Inside Track: Clans have turned season around in smart fashion

The story of the Louth intermediate championship so far unquestionably centres on Clan na Gael. Only a matter of weeks ago, the team from Castletown were in the dumps, destined for junior league football next season.

The records were checked to see when this had last happened – they didn’t read well for a club that was not too long ago to the forefront in Louth football, and since then, campaigning in intermediate.

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There was still a chance all would not be lost in the 2025 season, however. The championship was to come, and one victory in the league section would be enough to almost guarantee some intermediate football next season.

But even that was a tall order. Alongside Clans in their section were Mattock Rangers and Kilkerley Emmets, two sides strongly fancied to go the whole way in the competition.

Victory over Emmets was a boost, but then came a trimming from Mattock, which left Clans hoping for Mattock would continue on their winning ways when they met Kilkerley. They did, booking their own place in the quarter-finals and throwing a lifeline to Clans.

There would, after all, be intermediate football for Clans next year, and also a chance it could be senior. That unlikely scenario is alive. Playing their first match in the knock-out section, Clans beat Glen Emmets, and are now through to the last four.

The semi-finals are coming up next weekend, and paired with the Dundalk side are Stabannon Parnells. The other tie brings Mattock Rangers and Hunterstown Rovers together, and here’s a clash that many will want to see.

It would be putting it mildly to say Stabannon’s quarter-final with Seán O’Mahnoys was a rough and tumble affair. It was much worse than that.

Having simmered throughout, the game reached boiling point coming towards the end with a scene borrowed from football’s darkest days.

Conall McKeever has taken all of his inter-county experience to bear in the Clans’ colours. It’s not without significance that he wasn’t on duty for the vast majority of his club’s league campaign, but in the championship has led by example.

Harry Butterly is making all the right moves for Stabannon. Aside from always being in the thick of things, he’s regularly featuring among the scorers, claiming eight points of all shapes and sizes, as it were, in the defeat of O’Mahony’s.

His colleague, Seán Reynolds, scored a late match-winning score in Louth’s League outing with Westmeath at the beginning of this year, which was marked down at the time as just another goal.

But when it came to the final count, it carried priceless value, Louth narrowly avoiding relegation. He’s another who could cause Clans bother.

There’ll be a hunger for a win in both camps. Stabannon are playing in their first intermediate final in 36 years, while Clans will be hoping to get the chance to atone for four final defeats in this competition in the past 14 years.

Senior championship football is the aim of Hunterstown and Mattock as well. Hunterstown, who played in this year’s senior league, went close to winning the intermediate title last season, only losing narrowly to Dundalk Gaels in a replayed final.

That will make Rovers all the more determined to go the whole way this time, but to get to the last round, they’ll have to come up with their very best.

After finishing second to Gaels in the league, Mattock have done no wrong, winning their three outings with some ease. Whichever side wins this one will know they’ve been in a game.