After the incredible highs of the previous year, 2008 was something of a reality check for Naomh Malachi, who surrendered their senior status right at the death. However, with talented young players of the calibre of Kevin Rogers to call upon, the future remains bright for the up-and-coming Courtbane club. Considering how unbelievably well they had done in the previous two years, '08 represented a slight backward step for Naomh Malachi. Looking at the bigger picture, though, the Mals have generated a good deal of forward momentum of late and there's no reason why they can't put the disappointment of last year behind them and go on to establish themselves as a genuine senior force. Prodigious centre forward Kevin Rogers, who bagged 1-4 of the team's 2-7 tally in the unlucky senior relegation play-off defeat to the O'Mahonys, remains confident about Naomh Malachi's long-term prospects: "We've shown that we can compete with senior clubs and next year we'll be older and wiser. We have proven that we are there or thereabouts. Next year, we'll be hoping to go back up and stay up. We have a few experienced lads and we have some good young players coming through as well. The average age of the team is 24 but, with a few 18-year-olds coming through at the moment, we like to think that our best years are still ahead of us." The Malachis really have come into their own in recent years. Remember, they only went senior for the first time EVER in 2002. They went straight back down at the end of the following year but contested another IFC final in 2005 before winning the second-rung championship again in '06 - Kevin Rogers' debut year on the first team. Then came the incredible voyage of 2007, when Naomh Malachi won a SFC match for the first time ever, progressed to the quarter-finals and came agonisingly close to the semis, reached the Cardinal O'Donnell Cup final and took league specialists Cooley Kickhams to a replay therein. "There was great hype in the area in 2007," says Kevin, who was only a minor when he burst onto the scene as a player of notable talent. "We hadn't expected to get out of our group and we just took each game as it came. Next thing, we were in a quarter-final and we really should have beaten Mattock Rangers that day. Getting to the league final as well was unbelievable" In fairness, '07 was always going to be a tough act to follow. Ultimately, the hangover of a long, exhausting season caught up with this exciting young team. "It was a long hard year and, with us getting to the Cardinal O'Donnell Cup final, it seemed to drag on. That could have been a factor In 2008, we came on a lot towards the end of the year and we started to play well, so we're hoping the break will do us good and that we'll be back to our best again in 2009. We didn't seem to get the breaks or the luck last year. We had a great win against Kilkerley in the league, which saved us from relegation to Division Two, and that was a big boost. We produced the goods in the last game and it sets us up nicely for next season's intermediate championship." In the league, Naomh Malachi finished eighth out of twelve teams, with four wins secured against Naomh Mairtin, St Marys, Sean O'Mahonys and Kilkerley Emmets. In the early-season ACC/Sheelan Cup, they beat O'Raghallaighs (4-4 to 0-3), Dundalk Gaels (1-8 to 1-7) and Sean O'Mahonys (1-10 to 0-12) but lost to Dreadnots and Hunterstown Rovers. In the SFC, the Mals were in Group Two and they finished bottom on points difference. They were joint bottom, on two points, with neighbours Kilkerley, but the powers-that-be decided that this year there would be no play-off if teams were level on points. Thus, Naomh Malachi were the first victims of the new ruling and they went straight into the relegation play-off against Group One's basement side, Sean O'Mahonys. Having already beaten the Point Road men in both subsidiary league and league proper, Naomh Malachi succumbed to a narrow 1-13 to 2-7 reversal at the Clans on the morning of the county final, falling to a late goal when a replay had looked likely. On the previous night, the club received a welcome boost when beating Cooley Kickhams by 2-4 to 1-6 to capture the Junior 2A championship, showing that they have plenty of strength in depth around Courtbane these days. Naomh Malachi opened their 2008 SFC programme with a luckless 0-12 to 1-6 defeat to Cooley on May 1 and were comprehensively beaten by St Brides in their second outing - 2-12 to 0-6 on May 11. They beat the Marys by 1-8 to 0-10 at the Clans on Sunday June 22 but lost heavily to the Blues in Ardee (2-14 to 0-4 on Saturday August 9) and fellow strugglers Kilkerley at Pairc Roche (3-12 to 1-6 on Thursday August 21). In the latter game, they just needed a draw to guarantee senior survival. Are Naomh Malachi too good for intermediate football? "I wouldn't say that," Kevin insists. "There are a lot of good teams and we can't take anything for granted. Of course, we have a great chance of winning it compared to the senior championship, where we seemed to keep getting hammered by the big teams. Maybe we'll come back stronger. There are a lot of young lads in this team with senior experience, and this is an opportunity for them to show what they can do. But intermediate football is very strong, so we'll be up against it next year. We won it twice in five years and hopefully we can win another one." As for the 2008 SFC, Kevin looks back ruefully: "We should have won the Cooley game. Two points there could have made a big difference to our year. It shows how important it is to close out a game. We were three points up with ten minutes to go but let them back in. We were confident going in against the Brides but when they hammered us it put a real dampener on the season. We beat the Marys but the Kilkerley loss was another real downer. Ultimately, scoring difference put us down and I think that shows one of the weaknesses in our game. We don't score enough. We really struggled to get scores on the board and that's something we need to look at urgently." Of course, there's also the fact that the surprise element was gone in 2008 and other teams were ready for the Malachis. "We were the surprise package in 2007 but this time they all knew what to expect," says Kevin, who is hoping to make a big impact with the Wee County U21s next term. He played for Louth at minor level for two years and is also a former development squad star, featuring under county boss Eamonn McEneaney for a few years. He hopes to wear the red jersey at senior level some day: "I'm still only 18, but it's something I'd love to do. I'd love to pull on the county shirt and line out in Croke Park a few times. I'll just keep plugging away and hopefully the call will come. I'm still young but hopefully in a few years I'll get a chance." For a young man, Kevin shoulders a lot of responsibility in the Naomh Malachi attack, but he is more than happy with the situation. "I don't mind it at all. There are a lot of good players around me and I really enjoy my club football." Kevin is joined on the senior panel by brother Shane and cousin Brian, while his father Peter worked as a selector alongside Cooley man Peadar Gallagher for the past couple of seasons. Peter won a junior championship with Naomh Malachi in 1979, when his brothers John and Martin would also have been involved. As for 2009, Kevin is keeping the sunny side up: "Staying up in the league is important to ensure that we keep playing against the best teams. We'd hope to finish in the top half in Division One and we also expect to be there or thereabouts in the intermediate championship. If we don't win it, we expect to be close. There will be expectations, but we know there are some very tough teams in the intermediate championship and it won't be easy. We'll give it our best shot and hopefully that'll be enough." Tweet

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