At the announcement of Moorehall Homecare as club sponsors of St Mary's GFC, Ardee, were Brendan Kerin (club chairman), Michael McCoy (proprietor, Moorehall Living Group), Tom Rice (club treasurer) and Sean Carroll (club secretary).
The U11 team two, front l/r: DJ McKeever, Carl Gillespie, Eoin Clarke, Michael Szostakowski, Conor Gilbert. Back: Killian Keenan, Colman Finlay, Callum Markey, James McGillick, Darragh McCoy, Luke Matthews
The U12s, front l/r: Dylan Whyte, Tom Jackson, Luke Dunne, Conor Gilbert, Aaron Keenan, Jay Crawley, Andrew Rogers. Back: Nathan Buckley, Conor Horan, Tiernan Corrigan, James McGillick, Eoghan McCabe, Barry Cousins, Paul Doherty
243
progressing. Ten days earlier, in the original fixture, it had finished 1-12 to 0-15 at Haggardstown. The Marys had stormed out of the blocks to lead by 0-7 to 0-1 after ten minutes but they still needed 1-1 in the last minute from Alan Kirk to salvage a deserved draw. The St Marys team on duty that day was: Peter Duffy; Alan McKenny, John Bingham, Barry Faulkner; Niall Carroll (0-1), Donal Matthews, Paul Malone; Ronan Carroll (0-2), Robert Leavy; Eamonn Callaghan, Paudie Clarke (0-1), Dean Matthews (0-2); Shane McCoy (0-1), Alan Kirk (1-5), Fergal Diamond. Subs: Jamie Rooney for B Faulkner (42), David Woods for A McKenny (52), Mark Fay for P Malone (55). The Marys had progressed to the last eight by virtue of a 1-12 to 1-8 defeat of neighbours Glyde Rangers at McGeough Park, Haggardstown on Saturday, August 25th. Tallanstown led by 1-3 to 0-1 early on but points from Ronan Carroll and Dean Matthews settled the Marys. Further points from Alan Kirk and Matthews followed by a Carroll goal ensured that there was just a point in it at the short whistle, 1-6 to 1-5. A flurry of points upon the restart from Jamie Rooney, Matthews and Carroll (2) proved to be the decisive surge. St Marys had opened their Group Two account against Mattock Rangers at Dunleer on Sunday, July 22nd, slipping to an unlucky 0-13 to 1-9 defeat. Would it be fair to say that ultimately the Marys’ whole season hinged on the outcome of the Dreadnots replay? “I suppose it came down to that game in the end,” says Robert. “We didn’t qualify for the play-offs in the league as planned so the championship was our last hope.” In Division Two of the league, it was a close-run thing but the Marys were narrowly squeezed out… “We finished one place outside the playoffs, a point behind Geraldines. It went right down to the wire and they edged us out by winning their last game by a point.” What were the defining moments of that campaign? Where – if anywhere in particular – was the promotion race lost? “We lost away to Roche in our