Stabannon Parnells returned to winning ways in 2008 by scooping the Kevin Mullen Shield - their first adult trophy proper since the ACC Cup was annexed on November 19 2000. Though disappointed that their brave JFC bid came unstuck with a quarter-final replay defeat to champions-elect St Nicholas, captain Shane Sweeney was nonetheless happy to at least bring some silverware back to the mid-Louth village. Alas, it wasn't the one they ideally wanted, but at least Stabannon Parnells garnered some County Board silverware in '08. While the junior football championship slipped agonisingly through their fingers, the Green & Golds started the year in impressive fashion by securing the lower grade's subsidiary league competition - the Kevin Mullen Shield. The final - against Glen Emmets - was played at Monasterboice on Saturday April 5 and Stabannon ended their eight-year trophy drought with a 2-5 to 1-6 success to claim the first piece of adult silverware on offer in 2008. (The club's last notable success came in 2000 when they edged out Cooley in the ACC Cup decider to end that particular year on a high, having surrendered their SFC crown with a county final defeat to Newtown Blues.) In the '08 Mullen Shield final, Stephen Gorman and Robert Callaghan bagged the goals while captain Shane Sweeney weighed in with a brace of points from the edge of the square. All in all, it was a fine day's work and a result that marked Stabannon out as genuine JFC contenders. In the aforementioned junior championship, Stabannon emerged from their group with two wins and two draws from five outings, but lost at the quarter-final stage after a replay. Their conquerors, St Nicholas, went on to take the prize, leaving the Stabannon men licking their wounds for a second successive season (having surrendered a seven-point lead to Dundalk Young Irelands at the semi-final stage twelve months earlier). Reflecting on the '08 'knockout' campaign, team captain Shane Sweeney admits that disappointment was the over-riding theme in the clubhouse after the Nicks game: "We had a good start to the year, winning the Kevin Mullen Shield, and things were building up nicely for a while after that, but then the numbers went down. We had some good results in the league, then some bad ones, but we had a decent run in the group stage of the championship. "Even though we were short a couple of players the first day against the Nicks, we took control in the second half after Colin Quinn came on. But Colin then got himself sent off in a moment of madness and I followed him with a second yellow card. We were down to 13 men and that made it much more difficult. We really should have knocked them out that day but it just wasn't to be on the day. "We made a good start in the quarter-final replay but we were without Colin due to suspension and he would be a big loss to any team in the county. We missed his presence in the middle of the field and we lost the game in the second half. It was very disappointing. That was it for us because we weren't going too well in the league and our season was effectively over. It was a big disappointment but, at the end of the day, there's no point looking for excuses. The players know we only have ourselves to blame" Despite the disappointment of two fruitless attempts at scooping the Christy Bellew Cup, team stalwart Shane Sweeney is adamant that Stabannon are good enough to move back into the intermediate grade: "We're well able to win a junior football championship. Colin Quinn is one of the best midfielders in the county and Aonghus Giggins is one of the best forwards in Louth. Those are two players that any club would be proud to have at their disposal. "We wanted to go out and do it this year after the way we fell apart in the second half against Young Irelands in 2007. It's frustrating and the younger lads are all disappointed that they can't move up and get to play senior football, but only the players can rectify the situation and we'll see if we can turn it around next year." Certainly, 2008 could prove to be a turning point as Stabannon at least arrested their recent slide by claiming a County Board trophy. The Kevin Mullen Shield may not be the most prestigious competition in the Wee County but any win is sure to provide the players with a degree of confidence. Shane, who broke onto the first team in 1997 and has been a regular since '98, was part of the Stabannon side that used to play with great swagger and panache at senior level. He hopes to help steer the club back up through the rankings. The target for 2009? "To get out of junior. That has to be our aim. After that, we'd like to hold our own in intermediate for a couple of years and then move back up to senior football. But that's for another day. For now, you really want to get out of junior. No club wants to play junior football in any county. It's not where you want to be." Needless to say, lifting the Kevin Mullen Shield was a great honour for Stabannon's '08 captain. "We were very happy with our form at the start of the year and we saw that win as a stepping stone. We were happy to get it. I wouldn't turn my nose up at any trophy as we've had to wait a while to win another one. It's nice to lift a trophy for any team and, even if you don't win one, it's a privilege to be captain of any team. I was honoured to be captain of Stabannon and it was nice to win something after so many years off the radar. "It was our first major trophy since 2000 and a lot of the younger players in particular were delighted. Unfortunately, things dwindled off during the year and that's something they are going to have to look at. The younger lads are at that age now where there are other distractions and they lose interest in football because they want to go out on a Saturday night. We can't be too hard on them because it happens in every club but, realistically, they need to look at the situation and make a change. If we keep going the way we're going, we could reach a stage where there's no club in Stabannon and I don't think anybody wants that to happen." John Prendergast was manager in 2008, with Paddy Tuite and Pat Lynch as selectors. Stabannon beat St Fechins by 1-10 to 0-9 in their JFC Group One opener at Ardee on Saturday June 14 but lost to Naomh Fionnbarra by 3-10 to 0-7 in Drogheda a fortnight later. They responded well to that setback, beating Glen Emmets by 0-8 to 0-7 at Collon on Thursday July 10 before finishing off their group programme with draws against St Mochtas at Dunleer and would-be finalists Lannleire at Darver on July 19 and August 14 respectively. Unluckily, they lost their quarter-final replay to the Nicks in Monasterboice on Thursday August 28 (1-8 to 0-9), having earned a 2-8 to 0-14 draw at the county grounds four days earlier. Shane hopes the campaign as a whole and the subsidiary league breakthrough gives them something to build upon. "This team isn't getting any younger. Some of them are moving away and others are going to travel. Aonghus Giggins is in Australia; Stephen Gorman has moved to Sweden; and the likes of Aidan Shevlin and Donie Hurst are getting along, so we might have to do something next year. Des Campbell, Paddy McCartney and Fiachra Bell are doing great work looking after the kids, so hopefully we can keep things going until these young lads come through." Stabannon Parnells, 2008 Kevin Mullen Shield winners: Alan Lynch; Wayne Lynch, Paudie Lynch, Cathal Halpenny; Peter Shearman, Martin King, Eanna McCartney; Colin Quinn (0-1), John McConnon; Stephen Gorman (1-1), Robert Callaghan (1-0), Dean Lynch; James Lynch, Shane Sweeney (0-2), Donie Hurst. Subs: Ian Quinn (0-1), Bernard Lynch. Honours for Stabannon Ladies Stabannon Ladies GFC prides itself on continually developing and growing the club through its underage structures which ultimately feed into its senior panel. The club boasts u14, u16, u18 and a senior ladies team. 2008 saw the long wait of six years for the senior team to collect their first piece of silverware. Senior Captain Grace Lynch was hugely honoured to bring silverware to the club for the first time in six years. According to Grace this win was just reward for her and her team as both the management and team were very determined to bring back glory days to Stabannon in 2008. The re-emergence of Enda McKeown as manager of the senior team in 2008 gave the girls and the club a huge boost at the beginning of the sporting year. Enda who was part of the management team that brought intermediate glory to the club in 2002 was joined by Padraig Lynch and Matt Gormley as selectors and trainers in 2008. Training began early in 2008 and in February 2008 a training weekend in Castlebar for the team proved extremely beneficial in bonding the team and bringing girls from the u16 squad into the senior squad. The emergence of Danielle Sharkey, Suzanne Carroll and Denise Moynagh from the underage ranks into the senior panel was great for the team. All of these girls were part of the u14 team who won the B Championship in 2006 and indeed the u14 team went on to win the u14 A Championship in 2007. Grace was also captain of Louth Ladies for 2008, and in talking about her role as captain of Stabannon Ladies Grace admits it was an honour to be captain of her club team and also that it was easy to be captain of this team as there were so many leaders on the pitch and that everyone gave huge commitment and dedication to the club during the year. The establishment of a 7-aside blitz competition which was played while the county team were playing helped to bring on the confidence and skills of players within the club who were not part of the county panel said Lynch. Barney O'Neill and the county board must be commended for this as it helped to raise the standard of football in the county throughout the year according to Grace. The playing season for Stabannon Ladies began in April 2008 with the first game against Roche Emmets at home. Stabannon collected their first points of the season with a win over Roche but this was short lived when they were beaten by Naomh Malachi in Cortbane by two points. Next up was a game against old rivals Cooley in Cooley and this was a game in which Stabannon cruised to victory and beat the girls from Cooley. Another win against Roche put them at the top of the League table beside Naomh Malachi and Stabannon made no mistake in reversing their winning form against the Cortbane side when they beat them at home in the second round of the League. A walk over from Cooley in the final game of the league left Stabannon and Naomh Malachi in the League final. The League Final was played on 24th August 2008 in Darver and this day saw Stabannon ladies senior team earned their first league title as they saw off the challenge of Malachis by ten points. The Malachis were first to score a point from a free, then this was followed quickly by Claire Lynch who pointed for Stabannon. This was followed by points from Tara Lynch, Danielle Sharkey, Grace Lynch and Jenny McGuinness. There was no response from the Shelagh girls and it was in the second half when they were next to score. Stabannon continued to dominate with a lovely goal, well taken by Jenny McGuinness, following a brilliant pass from captain Grace Lynch. It was one way traffic for the rest of the first half, with the score 2-8 to 0-1 at the break. Nearing the end of the first half, Grace Lynch once again give a lovely pass into Danielle Sharkey, the youngest player on Stabannon team, who made no mistake in finding the back of the net. Stabannon were unlucky not to be further ahead at the interval as they missed two goal chances early on in the game. Malachis pulled some scores back in the second half, including a well taken goal. Stabannon who were playing against the wind in the second half scored two points which were well taken by Tara Lynch. Stabannon dominated all over the pitch in the second half and while only scoring two points against a strong wind they maintained possession for most of the half. Malachis responded with a further two points but as the last few minutes of the game approached it was all too little too late for the Shelagh girls. However Stabannon proved too strong and held on for their historic win, inspired by their mighty captain Grace Lynch. It was a great win for the mid louth side but they challenge after this game was not to become too complacent as the sides were to meet again in two weeks time in the championship semi final. Both sides again met on 7th September in Haggardstown in the Championship Semi-Final. In most positions the teams were unchanged from that of the League final. Stabannon got off to a scoring start in this game and within the first twenty minutes of the game Stabannon were four points ahead. Naomh Malachi fought back hard to keep themselves within the game and duly scored a goal just before half time to keep them in the game. At the interval it was all to play for in the second half but it was the Shelagh girls who put the task to Stabannon. In the end it was the stronger will of the Shelagh girls that won this game for the Cortbane side by the narrowest of margins - one point. At the end of the game the Stabannon girls knew they had left the Championship behind for 2008 and in essence it was themselves who were responsible for this. However this Stabannon team is resilient and the gauntlet has been thrown at them before and the character and strength within this team has shown that they are not ones to walk away from a challenge as they have survived the challenge of senior football for the last six years while many teams have come and gone in the senior ranks. 2009 will no doubt be a challenge for this club and they will be hoping that through the management structures they put in place at underage and senior level that success will come their way in the sporting year of 2009. Honours came the way of Teresa Hanratty who received Senior Player of the Year in 2007, Siobhan Giggins who won U18 Player of the Year in 2007 and Ellen Butterly who won under 14 Player of theYear in 2007 at their presentation night in March 2008. Medals were presented to the U14 Team who won the U14A Championship in 2007 on the night. Juile Campbell who captained the winning team in 2007 was presented with the cup by Senior Stabannon and Louth Captain Grace Lynch. The club is very proud of the fact that the Louth team was captained by one its own, Grace Lynch in 2008 and that six members of the club were on the Louth Ladies panel for 2008- Grace Lynch, Tara Lynch, Anne Marie Lynch, Bronagh McGrane, Deirdre Lynch and Kim Lynch. Danielle Sharkey, Denise Moynagh, Suzanne Carroll and Rachel Kane were members of the Louth u16 Team who won the Leinster B Title in 2008, congratulations to them from all in the club. Tweet

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