Mattock Rangers came agonisingly close to claiming their third outright Louth SFC success in 2008. The Collon men safely negotiated their path to the decider, only to be narrowly beaten on the day by Newtown Blues. They also reached the latter stages of the Cardinal O'Donnell Cup, while the Mellifont Rovers amalgamation with Hunterstown captured the deferred '07 county U21 crown (beating Cooley by 1-10 to 1-9 in a mid-March decider at Haggardstown). The club also continues to make great strides in hurling. All in all, we witnessed more than enough to suggest that Mattock will possess a genuine threat in the hunt for major honours in the seasons to come. Ultimately, Mattock's brave bid for a third Joe Ward Cup victory inside seven years may have come up just short, but they gave it one hell of a shot and will still be remembered as one of the most consistent sides in the Wee County in 2008. Throughout the SFC, Mattock and Newtown Blues were the two most dependable teams. They topped their respective groups without losing a game and progressed straight through to the semi-final stage, where they both won with a minimum of fuss. The county final was evenly-contested throughout before Mattock - the champions of 2002 and 2005 - attempted to kick for the winning line near the end. Centre forward David Reid's 56th-minute equalising goal made them sudden favourites but, unlike 2005, the Blues responded to the late Collon rally to take the silverware. The final was a superb game and both teams deserve immense credit for their contribution to Louth GAA's annual showcase. Mattock had been reliable in the championship all year and were unfortunate to come up against an outstanding Blues side in the biggest game of all. They led the way in Division One for most of the year as well, finishing top in the final standings - with nine wins and two defeats from their eleven outings - only to lose their semi-final to Cooley Kickhams, 1-8 to 1-5 in Dromiskin on Sunday October 19. Cooley Kickhams and Newtown Blues were the only two teams to beat Mattock all year in either league or championship. In the early-season subsidiary league (Sheelan / ACC Cup), they beat the Blues, the Geraldines and Dundalk Young Irelands, but lost to Oliver Plunketts and Naomh Mairtin (by a point on each occasion). The 2008 county final was played in the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday September 28. It was a repeat of the 2001 and 2005 deciders between Mattock Rangers and Newtown Blues, which the sides had shared, one each - so this was a decider of deciders. Mattock finished like men possessed to claim the '05 title but this time it was the Newfoundwell men who dug deepest at the death to prevail by 1-15 to 1-12. Mattock led by two points at the break and gave as good as they got in the next 25 minutes or so, but missed a number of good chances, which proved costly in the end. After the match, a deflated manager Eamon Dunne noted: "Every bounce seemed to go their way in the last quarter, but fair play to them they've played well all year and have won it without losing or even drawing a game. From our point of view, the lads have been fantastic and have given me everything. I feel sorry for everyone in the club. They wanted it badly and you could see that, but some days the break of the ball just doesn't go your way." However, the manager - and players alike - will concede that a total of 0-1 from the full forward line is highly unlikely to win a major match. A huge crowd was at the county ground for an absorbing county final as the Blues took the Cup with three late frees. Mattock had controlled most of the first half and will feel that their interval cushion should have been substantially more than a mere couple of minors. It was all square - 0-3 each - at the end of a tentative first quarter but Mattock moved three points clear in as many minutes when they suddenly found their rhythm and began to play the fluent, controlled football for which they're renowned. The outstanding David Reid, Christy Grimes and Mark Brennan fired the scores that made it 0-6 to 0-3. But they couldn't kick on. The Blues closed the gap to one and Alan Finnegan made it 0-7 to 0-5 with 25 on the clock. Reid and Grimes bookended a Colm Judge effort to make it 0-9 to 0-6 but the concession of a stoppage-time point undid a lot of Mattock's good first-half work. Barry Sharkey's goal within seconds of the restart compounded the feeling that Mattock had missed the boat but they refused to give up and Mickey Harte's save from Shane Grimes was a defining moment. The sides were level for the fourth time of the afternoon when Brennan's quick free picked out Reid, who found the net, 1-12 apiece. The momentum appeared to be with the villagers, but the Blues took the game by the scruff of the neck at this vital stage and squeezed three late, late frees to end Mattock's brave attempt in the closing moments. En route to the final, Mattock played a total of six games and won five, drawing the other. The only point they dropped was against Glyde and they set that record straight with a 0-11 to 0-8 semi-final defeat of the Tallanstown club. Mattock were arguably the more experienced side in the final, but they'd endured an emotionally-draining year due to the sad passing of club legend Damien Reid. Damien's death cast a massive shadow over the Collon clubhouse in 2008 and the players, with their hearts ripped out, were determined to win the championship in his memory. Damien was an absolute giant within the club and his strong family ties with the first team made it an extremely hard season for everybody concerned. Mattock were more impressive in the opening part of their campaign than they were towards the latter stages, with some players conceding that they had possibly spluttered into the final, with none-too-convincing displays against Glyde (twice) and Dundalk Gaels. Prior to that, however, they demonstrated their true worth in the thumpings of Sean O'Mahonys and Naomh Mairtin but nowhere more so than when they tamed the holders St Patricks. Mattock kicked off their 2008 SFC programme with a facile 2-10 to 0-8 Group One defeat of Sean O'Mahonys at the Gaelic Grounds on the first Sunday of May and followed up with another convincing success - 2-16 to 1-6, at Naomh Mairtin's expense, at the same venue a week later. The latter match had a delayed start due a refereeing mix-up but Collon were quick out of the blocks and never looked back from the moment Daniel Bannon added a fourth-minute goal to three early points. Wing back John McCabe got the second major. At Louth village on Thursday June 19, in a repeat of their 2007 semi-final, Mattock recovered from a six-point interval deficit to beat holders St Patricks by 0-14 to 0-10. It was 0-8 to 0-2 to the Pats at the short whistle and there was little sign of the transformation that was to come. But the Collon men were on fire after the resumption and 'won' the second period by 0-12 to 0-2. The winners shot four points in the first five minutes of the second half and fired over half their overall tally in the fourth quarter, restricting the Pats to one point during that same period as the pendulum of power swung south for the year. The 0-8 each draw with Glyde was in Ardee on Saturday August 9 and the same side provided semi-final opposition at the same venue on Sunday September 14. This time, Mattock prevailed by three points, 0-11 to 0-8. A run of five points either side of the break and an exceptional late Mike Englishby save assured Mattock of their fourth county final appearance in eight seasons. In between the two Glyde encounters, Mattock closed their group programme with a hard-fought 1-10 to 1-9 win over league high-fliers Dundalk Gaels, with Ivor Sherlock running energetically from end to end to float over a late winner. Mattock Rangers, 2008 Louth SFC final V Newtown Blues: Mike Englishby; David Brennan, Richard Sherlock, Paraic Bannon; Ivor Sherlock, Daire Englishby, John McCabe; Christy Grimes (0-4), Mark Brennan (0-1); Adrian Reid, David Reid (1-6), Darren Brennan; Shane Grimes, Robbie Brennan, Alan Finnegan. Subs: Daniel Bannon, Niall Callan. Tweet

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