Inside Track: If history repeats itself, Mary’s could be in trouble

The formbook reads in St Mary’s favour as the Louth senior championship gets ready to take off. Tradition, however, suggests the Ardee side will have their work cut out.

The race for the Joe Ward Cup begins the weekend after next, and having won the title for the last three years, as well as reaching the 2024 Leinster Club Championship final, Mary’s are the overwhelming favourites to succeed.

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Manager Cathal Murray has more than a smattering of inter-county players from all grades to call on, giving him a headache other team bosses would be delighted to share.

There are seven from the Leinster-winning senior panel alone who’ll be vying for a place. Let’s take a look at the record books.

Mary’s had five on the first 15 when Louth won the Leinster championship in 1948. A few weeks later, the quintet, and others who had figured on the Louth panel, added a county medal to their collection, Mary’s beating Young Irelands on a scoreline that still resonates with many here, 1-9 to 1-7.

Prior to this year, however, on three occasions since then, when Louth took the provincial crown, Mary’s failed to win the county title, despite having several who had worn the red jersey.

In 1950, there were four from the club included for Louth’s Leinster final win over Meath and the two games in the All-Ireland series which followed, the defeat of Kerry and then a narrow loss to Mayo in the final.

Strongly fancied to go the whole way in the county championship after that, Mary’s fell to Young Irelands at the semi-final stage, before the Dundalk side went on to beat Drogheda’s St Magdalene’s in the decider.

On to 1953, Louth regained the Leinster with a win over Wexford. There was another Ardee quintet in the line-up: Jack Bell, Paddy Markey, Paddy McArdle, Dermot O’Brien and John Callan, with Kevin Beahan coming in for the All-Ireland semi-final defeat by Kerry, and his brother, Paddy, a second-half sub in the same game.

Again, the formbook was torn to shreds in the Joe Ward competition. Drogheda’s Noamh Mhuire, who would go on to win the trophy, turned Mary’s over to defy the odds.

In the momentous year of 1957, Dermot O’Brien, Jim Roe and Patsy Coleman were on the field for the All-Ireland defeat of Cork, and Barney McCoy and Aidan Magennis were in the subs. Kevin Behan was playing with the Seán McDermott’s team in Dublin at the time.

Beahan wasn’t included when Mary’s later that year made it to the county final, but there was still a very strong team on show for the Dundalk meeting with Oliver Plunkets, who were appearing at this stage for the first time. Result: Plunkets 3-3, Mary’s 1-6.

Many around Ardee believed at the time it was the intensive inter-county training their players had undergone that left them unable to give their best for the club.

Will it be like that this year? There are lots of the blue jersey supporters who are confident it won’t. We’ll see.