league and qualifying for a semi-final, which was a much better performance than could reasonably have been expected. In the end-of-season pecking order, Irelands finished behind only the Furseys and St Brigids (who they actually beat in a league game) - an excellent showing given that some people had reservations about whether or not Young Irelands should have been going into Division One in the first place. At U15 level, Young Irelands had four players on the Louth Development Squad - Cian Byrne, Peter Nixon, Barry Piper and Derek Maguire - as well as two more on the Louth U14 Development Squad - Peter Flynn and Robert Agnew. The club's U13s had a decent year, also. They played three games in their group, winning two (against Sean O'Mahonys and Clan na Gael) to qualify for a quarter-final clash with Oliver Plunketts, which they lost. A lot of hard work continues to be invested into the nursery team, Seatown/Cluan Enda. The 8s, 10s and 12s were all very active during the year, with participation in various Cumann Peil na nOg competitions and blitzes. The U11s and U10s took part in blitzes in Cooley and Newry on Saturday June 12 and Saturday June 19 respectively. The U12s competed in the league and a blitz in Ardee. The U10s played a number of friendlies and participated in the aforementioned blitzes as well as the U10 league. While the U12s enjoyed a decent year and were unlucky not to qualify for the semi-finals, the U10s did reach the last four of the championship, losing to Quay by 2-6 to 1-6 in a replay on September 14. Coaching sessions were held every Monday evening on Cluan Enda Green, under the watchful eye of Kieran Maguire and Paul McArdle. The minors, meanwhile, reached the semi-final stage of the minor B championship but were beaten by a strong St Josephs/St Vincents outfit, 4-10 to 1-6. At adult level, the junior team finished mid-table in Division Three (despite starting with a superb 1-11 to 1-6 home win over John Mitchells on Sunday February 22 and closing with a 1-10 to 0-11 defeat of Annaghminnon Rovers on Sunday October 17) and failed to make an impression in the junior championship. The Green & Black lost their opening Group A game to John Mitchells by 1-10 to 1-3 and also lost to Glen Emmets in Round Two, 2-10 to 1-6. In their closing game, however, the Dundalk side recorded a 2-9 to 1-4 victory over Wolfe Tones. In the Kevin Mullen Shield, Young Irelands were very impressive. They got the better of Wolfe Tones, John Mitchells and Glen Emmets and had draws with both St Kevins and Annaghminnon. The Junior 2 team played in Division Four. In the junior 2B championship, they defeated St Fechins by 4-8 to 1-12 before losing in the second round. Off the field of play, Young Irelands continued to make progress on their four-stage development plan to provide a top-class sporting facility at Pairc Eire Og. Floodlights were installed during the year. It is hoped that the development will be completed in its entirety by September 2005. The current stage comprises floodlights, fencing, groundworks (tidying up the car park and laying tarmacadam), as well as a new entrance. Funding will come from three sources: club fundraising; Sports Capital Grant; Louth County Council Peace II Tank Force. In May, the club brought its U12s and U14s to the national football league finals in Croke Park as part of its ongoing efforts to develop underage structures. Paul McArdle notes: "One of our top priorities is to develop and strengthen our underage structures. This is vital if we are to field competitive teams in the future. "Our Division Three team is still very young and is gaining experience all the time. The core of that team are still in their early 20s, so we expect them to improve over the next few years. By then, we should have a good minor team coming through as well and we're hoping to get stronger at all underage levels." Two-thousand-and-four was not just Young Ireland's 120th anniversary - it also marked the 25th anniversary of the club's last SFC victory, which took place in 1979. It was a memorable year for the Green and Black. Young Irelands, 2004 U16 Division Two league winners: Cian Byrne; Colm Burns, Craig McKenna, Conor Burns; Peter Nixon, Chris McCormack (capt), Paul McDonald; Barry Piper (0-1), Niall Fergus; Robbie Agnew (0-1), Shane Greene (1-3), Derek Maguire (0-3); Conor Nixon, Mark Savage (4-1), Stephen Duffy (0-2). Subs: Peter Flynn, Eoin Whearty, David Lennon, Gavin Coleman, Colin Farrell. Not used: Sean Newbury, Sean Laverty, Kevin Keelan Tweet

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