Two-thousand-and-three was a landmark year in the history of Dundalk IT's GAA club. Not content with winning their first ever Sigerson Cup match and coming within a point of eventual champions NUI Galway in the preliminary stages, the IT also captured the Leinster Freshers Championship. Speaking to Gerry Robinson, Development Officer Michael Heeney reflects on a memorable term. Despite the upheaval that was all around him due to the ongoing pitch development work (complete with protracted archeological intervention!), Michael Heeney somehow managed to remain calm enough during the 2002/03 college year to help fashion some historic victories for Dundalk IT. Courtesy of their first ever win in the Sigerson Cup and a stunning success in the Leinster Freshers competition, Dundalk IT certainly made their mark. Little wonder Michael has a broad smile on his face as he casts his mind back on the watershed events: "It was an historic year alright," he agrees, referring initially to the magnificent Sigerson Cup defeat of highly-fancied Tralee IT. "Winning our first ever game in the Sigerson was an important breakthrough and we're hoping that now we've broken our duck we'll be able to go on from there. "It was our fifth year competing in the competition and we've had our fair share of heartache over the years, losing a number of games by one point, but we finally got our Sigerson challenge off the ground against Tralee in Stradbally (Co. Laois)." It was a sensational result. Tralee IT - former winners of the competition - were out! Could Dundalk IT advance further? Perhaps make it through to Sigerson Cup weekend itself? Well, they almost did: "We went on to play NUI Galway in the next round and we were very unlucky to lose by a single point. It was a game we could have won and they went on to win the Sigerson, which shows how close we were," Michael points out. But it is the 2-12 to 0-17 defeat of Tralee IT that made most waves. Michael enthuses: "It was an historic day for us and a significant victory, especially bearing in mind the background to the game. Due to the development work going on on our pitches and dressing-rooms, we literally had no facilities available to us, so we had to use the Young Irelands facilities." At one stage, Michael could have been forgiven for thinking there were more archaeologists than students attending the college. He scratches his head distractedly, casting his mind back to the bizarre events that had Dundalk IT looking like something from the set of The Mummy Returns. "It was unusual," he relates. "There are five new pitches being developed, but some important artefacts were discovered and the archaeologists had to come in and go over the entire area looking for more. Then something was discovered on the 'old' football field, so they had to check that out as well! So we had no pitch at all and had to play on the Young Irelands field ... and we're grateful to them for their assistance." Needless to say, to record a first-ever Sigerson victory and win the Leinster Freshers tournament under those circumstances was an outstanding feat. And let us not forget that Tralee IT had two men - Colin Cooper and Donal Daly - on their team who had featured for Kerry in the previous September's All-Ireland final against Armagh. Another pleasing aspect of the Sigerson win was that Dundalk actually had three Louth men on their team. Believe it or not, this is somewhat unusual as the side traditionally tends to be made up predominantly of players from counties Cavan, Meath and Monaghan. The three Wee County players who assisted Dundalk IT in their famous defeat of Tralee were Shane McCoy (Roche), Derek Walsh and Daniel Woods (both Sean McDermotts). "It was a hugely important victory for us because we'd suffered a number of narrow defeats and it was vital that we got the ball rolling. That we managed to do so with so many distractions off the field says a lot about the character of the team and the ability of the players. "We then went to NUI Galway [formerly UCG] and put in another great performance against a team that included Matthew Clancy, Michael Meehan and Brendan Colleran of Galway. They also had Dessie Dolan from Westmeath but Dessie missed most of the campaign through injury. When NUI Galway went on to actually win the Sigerson cup out, it put our performance into context. "There was a gale force wind blowing that day and we always knew that whoever won the toss would have a massive advantage. Unfortunately, they won it and opted to play with the wind. They built up a six-point lead by half time, which left us playing catch-up. We came right back at them and managed to get within a point before running out of time." Indeed, had Dundalk IT managed to win that game, who knows where their year would have ended... In the year that was in it, Michael had decided to concentrate to a large extent on his Freshers team - a decision that paid dividends as the Freshers went on to win the Leinster championship. The final was played on Wednesday April 16th and Dundalk IT travelled to Dublin to defeat DCU on a scoreline of 1-12 to 0-9. What a win that was! "It was a huge boost, not least because those lads were all part of the Sigerson panel as well and it was nice to see them getting some silverware for their year's efforts," beams the manager. The Dundalk IT team that won the 2003 Leinster Freshers Championship: Shane McCoy (Louth); Ronan Cassidy (Monaghan), Niall Collery (Monaghan), Oisin McCarthy (Louth); Terry Farrelly (Meath), Brendan Flood (Meath), Conor Devlin (Monaghan); Francie Murphy (Meath), Ciaran Drumm (Louth); Marius McGarrell (Monaghan), Ciaran Galligan (Cavan), Marty Bogue (Monaghan); Francie Hoey (Meath), Brian Farrell (Meath) and Paddy O'Connor (Longford). Subs: Conor O'Reilly (Longford), Barry McMenamin (Cavan). Referring to full forward Brendan Farrell, the Nobber youngster who helped Meath reach last year's All-Ireland minor final, Michael says: "He's an exceptional talent. Brian was the mainstay of all our teams this year. He scored 1-13 in two matches in the Sigerson Cup." En route to the decider, the Freshers accounted for Maynooth and Carlow IT. Dundalk IT also won this competition in its inaugural year of 1995, defeating Athlone in the final at Navan's Pairc Tailteann ... and this was their first piece of silverware since then! Dundalk IT had a sports course running during the college year that ended last May. Nineteen students from its Foundation Level and Level One coaching courses went out into the schools in the Dundalk area over a six-week period, imparting their considerable wisdom and coaching expertise. The schools to benefit were St Josephs, Scoil Mhuire Na Gaeil, Castletown Girls School, Scoil Eoin Baiste, Gaelscoil, CBS and Realt Na Meara. Michael continues: "The coaches went out to teach the practical skills they had picked up. At the end, the schools were all called in to give a skills demonstration [on December 5th 2002], with the winning team (Castletown Girls) being presented with a set of jerseys by Martin Sherlock of 4X4 Off Road Mart in Collon. "That was a huge success and was part of the Community Sports Leadership course. We're hoping to run it again this year." Dundalk IT's new facilities will be up and running for the 2003/04 college season and will entail three gaelic pitches, a rugby pitch, a soccer pitch and a training field. One of these is floodlit and will be made available to county teams for training next year. A Clan Na Gael clubman (who managed the Clans to Joe Ward Cup glory in 1993), Michael Heeney has been full-time GAA Development Officer at Dundalk IT for the past ten years. He concludes: Two-thousand-and-three was our most successful year, but with the players we have at our disposal now and the new facilities coming on stream, we're hoping to make a big impression in the Sigerson in the coming years. Most of last year's team are available again in 2004, so we have something to build on from here on in. Dundalk IT is a full GAA club, also fielding hurling, camogie and ladies football teams. The club chairman is Johnny Gallagher from Donegal, and Michael Mollie from Armagh acts as secretary. Dundalk ITs 2003 Sigerson Cup team: Shane McCoy (Louth); Derek Walsh (Louth), Paul Clarke (Meath), Derek Teelin (Meath); Terry Farrelly (Meath), Derek McMahon (Monaghan), Daniel Woods (Louth); Damien F McKenna (Monaghan), Thomas Dillon (Meath); Damien Larkin (Monaghan), Rory Woods (Monaghan), Ciaran Galligan (Cavan); Gavin Farrelly (Meath), Graham Cullen (Dublin), Brian Farrell (Meath). Tweet

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