HISTORY OF ARDEE ST. MARYS GFC
From our modest beginnings in 1928 the club in its early years suffered some
lean times and several setbacks and if it wasn’t for the outstanding tenacity
of a small band of men headed by Bro. Robert the club might indeed have
folded. We owe so much to those men who laboured so hard in the early
days with precious little in the way of reward.
St. Marys contested their first senior chip final in 1937 but were beaten by
Wolfe tones. The following year they were back in the final again but were
beaten on a replay by then Louth kingpins Y Ireland’s. We reached the final
again in 1942 and the title was actually won on the field only to be lost in the
boardroom to an objection by opponents Gaels
However 1945 proved a milestone in the history of the club for that year an
amalgamation was formed with St. Dominick’s a club who at that time were
based in the north end of Ardee. The agreement for the amalgamation
basically was that the name St. Mary’s would be retained but the team would
play in the blue and white of the Dominick’s. The Mary’s original colours were
red and white hence the colour of our change strip to this day. This
amalgamation marked the beginning of the great years and this new St.
Marys would soon developed into one of the most powerful units of the
association in Louth. For the following year 1946 St. Marys won the first of
ten senior cships beating y.Ireland’s by three points. This heralded in the
greatest era for the club for between 1946 and 1960 St. Mary’s won six senior
cships seven cardinal o Donnell cups and three old Gaels cups. It was no
coincidence that this also coincided with Louth’s best years as during this
period Louth won four Leinster senior cships and if course brought home the
Sam Maguire in that never to be forgotten year of 1957.st.Marys contributing
six players to the squad.
Also in 1945 just as the Mary’s were on the rise due to bad drainage they had
to sell their pitch Ferdia park which was located on the eastern end of old
Dawson’s demesne. Money was very scarce but due to facilities afforded
them by the ulster bank a site on the Dundalk road was purchased from Mr.
jas roe for £750. However soon afterwards a ten acre site on the Drogheda Road
was put on the market by Mrs. Elizabeth Casey, Mr. roe graciously
released the club from the former sale and Mrs. Caseys land was purchased
for the grand sum of £1000 with a further £160 going to the land commission.
This of course is the site of our beautiful Pairc Mhuire today. Back in this time
of extreme recession in Ireland with limited opportunity for fund raising this
was a huge financial commitment by the club, many so called experts at the
time thought the Mary’s were completely bonkers and the committee en
masse should be committed to the newly opened St. Brigids mental hospital on
the Kells Rd. You might ask indeed how the Mary’s paid off the debt. Well they
took a chance and they brought the carnival to town and after some years of
successful carnivals, marquee dances and seven side tournaments the debt
was reduced to manageable proportions and eventually paid off
Around this time a famous but true story is told of a Sunday back in 1948.The
then county Board sec. Paddy Duffy arrived in Ardee to tell the Mary’s that
for one reason or another Louth were unable to field a team against Kildare
in a tournament final. Mr. Duffy left a set of Louth jerseys and departed with
the comment that we would give a good account of ourselves. He was right
as the Mary’s went down to Athy that Sunday and beat a strong Kildare team
in a great match. Highlight of the story was, that after hearing that the Louth
team that had just beaten them were made up entirely from Ardee St. Mary’s
at the after match meal the reaction of the entire Kildare team was to rise to
a man and give a standing ovation to the team that had just beaten them.
Sportsmanship of the highest order, chivalry was alive and well in those days.
After our senior cships success in 1960 we had a few lean years, but backed
by our four in a row minor winning teams 1964-1967 we reached the senior
final again in 1968 and beat St. fechins by a point in Drogheda. We reached
the final again in 1970 and 1971 losing out to Newtown blues and Cooley
Kickhams respectively. The following year 1972 the Mary’s came back very
determined not to lose three finals in a row and before a record crowd of
over six thousand in Dowdallshill beat Cooley by three points to avenge the
defeat of the previous year. We made it back to the final in 1975 a year that
saw the tragic death of player paddy rice, this I think made us more
determined than ever and in a pulsating replayed final in Drogheda beat
Cooley by six points in an eighth goal thriller. Our golden jubilee year 1978
saw us reach the final of all three senior competitions, however losing the
championship final to Cooley by a point only winning the ACC cup, final of
which wasn’t played until early 1979.
Again there followed some lean times and the unthinkable happened in 1983
when we were relegated to intermediate ranks. We had some consolation
that year winning the ACC cup. However we returned to senior in 1987 and
reached the cships final in 1989.but there was no repeat of 75 as Cooley beat
us in Drogheda. We were back in the final again in 93 but suffered defeat to a
strong clan’s team. Highlight of the early 90s was a resounding victory over
then senior Champions Stabannon in cardinal o Donnell final 1991.however
our young players were gaining experience all the time and it all came right in
1995 when beating St. Patrick’s in Dromiskin to land our first Joe ward in 20
years. We were back again in the final in 1997 only losing out to Stabannon in
a replay.
It would be six years before we reached the final again in 2003 having won
the o Donnell cup the previous year, we were quietly confident of beating
our opponents st. Pats, and as the game entered its final stage we seemed to
be in control with one hand on the cup only for it to be taken away by a last
gasp equaliser and we were beaten in replay the following sat. night. our
most recent senior cships final in 2016 is well documented and again we lost
a final which seemed to be ours for the taking. We had some consolation that
year by winning the ACC cup, our first senior trophy in 14 years.
Our beautiful Pairc Mhuire continues to look resplendent and it is a tribute to
our committees over the years for their work in enhancing facilities there,
improvements which indeed are ongoing. It is with great pleasure when
visiting Pairc Mhuire I always feel a surge of pride to see the huge amounts of
people who use our facilities, from our academy youngsters right up to our
seniors of course girls and ladies as well not to mention people who use our
facilities on a recreational and social basis, it brings home to you the huge
part St. Mary’s plays in the life of our community.
When charting the history of St. Mary’s our story would not be complete
without a mention of our old clubrooms in bridge St. now but a fond and
distant memory. One cannot underestimate how important a function these
premises played in lives of St. Mary’s players committees, members and
supporters in years gone by particularly in forties, fifties and sixties. This was
the meeting place; see you tonight in the club for a game of snooker, rings
table tennis or just to watch television, In fact apart from wright’s electrical
shop-front window the Mary’s club was the first place I ever watched
television. Special mention to Mr. Eddie mc Kenna long gone to his eternal
reward who actually willed the property to his beloved St. Mary’s.
