It was a wonderful year for Dreadnots, who made up for the close shaves of 2006 and 2007 by landing the 2008 Louth intermediate football championship title - their third such success of the present decade. This time, the Red & Blacks will be more determined than ever to consolidate their senior status and so cease their perennial flirtations with the middle grade. There's an old saying about finals - you have to win one to lose one. This rang true for Dreadnots in 2008 as they captured the Louth intermediate football championship, having faltered at the final hurdle the previous year. Incredibly, the '08 triumph represents the Clogherhead club's third IFC success since the turn of the millennium. They seem to be perpetually yo-yoing between the top two flights of late - this time they'll be hoping for a prolonged stay in senior football. But that's all for the future. For now, let's reflect upon the stellar achievements of the year gone by, when Dreadnots established themselves as the premier intermediate team in the Wee County and deservedly booked their place back amongst Louth's big guns. With early season victories over senior sides Sean O'Mahonys and Naomh Malachi (both away from home) and a draw with high-flying Dundalk Gaels (at Darver) in the ACC / Paddy Sheelan Cup in February/March, Dreadnots laid down a marker for the year. Their form in Division Two of the league was decent enough, too, earning them a fourth-placed finish on the final table (with 14 points from a possible 22) and a place in the Top Four semi-final play-offs. League winners Glyde opted not to play their semi-final, so Dreadnots progressed to the final - and another meeting with Na Piarsaigh. This game had to be put temporarily on the backburner (and was eventually called off) while Dreadnots took to their Leinster intermediate club championship campaign with an opener against Meath champions St Ultan's at Navan on Sunday November 9. A bit of a fixture backlog was conspiring against them at this late stage in the season, but Dreadnots had already achieved what they set out to achieve. Anything else would be a welcome but hardly essential bonus. They fell narrowly at the first hurdle in Leinster, but that could take none of the gloss off what had been a fabulous year. The IFC was the big one, of course, and the highlight of Dreadnots' year came when captain Fergal McGuigan raised the Seamus Flood Cup after a superb defeat of Na Piarsaigh in the decider at Ardee on Sunday October 5. Player-manager Colin Kelly gave a Man of the Match performance in the final, bringing his competition tally to 1-18 with a return of 1-4, but the former Blues star was quick to deflect the praise onto his team mates / charges: "I felt we were good throughout. I've been saying all along we have the best defence in intermediate and now we have the best team. They're a credit to the club. They did their job and performed and that's what it's all about. "Liam Shevlin is a fantastic young footballer and it's amazing he wasn't on the Louth minor team. He's only 17 and it should have been him getting the Man of the Match. But it's great to see young lads giving performances like that in a final." The trophy was annexed in dramatic circumstances, against a Na Piarsaigh side contesting their first-ever intermediate decider and bidding to book a maiden season at the top table. Having narrowly lost the previous year's final to another Dundalk club (Gaels), the Clogherhead men put their past disappointments to good use by carving out a hard-earned 2-10 to 1-12 victory Kelly delivered all his scores during an uncanny first-half purple patch and that was enough to give the eventual winners a 2-5 to 1-6 interval advantage. Full forward Pauric Kelly added the second major shortly before the break and, with the scores drying up as the knockout season approached a tense finale, captain McGuigan struck the seasiders' last point to put them four points clear before Na Piarsaigh came with a late, fruitless three-point surge. It was too little, too late from the town side and Dreadnots held on for a famous win. The losers had settled quickest with three points in the opening eight minutes but Kelly got his 1-4 inside the next 15 minutes to propel his side into a three-point lead. In an entertaining match where football was the real winner, Na Piarsaigh levelled courtesy of a Cormac Malone goal and moved two ahead with a quick pair of points. Nigel Shevlin then picked out Smith for his three-pointer before James Califf had the honour of closing the first-half scoring. Scores proved harder to come by upon the resumption. Shevlin recorded the first of his two points in the sixth minute and Califf followed suit two minutes later, as the interval advantage was doubled. Na Piarsaigh got three of the next four points as the gap came back down to two and Smith landed an incredible point in the 52nd minute to increase the differential to three again. McGuigan knocked over 'the insurance' two minutes from the long whistle, but three successive Na Piarsaigh minors at the death ensured a nervy finish. There was very little in it at the end but nobody can deny Dreadnots their win. They have an exciting young team at their disposal and have every reason to approach their return to senior fare with optimism. After winning the IFC previously in both 2000 and 2004, Dreadnots failed to establish themselves as a senior force. Though they are a relatively young side, they are also experienced and this should serve them well. The manner in which they surrendered their senior status at the end of the 2006 season - to an injury-time Kilkerley goal in the relegation play-off - would have knocked the stuffing out of many lesser clubs, but Dreadnots have put that behind them and they are now well and truly back on track. Further encouraging news in 2008 was the terrific run to the semi-final stage of the all-county minor football championship, wherein the amalgamation with St Fechins lost out to back-to-back champions Geraldines by the odd point from 15. The seaside axis also cruised to county U21 championship glory in late November. Dreadnots were in Group One of the 2008 Louth IFC. They lost their opener to St Josephs by 0-7 to 0-5 on Sunday May 4 but bounced back eleven days later with a 1-14 to 1-10 victory over Clan na Gael in Dunleer. On Sunday June 15, they drew with Dundalk Yong Irelands, but the would-be champions completed their group programme with back-to-back wins over O'Connells (1-12 to 0-11 in Dunleer on Saturday August 9) and Roche Emmets (1-13 to 1-8 in Tallanstown on Friday August 22). Seven points from ten was enough to secure top place in the group and the character shown during the subsequent one-point defeats of O'Raghallaighs and Na Piarsaigh confirmed that Dreadnots were worthy champions. Dreadnots, 2008 Louth intermediate football champions: Niall Levins; Danny Sutherland, Fergal McGuigan (0-1), David O'Brien; Brian Gargan, Padraig Rath, Liam Shevlin; James Califf (0-2), Darren Malone; Derek Shevlin, Chris Mulroy, Conor McGaughey; Colin Kelly (1-4), Pauric Smith (1-1), Nigel Shevlin (0-2). Subs: Stephen Marley, Paddy McGuigan, Ronan Connolly, John Cunningham. Rest of squad: Richard Kirwan, Barry Mulroy, Kenneth Shevlin, Gordon Kirwan, Donal Skinnader, Alan Smith, Cathal Lynch, Pat Lynch, Sean Mulroy, Laurence Kirwan. Tweet

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