After three years in the top flight, Ballynacargy slipped back to the intermediate grade last September. Despite their relegation, star forward Ger Heduvan is far from despondent about the future. Ballynacargy's three-year stay in the senior football ranks came to an ignominious end last season when they were condemned to the dreaded drop by Moate All-Whites in a relegation play-off. Dubbed as the "surprise packets" in 2000 when they reached the championship quarter-final, Bal' found the going a lot tougher over the past two seasons which culminated in relegation back to the intermediate ranks on September 28 last. Having had the unenviable distinction of being the only team not to have won a game in the senior championship last year, one would expect morale to be at a low ebb facing into the new season. But, according to star forward Ger Heduvan, hopes are high that they can repeat their feat of 1999 when they regained senior status at their first attempt. "Last year was very disappointing and I think we're all glad to see the back of it," he says. "But already you can sense that there is more of a buzz this year. The reason for this is that we expect to win the intermediate championship whereas I don't think we felt we could ever win a senior championship. "We were always up against it at senior level, especially after 2000 when we lost the element of surprise. But we're taking a much more positive outlook this year and we're hopeful of bouncing straight back up, just as we did a few years ago." The 1995 All-Ireland minor medalist attributes last year's demise to a crippling injury list and a lack of effort on the part of the players. "When we saw the championship draw, we felt we had an excellent chance of holding our own. The fact that Frank Mescall had returned as manager should have come as a further boost to us, but it didn't work out that way. "Nobody could blame Frank for what happened - it was the players who were the problem. We just didn't put the effort in and paid the price in the end. What didn't help our cause either was the number of injuries we picked up. Key players such as Willie Maguire, Mark and Derek Wallace, Anthony Maher and Declan Farrell were missing at different stages because of injury," he explains. Ballynacargy could not have asked for a more difficult start to the championship campaign when they were pitted against Garrycastle. The champions were superior all over the field and had built up a 2-4 to 0-0 lead before Gary Wallace opened Ballynacargy's account when he fisted past Garrycastle goalkeeper Paddy Golden. Jason Wallace followed up with a point, but Garrycastle still took a 2-8 to 1-1 lead into the break. Garrycastle continued to pile on the scores in the second half and not even a late penalty from Declan Farrell could save Bal' from a crushing defeat. The final score of 2-19 to 2-2 made most unpleasant reading for the team in blue and gold. Ballynacargy showed a big improvement for their next outing against St. Mary's, but still lost out by 0-7 to 0-12. From a Bal' point of view, the real damage was caused in the opening half when they fell seven points in arrears, 0-2 to 0-9. When St. Mary's stretched their lead to nine points on restart, Ballynacargy looked to be facing another heavy defeat. But five unanswered points per Gary Wallace (two), Richard Price (two) and Ger Heduvan had the margin down to four with less than 10 minutes remaining. However, a late free from David Mitchell made sure of victory for the Rochfortbridge men. Ballynacargy's survival hopes suffered another setback when they were walloped by newly promoted St. Malachy's by 2-7 to 5-13 on June 30. First half goals from Derek Gallagher, Ronan Whelan and Joe Clarke left the Longford-border outfit with a mountain to climb in the second half. Bal' competed better on the resumption with Dwayne Maher and Declan Farrell pulling back goals, but Malachy's still ran out facile winners. Ballynacargy's 0-6 to 5-20 defeat to Mullingar Shamrocks in their fourth outing suggested that they had already accepted the inevitable. The game was over as a contest at half-time with Shamrocks perched on a 3-14 to 0-3 lead. After the break, Declan Cassidy and Mickey Reilly scored further goals to add to the blue and golds' misery. One of Ballynacargy's better championship performances came against Coralstown/Kinnegad in their final group game. Coralstown/Kinnegad's 1-16 to 2-6 victory indicates that they had things very much their own way, but with 10 minutes remaining, only two points separated the teams. It was only after 22 minutes of the half, when full forward Eamonn Fleming scored a goal to give them a 1-14 to 2-6 lead, that Coralstown/Kinnegad could breathe easier, and they added two final points in the closing stages to put a rather flattering look on the scoresheet. Michael Loran gave Ballynacargy a dream start with a goal inside 90 seconds and they still had their noses in front at the end of the first quarter. After Dwayne Maher had come close to adding a second goal, Coralstown/Kinnegad took a grip on proceedings to lead by 0-9 to 1-3 at the interval. Just as in the first half, Bal' started the second in whirlwind fashion. A Maher free was followed by a second goal from Loran, putting Ballynacargy 2-4 to 0-9 in front. Coralstown/Kinnegad responded with four successive points, only for Ger Heduvan and Maher to reduce the gap to two. However, then came Fleming's crucial goal which effectively broke Ballynacargy's resistance. In the relegation play-off at Rochfortbridge, Bal' were pitted against a Moate All-Whites team that had also failed to win any of their group games. Moate got off to a flier with former county star John Murray blasting to the net after just 40 seconds. If this was meant to set the tone for a comfortable Moate victory, Ballynacargy were paying no heed. In the fifth minute, a well-worked move culminated in a smashing goal from Heduvan. Dwayne Maher then edged Ballynacargy in front, but with Murray and Ger Heavin pulling the strings in their attack, Moate took a 1-7 to 1-4 lead into the break. The All-Whites put further daylight between the sides on the restart, but Bal' stuck to their task and trailed by just two points with 17 minutes remaining. Moate hit back to restore a five-point advantage by the 50th minute. Again, there was a response from Ballynacargy, and points from Maher, Liam Reilly, Willie Maguire and Liam Farrell, brought them within a point in stoppage-time. As Bal' tried desperately to engineer a score which would have earned them a replay, Moate's Jimmy Gillivan intercepted a free to fire over the insurance point. The final score was 1-13 to 1-11 in favour of a mightily relieved Moate side. "We were bitterly disappointed to be relegated and I thought we deserved at least a draw from the Moate game," Heduvan recalls. "At the start of the year, we had identified the games against St. Malachy's and St. Mary's as the ones we had to win. After all, we had beaten St. Mary's in the two previous years and St. Malachy's had just come up from intermediate. But when we failed to win either of those games, we knew we had a major battle on our hands to survive." With Frank Mescall taking charge of the Westmeath minor team this year, Ballynacargy have appointed a new manager in Enda Maher. The former stalwart defender will be assisted in the selectorial duties by Tommy Reilly and Tom Creagh. Heduvan welcomes the appointment, especially as Maher is already familiar with the players. Ballynacargy have been drawn in a tough group, which includes Ballymore, Kilbeggan Shamrocks and Rosemount - all sides that have operated at senior level in recent years. "The draw is difficult but, having said that, we won't be fearing anyone. Our aim is to win the intermediate championship, and with youngsters such as Richard Price, Andrew Heduvan, Declan McGuinness and Dwayne Maher already established on the team, we certainly won't be lacking in enthusiasm," he concludes. Tweet

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