Newtown Blues bridged a gap back to 1975 by capturing the 2004 Louth minor football championship with a superb performance over the course of a testing campaign. The manner in which the Blues youngsters overcame every obstacle placed before them makes them worthy all-county champions. Newtown Blues famously ended a long barren spell at U18 level when beating Baile Talun by 1-13 to 3-5 in the 2004 Louth MFC final at Pairc Clan na Gael on Sunday September 19 2004. Over the course of the hour, the Drogheda lads played some wonderful football and they were thoroughly deserving winners of the Larry Murphy Cup. County minor Hugh McGinn gave a Man of the Match display in the curtain raiser to the SFC decider, but the reality is that there were many heroes in the Blues ranks. In the first half in particular, playing against the strong wind, the winners had exceptional performers in McGinn, Niall Costello, Steven Noonan, Emmet Judge, John Kermode and Darragh Traynor. Indeed, the entire panel played its part in a win that will hopefully announce Newtown Blues' return as perennial challengers at minor level. Points from Darragh Traynor and Steven Noonan (free) had the winners 0-2 to 0-1 ahead after six minutes, but the Blues were rocked in their boots when the Tallanstown amalgamation scored a somewhat fortuitous goal three minutes later. The response was calm and collected. James Murray and John Kermode both hit the woodwork before Traynor and Noonan each grabbed their second score to draw the town side level on 22 minutes. Focused and confident, the Blues finished the half in style: McGinn set up full forward Kermode for a goal, while Murray and Sean Kilroy added points to establish a four-point half-time advantage. Kilroy extended the lead on the re-start but the plucky losers replied with their second goal. Two more Noonan frees left the Blues three points clear, 1-9 to 2-3, and three more points on the bounce stretched the lead to a comfortable-looking six with time almost up. However, the game had a dramatic ending when Baile Talun's talisman Trevor O'Brien struck with 1-2 late on to leave the minimum in it. Noonan steadied the Blues ship with his sixth point and the winners were almost cruelly denied victory when O'Brien's last-gasp effort flew inches wide. It may ultimately have been a lucky escape but there was nothing at all fortunate about the Blues' first minor championship win in 29 years. They were the better team on the day and were the best minor side in Louth over the course of the year. Regarding the club's first MFC heist in almost three decades, Eugene Judge (who managed the all-conquering team in conjunction with Gerry Reynolds, Aidan Kane and John Reilly) says it was a "great success" that he hopes the Blues can "build upon in years to come". A playing member of the last Blues team to scoop the county minor title back in 1975, Judge was delighted to see the young lads come good on the big day: "It was great to finally win it again. It's one trophy that has eluded us over the years and most people couldn't believe that it had been nearly 30 years since the Blues last won a minor championship. It was a nice win for the club and I was happy for the players because they're a great bunch of lads and they deserved it." When did the manager realise that he had a potential championship-winning team on his hands? "I became involved in 2003 and I think the team was unfortunate that year. We got to the league final and were beaten by a point at the semi-final stage of the championship, so we had been close. We were even stronger this year [2004] and I think most people would have accepted that we were serious contenders from the start of the year. "Again, we were amongst the favourites, as we had been the previous year. Dundalk Gaels were favourites, but we beat them in a very close quarter-final. We also had a tough semi-final against Clan na Gael, another fancied team, but were superior to them on the day." Baile Talun have emerged as a genuine force at minor level, as the Blues mentor concedes: "They have a big pick … bigger than we have. The day of the small country club is gone. Baile Talun have a bigger area to choose from than we have, so that was always going to be a difficult game to win. But the lads played extremely well and we shouldn't have been hanging on towards the end. We should have put them away earlier." When did the year start? When was the team brought together for collective training? "It was essentially a continuation from 2003 and we didn't start training until March. It was all ball work and we concentrated on the basic skills. I strongly believe in working on the basic skills. Intelligence is also important. Of course, a certain level of fitness is required, but it's vital that a player learns what to do with the ball." The Blues minors embarked on a rigorous programme of preparation. Working off a panel of 23, a total of 40-45 training sessions took place and there was no shortage of effort from anyone concerned. Most of the players were in their final year qualifying for minor football so they were determined to go out with a bang. From the outset, the target was clear. The Blues set their stall out to win every game in league and championship, which they duly achieved. They qualified for the league final, which took place on Sunday October 24th and made it a famous double when defeating Cooley Kickhams by 0-20 to 0-8 at Clan na Gael Park. Blues also beat Clans by 2-12 to 1-7 in the 'special' minor league final. Eugene notes: "We' aimed to go unbeaten in 2003 and we only lost two or three games altogether. In 2004, we set out again to create that winning habit, because we felt the guys were underachieving and we wanted to get rid of the seed of doubt that was holding them back. In that respect, every game was important, league or championship, and the response we got from the players was magnificent." Eugene is not slow in passing the credit on to his fellow selectors: "Gerry Reynolds and Aidan Kane have been involved with this team for the past ten years and I only came in last year to give them a hand. But they're the ones who did all the groundwork. John Reilly has also been there for four or five years and the three lads have put a lot of time and effort into this team. I remember when my own lad went to play U10 football, when he was eight. That was when this group got together under Aidan and Gerry. They've put ten years into this team and they're great clubmen." But Eugene was happiest of all for the players themselves: "They're a great bunch and they put the work in. I felt sorry for Baile Talun as well because it was their second successive final defeat, but sport can be cruel sometimes." What were the instructions issued to the players before they took to the field on county final day? "You tell them to enjoy it. When lads are enjoying themselves, you will get the best out of them. We encouraged them to express themselves because it's still only a game and it's not the end of the world if things go wrong. It's part of growing up and I hope they can all look back on this with fondness. It's a great memory for them, regardless of what the future brings. Nobody can ever take this away from them." The first match of the MFC campaign was against St Nicholas, who weren't as strong in 2004 as they had been in recent years. Blues won comfortably. They then went into a quarter-final against Dundalk Gaels, winners of the 2002 U16 championship. Gaels had proven a bogey team in the past and this was a real crunch tie for both clubs. The Dundalk side led by a point with two minutes left but the Drogheda lads prevailed with two late points, 1-9 to 1-8 at Tallanstown on July 26. Clans provided semi-final opposition. Though Blues had beaten them easily in the league, they knew this would be a more difficult game. So it proved, but the county champions-elect eventually got the killer goal and pulled away in the final quarter to book their place in the final. The final took place four weeks later and the Blues changed nothing about their approach as the main thing was to keep the team fresh and sharp. Some of the players were playing junior football while others were on the senior panel, so great care was taken to ensure there was no burn-out. On the Saturday evening prior to the final, the squad got together for a kick-around, a cup of tea and a chat. Former Meath star Bobby O'Malley - who was a great help to the team during the year - again provided words of wisdom. The team assembled at 12 noon the morning of the match and set off to arrive at Clan na Gael Park for 1.00. After getting ready and a quick warm-up, they were out on the pitch for the pre-match parade at 1.40. For many of the players involved, they were about to take part in the biggest game of their lives… It was a testing day, with misty rain and a stiff breeze. Despite giving away a sloppy goal, the Blues continued to believe and went on to play some of their best football of the year in the closing ten minutes of the first half. The half-time whistle disrupted the winners' rhythm and they lost their way a little upon the resumption, producing some erratic shooting. When they coasted six clear, victory looked certain but the late scare caused many heart palpitations on the pitch and on the sideline. Eugene says: "The goalkeeper stood up well and forced Trevor to kick wide. It was a relief but we definitely deserved to win and it would have been an injustice if we'd been beaten." What does the future hold for this crop of players? "I'd like to think that maybe four or five of them will play senior football in the next two or three years, which would be a great boost to the club. 90% of them are playing gaelic football as their first choice, and that is very encouraging. Obviously, the biggest challenge is to transfer this win into senior success. Nothing is guaranteed and a lot of clubs find it difficult. "The first team has gone stale and needs a facelift. If these lads came through and created some competition for places, that would be welcome because a strong panel is the key to a successful team. Hopefully it will follow on. "Some will break onto the senior team quicker than others but the main thing is that they all stay with the club. There is always a place for players in the club and they are a good bunch of guys. They are a great asset to Newtown Blues and the club really got behind them in 2004. They got what they deserved. "The Blues went out of the senior championship early on in the year and everybody got behind the minor team. Everyone pulled together and it was a great success for the juvenile section as well as for the club in general. It's amazing, when lads are interested, how much they learn and how much they can improve. I got great joy and satisfaction out of working with these lads and they brought great distinction to themselves and to Newtown Blues GFC." Newtown Blues, 2004 Louth minor football champions: Anthony Reilly; Kevin Monaghan, Rory Milne, Craig Owen; Niall Costello (capt), Cormac Reynolds, Aidan O'Brien; Hugh McGinn (0-2), Steven Noonan (0-6); James Murray (0-1), Emmet Judge, Sean Kilroy (0-2); Darragh Traynor (0-2), John Kermode (1-0), Colm Judge. Sub: David Piper. Simon says… …that Newtown Blues paid the ultimate price for complacency in 2004 by getting dumped out of the SFC at the group stage. While the Louth defender accepts that the Blues were in a difficult group, he insists they were good enough to progress. Confidence is vital in gaelic games - but is it possible for a team to play with TOO MUCH swagger? Is that what happened to Newtown Blues' Joe Ward Cup challenge in 2004? It's impossible to say for sure, but team stalwart Simon Gerrard acknowledges the possibility. Going into the '04 SFC, the Blues were shortlisted amongst the favourites to claim Louth's main football prize. They had ended their barren spell in emphatic fashion with back-to-back successes in 2000 and 2001 and clearly possessed a side capable of going all the way again. A third SFC in five years looked far from unlikely. The Blues had effectively beaten themselves with unexpected lapses in the 2002 and 2003 campaigns. With the right attitude, they could set the record straight. Training went extremely well under Colm Nally and the general consensus was that one of five clubs would win the Joe Ward Cup - St Patricks, St Marys, Cooley Kickhams, Mattock Rangers or Newtown Blues. Unfortunately, three of those sides were pitted together in Group B, which meant one would be squeezed out before the championship got into full swing. Alas, it was the Drogheda club who bit the dust, while Cooley and Mattock went on to play their parts in a memorable high summer programme. It was a thoroughly disappointing eventuality for the Blues who, despite brief flashes of trademark brilliance, never did themselves justice in the 2004 SFC. Newtown Blues opened their account against Mattock Rangers at the Gaelic Grounds on May 21 - a repeat of the 2001 county final. Even though they fired over a succession of impressive points, the concession of two goals proved costly as the Collon men escaped with a 2-10 to 0-16 draw. Group whipping boys Naomh Malachi were next up on June 6 and the Blues had no problem whatsoever, cantering to a facile 2-20 to 0-3 victory at Ardee's Pairc Mhuire. In hindsight, that exercise was of little or no benefit to either team. Thus, with Mattock effectively through to the last eight after their draw with Cooley, Newtown's final group outing against the peninsula side was a winner-takes-all affair. A draw would keep both sides in contention, but a defeat for either team would end their hopes for another year. The match was played at Dowdallshill on June 19 and the Blues were edged out by two points, 0-12 to 1-7. They'd have been thrown a lifeline had the Malachis held Mattock at Castlebellingham the following evening but, realistically, that was never going to happen. Mattock won by six and the Blues' goose was cooked - even though they had accumulated a 15 points better scoring average from their three outings than the Collon men. "It was the draw in the first game against Mattock that did for us," a rueful Simon Gerrard reflects. "I honestly believe that a draw is the worse possible result in the first game because it throws the group wide open and brings everybody into the equation. You'd be much better off with a clear-cut result either way - then everybody would know exactly where they stand. In hindsight, we'd probably have been better off to have lost that game. It would've served as a wake-up call and I think we'd have gone on from there to win the next two. As it was, things were up in the air…" Blues goalkeeper/coach Colm Nally believes it was a reasonably decent year for the club, even though they failed to fulfil their ultimate objective. Speaking briefly to 'Wee County 2004', the former Dublin U21 and Louth senior netminder reasoned: "Possibly there was too much expected in a year where we blooded some young players. Of course, the Blues will always hope to be challenging for the top honours, but we can't lose sight of the fact that two minors - Hugh McGinn and Colm Judge - started all our championship games in 2004, which has to augur well for the club's future." It's a valid point from the team trainer and Simon Gerrard has nothing but praise for the former Wee County captain: "Colm came in as a fresh manager and he did an excellent job. His training techniques are second to none and he was very thorough and professional in his approach. The preparations were ideal, and that's why I thought we'd be competing up as far as the semi-final stage at least. Even though we knew we were in a tough group, we didn't expect to go out of the championship so early. Maybe we were a little over-confident, but for some reason we under-achieved and it was disappointing." on the day that spelt the Blues' death knell in 2004. According to county defender Gerrard: "We prepared very well for all the games. The first day against Mattock Rangers we started well but then faded. We then came back into it again and probably should have won. A draw was a poor enough result. "We beat the Malachis easily - I think they only got one point from play - and that set us up for a crunch tie with Cooley. In hindsight, we probably had it too easy against Naomh Malachi and that may have led to a bit of lethargy and complacency for the Cooley game. "That was a huge match for both clubs, with our entire season hinging on the result. People said it was a poor match but there was immense pressure on both teams as we knew Mattock were guaranteed to win their game. There was an awful lot at stake and it was no surprise that the tension took away from the occasion. Since the group stages had been introduced, the Blues tended to come through their group impressively, so we were bitterly disappointed to go out before the quarter-finals." How much does Simon remember about the two-point defeat to Cooley? "It was a windy day and I think we went in level at the break after playing against the wind. Maybe we thought we had done the hard part. We failed to raise our game in the second half. We were very complacent. Our preparations were on the ball and the focus was definitely there, but when it came to playing the actual games, complacency was a big issue. It's something we really have to remove from our play, or otherwise we'll continue to underachieve. "We could have won both those games against Mattock and Cooley, but we let them get away." Simon is disappointed but not despondent. He remains positive about Newtown Blues' immediate future: "We have a good few minors coming through pushing for places on the starting team and Colm Nally's training techniques are the best I've encountered at club level, so things are definitely looking good. Still, even though we were blooding a few lads, it would've been great to get to the quarter-finals in 2004, because those are the games every footballer wants to play in." How hard was it for the Blues players to watch on for the rest of the summer while the likes of Cooley, the Pats, Clans and Mattock battled for the county's top honours? "It's frustrating. Once you've tasted success, you want more. You want it every year. We won it in 2000 and 2001 and we feel we still have a lot to offer. It's a major letdown when you don't get to the closing stages of the competition. Even if you get as far as the semi-final, it can make it all worthwhile. It makes the summer. "I even remember back in 1999, even though we didn't win the championship, we got to the semi-final and lost to Stabannon after a replay and extra time. It was disappointing but those were the two best games we played that year and it was great to be involved at that stage. I honestly think that the two semi-finals are the first two big games of the year, but you have to earn your right to be there and Newtown Blues failed to do that in 2004." Needless to say, the Blues were aiming big in '04: "When you've won two championships, the target you set every year is to win another one. We should be building on those successes because, if anything, we are now stronger because of the players who have come in. "Having said that, the ability of the other teams in the county is improving all the time, as we can see from the way Mattock and the Pats competed in Leinster in recent years. So we're under no illusions. We expect a tough campaign every year, but we know we can win it…" Ironically, Simon feels that the Blues could have done serious damage in the championship if they'd got out of their group, as they'd have been keen to avoid a repeat of recent quarter-final slip-ups against Clan na Gael and St Brides. "I think we'd have gone on to do very well if we'd scraped out of the group," he opines. The Blues player also concedes that talk of the dominance of the Cooley peninsula sides is wholly justified, as the results of the Pats and Cooley speak for themselves: "Those clubs have 40 or 50 lads out at training every night and there's a real hunger there. Other teams have to look at that. Okay, Newtown Blues can beat anybody on our day, but for consistency over the years - in the league and the championship - the peninsula sides have stood out and you have to give them credit for that. The fact that they got to the 2004 final speaks for itself. "That's the benchmark now. Newtown Blues have to match their hunger next year. We had a few injuries this year but if we get our full team out and the right attitude, we have a chance. The training is good and the preparations are ideal, so it's a matter of us going out and applying ourselves on the day." One of the cleanest and fairest footballers in the game, Simon was hard done by in 2004 when an over-zealous umpire reported him to the referee for an innocuous incident that occurred during the national league clash with Wicklow in Ardee on February 15. The luckless Blues man was red-carded and subsequently cited for kicking. He picked up a harsh three-month suspension. Even though he was back in time for the Leinster championship first-round clash with Wexford in Parnell Park, his match sharpness was affected, which was a blow to club and county. Damaging knee ligaments upon his return didn't exactly lift the gloom… It's a year Simon Gerrard may put behind him gladly, but his appetite for the forthcoming season is as keen as ever: "We have youngsters coming through and a great trainer, which is promising. Colm is keen to bring the young lads through and that's a very positive thing because it increases the competition for places. If nobody is guaranteed their place on the team, then everybody will work harder and play better. This should make the team stronger. "The lads coming through have no fear. Once they see their mates on the team, they all want to get on as well. That's a healthy situation. We want a scenario where nobody is guaranteed their place, where everyone has to be on top of their game. If we play to our full potential in 2005, we'll take a lot of stopping." Remember where you read it first: the Blues are the team most likely to loosen the peninsula's SFC stranglehold… Tweet

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