Joe Carroll: Prospect of a Croke Park outing gives Mary’s an extra incentive

Though St Mary’s haven’t a very good Leinster Club Championship record, the omens are good for them going into Sunday’s match with The Downs in Mullingar. A glance at the records shows that the Westmeath club have had three games against Louth opposition over the years and are still waiting for a first win.

The club’s representatives were up against Newtown Blues in the competition’s inaugural year, 1971, and went down by 4-9 to 0-10.

Fast forward to 2003 and there was another defeat – to first-time Louth champions, St Patrick’s, by 3-8 to 0-8. That game was played in Mullingar, as was The Downs’ clash with Mattock Rangers, two years later. It was closer here, 1-8 to 0-10.

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All of that means nothing, of course, going into this eagerly-awaited tie. Westmeath is on a high following the Tailteann Cup win during the summer, and The Downs had to be good to win the county title. They beat multiple county champions, John Heslin’s St Loman’s side, and a county source says they could make progress in the provincial series.

There’s a nice prize for the winners, a place in the semi-finals and an outing in Croke Park. Only three Louth teams have been there in the past, Newtown Blues, Cooley Kickhams and Geraldines.

A month after beating the Downs in 1971, Blues played Wexford side, Castletown, in a semi-final replay, and having won that game at headquarters were there a month later for the decider, taking on Gracefield. In a game played on a Sunday evening the Louth champions went down to their Offaly opposition by three points.

Cooley had three outings at Croker. They, too, made the final – for the second time, having been beaten by UCD in 1973 in Drogheda – and were up against Portlaoise in ’76, having beaten Kildare’s Raheens in the semi-final, also played at headquarters. It didn’t quite work out for Kickhams – they were beaten 1-12 to 0-8.

But Cooley continued to blaze a trail at home, taking a second successive county title. This was a win which earned them a meeting with the wonderfully named Bunclody Halway House, from Wexford. They won this one and were back in Croker to play Summerhill in the semi-final.

Kickhams went close, but that was it. A score of 2-6 to 2-4 gave Matt Kerrigan’s Summerhill a ticket to the final and here they ran a huge score – 5-4 – past Dublin kingpins at the time, St Vincent’s. But the Meath side themselves weren’t too good at the back in their All-Ireland semi-final with St John’s, from Belfast. They conceded 4-12, replying with just 1-8.

Geraldines were given a Croke Park setting for their first-round match with Ballymun Kickhams after scoring a win over Kilkerley Emmets in the 1982 county final. Barney Rock was in form for the Dublin champions who coasted to a 0-13 to 1-4 win.

A Louth side has yet to win the senior title. As mentioned, Blues and Cooley have been in finals, as have Mattock Rangers, who had four matches to play in a 2002 campaign that caught the imagination of the country's wider GAA public.

It was Rangers’ first taste of provincial fare, and because of their jam-packed schedule – wins over Starlights (Wexford) on a replay, Tullamore (Offaly), and Moorefield (Kildare) – their final with Meath’s Dunshaughlin, which they lost 0-13 to 0-7, wasn’t played until three days before Christmas.

St Mary’s have had six outings in Leinster, winning two, drawing one and losing the others. The closest they’ve come to winning was on their most recent appearance in 1995, even though the campaign included just one win.

After beating Longford’s Killoe Emmet Og on a replay, they took on Wicklow champions, An Tochar, in a quarter-final at Pairc Mhuire, but disappointed in 3-11 to 1-10 defeat.

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There’s a feeling Mary’s could do better this time. Just a week after completing the job at home, beating Newtown Blues in a two-match final that gave us one wonderful occasion and then another, they made good use of home advantage to beat Longford’s Colmcille’s on their return to Leinster.

If ever someone earned the right to be called an impact sub it’s Ronan Carroll. In each of the two county final matches he came in for the second half and certainly made his presence felt, especially in the replay. His four points that day at St Brigid’s Park were beautifully taken and were vital in the end.

Mary’s, however, are more than one-trick pony. The team is sprinkled with more than decent performers, and for several of them, there’ll be a switch from Cathal Murray’s care to Mickey Harte’s immediately after the club championship run is over.