Reference was made on these sports pages last week to the late Stephen Melia and a desire to resurrect the seven-a-side football tournament that bore his name.
he competition was an excellent idea from the St Joseph’s and John Mitchel’s clubs when it was unveiled in 2016 and was very well-received by clubs, players and supporters from both inside and outside the county.
While the event honoured one of the counties greatest ever players, it also raised awareness of Motor Neurone Disaese and helped raise much needed funds for the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association. GAA Ard Stiurthoir Páraic Duffy was among the dignitaries who helped launch the tournament at a star-studded event in Darver where the late broadcasting legend, Jimmy Magee, spoke in glowing terms of Stephen’s contribution to the game.
Also present that evening was a large array of former team-mates, opponents, county board and club officials, supporters, and family and friends of the great man.
Although the inaugural tournament took place in mid-June, I seem to remember lots of wind and rain at both the Dromiskin and Darver venues. However, it didn't stop a huge crowd turning up, especially for the final stages in Cluskey Park. Along with several other has-beens, I dusted off the old Puma Kings myself and lined out with a Louth Past Players team in that first year and while it was hard on the body the following day, it was still, nonetheless, great fun.
A whopping 32 teams entered the 2016 competition where a strong Dreadnots outfit defeated a youthful Roche Emmets in the decider. The following year saw Cavan's Ramor United get the better of Wolfe Tones from Meath, but, unfortunately, that was the last staging of the event.
All indications are that we're now finally emerging from this long, 22-month Covid-interrupted tunnel and that things will slowly begin to return to normality, both in sport and everyday life. As was mentioned last week, it would be great to see the Stephen Melia sevens restored for 2022 to again honour his memory.
IN MEMORY OF STEPHEN
Like so many others, I was touched by the recent Late Late Show interview with retired news journalist Charlie Bird and his own battle with Motor Neurone Disease. He went public with his illness shortly before Christmas, but it was his TV chat with Ryan Tubridy earlier this month that struck a chord with me.
On Saturday, April 2, Charlie will climb Croagh Patrick in aid of the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association and Pieta House. The campaign is encouraging everyone to 'Climb with Charlie', meaning not just climbing physical mountains but getting through all the challenges of their daily lives.
While Charlie and his close friends and families embark on their climb on the weekend of April 2, the campaign encourages everyone all over Ireland to get behind his efforts and arrange their own climb in their local area with all the monies raised going to charity.
With that in mind, a few of Stephen's former county team-mates have come together to arrange a mountain walk in Cooley on that same weekend. For safety and first-aid reasons, our group size will be limited to just 50, but there's nothing to stop other players, clubs or groups from arranging something similar on that same weekend.
The 'Climb with Charlie' campaign is an excellent focal point and I'd encourage as many as possible to dust down the walking boots and get planning and organising some outdoor charity activity for the first weekend in April.
ON THE PITCH
The National Football League gets underway this weekend with Laois the visitors to Ardee on Sunday for a 2pm throw-in. While we struggled through our three-match O’Byrne Cup programme, Laois went the whole way to the final before succumbing to Dublin, 1-13 to 0-11, in Saturday’s decider in Carlow.
The Midlanders were level as the game entered the final quarter but the Dubs, again a mixture of new and experienced, finished strongly with Brian Fenton and Ciarán Kilkenny most prominent.
New Laois manager Billy Sheehan tried out 34 players en route to the final with just five starters from the team that lined out in last July's Leinster Championship defeat to Westmeath. It, therefore, looks like we'll see plenty of new faces on both starting XVs making their league debuts on Sunday.
As mentioned last week, I'm not sure whether the squad currently available to Mickey Harte is quite ready to compete for promotion to Division 2. Green shoots were evident during the O’Byrne Cup but, without some of those on the injury list, we look a few players shy of a real promotion push at the momemt.
That said you just never know how some of the younger players will respond to the step up in quality and I've been encouraged by what I've seen thus far. The luck of the draw dictates that we've just three home games out of the seven so a positive start is vital.
I expect it to be close and a draw, you know, wouldn't be the worst start to the campaign.