John Mitchells were on the verge of a junior championship final appearance for most of the 2004 season. But somehow fate conspired against them to deny them a shot at promotion. Speaking to 'Wee County 2004', the club's '04 captain Niall McCartney reflects on a frustrating year. John Mitchells' target for 2004 was clear: to win the junior football championship. The Ballybailie men came close to achieving that objective - but not close enough. Twice they were within touching distance of a JFC final appearance, but on both occasions the opportunity was allowed to pass them by. Alas, there was to be no repeat of the heroics of 1998, much to the disappointment of team captain and centre half back Niall McCartney. In 1998, John Mitchells proved themselves the best junior team in the Wee County, capturing the Christy Bellew Cup and adding the Division Three league title for good measure. It was a famous double. However, the club has failed to progress as well as some pundits expected, while some of their neighbours have passed them out en route to the top table. The Mitchells find themselves back in junior ranks and are struggling to escape the confines of Louth football's bottom grade. Two-thousand-and-four will be remembered as another year when they failed to do themselves justice, once again bowing out of the JFC at the semi-final stage. Though the 2-9 to 0-5 semi-final replay defeat to St Mochtas at Knockbridge on Sunday August 22 was a devastating blow, the general feeling in and around the mid Louth club are was that the real damage had been done much earlier in the year… Roll the calendar back six weeks to Sunday July 11 and the Mitchells' Group A decider against Glen Emmets at Tallanstown. Prior to this game, both the Ballybailie and Tullyallen men had won their two previous group outings. Thus, the winners would progress to the county JFC decider, while the losers would face St Mochtas at the semi-final stage. It was a game the Gerry Roe's charges could have and should have won, but they slipped to a narrow and agonising 3-8 to 2-10 defeat. In hindsight, it was that defeat that cost Mitchells dearest. Had they advanced to the final at the first time of asking, they would probably have won the junior championship. They looked like victors-elect when leading by 1-6 to 0-5 at the interval, having bossed most of the first-half exchanges. When Cormac McCartney added the Mitchells' second goal, they led by 2-7 to 1-6 with just over a quarter remaining. However, Emmets took the lead for the first time with a goal right at the death and, despite late points from Bracken and Des Halpenny, Mitchells were forced to accept a sickening defeat. Failing to top the group was a massive blow. To their credit, the players (who could set up a rematch with the Emmets by beating St Mochtas) regrouped for the semi-final and put in a spirited display in the drawn game at Knockbridge on Saturday August 14. Though the Louth village crew twice led by five points, the Mitchells battled back - and aided by a strong start to the third quarter when they hit 1-3 without reply in an eleven-minute purple patch - carried a slender one-point advantage into stoppage time. But a late Colin Hoey free five minutes into added time left the sides tied on 1-7 apiece at the final whistle. For the second time in 2004, John Mitchells had a place in the junior decider cruelly snatched away from them. It was a difficult double-whammy to digest and there was no coming back from there. In the replayed 'semi' the Mitchells failed to get into their stride. They trailed by four points with time running out and were pushing for the goal that might throw them a dramatic lifeline when disaster struck - the Louth village team (who carried an edge in experience as they'd had the benefit of playing intermediate football the previous year) netted twice in quickfire fashion to end the tie as a contest. It also effectively ended John Mitchells' season. They had lost touch with the pacesetters in Division 3 and had no change of making up the ground required to earn promotion via the league. The basket that contained all John Mitchells' eggs had been dropped. John Mitchells had kicked off their 2004 JFC campaign with a 1-10 to 1-5 Group A defeat of Dundalk Young Irelands on June 20, following up with an emphatic 3-12 to 0-5 victory over group whipping boys Wolfe Tones on July 2. They were halfway towards bridging the gap to 1998, potentially two hours away from bringing the Christy Bellew Cup back to Ballybailie. But three gallant attempts to reach the county decider all proved fruitless. Looking back on the events of 2004, captain Niall McCartney isn't exactly over the moon: "We were disappointed, but we didn't get stuck in early enough in the year and we paid the price for that. Our aim was to get promoted through the championship and we went all out to achieve that. Even though we were close to reaching the final, I genuinely don't believe we put our heads down soon enough." Considering that the Mitchells haven't exactly been firing on all cylinders in recent years, was winning the junior championship a realistic expectation? "We know we're good enough to win it. We will started poorly but, with the change in the clock, we started to get players back and raised our game. We got ourselves into contention, but to win a championship you have to start on January 1st … it's too late to start playing good football in March or April." When the Mitchells did get it together, they played some very impressive football. The timing was perfect too, leading many observers to believe that perhaps 2004 was going to be their year. "Our league game at home to Young Irelands was our first time at full strength and we hit form that day. We ended up also playing them in the championship that same week and we beat them both times," Niall recalls. The five-point win over the Dundalk club represented a perfect start to John Mitchells' championship bid. "It was a good performance," according to Niall McCartney. "We killed them off early in the second half and were never really in any danger from there on." The second championship game was against Wolfe Tones, who endured a torrid season. While the match itself was of no real benefit to either team, the Mitchells were happy just to get two more points on the board: "They didn't have a great year, but those are still the kind of games you have to be careful about. The Tones can usually prove sticky opponents, but they were on a downer this year and they were missing a few lads as well. It was a game we expected to win and the victory set us up nicely for the final group outing against Tullyallen." Losing to Glen Emmets was arguably the defining moment in the '04 season for the White & Reds. "The winners went straight through to the final," Niall confirms. "It was certainly a game we should have won but they came back and got two crucial goals and it was like losing a final. That defeat took a lot out of us. Things broke down after that. It was a difficult defeat to take because we had played well and everybody was extremely disappointed. "It was hard to lift it again for the semi-final because the lads were all disheartened and it was always going to be a challenge to get things going again. But we regrouped and found some form again the week before the semi-final against 'the Mocks' and we very nearly beat them the first day. "We were annoyed that we didn't get through to the final as we'd have fancied our chances of turning the tables on Glen Emmets. I'm convinced we'd have beaten them, but it wasn't to be…" All in all, things did not go according to script, as Niall accepts: "We're disappointed to be playing junior again, but we know now that we'd want to be starting from 'Day One' with a full squad if we're to win the junior championship. We'll have to put the work in all season. Gerry Roe was in charge this year and he brought a breath of life into the whole set-up, so we're hoping he can get us going next year if he's still involved. If we have everybody focussed and committed, we know we can have a big say in the destination of the junior championship in 2005." Is it frustrating to be marooned back in junior ranks while some of the clubs John Mitchells used to play alongside week in, week out are now competing for senior honours? "It is. We were beating the likes of Tallanstown and Knockbridge for years and now they're flying. They've all had an influx of new blood and our team hasn't really changed much since winning the junior championship in 1998. There isn't that much young talent coming through, so the responsibility lies with the players who are on the team at the moment to knuckle down and hold things together. "Junior football is hard to get out of. But promotion is a major aim of the club and we're determined to get up and play intermediate football again." Tweet

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