Louth GAA: Naomh Mairtin's Sean Healy says team has hunger for senior win

Despite only gracing the field as a senior player for Naomh Mairtin for the first time in 2020, it is fair to say that Sean Healy has packed a lot in during that time.

Having previously inspired the club to minor championship success in 2019, where he captained the side, Sean Healy’s debut for the senior side in 2020 coincided with the club managing to capture the holy grail of the Joe Ward Cup, beating this year’s final opponents Ardee St Marys.

By the time Naomh Mairtin had landed their second consecutive senior championship triumph a year later after beating St Mochtas, Sean Healy had firmly established himself at the heartbeat of that side, lining out at centre half back for the Jocks.

These two senior successes came under the stewardship of manager Fergal Reel, but this year, saw the Monasterboice side managed by Dromintee native Declan McCoy, who also boasts a credible CV in Louth football, having guided St Brides to

Intermediate success in 2020, the same year as Naomh Mairtin’s maiden senior championship success.

“We’ve been lucky to have had some great coaches and managers over the years with Decky and the lads being no different”, Healy said of McCoy’s impact during his first season at the helm.

“They’ve really emphasised on us as players learning from games no matter the result to help us improve as much as we can and have given some responsibility to us players to adapt and overcome different situations which I think has really benefited us as a team”.

That ability to “adapt and overcome” has been invaluable to the Mairtins in their run to this year’s decider, in their wins over the Geraldines’ and that dramatic victory over the Dreadnots.

“I think the big factor in these games has been us as players trusting the process and not panicking, there has been a good few games this season especially in the league where we have had to dig out results after trailing and the experience of them games has helped us.

“We know as a team from that you have to keep playing until the full time whistle and that the game is never out of reach”, Healy says.

On that dramatic semi-final victory, Sean Healy was full of admiration for the squad, especially the subs who entered the field and had a deciding impact.

The Mairtins have certainly needed the whole squad to contribute, having lost key players from previous successes, including Eoghan Callaghan, Conor Morgan, and John Clutterbuck, who went travelling abroad this year.

“Obviously those lads would be a loss for any team in the county along with other lads stepping away from years before, but we’re really fortunate to have such great competition for places in the squad”, stated Healy.

“It really showed up, especially in our semi finals with our subs making a big difference when they came on. So I’d definitely have to put it down to the efforts of the full squad”.

Looking ahead to this final, which is between two sides with plenty of recent history, with the Mairtins having beaten St Marys in that 2020 decider, but the Marys got their revenge, when they dramatically beat the Jocks in last year’s semi-final, denying the Mairtins a chance at winning three Joe Ward Cups in a row.

Despite enduring plenty of intriguing battles with the Deesiders over the year, Sean Healy insisted that these previous clashes will have no bearing on Sunday’s final.

“Honestly, I think the opportunity to win another senior championship is enough motivation for us at the minute.

“It’s probably easy to get caught up on past games but we are where we want to be and the hunger is really there within the group”, he said.

With as many as eight of their squad forming part of this year’s Louth county panel, and looking to win back to back titles, Ardee St Marys’ are many people’s favourites, heading into this clash, something which Healy has insisted will not affect his side’s preparations.

“The Marys are a real quality team and going in as defending champions they probably deserve that”, Healy said of their favourites tag.

“But I think the underdogs tag won’t have an effect on us as we know we just have to focus on preparing well and performing to the best of our ability”.