Two-thousand-and-seven marked the 21st anniversary of Newtown Blues' incredible senior clean sweep of 1986. At the end of that sensational year, all three major trophies - the Joe Ward, Cardinal O'Donnell and ACC Cups - wintered in Newfoundwell as an exciting Blues side dominated Louth football with an invigorating and vibrant brand of attacking football. One of the stars of that side, Johnny Doherty, provided Wee County 2007 with an insight into the historic exploits of a remarkable club team. By 1986, about half of the Newtown Blues starting XV that had captured the county senior football championship five years previously remained. While the 1986 panel already had many capable players, the team was strengthened by the return from retirement of Danny Nugent and Paul Matthews. Furthermore, as Johnny Doherty recalls, "the backroom team was a formidable one with former Blues stalwarts Frankie Fagan and brothers Davy and Tony Byrne taking the helm." As the Blues had always been renowned for playing an exciting attacking game, the mentors capitalised on this tradition in training by turning away from the slog of heavy work and introducing sprint work as the dominant training exercise. The result was a team with pace throughout and they duly stormed to an amazing senior treble, leaving the other clubs in the county floundering in their slipstream by garnering SFC, SFL and ACC glory - a feat equalled by no other club since. The team that lined out for the 1986 Louth senior football championship final on September 14 was: Matthews; Faulkner, Nugent, O'Rourke; B Judge, Callaghan, Costelloe; E Judge, D Judge; Carr, Culhane, Doherty; Kirwan, Hanratty, P Judge. Regarding the tactics deployed on the day, Johnny reveals: "The team had huge experience at the back and a driving midfield". They exploited a veritable explosion of raw pace in the half-back and half-forward lines to get the ball in quickly to the full forward line. It proved a winning combination and nobody could live with the deadly ingredients that made up this great Blues side. The SFC was the first and most important part of the treble of '86. Opposition was provided on county final day by Kilkerley Emmets and the match was played in Dromiskin. Close-knit Kilkerley fielded the Kirks (Joe, Tommy, Patsy and Peter), the Quigleys (Willie and Martin), the Lynches (Jim, Noel and Michael) and the Lennons (Terry and Donal) alongside McCarthy, Litchfield, Quinn and Kneel and the match produced an extraordinary encounter. Blues, playing against the wind, went two goals up inside the first three minutes with strikes from Martin Carr and Padraig Judge. The winners moved seven points clear before Kilkerley were awarded a penalty, which they converted. Blues then lost Derek Costelloe to a hand injury; Martin (Wal) Judge deputised. A rallying Kilkerley side managed to haul their way right back into the match and the Blues went in at half time only a single point to the good. It was all still to play for in the second half. Padraig Judge scored his second goal but Kilkerley also continued to accumulate scores. Fergal Judge was introduced for David Judge at midfield as both teams battled for superiority. With eight minutes to go, the Blues still led by a solitary point. Incredibly, as the tension mounted to unbearable levels, there was no further scoring in the game and the Blues held on to win narrowly, 3-5 to 2-7. At this stage there was no talk of a treble. The players and management were just delighted to have regained the Joe Ward and to have done it by performing a free-flowing, attractive style of football that epitomised the Blues philosophy. The Blues had to come back from behind to complete the second step of the treble. The league final, a robust encounter, was played on October 19 against Clan Na Gael at Pairc Mhuire. On a wet and windy day in Ardee, the O'Donnell Cup decider produced the proverbial game of two halves. Clans dominated the first half (which saw a sending off from each side) and went in six points ahead (1-4 to 0-1) at half time. However, a spirited Blues scored freely in the second half, adding nine points to their tally and holding the Dundalk side scoreless to win the match by 0-10 to 1-4 and complete an impressive championship and league double. Before minds could turn to the subsidiary league and the possibility of a domestic clean sweep, there was the small matter of representing the county on the provincial club stage to consider. The Blues did well and could consider themselves somewhat unfortunate to bow out of contention after the first round. They faced Ferbane in Tullamore in the Leinster club championship and, despite scoring 16 points and being level at half-time, went down by nine to very strong opposition. Unsurprisingly, the Offaly champions were crowned Leinster club champions soon after. Blues' opponents in the last game of the year, the ACC Cup final, were the Clans once more. The match was played in December in Castlebellingham and, on this occasion, the Blues' involvement in the Leinster club competition meant they entered the game a much fitter and sharper side. They subsequently ran out comfortable winners, 0-14 - 1-4. And so the domestic clean sweep of all three senior county trophies had been completed for the first time since the restructuring of football in the county in 1978. The team of '86 had made its way into the esteemed pantheon of Louth club football history. The Newtown Blues panel that made history by winning the senior treble in 1986 was: Paul Matthews, Raymie Faulkner, Danny Nugent, John O'Rourke, Bosco Judge, Dessie Callaghan (Capt), Derek "Clipper" Costelloe, Eugene Judge, David Judge, Martin Carr, Richie Culhane, Johnny Doherty, Gerry (Gez) Kirwan, Jackie Hanratty, Peter Judge, Martin Judge, Fergal Judge, Turlough Maher, Micko Judge, Padraig Judge, Alan Loughran, Keith Lynch, Johnny McQuillan. Sheelan is believin' Newtown Blues captured a senior trophy in 2007 - but it wasn't the one they craved. The Blues went into the season with their sights set on Joe Ward but had to settle for the Paddy Sheelan Cup instead. While the subsidiary league is nothing to be scoffed at, Drogheda's most famous club is more interested in annexing the senior football championship for the first time since 2001. Having been pipped by St Josephs in a replayed semi-final in 2006, Newtown Blues went into the new season full of optimism that they could reclaim the Joe Ward Cup for the first time since completing back-to-back successes in 2001. The Newfoundwell club had made a perfect start to the millennium with two SFCs from two, but there were two other clubs with two titles to their credit in the current decade as the '07 campaign got underway. So, in many ways, the year was a three-way race between the Blues ('00 and '01), Mattock ('02 and '05) and the Pats ('03 and '04) to see who could forge ahead as the dominant team of the decade. Unfortunately for the Blues, it was the Lordship men who took the bragging rights. The 'Big Three' all reached the knockout stage but Cooley dispensed with Newtown Blues at the quarter-final stage while their peninsula rivals saw off Mattock in the penultimate round before going on to prevail on county final day for the third time in five years. Such dominance from the Pats means that Newtown Blues' blistering start to the decade seems like no more than a distant memory. The Blues may lead the county's Roll of Honour with 17 titles, but they've managed only two strikes in 19 years and that statistic fairly sticks in the craw of the club's players and supporters alike. A Cardinal O'Donnell Cup was culled in 2005 and a Paddy Sheelan/ACC Cup was added in 2007, but a club with the tradition and history of the Blues is realistically interested in frying bigger fish and views the other competitions as consolation prizes. As it transpired, the Paddy Sheelan Cup success was the highlight of Newtown Blues' year - and what a victory it was! Impressive early-season form propelled Eugene Judge and Richie Culhane's charges all the way to the final and they duly dispatched of then county champions St Josephs on a comprehensive 1-14 to 0-7 scoreline at Ballybailie on Saturday June 16. It was sweet revenge for the championship semi-final defeat of the previous autumn but, in perspective, certainly not the greatest win the Blues have ever recorded. Keith Lynch accepted the Cup on behalf of his colleagues and the signs were encouraging that the Blues would collect at least one other major senior trophy before the year was out. The Blues' championship and league campaigns was already up and running at this stage and, apart from a blip in the performance against Mattock Rangers, the new management team seemed to have instilled a good sense of belief in the players, which was manifesting itself by way of impressive performances. The result in the special league final was qualified somewhat by the fact that the Joes lost key men David Reilly and Declan O'Sullivan to injury during their hard-hitting semi-final defeat of Cooley, but that takes nothing away from a thoroughly convincing Blues display which had the 2007 Sheelan Cup decider over as a contest within 13 minutes of the turnaround. John Kermode slammed home the game's only goal on 43 minutes to give the Drogheda outfit an unassailable 1-9 to 0-4 advantage. But, even without that score, Newtown Blues were already well on their way towards becoming only the second club to garner the re-named ACC Cup (Cooley had maintained a stranglehold on the trophy since its name was changed to the Paddy Sheelan Cup). The destination of the first senior trophy of the year was effectively settled by a scoring run of 1-5 either side of the interval. The Blues went into the match as resounding favourites and they justified that billing by dominating possession throughout. It took them a while to find their rhythm, however, and the Joes were already on the scoreboard before Barry Kelly landed a levelling point on nine minutes. Stephen Moonan and Brian Kermode sent the winners-elect two clear but the Dromiskin/Darver men were level by the 20th minute. Colm Judge and Ollie McDonnell swapped scores but the Blues now upped things in terms of economy while the Joes went half an hour without registering again. Points from John Kermode, Barry Kelly and Jimmy Murray had the Blues 0-7 to 0-4 ahead at the short whistle and the gap was increased to five once Hugh McGinn and Emmet Judge found the range shortly after the restart. John Kermode hit the net in style near the end of the third quarter and the 2007 Paddy Sheelan Cup winners had further points from Jimmy Murray, full back Keith Lynch, John Kermode, Kelly and Colm Judge. They led by twelve points at the end of normal time and two injury-time scores from the Joes served barely to offer a slight hint of respectability to the scoreboard. Newtown Blues, 2007 Paddy Sheelan Cup winners: A Flanagan; B Phillips, K Lynch (0-1), C Owen; R Hughes, C Reynolds, A O'Brien; J Murray (0-2), B Kermode (0-1); S Moonan (0-1), C Judge (0-2), H McGinn (0-1); E Judge (0-1), B Kelly (0-3), J Kermode (1-2). Subs: N Costello, R Phillips, G Kellett, T Costello In the SFC, Newtown Blues were hoping to build on the form that had seen them reach a final and a semi-final replay the previous two years. They eventually came out of Group A after a two-game wobble but fell to Cooley Kickhams at the quarter-final stage on the first day of September. Amazingly, they actually led that game by a point four minutes into injury time but a late Cooley onslaught gave the north county side a 1-12 to 1-7 victory in a tough and niggly encounter at Ardee. The Blues kicked their group programme off with a great 4-10 to 2-10 defeat of Naomh Mairtin at the county grounds. This was a repeat of the 2006 championship quarter-final that required a replay before the Blues progressed but the Newfoundwell men had plenty to spare on Thursday April 19 as they led by 13 points at one stage. Indeed, only a couple of late Monasterboice goals put some semblance of respectability on the scoreboard in what was effectively a one-sided south Louth derby. Brian Kermode, James Murray and substitute Anthony Donaghy netted to give the Blues a 3-4 to 0-6 interval cushion, and Colm Judge bagged the fourth goal in the 37th minute. Eight days later, in another derby, the Blues suffered a setback when losing by 3-11 to 1-8 to Mattock Rangers in Drogheda. Colm Judge got an early goal but that was as good as it got on a day to forget. As if to emphasis the treacherous nature of the section, the Blues slipped to a second successive defeat: St Brides (who would top the group) took a 1-11 to 1-6 victory at Castlebellingham when the senior championship resumed after a three-month break for intercounty activity. Aaron Hoey was on fire for the Knockbridge club, while the Drogheda outfit had to play the entire second half with 14 men after Brian Kermode was sent off in first-half stoppage time. They were already a beaten team long before Colm Judge found the net right at the death. With just two points from a possible six, the Blues were in real danger of not emerging from the group. However, they turned it around with wins over St Josephs at Ardee and St Marys at Castlebellingham within nine days in mid-to-late August. Barry Kelly got the goal as the Joes were humbled by 1-19 to 0-10 while Hugh McGinn registered the decisive injury-time point that provided a thrilling 0-12 to 1-8 win over the Deesiders in the August 27 winner-takes-all final group game at The Grove. There was no sign of lethargy in the Blues' start against Cooley Kickhams at Pairc Mhuire on Sunday September 1 as they tore into a 0-6 to 0-2 quarter-final lead, with Colm Judge executing four of those scores. That differential had been halved by the short whistle and Cooley added five more points after the resumption to lead by 0-9 to 0-6. Breen Phillips had been dismissed along with Cooley's Sean O'Neill and the game looked to have slipped from the Blues' grasp when Judge was controversially shown a straight red card five minutes from the end of normal time. However, the 13 men rallied and their first score of the second half arrived in the form of a goal from substitute Brian Kermode. After a few melees, Newtown Blues went ahead through an exceptional Anthony Donaghy point four minutes into added time: 1-7 to 0-9. Incredibly, six more minutes were added on and the peninsula side recorded 1-3 without reply to progress to the semi-final stage and leave the Blues cursing their luck. Their woes were compounded when Naomh Malachi pipped them into second place on the end-of-year Division One league table to claim a Cardinal O'Donnell Cup final berth against perennial finalists Cooley Kickhams. At the time, the Paddy Sheelan Cup win had seemed like a harbinger of greater things to come in 2007; in retrospect, that thumping win over a depleted Joes was the highlight of a disappointing year by Newtown Blues' own high standards. Tweet

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