Senior Championship Group 4: Ardee's depth of talent justifies their favourite's tag

ANCHOR TOURS SENIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GROUP 4

County champions Ardee St Mary’s begin their defence of the Joe Ward Cup in Group 4, alongside St Brides and the newly promoted Cooley Kickhams.

ARDEE ST MARY'S

It was a long 27 year wait to bring the cup back to Pairc Mhuire, but it was easy to see their success coming from a long way out, given how easily they were progressing.

In the group stages they coasted to huge wins over Dundalk Gaels and St Josephs, with the main take away from those games being the strength of their panel. The likes of Ronan Carroll, Liam Jackson, Darren Clarke and Karl Faulkner sprung from the bench.

Of course, they did beat St Brides and Naomh Mairtin too to make it to the final. Standing in their way of lifting the trophy was Newtown Blues, who they eventually overcame following a replay.

Both were thrilling contests. Both games saw them overcome adversity. Ultimately, a major difference was the already mentioned depth of talent that selectors in Ardee have to choose from. No matter who makes the starting 15, they know there's more ammo from the bench if required.

Having contested the Division 1 final last year, expectations were high they would put up a big challenge in their bid to make it to three straight Cardinal O’Donnell Cup finals.

While easily making the top half, they fell short of a place in the league decider, ending the campaign with 10 wins, one draw and five losses.

Ardee are bursting with county stars. Daire McConnon and the Jackson brothers, Liam and Tom, to name just three. Coupled with the names already mentioned above and they look a formidable unit once more in 2023.

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ST BRIDES

St Brides are the team that will first test last year’s champions. And to their credit, they put up a gallant fight up when taking them on in last year’s quarter final, which they earned following a hard fought win over Mattock Rangers.

Ardee were made work much harder than expected against a much-improved St Brides outfit, who were far sharper than in their group encounters. Sean Marry and Michael Keane being Brides’ playmakers winning turnover after turnover in the first half.

But two goals in quick succession from Tom Jackson and Carl Gillespie turned a two-point deficit into a four-point lead and this led to the soon to be champions securing a 3-9 to 1-10 victory.

Looking to the league proceedings, it hasn’t been a great season for the Knockbridge men. They are destined for the promotion/relegation play off, having finished second from bottom in Division 1 following five wins, one draw and six losses.

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COOLEY KICKHAMS 

Rounding off the group is newly promoted Cooley Kickhams, who will be hungry to prove their worth at this level of Louth Football.

The Peninsula men found themselves four behind in the Intermediate decider against St Kevins and they were lucky to only be that far behind, given the superiority The Philipstown men showed.

However Kickhams then introduced Brian White off the bench and he single handedly secured them a 1-13 to 0-12 win. Earlier in the competition they had wins over the likes of Oliver Plunketts, Glen Emmets, Sean O’Mahony’s and Hunterstown. They’ll face much stiffer challenges in Senior Football.

Cooley have had a strong league to date, albeit one that had a controversial finish. They had beaten Kilkerley in the second last round of the league, however this result came under question.

Cooley allegedly played an illegible player which has lead to the tie being overturned and awarded to Kilkerley, meaning they will narrowly miss out on automatic promotion. They have disputed this allegation, bringing up it with the Leinster Council. It was rejected and it is yet unknown if they will bring their case further to Croke Park. 

However, that doesn’t take away from the rest of their games in Division 2, having finished with a record of nine wins, two draws and two defeats (not including the overturned game).

They will be looking to the likes of Gerry Malone, Fearghal Malone and Michael Rafferty to come up with the goods, but face no easy game here. They will need to fight hard for a quarter final spot.