Not out of the woods yet : From Meath Year Book 2011
27 November 2011
Kilmainhamwood's objective in 2011 was obvious: to get back out of junior ranks at the first time of asking. However, despite demonstrating decent form for most of the year, the 'Wood failed to deliver their best form in the championship, the result being that they didn't progress beyond the group stage. It was disappointing, no doubt, but long-serving attacker Ray Magee is confident that the North Meath men will begin their climb back up through the grades sooner rather than later.
There is a feeling in the clubhouse that K'wood are punching below their weight at the moment. It's a hard one to dispute, in fairness, but the players know that they are where they are because of results. And results don't lie. The only talking that counts in gaelic football is that which takes place on the field of play. So next year Kilmainhamwood will be doubly determined to book their return to the middle rung. They thought they could do it in 2011 but learned the hard way that - even at junior level - championship football is championship football. There are very few easy games.
That's not to say there was any complacency in the club. But perhaps they appreciate better now the sheer enormity of the task ahead. They won't go back up to intermediate level just by playing good football. Consistency, spirit, determination and longevity must all be brought to the table in abundance. In many ways, the 'Wood are currently facing as big a challenge as they did in the mid-90s, when they were perennial challengers for the Keegan Cup and spent one season as lords of all they surveyed in the Royal County as well as contesting two more deciders.
Former county star Ray Magee - a key part of that 1996 Meath SFC-winning side - was disappointed with how 2011 panned out but saw enough in the team's general displays - particularly in defence - to suggest that they can mount a genuine challenge for the 2012 JFC: "We were very disappointed to go down junior at the end of 2010 and our aim was to go straight back up. We think intermediate is where we should be.
"We actually only lost one game in the championship this year. Defensively, we were very good but we didn't convert enough of our scoring opportunities. We missed too many chances and I was as guilty as anybody…
"We have to learn from these things and come back stronger next year. Hopefully the lads will all come back again and give it another go. I certainly think we should be up at intermediate. That's no disrespect to the junior teams - and we deserve to be down there at the moment - but we're good enough to play intermediate football. We're probably not strong enough for senior anymore, but I think we could hold our own at intermediate level. There are a lot of intermediate clubs around us and local pride is at stake - we'd like to be playing against them."
Kilmainhamwood were in Group One of the junior championship. They opened their account with a 1-8 to 0-10 victory over local rivals Drumconrath at Meath Hill on April 16th and then drew with Bective - 0-12 to 1-9 - at Nobber on April 29th. Things were still very much on course following a routine 1-16 to 0-6 win over Skryne at Rathkenny on May 16th, but the wheels came off the wagon when Navan O'Mahonys scored a 0-14 to 1-8 victory at Nobber on June 11th. The 'Wood closed out their campaign in what turned out to be a meaningless contest at against Moylagh at Ballinlough on Friday August 5th - another draw, 1-6 to 0-9. Two wins, two draws and one defeat meant a fourth-placed finish on the final group table, behind Moylagh, O'Mahonys and Bective. Kilmainhamwood would not be contesting the business end of the competition…
Ray Magee has no doubts about where the problems lay: "We weren't converting enough of our chances. The backs didn't concede a whole pile all year and we had plenty of possession in most of our matches. We played well all year apart from the championship. We only lost one game in the league, beating the likes of Ratoath and Athboy, and got to the semi-final of the Tailteann Cup."
The 'Wood beat Ratoath by 1-5 to 0-4 in their first-ever Tailteann Cup game in late May and also enjoyed a thumping 3-9 to 0-6 win over Ballivor to advance to the last eight. In their quarter-final, Steven Kiernan notched 2-5 as Clonard were beaten by 2-15 to 2-8 in Athboy on Thursday July 21st. The following team was on duty that evening: Damien Russell; D Dolan, S Russell, E Clarke (0-3); P Moran, M Shankey, P Barber; A Farrelly (0-1), F Owens; A Carolan, H Corbally (0-1), S Kiernan (2-5); R McGee (0-1), David Russell (0-4), K Shields. Subs: D Cunningham for D Dolan, S Mulligan for S Russell, R Madden for A Carolan.
In the semi-final K'Wood had home advantage against Bective. The 'Wood were two points ahead nearing full time but a couple of late points from the Navan side forced extra-time after which Bective prevailed by 0-16 to 1-12.
Hard to believe it's 15 years already since an exciting young Kilmainhamwood side won its first-ever county SFC, having been crowned intermediate champions only two seasons earlier (in 1994) and contested the SFC final in '95 (against Dunderry) and again in 2000 (against Dunshaughlin). K'wood finally lost their senior status in 2008 and reached the intermediate final in 2009 before falling to the bottom grade in 2010. There are still six survivors from that all-conquering 1996 team representing the village with distinction at junior level (Ray Magee, Francis Owens, Ray Madden, Aidan Crosbie, Shane Russell and Colm Gilcreest), but these are clearly different times, as the first-mentioned notes.
"When things were going well, a group of twelve to fifteen lads all came through at the same time and we were lucky to have experienced men like Brian Stafford, Martin Crosbie and Larry McCormack there to help us along. There aren't the same numbers coming through now. Other clubs seem to have greater numbers and we weren't strong enough for senior anymore - but we're convinced we can hold our own as an intermediate team. We got to the IFC final in 2009 [against Oldcastle] and lost a lot of games by a point in 2010. We ended up in a relegation play-off and it should never have come to that."
Kilmainhamwood followers will be glad to hear that Magee has no intention of putting the trusty left boot out to pasture just yet: "I still enjoy playing and I enjoy the craic with the lads. They all put in the effort and it's good to be involved. I'll be long enough not playing, so I'll try to keep going for another season anyway! I'd like to get out of junior before I retire. We always played intermediate and senior football in the past and I still believe we could be a strong intermediate team. We'd love to move up and show that we can hold our own here in North Meath."
"Martin Crosbie was over the team this year and he put in a huge effort. The whole thing was well organised and lads were on time for training throughout the year and everybody trained very hard. We played some great football in some of our games but unfortunately we didn't always put the scores on the board when it mattered. I wouldn't say it was pressure because a lot of these lads have played a lot of football and they should be used to pressure. Whatever caused it, it's definitely something we can fix next year. We weren't too far off. One or two points in each game would make a massive difference. We'll be pushing on again in 2012 and we believe we are good enough to compete for the junior championship this time."
In May, Kilmainhamwood officially opened their superb new facilities with a senior intercounty challenge between Meath and Longford. A total of EUR500, 000 was invested over seven years in the three-phase completion of the state-of-the-art facilities, which included drainage of the playing pitch along with a new perimeter fence; a new set of ball stoppers; a perimeter running track and new team dug-outs; a 25mX50m all-weather, fully-floodlit pitch; two new dressing rooms; a referee's changing room and full shower facilities. Development officer Frank Corbally project-managed the development and great help was received from club sponsor Gypsum Industries, the National Lottery, Leinster Council, Meath County Council, Thorntons Recycling and Glanbia (who provided the new digital scoreboard). The facilities are amongst the best in the Royal County and the club is debt-free.
Kilmainhamwood's objective in 2011 was obvious: to get back out of junior ranks at the first time of asking. However, despite demonstrating decent form for most of the year, the 'Wood failed to deliver their best form in the championship, the result being that they didn't progress beyond the group stage. It was disappointing, no doubt, but long-serving attacker Ray Magee is confident that the North Meath men will begin their climb back up through the grades sooner rather than later.
There is a feeling in the clubhouse that K'wood are punching below their weight at the moment. It's a hard one to dispute, in fairness, but the players know that they are where they are because of results. And results don't lie. The only talking that counts in gaelic football is that which takes place on the field of play. So next year Kilmainhamwood will be doubly determined to book their return to the middle rung. They thought they could do it in 2011 but learned the hard way that - even at junior level - championship football is championship football. There are very few easy games.
That's not to say there was any complacency in the club. But perhaps they appreciate better now the sheer enormity of the task ahead. They won't go back up to intermediate level just by playing good football. Consistency, spirit, determination and longevity must all be brought to the table in abundance. In many ways, the 'Wood are currently facing as big a challenge as they did in the mid-90s, when they were perennial challengers for the Keegan Cup and spent one season as lords of all they surveyed in the Royal County as well as contesting two more deciders.
Former county star Ray Magee - a key part of that 1996 Meath SFC-winning side - was disappointed with how 2011 panned out but saw enough in the team's general displays - particularly in defence - to suggest that they can mount a genuine challenge for the 2012 JFC: "We were very disappointed to go down junior at the end of 2010 and our aim was to go straight back up. We think intermediate is where we should be.
"We actually only lost one game in the championship this year. Defensively, we were very good but we didn't convert enough of our scoring opportunities. We missed too many chances and I was as guilty as anybody…
"We have to learn from these things and come back stronger next year. Hopefully the lads will all come back again and give it another go. I certainly think we should be up at intermediate. That's no disrespect to the junior teams - and we deserve to be down there at the moment - but we're good enough to play intermediate football. We're probably not strong enough for senior anymore, but I think we could hold our own at intermediate level. There are a lot of intermediate clubs around us and local pride is at stake - we'd like to be playing against them."
Kilmainhamwood were in Group One of the junior championship. They opened their account with a 1-8 to 0-10 victory over local rivals Drumconrath at Meath Hill on April 16th and then drew with Bective - 0-12 to 1-9 - at Nobber on April 29th. Things were still very much on course following a routine 1-16 to 0-6 win over Skryne at Rathkenny on May 16th, but the wheels came off the wagon when Navan O'Mahonys scored a 0-14 to 1-8 victory at Nobber on June 11th. The 'Wood closed out their campaign in what turned out to be a meaningless contest at against Moylagh at Ballinlough on Friday August 5th - another draw, 1-6 to 0-9. Two wins, two draws and one defeat meant a fourth-placed finish on the final group table, behind Moylagh, O'Mahonys and Bective. Kilmainhamwood would not be contesting the business end of the competition…
Ray Magee has no doubts about where the problems lay: "We weren't converting enough of our chances. The backs didn't concede a whole pile all year and we had plenty of possession in most of our matches. We played well all year apart from the championship. We only lost one game in the league, beating the likes of Ratoath and Athboy, and got to the semi-final of the Tailteann Cup."
The 'Wood beat Ratoath by 1-5 to 0-4 in their first-ever Tailteann Cup game in late May and also enjoyed a thumping 3-9 to 0-6 win over Ballivor to advance to the last eight. In their quarter-final, Steven Kiernan notched 2-5 as Clonard were beaten by 2-15 to 2-8 in Athboy on Thursday July 21st. The following team was on duty that evening: Damien Russell; D Dolan, S Russell, E Clarke (0-3); P Moran, M Shankey, P Barber; A Farrelly (0-1), F Owens; A Carolan, H Corbally (0-1), S Kiernan (2-5); R McGee (0-1), David Russell (0-4), K Shields. Subs: D Cunningham for D Dolan, S Mulligan for S Russell, R Madden for A Carolan.
In the semi-final K'Wood had home advantage against Bective. The 'Wood were two points ahead nearing full time but a couple of late points from the Navan side forced extra-time after which Bective prevailed by 0-16 to 1-12.
Hard to believe it's 15 years already since an exciting young Kilmainhamwood side won its first-ever county SFC, having been crowned intermediate champions only two seasons earlier (in 1994) and contested the SFC final in '95 (against Dunderry) and again in 2000 (against Dunshaughlin). K'wood finally lost their senior status in 2008 and reached the intermediate final in 2009 before falling to the bottom grade in 2010. There are still six survivors from that all-conquering 1996 team representing the village with distinction at junior level (Ray Magee, Francis Owens, Ray Madden, Aidan Crosbie, Shane Russell and Colm Gilcreest), but these are clearly different times, as the first-mentioned notes.
"When things were going well, a group of twelve to fifteen lads all came through at the same time and we were lucky to have experienced men like Brian Stafford, Martin Crosbie and Larry McCormack there to help us along. There aren't the same numbers coming through now. Other clubs seem to have greater numbers and we weren't strong enough for senior anymore - but we're convinced we can hold our own as an intermediate team. We got to the IFC final in 2009 [against Oldcastle] and lost a lot of games by a point in 2010. We ended up in a relegation play-off and it should never have come to that."
Kilmainhamwood followers will be glad to hear that Magee has no intention of putting the trusty left boot out to pasture just yet: "I still enjoy playing and I enjoy the craic with the lads. They all put in the effort and it's good to be involved. I'll be long enough not playing, so I'll try to keep going for another season anyway! I'd like to get out of junior before I retire. We always played intermediate and senior football in the past and I still believe we could be a strong intermediate team. We'd love to move up and show that we can hold our own here in North Meath."
"Martin Crosbie was over the team this year and he put in a huge effort. The whole thing was well organised and lads were on time for training throughout the year and everybody trained very hard. We played some great football in some of our games but unfortunately we didn't always put the scores on the board when it mattered. I wouldn't say it was pressure because a lot of these lads have played a lot of football and they should be used to pressure. Whatever caused it, it's definitely something we can fix next year. We weren't too far off. One or two points in each game would make a massive difference. We'll be pushing on again in 2012 and we believe we are good enough to compete for the junior championship this time."
In May, Kilmainhamwood officially opened their superb new facilities with a senior intercounty challenge between Meath and Longford. A total of EUR500, 000 was invested over seven years in the three-phase completion of the state-of-the-art facilities, which included drainage of the playing pitch along with a new perimeter fence; a new set of ball stoppers; a perimeter running track and new team dug-outs; a 25mX50m all-weather, fully-floodlit pitch; two new dressing rooms; a referee's changing room and full shower facilities. Development officer Frank Corbally project-managed the development and great help was received from club sponsor Gypsum Industries, the National Lottery, Leinster Council, Meath County Council, Thorntons Recycling and Glanbia (who provided the new digital scoreboard). The facilities are amongst the best in the Royal County and the club is debt-free.
Time to regroup for Kilmainhamwood : From Meath Year Book 2010
27 November 2010
Less than a year after being one step away from making an instant return to the senior ranks Kilmainhamwood suffered the bitter disappointment of enduring a second relegation in the space of three seasons when they surrendered their intermediate status in 2010.
The 'Wood battled valiantly to hold onto their place in the top flight over several years, winning relegation shootouts against Ballivor (2003), Dunderry (2005), Cortown (2006) and Ballinlough (2007), but they finally bowed to the pressure in 2008 when Rathkenny sent them back to the intermediate grade from where they had emerged in 1994. But what a great effort they made to get back into the senior grade last year when they reached the intermediate final, only to be blown away by Oldcastle who were hugely impressive winners of the title.
Kilmainhamwood's greatest day came in 1996 when they won their one and only senior championship title, but a decade and a half later they will be playing their football in the junior ranks after enduring a very difficult intermediate campaign this year which culminated in a defeat against Clann na nGael in the last of the relegation round robin matches.
They had a new man at the helm this year, with Dan Breen taking over from former Navan O'Mahonys' player Colm Kane. However, Jody Devine took over the training of the panel during the group stages when he was finished with the Meath juniors. Henry Corbally and Noel Shankey acted as selectors and when the intermediate championship draw was made in the spring one match really stood out in group A - a repeat of last year's semi-final in which the 'Wood beat neighbours Nobber after extra-time.
This time Nobber got some measure of revenge when they won the first round meeting at Meath Hill by 1-14 to 0-10. Davy Cahill's team was to take the competition by storm and they made a productive start to this game by scoring the first three points, before Padraig Owens, Harry Corbally and Stephen Kiernan replied for the 'Wood. Nobber assumed control again and were ahead by 0-10 to 0-6 at the interval, before pushing clear by six points. Scores from Michael Shankey and David Russell kept Kilmainhamwood in touch and they were unlucky when Alan Carolan hit the crossbar, but Nobber made sure of victory with a late goal as it finished comfortable for them.
Kilmainhamwood had a bye in the second round, but suffered another defeat in their next match when going under by 0-8 to 0-15 to Carnaross at Kells. It meant they had lost to the two teams which would eventually go on to contest the final in the autumn. Carnaross never trailed and led by 0-5 to 0-1 during the first half, but Kilmainhamwood battled back well to be on level terms (0-7 each) at the break. However, they managed to add only one point in the second period, deep into injury time, as Carnaross eased clear to win by seven points.
When a third successive defeat followed against St Colmcille's, who won by 1-12 to 1-10 at Kilberry, the alarm bells were really starting to sound and it meant enormous importance was attached to the fifth round meeting with fellow strugglers Moynalvey, also at Kilberry. Going into that match the men from the south of the county had two points in the bag and that soon became four. Kilmainhamwood led by 0-7 to 0-6 at the interval, but Mark O'Sullivan levelled for Moynalvey on the restart. The 'Wood eased three points clear, but Moynalvey upped the tempo and boosted by a Ray Ryan goal they gained the upper hand. Ray Magee, who top scored with 1-3, hit back with a goal at the other end, but it wasn't enough.
When the final whistle sounded Moynalvey were the minimum in front at 1-13 to 1-12 and were safe, but the horrible reality for Kilmainhamwood was that they were pointless at the foot of the section and would have to battle for survival in a round robin series which also involved Castletown and Clann na nGael.
It looked like advantage Kilmainhamwood in the survival stakes when they won the first relegation play-off against Castletown at Nobber where they goaled three times in the opening half and eventually won by four points (3-10 to 1-12). Magee scored two of those goals and Stephen Kiernan notched the other, but they still led by only two points (3-3 to 1-7) at the change of ends. The introduction of Colm Gilcreest for the second half proved a prudent move and he contributed three points which helped them secure victory.
Magee was again Kilmainhamwood's leading marksman with 2-3, while Kiernan tallied 1-3, and what they wanted after that success was for Clann na nGael to inflict another defeat on Castletown in the second relegation match and consign them to a place back in the junior championship.
But when Castletown defeated the Athboy/An Gaeltacht combination by 4-6 to 0-10 it meant the battle for safety would go into a third match and what a costly one it proved to be for Kilmainhamwood. They were hot favourites to survive because Clann na nGael needed to beat them by at least seven points at Carlanstown. Amazingly, they won by eight (1-13 to 0-8). All three teams in the relegation scrap had achieved one victory, but the 'Wood had the worst scoring average and were demoted. Clann na nGael led by only a point (0-6 to 0-5) at the interval, but they pushed clear in the second half when the 'Wood added only three points to their tally. Magee top-scored with five points, Kieran notched two and Harry Corbally got the other.
To say it was disappointing would be a great understatement. A decade earlier Kilmainhamwood had contested the senior championship final against Dunshaughlin and now they were facing up to the reality that they would be playing their football in the junior ranks in 2011.
Francie Owens is one of the longest serving, if not the longest serving, club secretaries in the county. He has witnessed good times and not so good in his 36 or 37 years in the position, with 1996 being the greatest when the Keegan Cup took up residence in Kilmainhamwood. "That was an amazing year for the club," he said. "We won the Senior Championship, the Feis Cup and the League and also won the Club of the Year Award. We had a great group of players who had won championships from under-12 and 14 upwards. I had two sons playing at the highest level which made it extra special." But there was a dramatic contrast in Kilmainhamwood's fortunes this year when the almost unthinkable happened. "Paudie Owens and Paddy Carolan went to Australia and were big losses to us," Francie added. "Stephen Smith injured his groin in a league game against Ratoath before the final relegation play-off against Clann na nGael. We started him in that game, but it flared up again and we had to take him off after 10 minutes. "I think a big problem this year was not getting an established trainer in from the start of the year. We are an ageing team with no youth coming on. That's a huge problem for us. I also don't think we were fit enough this year and there's a huge emphasis on fitness in the game today.
"Losing to Nobber in the first game wasn't a good start to the championship. We were poor that day and that defeat set in motion a bad group campaign. We never won a game in the group. We had another poor performance against Carnaross. We improved a bit after that and lost the other two games narrowly against St Colmcille's and Moynalvey."
After finishing bottom of their section Kilmainhamwood had to set their sights on survival as they went into the dreaded relegation battle with the other basement teams in the sections, Castletown and Clann na nGael. Their round robin series commenced with a game against Castletown which went well and made them favourites to stay up. "We had a very good win over Castletown in the first relegation play off, but that left us with a false impression that we were safe," Francie said. "We beat them by four points. We were in a great position, though we thought Clann na nGael might beat Castletown as well. But Castletown beat them by eight points. "Clann na nGael had to beat us by seven points and they won by eight. There had been a poor response to training between the two play-offs and when Castletown beat Clann na nGael it panicked us into one training session. "The realisation that we were going down to junior level for the first time in 53 years was terribly disappointing. People who had been involved with the club over many years couldn't believe it. I believe we can resurrect ourselves, but it will take years."
Kilmainhamwood aren't the first club in the county to suffer a dramatic slide and they won't be the last. It's now a matter of regrouping in the hope that they can experience better times again.
Less than a year after being one step away from making an instant return to the senior ranks Kilmainhamwood suffered the bitter disappointment of enduring a second relegation in the space of three seasons when they surrendered their intermediate status in 2010.
The 'Wood battled valiantly to hold onto their place in the top flight over several years, winning relegation shootouts against Ballivor (2003), Dunderry (2005), Cortown (2006) and Ballinlough (2007), but they finally bowed to the pressure in 2008 when Rathkenny sent them back to the intermediate grade from where they had emerged in 1994. But what a great effort they made to get back into the senior grade last year when they reached the intermediate final, only to be blown away by Oldcastle who were hugely impressive winners of the title.
Kilmainhamwood's greatest day came in 1996 when they won their one and only senior championship title, but a decade and a half later they will be playing their football in the junior ranks after enduring a very difficult intermediate campaign this year which culminated in a defeat against Clann na nGael in the last of the relegation round robin matches.
They had a new man at the helm this year, with Dan Breen taking over from former Navan O'Mahonys' player Colm Kane. However, Jody Devine took over the training of the panel during the group stages when he was finished with the Meath juniors. Henry Corbally and Noel Shankey acted as selectors and when the intermediate championship draw was made in the spring one match really stood out in group A - a repeat of last year's semi-final in which the 'Wood beat neighbours Nobber after extra-time.
This time Nobber got some measure of revenge when they won the first round meeting at Meath Hill by 1-14 to 0-10. Davy Cahill's team was to take the competition by storm and they made a productive start to this game by scoring the first three points, before Padraig Owens, Harry Corbally and Stephen Kiernan replied for the 'Wood. Nobber assumed control again and were ahead by 0-10 to 0-6 at the interval, before pushing clear by six points. Scores from Michael Shankey and David Russell kept Kilmainhamwood in touch and they were unlucky when Alan Carolan hit the crossbar, but Nobber made sure of victory with a late goal as it finished comfortable for them.
Kilmainhamwood had a bye in the second round, but suffered another defeat in their next match when going under by 0-8 to 0-15 to Carnaross at Kells. It meant they had lost to the two teams which would eventually go on to contest the final in the autumn. Carnaross never trailed and led by 0-5 to 0-1 during the first half, but Kilmainhamwood battled back well to be on level terms (0-7 each) at the break. However, they managed to add only one point in the second period, deep into injury time, as Carnaross eased clear to win by seven points.
When a third successive defeat followed against St Colmcille's, who won by 1-12 to 1-10 at Kilberry, the alarm bells were really starting to sound and it meant enormous importance was attached to the fifth round meeting with fellow strugglers Moynalvey, also at Kilberry. Going into that match the men from the south of the county had two points in the bag and that soon became four. Kilmainhamwood led by 0-7 to 0-6 at the interval, but Mark O'Sullivan levelled for Moynalvey on the restart. The 'Wood eased three points clear, but Moynalvey upped the tempo and boosted by a Ray Ryan goal they gained the upper hand. Ray Magee, who top scored with 1-3, hit back with a goal at the other end, but it wasn't enough.
When the final whistle sounded Moynalvey were the minimum in front at 1-13 to 1-12 and were safe, but the horrible reality for Kilmainhamwood was that they were pointless at the foot of the section and would have to battle for survival in a round robin series which also involved Castletown and Clann na nGael.
It looked like advantage Kilmainhamwood in the survival stakes when they won the first relegation play-off against Castletown at Nobber where they goaled three times in the opening half and eventually won by four points (3-10 to 1-12). Magee scored two of those goals and Stephen Kiernan notched the other, but they still led by only two points (3-3 to 1-7) at the change of ends. The introduction of Colm Gilcreest for the second half proved a prudent move and he contributed three points which helped them secure victory.
Magee was again Kilmainhamwood's leading marksman with 2-3, while Kiernan tallied 1-3, and what they wanted after that success was for Clann na nGael to inflict another defeat on Castletown in the second relegation match and consign them to a place back in the junior championship.
But when Castletown defeated the Athboy/An Gaeltacht combination by 4-6 to 0-10 it meant the battle for safety would go into a third match and what a costly one it proved to be for Kilmainhamwood. They were hot favourites to survive because Clann na nGael needed to beat them by at least seven points at Carlanstown. Amazingly, they won by eight (1-13 to 0-8). All three teams in the relegation scrap had achieved one victory, but the 'Wood had the worst scoring average and were demoted. Clann na nGael led by only a point (0-6 to 0-5) at the interval, but they pushed clear in the second half when the 'Wood added only three points to their tally. Magee top-scored with five points, Kieran notched two and Harry Corbally got the other.
To say it was disappointing would be a great understatement. A decade earlier Kilmainhamwood had contested the senior championship final against Dunshaughlin and now they were facing up to the reality that they would be playing their football in the junior ranks in 2011.
Francie Owens is one of the longest serving, if not the longest serving, club secretaries in the county. He has witnessed good times and not so good in his 36 or 37 years in the position, with 1996 being the greatest when the Keegan Cup took up residence in Kilmainhamwood. "That was an amazing year for the club," he said. "We won the Senior Championship, the Feis Cup and the League and also won the Club of the Year Award. We had a great group of players who had won championships from under-12 and 14 upwards. I had two sons playing at the highest level which made it extra special." But there was a dramatic contrast in Kilmainhamwood's fortunes this year when the almost unthinkable happened. "Paudie Owens and Paddy Carolan went to Australia and were big losses to us," Francie added. "Stephen Smith injured his groin in a league game against Ratoath before the final relegation play-off against Clann na nGael. We started him in that game, but it flared up again and we had to take him off after 10 minutes. "I think a big problem this year was not getting an established trainer in from the start of the year. We are an ageing team with no youth coming on. That's a huge problem for us. I also don't think we were fit enough this year and there's a huge emphasis on fitness in the game today.
"Losing to Nobber in the first game wasn't a good start to the championship. We were poor that day and that defeat set in motion a bad group campaign. We never won a game in the group. We had another poor performance against Carnaross. We improved a bit after that and lost the other two games narrowly against St Colmcille's and Moynalvey."
After finishing bottom of their section Kilmainhamwood had to set their sights on survival as they went into the dreaded relegation battle with the other basement teams in the sections, Castletown and Clann na nGael. Their round robin series commenced with a game against Castletown which went well and made them favourites to stay up. "We had a very good win over Castletown in the first relegation play off, but that left us with a false impression that we were safe," Francie said. "We beat them by four points. We were in a great position, though we thought Clann na nGael might beat Castletown as well. But Castletown beat them by eight points. "Clann na nGael had to beat us by seven points and they won by eight. There had been a poor response to training between the two play-offs and when Castletown beat Clann na nGael it panicked us into one training session. "The realisation that we were going down to junior level for the first time in 53 years was terribly disappointing. People who had been involved with the club over many years couldn't believe it. I believe we can resurrect ourselves, but it will take years."
Kilmainhamwood aren't the first club in the county to suffer a dramatic slide and they won't be the last. It's now a matter of regrouping in the hope that they can experience better times again.
The 'Wood rediscover their strength : From Meath Year Book 2009
30 November 2009
When Kilmainhamwood's stubborn resistance was finally broken last year and they surrendered their senior status, few could have expected that they would mount such a serious challenge in their pursuit of an immediate return to the top flight in 2009.
The campaign ended in bitter disappointment when they were well beaten by a hugely impressive Oldcastle team in the Intermediate Championship final in late October, but they demonstrated typical Kilmainhamwood tenacity and grit to get that far under the guidance of former Navan O'Mahonys' player Colm Kane.
For years Kilmainhamwood diced with death in the Senior Championship, contesting more relegation play-offs than was good for their health, and the inevitable happened last year when they lost the shootout to Rathkenny. To put it mildly, their life in the senior ranks had been eventful, highlighted by outright success in 1996.
But this year it was back to the Intermediate Championship, 15 years after they had won it, and they were drawn in group B along with two teams they had beaten in relegation finals - Cortown (2006) and Ballinlough (2007) - as well as Castletown and last year's junior champions Moynalvey.
Their opening round game against Ballinlough at Carnaross was a meeting of the previous two relegated sides and Kilmainhamwood secured a draw (1-9 each) thanks to an injury time pointed free from Andy Farrelly. This was a hugely entertaining match and a Colm Gilcreest goal helped the 'Wood lead by 1-3 to 0-2 during the first half.
Peadar Byrne struck back with a goal for Ballinlough and Kilmainhamwood's advantage was down to the minimum (1-4 to 1-3) at the break. When Ballinlough pushed ahead by 1-9 to 1-5 they looked set for a winning start, but Kane's team responded well and reeled off the last four points to secure a share of the spoils.
Kilmainhamwood used wind advantage to open up a 0-8 to 0-2 interval lead in the second round against Cortown at Castletown and they did enough subsequently to earn a comfortable 0-11 to 0-6 victory ahead of their third round meeting with Moynalvey at Pairc Tailteann.
David Russell scored an early goal for Kilmainhamwood and they were five points clear after eight minutes. Cathal Sheridan inspired a Moynalvey recovery, but he was wide from a penalty and Michael Shankey scored a second goal to help the 'Wood lead by 2-3 to 0-4 at the change of ends.
They stretched their advantage, but Moynalvey came storming back and eventually secured a draw (0-11 to 2-5) thanks to a superbly struck Sheridan '45'. Five days later Kilmainhamwood drew again, this time against Castletown at Drumconrath where it finished 1-9 each.
When Castletown led by 1-4 to 0-3 at the interval Kilmainhamwood looked to be in danger of elimination, but they rallied and it took a late goal from Ray Magee to earn a share of the spoils which enabled them to top the group and book a quarter-final place. Castletown, on the other hand, were consigned to the relegation dogfight.
Carnaross provided the setting for the last eight showdown against St Michael's, also coached by a former Navan O'Mahonys' player in Donal Smyth, and Kilmainhamwood were looking good at the break when they led by 1-6 to 0-4 after Stephen Kiernan had scored their goal. Their advantage was down to 1-7 to 0-7 with eight minutes remaining, but they upped the tempo again and points from Francis and Padraig Owens helped them over the finish line on a 1-10 to 0-8 score line.
Stephen Kiernan came to Kilmainhamwood's rescue twice in their semi-final against neighbours Nobber which finished level after extra-time at Pairc Tailteann. Nobber led by 0-6 to 0-4 at the interval in normal time, but a Magee goal from a penalty after the restart helped the 'Wood edge ahead by 1-6 to 0-6 at the three-quarter stage.
Nobber came back and were on the verge of booking a final spot when Kiernan slotted over a superbly struck free to leave the sides level (1-7 to 0-10). Inspired by Brian Farrell, Nobber opened up a 0-13 to 1-8 lead midway through extra-time and he pushed them clear by 0-15 to 1-8 two minutes into the second period.
But, typical of Kilmainhamwood's spirit, they came storming back with points from Magee, Aidan Crosbie and a brace from saviour Kiernan to force a draw. Goalkeeper Michael Clarke was another hero as he produced two vital saves which prevented Farrell from scoring goals. It finished 1-12 to 0-15.
Kiernan's 19th minute goal was the difference between the sides when Kilmainhamwood won the replay by 1-15 to 0-15, also at Pairc Tailteann. He got 1-4 from play overall in a superb match and his goal helped the 'Wood to lead by 1-7 to 0-4. They extended their advantage to eight points by the 27th minute and were six ahead (1-9 to 0-6) at the interval.
With wind advantage Nobber battled back well and had cut the gap to the minimum (0-12 to 1-10) by the 42nd minute. Kilmainhamwood suffered a big blow when influential full-back Stephen Smith retired injured, but it said a lot for their character that they won the remainder by 0-5 to 0-3 to secure their place in the final.
Oldcastle had demonstrated remarkable improvement this year under coach Seamus Kiernan and they were far too strong for Kilmainhamwood in the final which was played on the October Bank Holiday Monday, winning by 2-11 to 0-6.
Their generally younger legs proved too speedy for Kilmainhamwood and they demonstrated their intent from the word go. By the time Magee got the 'Wood off the mark with a point from a 12th minute free Oldcastle had scored four and their energy and ball work suggested this was going to be their day.
Oldcastle took some fine points and when they were awarded a penalty Ray Madden went into goal for Kilmainhamwood, but Paddy Gilsenan beat him with ease. By half-time they were clear at 1-8 to 0-2 and the 'Wood were never able to mount a serious revival bid. Nicky Galligan added a second goal in the 48th minute and it was all over bar the shouting.
It was a very disappointing end to the campaign for Kilmainhamwood on a day when only three players scored, Magee with three points, Kiernan with two and substitute Colm Gilcreest with one.
Francis Owens is one of Kilmainhamwood's longest serving players and was a wing-back on the team which won the 1994 IFC and at midfield on the side which claimed an historic SFC success in 1996. He also tasted defeat in senior finals, against Dunderry in 1995 and Dunshaughlin in 2000.
Was he surprised that Kilmainhawood made such progress in their first year back in the intermediate ranks?
"We weren't sure if the young lads would step up to the mark this year, but they did," he said. "At the end of the day some older lads had too much mileage on the clock. We need more young players to come through."
Kilmainhamwood achieved only one victory in the group stages but, significantly, they remained unbeaten.
"We drew three games in the group against Ballinlough, Moynalvey and Castletown and beat Cortown, but we didn't lose any," he added. "We had started the year well in the league, but then picked up a few injuries. It was good to go through the group unbeaten. It gave us belief. I think that stood to us later on against Nobber because we knew we could keep coming back."
With the group campaign over the real adventure was only beginning for Kilmainhamwood.
"We beat St Michael's well in the quarter-final," Francis said. "That was our first good win of the year. We were struggling to get a win in the league or challenge games and it was a big boost to win that one before we played Nobber in the semi-final."
Stephen Kiernan was an undoubted star of the two matches against Nobber, scoring vital points to rescue Kilmainhamwood the first day and contributing 1-4 from play in the replay.
"Stephen is a class act when he's in form," Francis added. "They were real pressure kicks the first day against Nobber, but he stood up to the plate. He scored some terrific points which were crucial in getting us a draw.
"But we were gutted with the way we played that day. We sat down and talked about it. We knew we had to stand up and be counted. We wanted a good start in the replay and we got it. We built up a good lead, but they came back at us. It looked dodgy at one stage, but when we needed scores near the end Stephen stood up to it.
"The final was a disaster for us. Oldcastle were flying. We couldn't get the ball off them, couldn't get a stranglehold. Youth won it for them; they had the legs, the speed, the ball work. They played very well.
"Hopefully, our young lads will learn from the whole experience. We have some very good young players, but we need more of them coming through. We had a lot of players over the 30 mark this year."
The Kilmainhamwood team in the final was: M Clarke; P Barber, S Smith, D Cunningham; P Moran, S Mulligan, M Shankey; A Farrelly, R Madden; P Owens, F Owens, H Corbally; D Russell, R Magee (0-3), S Kiernan (0-2). Subs - C Gilcreest (0-1) for Corbally, A Crosbie for Russell, L Shankey for P Owens
When Kilmainhamwood's stubborn resistance was finally broken last year and they surrendered their senior status, few could have expected that they would mount such a serious challenge in their pursuit of an immediate return to the top flight in 2009.
The campaign ended in bitter disappointment when they were well beaten by a hugely impressive Oldcastle team in the Intermediate Championship final in late October, but they demonstrated typical Kilmainhamwood tenacity and grit to get that far under the guidance of former Navan O'Mahonys' player Colm Kane.
For years Kilmainhamwood diced with death in the Senior Championship, contesting more relegation play-offs than was good for their health, and the inevitable happened last year when they lost the shootout to Rathkenny. To put it mildly, their life in the senior ranks had been eventful, highlighted by outright success in 1996.
But this year it was back to the Intermediate Championship, 15 years after they had won it, and they were drawn in group B along with two teams they had beaten in relegation finals - Cortown (2006) and Ballinlough (2007) - as well as Castletown and last year's junior champions Moynalvey.
Their opening round game against Ballinlough at Carnaross was a meeting of the previous two relegated sides and Kilmainhamwood secured a draw (1-9 each) thanks to an injury time pointed free from Andy Farrelly. This was a hugely entertaining match and a Colm Gilcreest goal helped the 'Wood lead by 1-3 to 0-2 during the first half.
Peadar Byrne struck back with a goal for Ballinlough and Kilmainhamwood's advantage was down to the minimum (1-4 to 1-3) at the break. When Ballinlough pushed ahead by 1-9 to 1-5 they looked set for a winning start, but Kane's team responded well and reeled off the last four points to secure a share of the spoils.
Kilmainhamwood used wind advantage to open up a 0-8 to 0-2 interval lead in the second round against Cortown at Castletown and they did enough subsequently to earn a comfortable 0-11 to 0-6 victory ahead of their third round meeting with Moynalvey at Pairc Tailteann.
David Russell scored an early goal for Kilmainhamwood and they were five points clear after eight minutes. Cathal Sheridan inspired a Moynalvey recovery, but he was wide from a penalty and Michael Shankey scored a second goal to help the 'Wood lead by 2-3 to 0-4 at the change of ends.
They stretched their advantage, but Moynalvey came storming back and eventually secured a draw (0-11 to 2-5) thanks to a superbly struck Sheridan '45'. Five days later Kilmainhamwood drew again, this time against Castletown at Drumconrath where it finished 1-9 each.
When Castletown led by 1-4 to 0-3 at the interval Kilmainhamwood looked to be in danger of elimination, but they rallied and it took a late goal from Ray Magee to earn a share of the spoils which enabled them to top the group and book a quarter-final place. Castletown, on the other hand, were consigned to the relegation dogfight.
Carnaross provided the setting for the last eight showdown against St Michael's, also coached by a former Navan O'Mahonys' player in Donal Smyth, and Kilmainhamwood were looking good at the break when they led by 1-6 to 0-4 after Stephen Kiernan had scored their goal. Their advantage was down to 1-7 to 0-7 with eight minutes remaining, but they upped the tempo again and points from Francis and Padraig Owens helped them over the finish line on a 1-10 to 0-8 score line.
Stephen Kiernan came to Kilmainhamwood's rescue twice in their semi-final against neighbours Nobber which finished level after extra-time at Pairc Tailteann. Nobber led by 0-6 to 0-4 at the interval in normal time, but a Magee goal from a penalty after the restart helped the 'Wood edge ahead by 1-6 to 0-6 at the three-quarter stage.
Nobber came back and were on the verge of booking a final spot when Kiernan slotted over a superbly struck free to leave the sides level (1-7 to 0-10). Inspired by Brian Farrell, Nobber opened up a 0-13 to 1-8 lead midway through extra-time and he pushed them clear by 0-15 to 1-8 two minutes into the second period.
But, typical of Kilmainhamwood's spirit, they came storming back with points from Magee, Aidan Crosbie and a brace from saviour Kiernan to force a draw. Goalkeeper Michael Clarke was another hero as he produced two vital saves which prevented Farrell from scoring goals. It finished 1-12 to 0-15.
Kiernan's 19th minute goal was the difference between the sides when Kilmainhamwood won the replay by 1-15 to 0-15, also at Pairc Tailteann. He got 1-4 from play overall in a superb match and his goal helped the 'Wood to lead by 1-7 to 0-4. They extended their advantage to eight points by the 27th minute and were six ahead (1-9 to 0-6) at the interval.
With wind advantage Nobber battled back well and had cut the gap to the minimum (0-12 to 1-10) by the 42nd minute. Kilmainhamwood suffered a big blow when influential full-back Stephen Smith retired injured, but it said a lot for their character that they won the remainder by 0-5 to 0-3 to secure their place in the final.
Oldcastle had demonstrated remarkable improvement this year under coach Seamus Kiernan and they were far too strong for Kilmainhamwood in the final which was played on the October Bank Holiday Monday, winning by 2-11 to 0-6.
Their generally younger legs proved too speedy for Kilmainhamwood and they demonstrated their intent from the word go. By the time Magee got the 'Wood off the mark with a point from a 12th minute free Oldcastle had scored four and their energy and ball work suggested this was going to be their day.
Oldcastle took some fine points and when they were awarded a penalty Ray Madden went into goal for Kilmainhamwood, but Paddy Gilsenan beat him with ease. By half-time they were clear at 1-8 to 0-2 and the 'Wood were never able to mount a serious revival bid. Nicky Galligan added a second goal in the 48th minute and it was all over bar the shouting.
It was a very disappointing end to the campaign for Kilmainhamwood on a day when only three players scored, Magee with three points, Kiernan with two and substitute Colm Gilcreest with one.
Francis Owens is one of Kilmainhamwood's longest serving players and was a wing-back on the team which won the 1994 IFC and at midfield on the side which claimed an historic SFC success in 1996. He also tasted defeat in senior finals, against Dunderry in 1995 and Dunshaughlin in 2000.
Was he surprised that Kilmainhawood made such progress in their first year back in the intermediate ranks?
"We weren't sure if the young lads would step up to the mark this year, but they did," he said. "At the end of the day some older lads had too much mileage on the clock. We need more young players to come through."
Kilmainhamwood achieved only one victory in the group stages but, significantly, they remained unbeaten.
"We drew three games in the group against Ballinlough, Moynalvey and Castletown and beat Cortown, but we didn't lose any," he added. "We had started the year well in the league, but then picked up a few injuries. It was good to go through the group unbeaten. It gave us belief. I think that stood to us later on against Nobber because we knew we could keep coming back."
With the group campaign over the real adventure was only beginning for Kilmainhamwood.
"We beat St Michael's well in the quarter-final," Francis said. "That was our first good win of the year. We were struggling to get a win in the league or challenge games and it was a big boost to win that one before we played Nobber in the semi-final."
Stephen Kiernan was an undoubted star of the two matches against Nobber, scoring vital points to rescue Kilmainhamwood the first day and contributing 1-4 from play in the replay.
"Stephen is a class act when he's in form," Francis added. "They were real pressure kicks the first day against Nobber, but he stood up to the plate. He scored some terrific points which were crucial in getting us a draw.
"But we were gutted with the way we played that day. We sat down and talked about it. We knew we had to stand up and be counted. We wanted a good start in the replay and we got it. We built up a good lead, but they came back at us. It looked dodgy at one stage, but when we needed scores near the end Stephen stood up to it.
"The final was a disaster for us. Oldcastle were flying. We couldn't get the ball off them, couldn't get a stranglehold. Youth won it for them; they had the legs, the speed, the ball work. They played very well.
"Hopefully, our young lads will learn from the whole experience. We have some very good young players, but we need more of them coming through. We had a lot of players over the 30 mark this year."
The Kilmainhamwood team in the final was: M Clarke; P Barber, S Smith, D Cunningham; P Moran, S Mulligan, M Shankey; A Farrelly, R Madden; P Owens, F Owens, H Corbally; D Russell, R Magee (0-3), S Kiernan (0-2). Subs - C Gilcreest (0-1) for Corbally, A Crosbie for Russell, L Shankey for P Owens
The senior candle finally burns out : From Meath Year Book 2008
30 November 2008
A dozen years after the club's 'day of all days' Kilmainhamwood slipped out of the senior ranks when they lost the relegation final to Rathkenny in mid-September, but while they were in the top flight of Meath football the Wood certainly enjoyed numerous occasions of significance.
In more recent years those occasions were all about survival as they went to the edge of the cliff many times and hung on just as it seemed they were about to slip over the edge. But they finally ran out of lives in 2008 and now it's a case of regrouping in the intermediate ranks, from where they emerged in 1994.
It will be recalled that Kilmainhamwood contested the SFC final in their first year back at that level in 1995, losing to Dunderry, but a year later the Keegan Cup headed out the Kingscourt Road from Navan after they had beaten Seneschalstown in the decider.
Four years later they were back in the final again, only to come face to face with a Dunshaughlin team that was about to become the latest to enjoy a period of supremacy at senior level in the county. Naturally, the loss of influential players over the years didn't aid their cause (names like Brian Stafford, Larry McCormack and Martin Crosbie spring to mind), but boy did Kilmainhamwood battle when they were confronted with the threat of losing their senior status.
The danger signs were very visible in 2003 when they headed for Kells to face the previous year's intermediate champions Ballivor in the relegation final, but survived. They were back in the same precarious position two years later when they sent Dunderry crashing out of the senior ranks, again at Kells, and it didn't get any less dramatic after that.
Cortown were next to suffer the drop when losing the 2006 relegation play-off to Kilmainhamwood at Moynalty and it was back to Kells last autumn where they made it three last gasp escapes in succession when getting the better of Ballinlough. On the law of averages, they had to run out of luck sooner or later and it happened on the second Sunday of September this year when the 'Great Survivors' survived no more.
John Donnellan, the former Bailieboro and Cavan player, was the latest man to be entrusted with the task of attempting to keep Kilmainhamwood in the Senior Championship and when the draws were made earlier in the year all connected with the club must have been looking at group C and wondering where the points were going to come from that would protect them from yet another relegation dogfight.
Also in the section were last year's impressive intermediate winners Donaghmore/Ashbourne, Dunshaughlin, Trim and Duleek/Bellewstown. It wasn't the strongest division by any means, but it was still always going to represent a huge challenge for the 'Wood.
Seneschalstown provided Kilmainhamwood with their first port of call in the 2008 championship and the first of four group defeats was the result as Donaghmore/Ashbourne announced their arrival in the senior ranks with a very comfortable 2-15 to 1-5 victory which suggested they were good enough to emerge from the section.
Kilmainhamwood battled with great conviction, but they made the worst possible start when they conceded goals after 90 seconds to David Morgan and in the eighth minute to his brother Tony. It appeared to be all over bar the shouting at that stage as Donaghmore/Ashbourne led by 2-2 to 0-0, but Paddy Carolan had a chance to give the 'Wood a boost when he missed a goal opportunity.
However, the same player did find the net at the start of the second quarter to reduce the deficit to four points, before the intermediate kingpins pushed away again to lead by nine points (2-8 to 1-2) at the interval. There was no way back from that sort of deficit and the sending off of Ray Magee at the end of the third quarter merely added to the misery.
Donaghmore/Ashbourne had Sean Harmon dismissed two minutes later, but it made absolutely no difference as they cruised to a 13 point victory. It wasn't the sort of opening to the championship that Kilmainhamwood wanted, but there was still plenty of passion in their performance when they met Trim in the second round at Kilberry.
Trim won by 1-14 to 0-12, but few people were talking about the result in the aftermath of this encounter. A melee broke out four minutes from the end and referee John Farrelly from Syddan got busy with his cards. Brothers Darren and Aaron Fay from Trim and Kilmainhamwood's Philip Moran and Liam Shankey saw straight reds and Trim's Ronan Fitzsimons was dismissed on receipt of a second yellow.
The town side were down to 11 players when Stephen Farrell was sent off in injury time, but by that stage they had the points wrapped up. Even in the absence of the suspended Magee, Kilmainhamwood improved on their performance against Donaghmore/Ashbourne six days earlier, but it just wasn't good enough.
They opened up a wind-assisted 0-9 to 0-5 advantage at the break following a first half in which Ken Russell played a starring role. He contributed four points from play in that period, two of them superb scores, and Carolan was also on the mark with a couple of fabulous points as the 'Wood suggested that they might be about to pull off a win that would boost their survival prospects enormously.
However, a goal for Trim by Alan Douglas six minutes into the second half proved to be the most significant score of the match and with Kilmainhamwood's only points in this period coming from three Stephen Kiernan frees, the door was open for the team in red to secure the win.
Trim moved ahead by 1-7 to 0-9, Kiernan equalised with the first of those frees, but the team in red went on to win the remainder by 0-7 to 0-2. The reality for Kilmainhamwood was that they were pointless after two outings and things were beginning to take on a very familiar pattern to more recent years.
A third round meeting with Dunshaughlin at Walterstown didn't appear to offer much hope of an improvement and that's how it turned out as they suffered a 0-11 to 1-16 defeat. The 'Wood created plenty of chances, but they didn't take enough of them, and they were in serious trouble at the break when Dunshaughlin led by 1-8 to 0-4.
It could have been different because Magee had a shot cleared off the line in the first half and in the second Ray Madden's effort was well saved by Ronan Gogan and David Russell fisted wide when in a good position. Dunshaughlin extended their lead to 1-10 to 0-4 early in the second half, but the 'Wood battled away to the finish despite the hopelessness of the situation.
The weather was atrocious for Kilmainhamwood's last group assignment against Duleek/Bellewstown at Simonstown, with thunder, lightning and heavy rain forming a nasty cocktail. This was an evening all connected with the club would probably rather forget as the new amalgamation won by 5-16 to 1-4.
Two goals from Kieran Collins enabled Duleek/Bellewstown to lead by 2-10 to 0-0 at the interval and Kilmainhamwood didn't open their scoring account until Colm Gilcreest netted at the start of the second half. They managed four points in this period also, courtesy of Kiernan (two), Carolan and substitute Cunningham, but were 24 points adrift at the end.
Walterstown defeated Kilmainhamwood in a preliminary relegation play-off at Kilberry in 2007 and when the sides met in the same circumstances at Castletown a year later the same happened as the blacks came out on top by 0-12 to 0-9 to guarantee their survival in the top flight for another year.
Magee (four), Cunningham and Carolan were on the mark with points for a hard working Kilmainhamwood team in the first half, but Walterstown shaded the verdict at the interval when they led by 0-7 to 0-6. Five wides didn't help the 'Wood cause in the opening period and three more in the second hindered them as well.
They did find their range with decent consistency in the third quarter when the vastly experienced Cunningham pointed twice and Magee also split the uprights to earn them a 0-9 to 0-8 lead, but they didn't score again as Walterstown notched the last four points of the contest. However, they almost forced extra-time when the ball bounced in the square and hit the angle of post and crossbar.
The result meant Kilmainhamwood were about to pay another visit to that familiar establishment - the 'Last Chance Saloon' - and waiting for them were Rathkenny who had finished bottom of the ultra competitive group A which also included champions Seneschalstown, Navan O'Mahonys, Wolfe Tones, Summerhill and Skryne.
The latest venue to host a Kilmainhamwood survival attempt was Drumconrath and this time there was no escape as Eamonn O'Brien's Rathkenny side won comprehensively by 2-12 to 0-3 to end the 'Wood's stay in the senior ranks.
There wasn't a great deal between the teams in the first half, with Rathkenny leading by just two points (0-4 to 0-2) at the interval after Kiernan and Magee had accounted for the Kilmainhamwood scores. It wasn't exactly inspiring stuff, but then matches of this nature rarely are. It's a case of trying to win, irrespective of the standard of the performance.
And it was Rathkenny's standard of performance in the second period which carried them to a comfortable victory and survival. Kilmainhamwood's only point in this half came from Kiernan and they were adrift by 0-2 to 1-7 seven minutes after the restart, with John Donegan scoring the winners' goal.
He added a second goal six minutes later and with a 2-8 to 0-3 advantage Rathkenny were home and as good as hosed. It was a case of going through the motions after that, with Kilmainhamwood failing to add to their tally and Rathkenny tagging on an additional four points.
Kilmainhamwood's time in the senior ranks has been eventful, to say the least, and was highlighted by that wonderful day in the sun back in 1996. It's now a case of looking to the future with a view to rebuilding. Their progress with that assignment will be watched with interest.
The Kilmainhamwood team that played the club's last SFC game (for now) was - M Kiernan; S Mulligan, S Smith, E Clarke; P Moran, L Shankey, P Barber; P Carolan, R Madden; K Russell, F Owens, H Corbally; R Magee (0-1), C Gilcreest, S Kiernan (0-2). Subs - A Farrell for Moran, P Owens for Russell, R Cunningham for Corbally, D Russell for Shankey.
A dozen years after the club's 'day of all days' Kilmainhamwood slipped out of the senior ranks when they lost the relegation final to Rathkenny in mid-September, but while they were in the top flight of Meath football the Wood certainly enjoyed numerous occasions of significance.
In more recent years those occasions were all about survival as they went to the edge of the cliff many times and hung on just as it seemed they were about to slip over the edge. But they finally ran out of lives in 2008 and now it's a case of regrouping in the intermediate ranks, from where they emerged in 1994.
It will be recalled that Kilmainhamwood contested the SFC final in their first year back at that level in 1995, losing to Dunderry, but a year later the Keegan Cup headed out the Kingscourt Road from Navan after they had beaten Seneschalstown in the decider.
Four years later they were back in the final again, only to come face to face with a Dunshaughlin team that was about to become the latest to enjoy a period of supremacy at senior level in the county. Naturally, the loss of influential players over the years didn't aid their cause (names like Brian Stafford, Larry McCormack and Martin Crosbie spring to mind), but boy did Kilmainhamwood battle when they were confronted with the threat of losing their senior status.
The danger signs were very visible in 2003 when they headed for Kells to face the previous year's intermediate champions Ballivor in the relegation final, but survived. They were back in the same precarious position two years later when they sent Dunderry crashing out of the senior ranks, again at Kells, and it didn't get any less dramatic after that.
Cortown were next to suffer the drop when losing the 2006 relegation play-off to Kilmainhamwood at Moynalty and it was back to Kells last autumn where they made it three last gasp escapes in succession when getting the better of Ballinlough. On the law of averages, they had to run out of luck sooner or later and it happened on the second Sunday of September this year when the 'Great Survivors' survived no more.
John Donnellan, the former Bailieboro and Cavan player, was the latest man to be entrusted with the task of attempting to keep Kilmainhamwood in the Senior Championship and when the draws were made earlier in the year all connected with the club must have been looking at group C and wondering where the points were going to come from that would protect them from yet another relegation dogfight.
Also in the section were last year's impressive intermediate winners Donaghmore/Ashbourne, Dunshaughlin, Trim and Duleek/Bellewstown. It wasn't the strongest division by any means, but it was still always going to represent a huge challenge for the 'Wood.
Seneschalstown provided Kilmainhamwood with their first port of call in the 2008 championship and the first of four group defeats was the result as Donaghmore/Ashbourne announced their arrival in the senior ranks with a very comfortable 2-15 to 1-5 victory which suggested they were good enough to emerge from the section.
Kilmainhamwood battled with great conviction, but they made the worst possible start when they conceded goals after 90 seconds to David Morgan and in the eighth minute to his brother Tony. It appeared to be all over bar the shouting at that stage as Donaghmore/Ashbourne led by 2-2 to 0-0, but Paddy Carolan had a chance to give the 'Wood a boost when he missed a goal opportunity.
However, the same player did find the net at the start of the second quarter to reduce the deficit to four points, before the intermediate kingpins pushed away again to lead by nine points (2-8 to 1-2) at the interval. There was no way back from that sort of deficit and the sending off of Ray Magee at the end of the third quarter merely added to the misery.
Donaghmore/Ashbourne had Sean Harmon dismissed two minutes later, but it made absolutely no difference as they cruised to a 13 point victory. It wasn't the sort of opening to the championship that Kilmainhamwood wanted, but there was still plenty of passion in their performance when they met Trim in the second round at Kilberry.
Trim won by 1-14 to 0-12, but few people were talking about the result in the aftermath of this encounter. A melee broke out four minutes from the end and referee John Farrelly from Syddan got busy with his cards. Brothers Darren and Aaron Fay from Trim and Kilmainhamwood's Philip Moran and Liam Shankey saw straight reds and Trim's Ronan Fitzsimons was dismissed on receipt of a second yellow.
The town side were down to 11 players when Stephen Farrell was sent off in injury time, but by that stage they had the points wrapped up. Even in the absence of the suspended Magee, Kilmainhamwood improved on their performance against Donaghmore/Ashbourne six days earlier, but it just wasn't good enough.
They opened up a wind-assisted 0-9 to 0-5 advantage at the break following a first half in which Ken Russell played a starring role. He contributed four points from play in that period, two of them superb scores, and Carolan was also on the mark with a couple of fabulous points as the 'Wood suggested that they might be about to pull off a win that would boost their survival prospects enormously.
However, a goal for Trim by Alan Douglas six minutes into the second half proved to be the most significant score of the match and with Kilmainhamwood's only points in this period coming from three Stephen Kiernan frees, the door was open for the team in red to secure the win.
Trim moved ahead by 1-7 to 0-9, Kiernan equalised with the first of those frees, but the team in red went on to win the remainder by 0-7 to 0-2. The reality for Kilmainhamwood was that they were pointless after two outings and things were beginning to take on a very familiar pattern to more recent years.
A third round meeting with Dunshaughlin at Walterstown didn't appear to offer much hope of an improvement and that's how it turned out as they suffered a 0-11 to 1-16 defeat. The 'Wood created plenty of chances, but they didn't take enough of them, and they were in serious trouble at the break when Dunshaughlin led by 1-8 to 0-4.
It could have been different because Magee had a shot cleared off the line in the first half and in the second Ray Madden's effort was well saved by Ronan Gogan and David Russell fisted wide when in a good position. Dunshaughlin extended their lead to 1-10 to 0-4 early in the second half, but the 'Wood battled away to the finish despite the hopelessness of the situation.
The weather was atrocious for Kilmainhamwood's last group assignment against Duleek/Bellewstown at Simonstown, with thunder, lightning and heavy rain forming a nasty cocktail. This was an evening all connected with the club would probably rather forget as the new amalgamation won by 5-16 to 1-4.
Two goals from Kieran Collins enabled Duleek/Bellewstown to lead by 2-10 to 0-0 at the interval and Kilmainhamwood didn't open their scoring account until Colm Gilcreest netted at the start of the second half. They managed four points in this period also, courtesy of Kiernan (two), Carolan and substitute Cunningham, but were 24 points adrift at the end.
Walterstown defeated Kilmainhamwood in a preliminary relegation play-off at Kilberry in 2007 and when the sides met in the same circumstances at Castletown a year later the same happened as the blacks came out on top by 0-12 to 0-9 to guarantee their survival in the top flight for another year.
Magee (four), Cunningham and Carolan were on the mark with points for a hard working Kilmainhamwood team in the first half, but Walterstown shaded the verdict at the interval when they led by 0-7 to 0-6. Five wides didn't help the 'Wood cause in the opening period and three more in the second hindered them as well.
They did find their range with decent consistency in the third quarter when the vastly experienced Cunningham pointed twice and Magee also split the uprights to earn them a 0-9 to 0-8 lead, but they didn't score again as Walterstown notched the last four points of the contest. However, they almost forced extra-time when the ball bounced in the square and hit the angle of post and crossbar.
The result meant Kilmainhamwood were about to pay another visit to that familiar establishment - the 'Last Chance Saloon' - and waiting for them were Rathkenny who had finished bottom of the ultra competitive group A which also included champions Seneschalstown, Navan O'Mahonys, Wolfe Tones, Summerhill and Skryne.
The latest venue to host a Kilmainhamwood survival attempt was Drumconrath and this time there was no escape as Eamonn O'Brien's Rathkenny side won comprehensively by 2-12 to 0-3 to end the 'Wood's stay in the senior ranks.
There wasn't a great deal between the teams in the first half, with Rathkenny leading by just two points (0-4 to 0-2) at the interval after Kiernan and Magee had accounted for the Kilmainhamwood scores. It wasn't exactly inspiring stuff, but then matches of this nature rarely are. It's a case of trying to win, irrespective of the standard of the performance.
And it was Rathkenny's standard of performance in the second period which carried them to a comfortable victory and survival. Kilmainhamwood's only point in this half came from Kiernan and they were adrift by 0-2 to 1-7 seven minutes after the restart, with John Donegan scoring the winners' goal.
He added a second goal six minutes later and with a 2-8 to 0-3 advantage Rathkenny were home and as good as hosed. It was a case of going through the motions after that, with Kilmainhamwood failing to add to their tally and Rathkenny tagging on an additional four points.
Kilmainhamwood's time in the senior ranks has been eventful, to say the least, and was highlighted by that wonderful day in the sun back in 1996. It's now a case of looking to the future with a view to rebuilding. Their progress with that assignment will be watched with interest.
The Kilmainhamwood team that played the club's last SFC game (for now) was - M Kiernan; S Mulligan, S Smith, E Clarke; P Moran, L Shankey, P Barber; P Carolan, R Madden; K Russell, F Owens, H Corbally; R Magee (0-1), C Gilcreest, S Kiernan (0-2). Subs - A Farrell for Moran, P Owens for Russell, R Cunningham for Corbally, D Russell for Shankey.
Third time running : From Meath Year Book 2007
30 November 2007
Kilmainhamwood achieved an unusual treble when defeating Ballinlough at Kells in October to again preserve their senior football status. It was their third year in a row to win the final SFC relegation play-off.
Since relegation was introduced for the 2000 championships, Kilmainhamwood have played in such a game on four occasions and managed to find the survival formula each time. In 2003 they put Ballivor just one season after the men in maroon had tasted intermediate success.
Then in 2005 and 2006 Dunderry and Cortown were sent down and this year it was the turn of Ballinlough to take the drop as the men from the very northerly outpost look forward to a 14th consecutive year in the top grade. They eventually secured safety with eight points to spare after losing to Walterstown in a preliminary play-off.
The 1-12 to 0-7 success over Ballinlough was their only win from six SFC outings in 2007 with their best effort in the group games being a 3-4 to 1-10 draw with defending champions Wolfe Tones in a second round clash at Nobber.
Perhaps the ’Wood were unlucky to be drawn in very tough five-team group which also included the previous three outright winners, Tones, Dunboyne and Skryne as well as championship favourites Navan O’Mahonys.
Larry McCormack had replaced Raymond Cunningham as manager and club PRO Henry Corbally remarked that while many people would be expecting them to finish at the bottom of the group, he said they would be hoping to spring a surprise or two. They sprung one and were very consistent in the other three outings, losing each of them by eight points.
In the opening game against Skryne at Walterstown the north county side managed to keep things tight enough in the first half which they finished just three points (0-6 to 0-9) off the pace.
But then they only managed to add one point, from Ray McGee, and hit six wides in the second period with McGee off target with a couple of frees. The margin of defeat could have been wider but for three fine saves from ’keeper Michael Clarke six minutes after the restart when the scores were 1-10 to 0-6.
In the second round tussle with Wolfe Tones the expected script appeared to be taking shape when the defending champions went into a lead of 0-4 to 0-1 in the opening quarter. After 19 minutes Ray McGee blasted a penalty kick high and wide after Colm Gilcreest was taken down.
Despite that miss, the ’Wood were only the minimum margin (1-2 to 0-6) in arrears at the break. While Wolfe Tones were below their best, their opponents were given credit for a gritty display and the first of their goals arrived after 26 minutes when Paddy Carolan latched on to a long delivery from Kieran Shankey to finish to an unguarded net.
Carolan netted two goals that evening and within 30 seconds of the restart the team captain and centre forward sent a long ball into Gilcreest who finished to an empty net to put the ’Wood into the lead for the first time. With Ray Madden and Liam Shankey showing up to good effect at midfield, they held their own in the second half.
After Carolan netted his second goal midway through the second period, Tones replied with 1-1 to lead by two points and why it looked as if they were going to justify the tag of favourites, Kilmainhamwood finished well with the two Rays, Madden and McGee, sending shots over the bar to earn the draw.
Although they returned to their losing ways in the third round against Dunboyne at Pairc Tailteann, they again competed well in the first half, at the end of which they trailed by 0-5 to 1-5, before the 2005 champions ran out winners by 2-14 to 1-9.
After falling 0-0 to 1-2 in arrears after only five minutes, Larry’s lads picked themselves up for Ray McGee, Paddy Carolan, Aidan Crosbie and Colm Gilcreest to raise flags and hopes. Carolan provided the main threat up front and he netted his side’s goal at the start of the last quarter following an assist from Stephen Kiernan.
Kilmainhamwood’s next eight points loss was inflicted by O’Mahonys at Carnaross with the Navan side finishing up as 3-8 to 0-9 winners. Ray McGee put over seven of the losers’ points with five of them being kicked from frees. There was only two points in it around the half hour mark before Stephen Bray netted the town team’s second goal and it was 2-3 to 0-5 at the break.
Two weeks later it was on to Kilberry for the first of the relegation play-offs against Walterstown and Kilmainhamwood were level after an hour for the second time in their campaign. It was 1-13 to 2-10 before the Blacks added five points to one during the additional 20 minutes for a 2-15 to 1-14 win.
Extra-time did not look a possibility when the ’Wood trailed by 0-5 to 2-8 at the first break. But then at the start of the second half Michael Clarke made a fine save from Ronan Barry and that seemed to lift his outfield colleagues as they reeled off five points in succession.
Then Colm Gilcreest fired a shot to the net on 54 minutes and Aidan Crosbie forced extra-time when driving a long-range free between the uprights. However, the ’Wood failed to score in the first of the additional 10 minute periods and a Sean Mulligan point was all they managed after that.
Before the 2007 SFC started Ballinlough and Kilmainhamwood would have been the main fancies in the relegation stakes with the former the favourites. They lived up to that rating by falling into arrears of seven points (0-1 to 0-8) in the first half with seven different ’Wood players getting on target before the break.
Long-serving midfielder Aidan Crosbie and Ray McGee put over spectacular points and the lead was increased when Stephen Kiernan pointed shortly after thee restart. Their opponents enjoyed a little bit of a revival but, boosted by a massive point from a free by Crosbie Kilmainhamwood were 0-11 to 0-4 to the good at the three-quarter stage and senior football was assured for at least one more year.
With eight minutes to go Paddy Carolan found the net following a neat flick by Michael Shankey to leave the board reading 1-12 to 0-5 and Kilmainhamwood will again be in the hat when the draws for the 2008 SFC are made next spring.
"The highlight of the year for Kilmainhamwood on the playing pitches was the draw with Wolfe Tones, we played very well in that game and could have won it. In the other SFC games there were some respectable performances and after surviving again it would be nice to avoid being in such a position next year," said club PRO Henry Corbally.
"The biggest disappointment for us in 2007 was being relegated from Division 2 of the A League. For a club which won the Division 1 title twice, that is a big drop, perhaps not enough emphasis was put on league football this year and the number one priority next year should be to gain promotion from Division 3," he added.
Of course, Kilmainhamwood have a small pick of players and they did remarkably well to reach two Keegan Cup deciders in the mid ’90s, losing to Dunderry in 1995 before beating Seneschalstown to take the title the following year.
"I was reading that Donaghmore/Ashbourne had reached the intermediate final for the first time since 1959. They beat us that year and despite not having near as big a pick as them, we have won it three years since then as well as the senior successes. We are punching above our weight but we have done very well," remarked Corbally.
Henry picked out Stephen Smith and Paddy Carolan as the top performers on the senior side this year and gave special mention to 17-year-old Philip Moran who did very well in his debut season.
Corbally was a selector along with Alan Shankey, Michael Clarke and Paddy Carolan with the seconds who did well to reach the semi-final stage of the Junior C FC where they lost to Ratoath. Among .the promising performers on that team were the Russell twins, David and Damien, Harry Corbally and Alan Carolan.
During 2007 the Kilmainhamwood club installed a new 50 x 25 metres Astroturf playing pitch close to the full sized pitch. Development officer Frank Corbally did Trojan work in getting this venture completed and brother Henry remarked, "it’s looking fantastic and will be a big help for under age training while the adult players could use it in the spring when the big pitch is not playable."
In August there was a reunion and presentations to the team which won the IFC 25 years ago in 1982, defeating Harps by 1-5 to 0-7 in the final at Kells. That was held in the local Keogan’s pub to coincide with a visit home by one of the stars of that triumph, Martin Gilsenan, from Australia.
The 1982 winning team was: Dan Breen; John Farrelly, Percy McKeever, Aidan Bennett, Jimmy Clarke, Dominic Keogan, Martin Gilsenan; Martin Shankey, Noel Shankey; Seamus Reilly, Henry Corbally, Brian Stafford; John Clarke, Michael Clarke, Paul Clarke. Subs - Martin O’Connor for John Clarke, Pat Clarke for Jimmy Clarke.
Kilmainhamwood achieved an unusual treble when defeating Ballinlough at Kells in October to again preserve their senior football status. It was their third year in a row to win the final SFC relegation play-off.
Since relegation was introduced for the 2000 championships, Kilmainhamwood have played in such a game on four occasions and managed to find the survival formula each time. In 2003 they put Ballivor just one season after the men in maroon had tasted intermediate success.
Then in 2005 and 2006 Dunderry and Cortown were sent down and this year it was the turn of Ballinlough to take the drop as the men from the very northerly outpost look forward to a 14th consecutive year in the top grade. They eventually secured safety with eight points to spare after losing to Walterstown in a preliminary play-off.
The 1-12 to 0-7 success over Ballinlough was their only win from six SFC outings in 2007 with their best effort in the group games being a 3-4 to 1-10 draw with defending champions Wolfe Tones in a second round clash at Nobber.
Perhaps the ’Wood were unlucky to be drawn in very tough five-team group which also included the previous three outright winners, Tones, Dunboyne and Skryne as well as championship favourites Navan O’Mahonys.
Larry McCormack had replaced Raymond Cunningham as manager and club PRO Henry Corbally remarked that while many people would be expecting them to finish at the bottom of the group, he said they would be hoping to spring a surprise or two. They sprung one and were very consistent in the other three outings, losing each of them by eight points.
In the opening game against Skryne at Walterstown the north county side managed to keep things tight enough in the first half which they finished just three points (0-6 to 0-9) off the pace.
But then they only managed to add one point, from Ray McGee, and hit six wides in the second period with McGee off target with a couple of frees. The margin of defeat could have been wider but for three fine saves from ’keeper Michael Clarke six minutes after the restart when the scores were 1-10 to 0-6.
In the second round tussle with Wolfe Tones the expected script appeared to be taking shape when the defending champions went into a lead of 0-4 to 0-1 in the opening quarter. After 19 minutes Ray McGee blasted a penalty kick high and wide after Colm Gilcreest was taken down.
Despite that miss, the ’Wood were only the minimum margin (1-2 to 0-6) in arrears at the break. While Wolfe Tones were below their best, their opponents were given credit for a gritty display and the first of their goals arrived after 26 minutes when Paddy Carolan latched on to a long delivery from Kieran Shankey to finish to an unguarded net.
Carolan netted two goals that evening and within 30 seconds of the restart the team captain and centre forward sent a long ball into Gilcreest who finished to an empty net to put the ’Wood into the lead for the first time. With Ray Madden and Liam Shankey showing up to good effect at midfield, they held their own in the second half.
After Carolan netted his second goal midway through the second period, Tones replied with 1-1 to lead by two points and why it looked as if they were going to justify the tag of favourites, Kilmainhamwood finished well with the two Rays, Madden and McGee, sending shots over the bar to earn the draw.
Although they returned to their losing ways in the third round against Dunboyne at Pairc Tailteann, they again competed well in the first half, at the end of which they trailed by 0-5 to 1-5, before the 2005 champions ran out winners by 2-14 to 1-9.
After falling 0-0 to 1-2 in arrears after only five minutes, Larry’s lads picked themselves up for Ray McGee, Paddy Carolan, Aidan Crosbie and Colm Gilcreest to raise flags and hopes. Carolan provided the main threat up front and he netted his side’s goal at the start of the last quarter following an assist from Stephen Kiernan.
Kilmainhamwood’s next eight points loss was inflicted by O’Mahonys at Carnaross with the Navan side finishing up as 3-8 to 0-9 winners. Ray McGee put over seven of the losers’ points with five of them being kicked from frees. There was only two points in it around the half hour mark before Stephen Bray netted the town team’s second goal and it was 2-3 to 0-5 at the break.
Two weeks later it was on to Kilberry for the first of the relegation play-offs against Walterstown and Kilmainhamwood were level after an hour for the second time in their campaign. It was 1-13 to 2-10 before the Blacks added five points to one during the additional 20 minutes for a 2-15 to 1-14 win.
Extra-time did not look a possibility when the ’Wood trailed by 0-5 to 2-8 at the first break. But then at the start of the second half Michael Clarke made a fine save from Ronan Barry and that seemed to lift his outfield colleagues as they reeled off five points in succession.
Then Colm Gilcreest fired a shot to the net on 54 minutes and Aidan Crosbie forced extra-time when driving a long-range free between the uprights. However, the ’Wood failed to score in the first of the additional 10 minute periods and a Sean Mulligan point was all they managed after that.
Before the 2007 SFC started Ballinlough and Kilmainhamwood would have been the main fancies in the relegation stakes with the former the favourites. They lived up to that rating by falling into arrears of seven points (0-1 to 0-8) in the first half with seven different ’Wood players getting on target before the break.
Long-serving midfielder Aidan Crosbie and Ray McGee put over spectacular points and the lead was increased when Stephen Kiernan pointed shortly after thee restart. Their opponents enjoyed a little bit of a revival but, boosted by a massive point from a free by Crosbie Kilmainhamwood were 0-11 to 0-4 to the good at the three-quarter stage and senior football was assured for at least one more year.
With eight minutes to go Paddy Carolan found the net following a neat flick by Michael Shankey to leave the board reading 1-12 to 0-5 and Kilmainhamwood will again be in the hat when the draws for the 2008 SFC are made next spring.
"The highlight of the year for Kilmainhamwood on the playing pitches was the draw with Wolfe Tones, we played very well in that game and could have won it. In the other SFC games there were some respectable performances and after surviving again it would be nice to avoid being in such a position next year," said club PRO Henry Corbally.
"The biggest disappointment for us in 2007 was being relegated from Division 2 of the A League. For a club which won the Division 1 title twice, that is a big drop, perhaps not enough emphasis was put on league football this year and the number one priority next year should be to gain promotion from Division 3," he added.
Of course, Kilmainhamwood have a small pick of players and they did remarkably well to reach two Keegan Cup deciders in the mid ’90s, losing to Dunderry in 1995 before beating Seneschalstown to take the title the following year.
"I was reading that Donaghmore/Ashbourne had reached the intermediate final for the first time since 1959. They beat us that year and despite not having near as big a pick as them, we have won it three years since then as well as the senior successes. We are punching above our weight but we have done very well," remarked Corbally.
Henry picked out Stephen Smith and Paddy Carolan as the top performers on the senior side this year and gave special mention to 17-year-old Philip Moran who did very well in his debut season.
Corbally was a selector along with Alan Shankey, Michael Clarke and Paddy Carolan with the seconds who did well to reach the semi-final stage of the Junior C FC where they lost to Ratoath. Among .the promising performers on that team were the Russell twins, David and Damien, Harry Corbally and Alan Carolan.
During 2007 the Kilmainhamwood club installed a new 50 x 25 metres Astroturf playing pitch close to the full sized pitch. Development officer Frank Corbally did Trojan work in getting this venture completed and brother Henry remarked, "it’s looking fantastic and will be a big help for under age training while the adult players could use it in the spring when the big pitch is not playable."
In August there was a reunion and presentations to the team which won the IFC 25 years ago in 1982, defeating Harps by 1-5 to 0-7 in the final at Kells. That was held in the local Keogan’s pub to coincide with a visit home by one of the stars of that triumph, Martin Gilsenan, from Australia.
The 1982 winning team was: Dan Breen; John Farrelly, Percy McKeever, Aidan Bennett, Jimmy Clarke, Dominic Keogan, Martin Gilsenan; Martin Shankey, Noel Shankey; Seamus Reilly, Henry Corbally, Brian Stafford; John Clarke, Michael Clarke, Paul Clarke. Subs - Martin O’Connor for John Clarke, Pat Clarke for Jimmy Clarke.
Confounding the critics : From Meath Year Book 2006
30 November 2006
In recent years the fortunes of Kilmainhamwood in the SFC have had all the components of a gripping thriller and 2006 saw the latest sequel unfold as the ’wood once again performed a great escape to avoid sliding into the intermediate ranks. By David Jennings.
Following another mediocre showing in the group stages of the SFC, survival was once again on the agenda for Kilmainhamwood and for the third time in four years, they held their nerve to prolong their stay in the top flight.
After summonsing Ballivor to the drop in 2003, Dunderry fell victim to the battling qualities of the ’wood last year but this time it was a Cortown side, looking to extend their ten year tenure in the top grade, who stood in their way.
Marginal favourites prior to the outing, Kilmainhamwood lived up to the tag of survival specialists by producing one of the gritty displays that we have become accustomed to seeing from them in relegation deciders, by exacting a 0-13 to 0-11 defeat on the Bohermeen parish side.
One member of the Kilmainhamwood side who has continually fought to ensure his side’s stay in the SFC is Colm Gilcreest and although he made be better known for his snooker exploits, the centre-half forward was a central figure in his sides disposal of Cortown, scoring three points.
“We always seem to be able to produce our best displays in relegation matches and once again against Cortown we were able to up our performance when we needed to. It’s just a pity we can seem to find that sort of form earlier in the championship,” Gilcreest stated.
“A lot of this team have played both senior and intermediate football and they really don’t want to go back down to that grade again,” he added.
Evidently lacking in confidence entering the clash, Kilmainhamwood took time to find their feet and found themselves 0-1 to 0-5 in arrears after the opening quarter with Cortown adopting a do or die attitude from the outset.
But this Kilmainhamwood side seems to perform best when faced with adversity and, aided by the switch of Ray Madden to midfield, they began to chip away at the deficit and points from Francie Owens, Ray Magee, Stephen Kiernan and the impressive Gilcreest ensured the’ wood held a 0-8 to 0-6 interval advantage.
Although playing into a stiff breeze in the second half, Kilmainhamwood managed to keep at arms length with Magee and Kiernan leading the charge with a brace of points each.
Cortown, to their credit, made Kilmainhamwood pull out all the stops and managed to reduce the deficit back to the minimum, 0-11 to 0-12, entering injury time but Kiernan, a member of the Meath Minor panel who tasted success in the Leinster final, copperfastened the victory by curling over a late free.
The campaign started on a positive note for Kilmainhamwood as they managed to earn a share of the spoils with Dunshaughlin, one of the early favourites to lift the Keegan Cup, at Simonstown.
After taking over the reins midway through the previous campaign from Ray Cullivan, Raymond Cunningham would have been delighted with the way his side upset the odds to earn an unlikely draw, 2-7 to 1-10.
Indeed, Cunningham may have felt slightly aggrieved that his side didn’t collect the win as Dunshaughlin needed a late Conor Staunton goal accompanied by a converted Trevor Dowd free to haul back the’ wood.
Before that late surge from their opponents, Kilmainhamwood had looked a composed outfit with McGee and Kiernan leading the scoring charge with 1-3 and 1-1 respectively which looked to have set them up for a famous victory.
Looking to build on that result, Kilmainhamwood next assignment was a Navan O’Mahonys side eager to avenge their cruel exit from the 2005 championship and after holding their own in the early exchanges, Cunningham’s charges could not contain the Brews Hill outfit who eventually ran out comfortable 2-11 to 0-4 winners.
“Against Navan O’Mahonys we started well enough and stayed with them early on but we gave away two sloppy goals and then Ray (Magee) missed a penalty so a few heads began to drop,” Gilcreest commented.
After that confidence sapping defeat, the 1996 Keegan Cup winners travelled to Kilberry to take on the previous years IFC champions Duleek. But on this occasion Kilmainhamwood relied too heavily on the services of Ray McGee who posted all but one of their scores and with Petsie Curran and Chris Carney in inspired form, Barney Rock’s men coasted to a 1-12 to 0-7 success.
Following a long break, which saw Eammon Barry and his troops take centre stage, Kilmainhamwood re-emerged a rejuvenated outfit and claimed the scalp of Summerhill at Sean Newman Park, Bohermeen.
After shooting out of blocks, Kilmainhamwood gained an early stranglehold on proceedings and with McGee and Francis Owens in excellent points scoring form, the ’wood were full value for their 0-11 to 0-9 victory.
But this was as good as it got for Kilmainhamwood and a 2-4 to 1-11 defeat to Blackhall Gaels in the fifth round left Cunningham’s men hovering close to the foot of the group.
While there were some positives to take from the loss to Blackhall, the same can not be said about the demolition job from St. Patrick’s at Seneschalstown.
Kilmainhamwood met a Stamullen side in a rich vein of form and from an early stage it became apparent that they were unable to contain the physicality of Cormac Sullivan at full-forward nor the scoring prowess of Barry Campbell.
A 1-6 to 5-20 walloping, the widest margin defeat for any side throughout the course of the championship, left many pundits pencilling in Kilmainhamwood for the drop.
The last round of group matches saw Cunningham’s outfit take on a Simonstown side pining to claim their berth in the knock-out stages.
If Kilmainhamwood could secure a victory or bank on Duleek getting the better of fellow relegation contenders Summerhill, then their SFC status would be preserved.
But the ’wood were hit with a double blow as the news of Summerhill win over Duleek filtered through following a heavy, 0-5 to 1-15, loss to Colm O’Rourke’s charges which meant for the second consecutive year, their survival attempt would go down to the wire.
“You don’t start any season thinking that you are going to be relegated but when one or two results just don’t go your way it is very hard for lads to stay motivated,” a frustrated Gilcreest remarked.
While the two point defeat of Cortown enabled Kilmainhamwood to retain their pitch at the top level, they were unable to perform a similar act in AFL Division 1 as a sole victory over Summerhill wasn’t enough to stop Cunningham’s troops from stumbling down to Division 2.
That impressive 3-6 to 0-12 win over the ’hill was overshadowed by a number of poor displays and Gilcreest believes that the reason for their poor league form was their lack of squad depth.
“During our league campaign we were struggling to get players to turn up week in-week out for games and for some matches we just managed to scrape together the bare fifteen which left it very hard to get results,” he added.
It was not all doom and glum for Kilmainhamwood in the league and on a couple of occasions they were unlucky not to come away with points, most notably in narrow defeats to St. Patrick’s, 1-10 to 0-14, and Skryne, 2-8 to 3-7.
While Kilmainhamwood followers will be happy that their side will be playing senior football again next year, the season as a whole was slightly disappointing and Gilcreest is of the opinion that the quality of players which the club possess are too good to be constantly dicing with the drop.
“As it turned out it was an achievement to stay up but the footballers which Kilmainhamwood have are far too good to be in relegation deciders every year,” he said.
While many of the Kilmainhamwood outfit have been around for the last decade such as Aidan Crosbie and McGee, Gilcreest is convinced that the talent which the club is producing will ensure that Kilmainhamwood continue to keep their rightful place at the top table.
“There are nine or ten lads who have plenty of miles on the clock but we also have a good few promising youngsters like Paddy Carolan, Michael Shankey and Stephen Kiernan who look like they will turn out to be very good footballers,” Gilcreest concluded.
The Kilmainhamwood team that defeated Cortown in the SFC relegation decider in October: M. Clarke; S. Mulligan, S. Russell, D. Cunningham; A. Farrelly, R. Madden, M. Shankey; L. Shankey, A. Crosbie; R. Magee (0-4), C. Gilcreest (0-3), K. Russell; P. Carolan, F. Owens (0-2), S. Kiernan (0-4). Subs - D. McGrath for Mulligan.
In recent years the fortunes of Kilmainhamwood in the SFC have had all the components of a gripping thriller and 2006 saw the latest sequel unfold as the ’wood once again performed a great escape to avoid sliding into the intermediate ranks. By David Jennings.
Following another mediocre showing in the group stages of the SFC, survival was once again on the agenda for Kilmainhamwood and for the third time in four years, they held their nerve to prolong their stay in the top flight.
After summonsing Ballivor to the drop in 2003, Dunderry fell victim to the battling qualities of the ’wood last year but this time it was a Cortown side, looking to extend their ten year tenure in the top grade, who stood in their way.
Marginal favourites prior to the outing, Kilmainhamwood lived up to the tag of survival specialists by producing one of the gritty displays that we have become accustomed to seeing from them in relegation deciders, by exacting a 0-13 to 0-11 defeat on the Bohermeen parish side.
One member of the Kilmainhamwood side who has continually fought to ensure his side’s stay in the SFC is Colm Gilcreest and although he made be better known for his snooker exploits, the centre-half forward was a central figure in his sides disposal of Cortown, scoring three points.
“We always seem to be able to produce our best displays in relegation matches and once again against Cortown we were able to up our performance when we needed to. It’s just a pity we can seem to find that sort of form earlier in the championship,” Gilcreest stated.
“A lot of this team have played both senior and intermediate football and they really don’t want to go back down to that grade again,” he added.
Evidently lacking in confidence entering the clash, Kilmainhamwood took time to find their feet and found themselves 0-1 to 0-5 in arrears after the opening quarter with Cortown adopting a do or die attitude from the outset.
But this Kilmainhamwood side seems to perform best when faced with adversity and, aided by the switch of Ray Madden to midfield, they began to chip away at the deficit and points from Francie Owens, Ray Magee, Stephen Kiernan and the impressive Gilcreest ensured the’ wood held a 0-8 to 0-6 interval advantage.
Although playing into a stiff breeze in the second half, Kilmainhamwood managed to keep at arms length with Magee and Kiernan leading the charge with a brace of points each.
Cortown, to their credit, made Kilmainhamwood pull out all the stops and managed to reduce the deficit back to the minimum, 0-11 to 0-12, entering injury time but Kiernan, a member of the Meath Minor panel who tasted success in the Leinster final, copperfastened the victory by curling over a late free.
The campaign started on a positive note for Kilmainhamwood as they managed to earn a share of the spoils with Dunshaughlin, one of the early favourites to lift the Keegan Cup, at Simonstown.
After taking over the reins midway through the previous campaign from Ray Cullivan, Raymond Cunningham would have been delighted with the way his side upset the odds to earn an unlikely draw, 2-7 to 1-10.
Indeed, Cunningham may have felt slightly aggrieved that his side didn’t collect the win as Dunshaughlin needed a late Conor Staunton goal accompanied by a converted Trevor Dowd free to haul back the’ wood.
Before that late surge from their opponents, Kilmainhamwood had looked a composed outfit with McGee and Kiernan leading the scoring charge with 1-3 and 1-1 respectively which looked to have set them up for a famous victory.
Looking to build on that result, Kilmainhamwood next assignment was a Navan O’Mahonys side eager to avenge their cruel exit from the 2005 championship and after holding their own in the early exchanges, Cunningham’s charges could not contain the Brews Hill outfit who eventually ran out comfortable 2-11 to 0-4 winners.
“Against Navan O’Mahonys we started well enough and stayed with them early on but we gave away two sloppy goals and then Ray (Magee) missed a penalty so a few heads began to drop,” Gilcreest commented.
After that confidence sapping defeat, the 1996 Keegan Cup winners travelled to Kilberry to take on the previous years IFC champions Duleek. But on this occasion Kilmainhamwood relied too heavily on the services of Ray McGee who posted all but one of their scores and with Petsie Curran and Chris Carney in inspired form, Barney Rock’s men coasted to a 1-12 to 0-7 success.
Following a long break, which saw Eammon Barry and his troops take centre stage, Kilmainhamwood re-emerged a rejuvenated outfit and claimed the scalp of Summerhill at Sean Newman Park, Bohermeen.
After shooting out of blocks, Kilmainhamwood gained an early stranglehold on proceedings and with McGee and Francis Owens in excellent points scoring form, the ’wood were full value for their 0-11 to 0-9 victory.
But this was as good as it got for Kilmainhamwood and a 2-4 to 1-11 defeat to Blackhall Gaels in the fifth round left Cunningham’s men hovering close to the foot of the group.
While there were some positives to take from the loss to Blackhall, the same can not be said about the demolition job from St. Patrick’s at Seneschalstown.
Kilmainhamwood met a Stamullen side in a rich vein of form and from an early stage it became apparent that they were unable to contain the physicality of Cormac Sullivan at full-forward nor the scoring prowess of Barry Campbell.
A 1-6 to 5-20 walloping, the widest margin defeat for any side throughout the course of the championship, left many pundits pencilling in Kilmainhamwood for the drop.
The last round of group matches saw Cunningham’s outfit take on a Simonstown side pining to claim their berth in the knock-out stages.
If Kilmainhamwood could secure a victory or bank on Duleek getting the better of fellow relegation contenders Summerhill, then their SFC status would be preserved.
But the ’wood were hit with a double blow as the news of Summerhill win over Duleek filtered through following a heavy, 0-5 to 1-15, loss to Colm O’Rourke’s charges which meant for the second consecutive year, their survival attempt would go down to the wire.
“You don’t start any season thinking that you are going to be relegated but when one or two results just don’t go your way it is very hard for lads to stay motivated,” a frustrated Gilcreest remarked.
While the two point defeat of Cortown enabled Kilmainhamwood to retain their pitch at the top level, they were unable to perform a similar act in AFL Division 1 as a sole victory over Summerhill wasn’t enough to stop Cunningham’s troops from stumbling down to Division 2.
That impressive 3-6 to 0-12 win over the ’hill was overshadowed by a number of poor displays and Gilcreest believes that the reason for their poor league form was their lack of squad depth.
“During our league campaign we were struggling to get players to turn up week in-week out for games and for some matches we just managed to scrape together the bare fifteen which left it very hard to get results,” he added.
It was not all doom and glum for Kilmainhamwood in the league and on a couple of occasions they were unlucky not to come away with points, most notably in narrow defeats to St. Patrick’s, 1-10 to 0-14, and Skryne, 2-8 to 3-7.
While Kilmainhamwood followers will be happy that their side will be playing senior football again next year, the season as a whole was slightly disappointing and Gilcreest is of the opinion that the quality of players which the club possess are too good to be constantly dicing with the drop.
“As it turned out it was an achievement to stay up but the footballers which Kilmainhamwood have are far too good to be in relegation deciders every year,” he said.
While many of the Kilmainhamwood outfit have been around for the last decade such as Aidan Crosbie and McGee, Gilcreest is convinced that the talent which the club is producing will ensure that Kilmainhamwood continue to keep their rightful place at the top table.
“There are nine or ten lads who have plenty of miles on the clock but we also have a good few promising youngsters like Paddy Carolan, Michael Shankey and Stephen Kiernan who look like they will turn out to be very good footballers,” Gilcreest concluded.
The Kilmainhamwood team that defeated Cortown in the SFC relegation decider in October: M. Clarke; S. Mulligan, S. Russell, D. Cunningham; A. Farrelly, R. Madden, M. Shankey; L. Shankey, A. Crosbie; R. Magee (0-4), C. Gilcreest (0-3), K. Russell; P. Carolan, F. Owens (0-2), S. Kiernan (0-4). Subs - D. McGrath for Mulligan.
Relegation scare to spur the 'Wood : From Meath Year Book 2005
30 November 2005
Relief was the overriding feeling in Kilmainhamwood after the North Meath outfit retained their senior status by virtue of a relegation play-off victory over Dunderry at the end of October. As relieved as he was, long-serving secretary Francie Owens is anxious that the ’Wood avoid a similar scenario in 2006.
Ten years to the day after Dunderry had beaten them in a novel Keegan Cup decider, Kilmainhamwood exacted revenge when winning a typically tense relegation play-off at Kells on October 30 last to preserve their senior status.
While the ’Wood’s 0-8 to 0-3 victory was met with relief and even delight, there was still no getting away from the fact that it was a disappointing year for the North Meath club.
“We’re thrilled to be still senior - we’ve been operating at this level since 1994 and we would have found it very difficult to regroup next year if we had been relegated back to intermediate,” says Francie Owens, who has experienced all the emotions during his 30 years as Kilmainhamwood secretary.
“I felt very sorry for Dunderry because we had a very good relationship with them ever since they beat us in the county final 10 years ago. But there had to be a loser and I’m obviously pleased that it wasn’t us. Having said that, a relegation play-off would have been the last place we wanted to find ourselves at the start of the year and a big improvement will be required next year if we are to stay out of relegation trouble.
“The players will have to show a better attitude and put in a bigger effort if we’re to improve.”
From early in the year, Kilmainhamwood were besieged by problems. Star forward Ray McGee missed their first three championship outings with an ankle injury, while his attacking colleague Raymond Cunningham didn’t feature again after picking up a knee injury in the first round defeat to Dunshaughlin. To compound matters, the ’Wood’s Cavan-based manager Ray Cullivan stepped down midway through the season, leaving the injured Cunningham to fill the void.
“The injuries to the two lads had a big bearing on our performances,” Owens points out.
“They are two of the best forwards in the championship and no team could afford to be without them. If they had been available to us for all of our games, we could have ended up in the knock-out stages instead of the relegation dogfight. We could easily have won three or four matches if we had a fully fit team.”
A 1-3 to 1-10 defeat to Dunshaughlin in the opening round at Pairc Tailteann set the tone for a disappointing championship campaign. Former Cavan star Cunningham gave the ’Wood a dream start when he goaled in the fourth minute and with the promising Stephen Kiernan in fine form, they led by 1-2 to 0-1 after 10 minutes.
The men in white still had their noses in front at the interval, but the tide turned in Dunshaughlin’s favour immediately after the restart when full back Kenny McTigue ran the length of the field to blast a penalty past Ronan Finnegan. Dunshaughlin put further daylight between the sides in the final quarter to seal a comfortable win.
Further defeats to Seneschalstown (0-10 to 1-14) and Walterstown (0-10 to 0-14) left Kilmainhamwood pointless after three matches. However, their spirits was temporarily lifted when they recorded a surprise 2-8 to 1-9 victory over one of the championship favourites, Simonstown Gaels, at Castletown.
With Ray McGee back in their starting line-up the ’Wood were far more economical than their Navan opponents, and it was McGee’s goal in the 43rd minute which effectively decided the result. Simonstown started the brighter and led by 1-2 to 0-1 after 13 minutes. But a Paddy Carolan goal in the 22nd minute boosted the ’Wood’s confidence and they went into the break on level terms after playing against the wind.
Points from Carolan and McGee helped the North Meath side to a 1-7 to 1-4 lead following the resumption and they were 2-7 to 1-6 to the good after McGee shot through a crowded goalmouth to score their second goal. Simonstown applied a lot of pressure in the closing stages, but Kilmainhamwood held out for their first victory.
That was as good as it got for Raymond Cunningham’s charges in the group stages as three further defeats to Wolfe Tones (2-4 to 0-14), St. Patrick’s (0-8 to 0-9) and Skryne (1-10 to 2-12) left them firmly rooted to the bottom of the table. They should really have taken something from their clash with St. Patrick’s (Barry Campbell’s late point denied them a share of the spoils) but even if they had, they would still have found themselves in a relegation play-off.
“We were very disappointed with our performances in the group stages. Apart from the Simonstown game, we didn’t play up to the scratch. We were very unlucky against St. Pat’s and I think Wolfe Tones took us a bit by surprise. It’s frustrating to think that we could beat a team like Simonstown but lose to supposedly weaker opposition,” Francie ruefully reflects.
A three-way play-off involving Cortown, Ballinlough and Dunderry was necessitated in the other group to determine who would face the ’Wood in the relegation decider. As it transpired, Dunderry provided the opposition for Raymond Cunningham’s side on a blustery afternoon at Kells.
Not surprisingly, the wind had a big bearing on the game and Kilmainhamwood made the most of it when it blew in their favour in the first half, building up a 0-7 to 0-1 interval advantage. And whatever chance Dunderry had of making up the deficit was blown in the first 10 minutes of the second half when they registered seven wides.
A heavy pitch made life difficult for both teams, but the ’Wood started impressively and they had established a healthy 0-5 to 0-0 lead after 13 minutes thanks to efforts from McGee, Michael Shankey and Paddy Carolan. David Jennings replied with a point from a close-in free for what was Dunderry’s only entry on the scoresheet in the first half.
The losers dominated the early stages of the second period, but some dreadful finishing let them down. McGee’s fourth point left the ’Wood 0-8 to 0-1 to the good after 44 minutes, and while David McCormack and Jennings responded with unanswered scores for Dunderry, the outcome was never in doubt.
“To be honest, we were expecting a much tougher test as it was Dunderry’s second competitive game in a matter of weeks (which they lost to Ballinlough) whereas we hadn’t played a championship game in over two months. We played a couple of challenge matches against St. Oliver’s (Drogheda) and Kells, but they’re never the same as the real thing.
“We had wind advantage in the first half and managed to build up a decent lead at half-time. Dunderry improved in the second half, but we had done enough in the first half to hold on for the win,” says Francie, whose son Francis lined out at centre back in the relegation play-off.
In the league, Kilmainhamwood retained their Division 1 status courtesy of a 3-12 to 2-9 victory over Castletown. But Owens wants much more from the team in the coming year.
“While we consolidated our senior championship and Division 1 league status this year, we should be aiming higher. To be involved in a relegation play-off this year was a big shock to us. We had to roll up our sleeves and get stuck in.
“We got a big fright and hopefully that will spur us on to putting in a bigger effort this year. A number of lads acquitted themselves well during the year, including Stephen Smith who joined us from Moynalty. But it was a poor year overall and we have a lot of improving to do,” he concludes.
The Kilmainhamwood team that defeated Dunderry to preserve their SFC status was: C Shankey; S Mulligan, S Smith, S Russell; A Farrelly, F Owens, P Shankey; R Madden, L Shankey; K Russell, L McCormack, M Shankey; R McGee, P Carolan, A Crosbie.
Relief was the overriding feeling in Kilmainhamwood after the North Meath outfit retained their senior status by virtue of a relegation play-off victory over Dunderry at the end of October. As relieved as he was, long-serving secretary Francie Owens is anxious that the ’Wood avoid a similar scenario in 2006.
Ten years to the day after Dunderry had beaten them in a novel Keegan Cup decider, Kilmainhamwood exacted revenge when winning a typically tense relegation play-off at Kells on October 30 last to preserve their senior status.
While the ’Wood’s 0-8 to 0-3 victory was met with relief and even delight, there was still no getting away from the fact that it was a disappointing year for the North Meath club.
“We’re thrilled to be still senior - we’ve been operating at this level since 1994 and we would have found it very difficult to regroup next year if we had been relegated back to intermediate,” says Francie Owens, who has experienced all the emotions during his 30 years as Kilmainhamwood secretary.
“I felt very sorry for Dunderry because we had a very good relationship with them ever since they beat us in the county final 10 years ago. But there had to be a loser and I’m obviously pleased that it wasn’t us. Having said that, a relegation play-off would have been the last place we wanted to find ourselves at the start of the year and a big improvement will be required next year if we are to stay out of relegation trouble.
“The players will have to show a better attitude and put in a bigger effort if we’re to improve.”
From early in the year, Kilmainhamwood were besieged by problems. Star forward Ray McGee missed their first three championship outings with an ankle injury, while his attacking colleague Raymond Cunningham didn’t feature again after picking up a knee injury in the first round defeat to Dunshaughlin. To compound matters, the ’Wood’s Cavan-based manager Ray Cullivan stepped down midway through the season, leaving the injured Cunningham to fill the void.
“The injuries to the two lads had a big bearing on our performances,” Owens points out.
“They are two of the best forwards in the championship and no team could afford to be without them. If they had been available to us for all of our games, we could have ended up in the knock-out stages instead of the relegation dogfight. We could easily have won three or four matches if we had a fully fit team.”
A 1-3 to 1-10 defeat to Dunshaughlin in the opening round at Pairc Tailteann set the tone for a disappointing championship campaign. Former Cavan star Cunningham gave the ’Wood a dream start when he goaled in the fourth minute and with the promising Stephen Kiernan in fine form, they led by 1-2 to 0-1 after 10 minutes.
The men in white still had their noses in front at the interval, but the tide turned in Dunshaughlin’s favour immediately after the restart when full back Kenny McTigue ran the length of the field to blast a penalty past Ronan Finnegan. Dunshaughlin put further daylight between the sides in the final quarter to seal a comfortable win.
Further defeats to Seneschalstown (0-10 to 1-14) and Walterstown (0-10 to 0-14) left Kilmainhamwood pointless after three matches. However, their spirits was temporarily lifted when they recorded a surprise 2-8 to 1-9 victory over one of the championship favourites, Simonstown Gaels, at Castletown.
With Ray McGee back in their starting line-up the ’Wood were far more economical than their Navan opponents, and it was McGee’s goal in the 43rd minute which effectively decided the result. Simonstown started the brighter and led by 1-2 to 0-1 after 13 minutes. But a Paddy Carolan goal in the 22nd minute boosted the ’Wood’s confidence and they went into the break on level terms after playing against the wind.
Points from Carolan and McGee helped the North Meath side to a 1-7 to 1-4 lead following the resumption and they were 2-7 to 1-6 to the good after McGee shot through a crowded goalmouth to score their second goal. Simonstown applied a lot of pressure in the closing stages, but Kilmainhamwood held out for their first victory.
That was as good as it got for Raymond Cunningham’s charges in the group stages as three further defeats to Wolfe Tones (2-4 to 0-14), St. Patrick’s (0-8 to 0-9) and Skryne (1-10 to 2-12) left them firmly rooted to the bottom of the table. They should really have taken something from their clash with St. Patrick’s (Barry Campbell’s late point denied them a share of the spoils) but even if they had, they would still have found themselves in a relegation play-off.
“We were very disappointed with our performances in the group stages. Apart from the Simonstown game, we didn’t play up to the scratch. We were very unlucky against St. Pat’s and I think Wolfe Tones took us a bit by surprise. It’s frustrating to think that we could beat a team like Simonstown but lose to supposedly weaker opposition,” Francie ruefully reflects.
A three-way play-off involving Cortown, Ballinlough and Dunderry was necessitated in the other group to determine who would face the ’Wood in the relegation decider. As it transpired, Dunderry provided the opposition for Raymond Cunningham’s side on a blustery afternoon at Kells.
Not surprisingly, the wind had a big bearing on the game and Kilmainhamwood made the most of it when it blew in their favour in the first half, building up a 0-7 to 0-1 interval advantage. And whatever chance Dunderry had of making up the deficit was blown in the first 10 minutes of the second half when they registered seven wides.
A heavy pitch made life difficult for both teams, but the ’Wood started impressively and they had established a healthy 0-5 to 0-0 lead after 13 minutes thanks to efforts from McGee, Michael Shankey and Paddy Carolan. David Jennings replied with a point from a close-in free for what was Dunderry’s only entry on the scoresheet in the first half.
The losers dominated the early stages of the second period, but some dreadful finishing let them down. McGee’s fourth point left the ’Wood 0-8 to 0-1 to the good after 44 minutes, and while David McCormack and Jennings responded with unanswered scores for Dunderry, the outcome was never in doubt.
“To be honest, we were expecting a much tougher test as it was Dunderry’s second competitive game in a matter of weeks (which they lost to Ballinlough) whereas we hadn’t played a championship game in over two months. We played a couple of challenge matches against St. Oliver’s (Drogheda) and Kells, but they’re never the same as the real thing.
“We had wind advantage in the first half and managed to build up a decent lead at half-time. Dunderry improved in the second half, but we had done enough in the first half to hold on for the win,” says Francie, whose son Francis lined out at centre back in the relegation play-off.
In the league, Kilmainhamwood retained their Division 1 status courtesy of a 3-12 to 2-9 victory over Castletown. But Owens wants much more from the team in the coming year.
“While we consolidated our senior championship and Division 1 league status this year, we should be aiming higher. To be involved in a relegation play-off this year was a big shock to us. We had to roll up our sleeves and get stuck in.
“We got a big fright and hopefully that will spur us on to putting in a bigger effort this year. A number of lads acquitted themselves well during the year, including Stephen Smith who joined us from Moynalty. But it was a poor year overall and we have a lot of improving to do,” he concludes.
The Kilmainhamwood team that defeated Dunderry to preserve their SFC status was: C Shankey; S Mulligan, S Smith, S Russell; A Farrelly, F Owens, P Shankey; R Madden, L Shankey; K Russell, L McCormack, M Shankey; R McGee, P Carolan, A Crosbie.
Mixed emotions : From Meath Year Book 2004
31 December 2004
Kilmainhamwood aren’t that far away from being serious Keegan Cup contenders, judging by most of their performances in 2004, but the clock is ticking on the class of 1996.
Kilmainhamwood will have to wait for another year to renew their acquaintance with Meath’s most prestigious sporting trophy - the Keegan Cup, following their quarter-final exit at the hands of Simonstown (after extra time) this year.
But how many more times can the ’Wood’s battle weary troops go back to the well? At least 10 of their 1996 championship winning team featured in the Senior Football Championship in 2004. But somewhere over the horizon Father Time is lurkin.
Only once since the heady summer of 1996 have the ’Wood made it back to the senior final. In 2000, under the guidance of Eamonn McEneaney, they battled their way to the show piece event but shipped a heavy defeat at the hands of Dunshaughlin.
The likes of Liam and Paul Shankey, Ray Madden, Ken Russell, Larry McCormack, Francis Owens, Colm Gilcreest, Raymond Cunningham and Ray Magee would dearly love to add another Keegan Cup medal to their collection. But how many more bites at the cherry will they get?
If this highly talented group of footballers could add another Keegan Cup to their highly impressive footballing CV, they would be rightly regarded as one of the top club sides of all time in the county. Incentive enough to launch another assault on the senior football championship in 2005.
If they can maintain their zest and appetite for the game, they will be knocking on the door again in 2005. If they could recapture the form, they saw them stroll through the 1996 senior championship; they would be real contenders for ultimate honours.
2004 will go down as another lost opportunity, although its was eminently better than the previous year, when they just about avoided the ignominious drop back down to intermediate, when they beat Ballivor in a relegation play-off.
The ’Wood’s 2004 campaign started brightly with back-to-back victories over Walterstown (1-8 to 0-10) and Dunderry (2-11 to 0-14).
In Round 1 the ’Wood played some scintillating football filled with style and panache. Ray Magee and Raymond Cunningham showed why they are still two of the county’s most lethal forwards, while Larry McCormack gave a master class in hard running and foraging
The ’Wood who were forced to field without a number of regulars, moved the ball with pace, which unsettled the opposition. Even though Walterstown dominated in terms of possession, the ’Wood’s economical use of the ball and more accurate finishing were the cornerstones of this narrow victory.
That victory set up a mouth-watering clash with Dunderry in Round 2. Magee and Cunningham were up to their old tricks again and led the Dunderry defence a merry dance.
Magee, who captained Meath’s O’Byrne Cup winning team earlier in the year, produced another outstanding performance to baffle and bewilder the Dunderry defence. Almost every effort that left his boot bisected the posts.
Cunningham was also on fire and grabbed the ’Woods two goals and was a constant thorn in Dunderry’s side for the entire match.
The wheels came off the Kilmainhamwood wagon in Round 3 when they were out fought and out thought by reigning champions Blackhall Gaels, who had made an inauspicious start to their championship campaign.
Having trailed 0-2 to 1-5 at the interval, any prospect of a second half revival was dashed 30 seconds after the restart when Blackhall netted for the second time to extend their lead to nine points
The remaining exchanges were evenly contested, but the ’Wood couldn’t make any inroads in Blackhall’s lead. Magee grabbed a goal five minutes from time, but it proved too little too late for the north Meath outfit who were comprehensively beaten 2-13 to 1-6
Kilmainhamwood got their title aspirations back on track in Round 4 when they scored a deserved victory over Seneschalstown in Kells. Yet again Magee and Cunningham made telling contributions.
The ’Wood led 0-8 to 0-5 at the interval, but that scoreline failed to reflect their dominance as Cunningham, Magee and Aidan Rogers all squandered good goalscoring opportunities. The ’Wood also wasted another brace of goals scoring chances in the second half. However, they were well worth their 0-12 to 0-8 victory.
The ’Wood practically booked their place in the quarter-finals when they got the better of Cortown in a scrappy match in Round 5. It wasn’t pretty, but the ’Wood deserved their 2-6 to 0-9 victory
By the end of the first quarter the ’Wood built up a four point lead, 1-1 to 0-0. Their goal came from a speculative long range Aidan Crosbie that found its way to the net/
Crosbie had a hand in the ’Wood’s second goal after 21 minutes, when he sidestepped his opponent before off-loading to Paddy Carolan. Carolan found Magee in space who unleashed an unstoppable shot to the net. Magee pointed minutes later. By half time the ’Wood led 2-2 to 0-5.
The third quarter was dour to say the least as both teams battled for supremacy. However, Kilmainhamwood’s defence in which Paul Shankey and Sean Mulligan were superb held sway and proved the launching pad for victory.
Two points a piece from Magee and Michael Shankey ensured the ’Wood held out for a deserved victory in this often bruising encounter
The ’Wood had another poor day at the office in Round 6 when they were humbled by St. Patrick’s at windswept Rathkenny.
Wind assisted St. Patrick’s raced to a 1-7 to 1-0 lead at the interval. Paddy Carolan accounted for the ’Wood’s solitary first half score, when he finished to the net on 16 minutes following good work by Bernard Bennett and Colm Gilcreest.
St. Patrick’s pounced for their second goal midway through the third quarter to give them a 2-8 to 1-2 advantage. That goal effectively ended the game as a contest, although the ’Wood battled to the final whistle.
The ’Wood stumbled into the quarter-finals despite suffering another defeat at the hands of relegation threatened Summerhill in their final group game, which was played at Pairc Tailteann, Navan.
Although Magee, who had an off day against St. Patrick’s, was back to his brilliant best the ’Wood came out on the wrong end of a 1-12 to 1-9 scoreline. The elusive attacker notched seven points, but it wasn’t enough to waken his teammates out of their inertia. Only Paddy Carolan, Colm Gilcreest and Bernard Bennett, who grabbed the ’Wood’s goal seemed up for the challenge.
In what proved to be a wide-open group, the ’Wood qualified for the quarter-finals on the back of their victories over Walterstown, Dunderry, Seneschalstown and Cortown.
The manner in which Kilmainhamwood capitulated against St. Patrick’s and Summerhill in their final two group games suggested that the ’Wood would have their work cut out to overcome the challenge of Simonstown in the quarter-finals.
However, for the first 25 minutes of this enthralling encounter the ’Wood looked virtually unbeatable. The moved the ball with pace and precision, defended stoutly and looked a class apart from their opposition. During that purple patch Kieran Shankey and Sean Mulligan were superb.
By half time they had surged into a 0-7 to 0-2 lead. On resumption Simonstown launched a spirited comeback, but the ’Wood still held the initiative until deep into injury time. When Magee pointed with 90 seconds of injury played, to give them a two-point lead (0-10 to 0-8) it looked as if they were home and dry.
But to their credit Simonstown fought back with two late-late points to force the game into extra time. Simonstown had played a large chunk of the second half with 14 men following the dismissal of Ronan McGrath for an off-the-ball incident with Magee.
However, they were restored to full strength for extra-time and took the lead after two minutes. That they had an eight point lead (0-20 to 0-12) at the final whistle illustrates the magnitude of the ’Wood’s collapse.
Joe Tallon will look back on his year at helm with mixed memories. When the ’Wood were good, they were awesome, but they also plumbed the depths of mediocrity on too many occasions.
Club stalwarts like Henry Corbally, Francie Owens, Denis Farrelly, Christo Shankey, and Percy McKeever will probably spend the winter wondering how the ’Wood managed to let that two-point lead slip deep into injury time.
They’ll also ponder just how far the ’Wood could have gone had they protected that lead to set up a semi-final meeting with Trim. It will irk that the North Navan outfit blew Trim out of the water.
Kilmainhamwood aren’t that far away from being serious Keegan Cup contenders, judging by most of their performances in 2004, but the clock is ticking on the class of 1996.
Kilmainhamwood will have to wait for another year to renew their acquaintance with Meath’s most prestigious sporting trophy - the Keegan Cup, following their quarter-final exit at the hands of Simonstown (after extra time) this year.
But how many more times can the ’Wood’s battle weary troops go back to the well? At least 10 of their 1996 championship winning team featured in the Senior Football Championship in 2004. But somewhere over the horizon Father Time is lurkin.
Only once since the heady summer of 1996 have the ’Wood made it back to the senior final. In 2000, under the guidance of Eamonn McEneaney, they battled their way to the show piece event but shipped a heavy defeat at the hands of Dunshaughlin.
The likes of Liam and Paul Shankey, Ray Madden, Ken Russell, Larry McCormack, Francis Owens, Colm Gilcreest, Raymond Cunningham and Ray Magee would dearly love to add another Keegan Cup medal to their collection. But how many more bites at the cherry will they get?
If this highly talented group of footballers could add another Keegan Cup to their highly impressive footballing CV, they would be rightly regarded as one of the top club sides of all time in the county. Incentive enough to launch another assault on the senior football championship in 2005.
If they can maintain their zest and appetite for the game, they will be knocking on the door again in 2005. If they could recapture the form, they saw them stroll through the 1996 senior championship; they would be real contenders for ultimate honours.
2004 will go down as another lost opportunity, although its was eminently better than the previous year, when they just about avoided the ignominious drop back down to intermediate, when they beat Ballivor in a relegation play-off.
The ’Wood’s 2004 campaign started brightly with back-to-back victories over Walterstown (1-8 to 0-10) and Dunderry (2-11 to 0-14).
In Round 1 the ’Wood played some scintillating football filled with style and panache. Ray Magee and Raymond Cunningham showed why they are still two of the county’s most lethal forwards, while Larry McCormack gave a master class in hard running and foraging
The ’Wood who were forced to field without a number of regulars, moved the ball with pace, which unsettled the opposition. Even though Walterstown dominated in terms of possession, the ’Wood’s economical use of the ball and more accurate finishing were the cornerstones of this narrow victory.
That victory set up a mouth-watering clash with Dunderry in Round 2. Magee and Cunningham were up to their old tricks again and led the Dunderry defence a merry dance.
Magee, who captained Meath’s O’Byrne Cup winning team earlier in the year, produced another outstanding performance to baffle and bewilder the Dunderry defence. Almost every effort that left his boot bisected the posts.
Cunningham was also on fire and grabbed the ’Woods two goals and was a constant thorn in Dunderry’s side for the entire match.
The wheels came off the Kilmainhamwood wagon in Round 3 when they were out fought and out thought by reigning champions Blackhall Gaels, who had made an inauspicious start to their championship campaign.
Having trailed 0-2 to 1-5 at the interval, any prospect of a second half revival was dashed 30 seconds after the restart when Blackhall netted for the second time to extend their lead to nine points
The remaining exchanges were evenly contested, but the ’Wood couldn’t make any inroads in Blackhall’s lead. Magee grabbed a goal five minutes from time, but it proved too little too late for the north Meath outfit who were comprehensively beaten 2-13 to 1-6
Kilmainhamwood got their title aspirations back on track in Round 4 when they scored a deserved victory over Seneschalstown in Kells. Yet again Magee and Cunningham made telling contributions.
The ’Wood led 0-8 to 0-5 at the interval, but that scoreline failed to reflect their dominance as Cunningham, Magee and Aidan Rogers all squandered good goalscoring opportunities. The ’Wood also wasted another brace of goals scoring chances in the second half. However, they were well worth their 0-12 to 0-8 victory.
The ’Wood practically booked their place in the quarter-finals when they got the better of Cortown in a scrappy match in Round 5. It wasn’t pretty, but the ’Wood deserved their 2-6 to 0-9 victory
By the end of the first quarter the ’Wood built up a four point lead, 1-1 to 0-0. Their goal came from a speculative long range Aidan Crosbie that found its way to the net/
Crosbie had a hand in the ’Wood’s second goal after 21 minutes, when he sidestepped his opponent before off-loading to Paddy Carolan. Carolan found Magee in space who unleashed an unstoppable shot to the net. Magee pointed minutes later. By half time the ’Wood led 2-2 to 0-5.
The third quarter was dour to say the least as both teams battled for supremacy. However, Kilmainhamwood’s defence in which Paul Shankey and Sean Mulligan were superb held sway and proved the launching pad for victory.
Two points a piece from Magee and Michael Shankey ensured the ’Wood held out for a deserved victory in this often bruising encounter
The ’Wood had another poor day at the office in Round 6 when they were humbled by St. Patrick’s at windswept Rathkenny.
Wind assisted St. Patrick’s raced to a 1-7 to 1-0 lead at the interval. Paddy Carolan accounted for the ’Wood’s solitary first half score, when he finished to the net on 16 minutes following good work by Bernard Bennett and Colm Gilcreest.
St. Patrick’s pounced for their second goal midway through the third quarter to give them a 2-8 to 1-2 advantage. That goal effectively ended the game as a contest, although the ’Wood battled to the final whistle.
The ’Wood stumbled into the quarter-finals despite suffering another defeat at the hands of relegation threatened Summerhill in their final group game, which was played at Pairc Tailteann, Navan.
Although Magee, who had an off day against St. Patrick’s, was back to his brilliant best the ’Wood came out on the wrong end of a 1-12 to 1-9 scoreline. The elusive attacker notched seven points, but it wasn’t enough to waken his teammates out of their inertia. Only Paddy Carolan, Colm Gilcreest and Bernard Bennett, who grabbed the ’Wood’s goal seemed up for the challenge.
In what proved to be a wide-open group, the ’Wood qualified for the quarter-finals on the back of their victories over Walterstown, Dunderry, Seneschalstown and Cortown.
The manner in which Kilmainhamwood capitulated against St. Patrick’s and Summerhill in their final two group games suggested that the ’Wood would have their work cut out to overcome the challenge of Simonstown in the quarter-finals.
However, for the first 25 minutes of this enthralling encounter the ’Wood looked virtually unbeatable. The moved the ball with pace and precision, defended stoutly and looked a class apart from their opposition. During that purple patch Kieran Shankey and Sean Mulligan were superb.
By half time they had surged into a 0-7 to 0-2 lead. On resumption Simonstown launched a spirited comeback, but the ’Wood still held the initiative until deep into injury time. When Magee pointed with 90 seconds of injury played, to give them a two-point lead (0-10 to 0-8) it looked as if they were home and dry.
But to their credit Simonstown fought back with two late-late points to force the game into extra time. Simonstown had played a large chunk of the second half with 14 men following the dismissal of Ronan McGrath for an off-the-ball incident with Magee.
However, they were restored to full strength for extra-time and took the lead after two minutes. That they had an eight point lead (0-20 to 0-12) at the final whistle illustrates the magnitude of the ’Wood’s collapse.
Joe Tallon will look back on his year at helm with mixed memories. When the ’Wood were good, they were awesome, but they also plumbed the depths of mediocrity on too many occasions.
Club stalwarts like Henry Corbally, Francie Owens, Denis Farrelly, Christo Shankey, and Percy McKeever will probably spend the winter wondering how the ’Wood managed to let that two-point lead slip deep into injury time.
They’ll also ponder just how far the ’Wood could have gone had they protected that lead to set up a semi-final meeting with Trim. It will irk that the North Navan outfit blew Trim out of the water.
Preservation all important : From Meath Year Book 2003
31 December 2003
Kilmainhamwood preserved their senior status for another year when they beat Ballivor 1-8 to 0-8 in a relegation decider at Kells on Saturday, September 6. The north Meath men let a huge collective sigh of relief at the final whistle. John Loughran reviews a season that just went from bad to worse, before it eventually got better.
Hope springs eternal in Kilmainhamwood at the turn of every year. Their 1996 victory in the Meath Senior Football Championship is still fresh in the memory. Many of the fresh faces that led them to glory seven years ago are still part of the current senior panel.
At the beginning of 2003 there was a palpable feeling around the ’Wood that the Keegan Cup could once again be destined for the north Meath village. To add to the optimism Kilmainhamwood and Meath legend Brian Stafford was appointed team coach. As the club’s floodlights beamed out across north Meath in mid-January, a summerfest of football looked on the cards.
The ’Wood’s campaign got off to a poor start on Friday April 11 at Pairc Tailteann, Navan when they were beaten by Dunboyne by a single point, 1-12 to 1-11 in a highly entertaining encounter. The ’Wood failed to get out of the blocks in the first period and Dunboyne led by double scores 1-7 to 0-5 at the interval.
However, they orchestrated a significant revival and managed to claw back the deficit to the minimum 1-8 to 1-7, midway through the second half.
The two Rays - Magee and Cunningam hauled the ’Wood back into contention. The former Cavan player netted, while the current Meath panelist notched two vital points. While they matched their opponents in the scoring stakes (0-4) for the remainder of the match, the ’Wood were unable to to get that all important additional score that would have given them at least a share of the spoils.
The’ Wood’s bandwagon rolled onto Rathkenny the following Saturday afternoon to face a rejuvenated St Pat’s who had accounted for Trim the previous weekend. Despite having Paddy Carolan dismissed for two bookable offences the ’Wood prevailed on a 2-6 to 0-6 scoreline. Carolan bagged one of the vital goals before his early bath, but the outcome of the match was still in the melting pot until deep into injury time. Michael Shankey pointed to give the ’Wood a three point lead before Magee crashed home to an empty net to leave the verdict beyond doubt.
Buoyed by their victory over St Pat’s Kilmainhamwood faced into their third group match against Trim with renewed heart. Trim had atoned for their surprise defeat at the hands of St Pat’s by defeating Summerhill in round two, so a close encounter looked on the cards.
Despite leading for most of this match the ’Wood came out on the wrong end of a 1-11 to 0-12 scoreline. Indeed the ’Woods management team will wonder how they let this game slip from their grasp.
Midway through the first half the ’Wood led 0-6 to 0-1. At the interval they still led 0-8 to 1-3 and retained their lead until the closing stages when Trim finally drew level with five minutes remaining. Two points in the final moments assured Trim of what had previously looked like an unlikely victory.
The ’Wood lost this encounter because they failed to maintain their first half momentum - adding only four points in the second half. Their tally could have been greater if Paddy Carolan had taken a goal chance in the first half, while Aiden Crosbie spurned another great chance after the break. In both instances from professional soccer goalkeeper Brendan Murphy pulled off excellent saves.
Despite having lost two of their opening three matches the ’Wood were still in with a chance of advancing from the group, when they faced Summerhill in their next encounter. Summerhill had lost their opening three fixtures and the ’Wood must have fancied their chances of getting their campaign back on track with a victory.
They opened brightly enough and led 0-3 to 0-0 thanks to three pointed frees from Ray Magee. Despite conceding a ’soft’ goal the ’Wood led 0-7 to 1-3 at the break. However, their SFC aspirations went up in a puff of smoke at the start of the second half when the ’Hill notched 1-3 without reply is a six minute period.
The ’Wood managed to keep their opposition scoreless for the following 25 minutes and reduced the deficit to a point 2-6 to 0-11 in the closing stages. However, it was Summerhill who got the all decisive score in the closing stages to condemn the ’Wood to yet another defeat.
The ’Wood’s bogey team Cortown provided round five opposition at Moynalty. In 2002 year Cortown denied the ’Wood a place in the quarter finals. This time round they plunged the ’Wood into the relegation mire. The outcome of this hard-fought fixture hinged on a six-minute spell in the third quarter, when Larry McCormack received two yellow cards and was dismissed.
Cortown capitalised on their numerical advantage when they goaled to extend their lead to four points 1-8 to 0-7. While the ’Wood outpointed their opponents 0-3 to 0-2 for the remainder of the half, they never looked like overhauling Cortown’s led and went under 1-10 to 0-10.
The ’Wood suffered their worst championship defeat for many a long year when they were trounced 4-13 to 1-8 by Dunshaughlin at Simonstown in the sixth round. At half time they trailed 1-8 to 1-5 having led by 1-3 to 1-1 at the end of the first quarter.
However, their fortunes took a nosedive when custodian Ronan Finnegan slipped and spilled the ball on the 20-metre line. It fell kindly to a Dunshaughlin attacker who dispatched the ball to an empty net. The reigning champions subsequently ran out easy winners.
To their credit the ’Wood regrouped ahead of their final group fixture against Walterstown and looked to have secured their senior status for another year when they led 1-7 to 0-8 in the final moments.
However, a hotly disputed penalty was awarded to Walterstown in the dying moments as the ’Wood defended with all their might. Ronan Finnegan, who had made a couple of fine saves earlier in the game, saved the spotkick. But the rebound was rammed to the net to plunge the ’Wood into a relegation dogfight.
The meeting of Kilmainhamwood and Ballivor in Kells on Saturday, September 6 won’t be remembered in north Meath as a classic, but the quality of fare won’t matter one iota to Brian Stafford and his charges.
All that mattered was the result. The ’Wood scored a deserved victory having played for most of the match with 14 men - following the dismissal of Ronan Finnegan after only 11 minutes.
Their caused was helped 11 minutes from time when Ballivor had a man sent sent off to restore parity, but in truth their victory was assured from the moment Ray Cunningham, who was introduced early in the second half scored a priceless goal early in the final quarter. That goal put the ’Wood 1-8 to 0-7 ahead and out of reach of Ballivor who will now ply their trade in the intermediate ranks in 2004.
By the time this article sees the light of day, the buds of optimism will be appearing again in the north Meath village of Kilmainhamwood. The players, management and supporters will be looking forward to another campaign in the senior ranks.
The horror of 2003, when they almost lost their cherished senior status, should be motivation enough to fuel another successful odyssey.
Kilmainhamwood preserved their senior status for another year when they beat Ballivor 1-8 to 0-8 in a relegation decider at Kells on Saturday, September 6. The north Meath men let a huge collective sigh of relief at the final whistle. John Loughran reviews a season that just went from bad to worse, before it eventually got better.
Hope springs eternal in Kilmainhamwood at the turn of every year. Their 1996 victory in the Meath Senior Football Championship is still fresh in the memory. Many of the fresh faces that led them to glory seven years ago are still part of the current senior panel.
At the beginning of 2003 there was a palpable feeling around the ’Wood that the Keegan Cup could once again be destined for the north Meath village. To add to the optimism Kilmainhamwood and Meath legend Brian Stafford was appointed team coach. As the club’s floodlights beamed out across north Meath in mid-January, a summerfest of football looked on the cards.
The ’Wood’s campaign got off to a poor start on Friday April 11 at Pairc Tailteann, Navan when they were beaten by Dunboyne by a single point, 1-12 to 1-11 in a highly entertaining encounter. The ’Wood failed to get out of the blocks in the first period and Dunboyne led by double scores 1-7 to 0-5 at the interval.
However, they orchestrated a significant revival and managed to claw back the deficit to the minimum 1-8 to 1-7, midway through the second half.
The two Rays - Magee and Cunningam hauled the ’Wood back into contention. The former Cavan player netted, while the current Meath panelist notched two vital points. While they matched their opponents in the scoring stakes (0-4) for the remainder of the match, the ’Wood were unable to to get that all important additional score that would have given them at least a share of the spoils.
The’ Wood’s bandwagon rolled onto Rathkenny the following Saturday afternoon to face a rejuvenated St Pat’s who had accounted for Trim the previous weekend. Despite having Paddy Carolan dismissed for two bookable offences the ’Wood prevailed on a 2-6 to 0-6 scoreline. Carolan bagged one of the vital goals before his early bath, but the outcome of the match was still in the melting pot until deep into injury time. Michael Shankey pointed to give the ’Wood a three point lead before Magee crashed home to an empty net to leave the verdict beyond doubt.
Buoyed by their victory over St Pat’s Kilmainhamwood faced into their third group match against Trim with renewed heart. Trim had atoned for their surprise defeat at the hands of St Pat’s by defeating Summerhill in round two, so a close encounter looked on the cards.
Despite leading for most of this match the ’Wood came out on the wrong end of a 1-11 to 0-12 scoreline. Indeed the ’Woods management team will wonder how they let this game slip from their grasp.
Midway through the first half the ’Wood led 0-6 to 0-1. At the interval they still led 0-8 to 1-3 and retained their lead until the closing stages when Trim finally drew level with five minutes remaining. Two points in the final moments assured Trim of what had previously looked like an unlikely victory.
The ’Wood lost this encounter because they failed to maintain their first half momentum - adding only four points in the second half. Their tally could have been greater if Paddy Carolan had taken a goal chance in the first half, while Aiden Crosbie spurned another great chance after the break. In both instances from professional soccer goalkeeper Brendan Murphy pulled off excellent saves.
Despite having lost two of their opening three matches the ’Wood were still in with a chance of advancing from the group, when they faced Summerhill in their next encounter. Summerhill had lost their opening three fixtures and the ’Wood must have fancied their chances of getting their campaign back on track with a victory.
They opened brightly enough and led 0-3 to 0-0 thanks to three pointed frees from Ray Magee. Despite conceding a ’soft’ goal the ’Wood led 0-7 to 1-3 at the break. However, their SFC aspirations went up in a puff of smoke at the start of the second half when the ’Hill notched 1-3 without reply is a six minute period.
The ’Wood managed to keep their opposition scoreless for the following 25 minutes and reduced the deficit to a point 2-6 to 0-11 in the closing stages. However, it was Summerhill who got the all decisive score in the closing stages to condemn the ’Wood to yet another defeat.
The ’Wood’s bogey team Cortown provided round five opposition at Moynalty. In 2002 year Cortown denied the ’Wood a place in the quarter finals. This time round they plunged the ’Wood into the relegation mire. The outcome of this hard-fought fixture hinged on a six-minute spell in the third quarter, when Larry McCormack received two yellow cards and was dismissed.
Cortown capitalised on their numerical advantage when they goaled to extend their lead to four points 1-8 to 0-7. While the ’Wood outpointed their opponents 0-3 to 0-2 for the remainder of the half, they never looked like overhauling Cortown’s led and went under 1-10 to 0-10.
The ’Wood suffered their worst championship defeat for many a long year when they were trounced 4-13 to 1-8 by Dunshaughlin at Simonstown in the sixth round. At half time they trailed 1-8 to 1-5 having led by 1-3 to 1-1 at the end of the first quarter.
However, their fortunes took a nosedive when custodian Ronan Finnegan slipped and spilled the ball on the 20-metre line. It fell kindly to a Dunshaughlin attacker who dispatched the ball to an empty net. The reigning champions subsequently ran out easy winners.
To their credit the ’Wood regrouped ahead of their final group fixture against Walterstown and looked to have secured their senior status for another year when they led 1-7 to 0-8 in the final moments.
However, a hotly disputed penalty was awarded to Walterstown in the dying moments as the ’Wood defended with all their might. Ronan Finnegan, who had made a couple of fine saves earlier in the game, saved the spotkick. But the rebound was rammed to the net to plunge the ’Wood into a relegation dogfight.
The meeting of Kilmainhamwood and Ballivor in Kells on Saturday, September 6 won’t be remembered in north Meath as a classic, but the quality of fare won’t matter one iota to Brian Stafford and his charges.
All that mattered was the result. The ’Wood scored a deserved victory having played for most of the match with 14 men - following the dismissal of Ronan Finnegan after only 11 minutes.
Their caused was helped 11 minutes from time when Ballivor had a man sent sent off to restore parity, but in truth their victory was assured from the moment Ray Cunningham, who was introduced early in the second half scored a priceless goal early in the final quarter. That goal put the ’Wood 1-8 to 0-7 ahead and out of reach of Ballivor who will now ply their trade in the intermediate ranks in 2004.
By the time this article sees the light of day, the buds of optimism will be appearing again in the north Meath village of Kilmainhamwood. The players, management and supporters will be looking forward to another campaign in the senior ranks.
The horror of 2003, when they almost lost their cherished senior status, should be motivation enough to fuel another successful odyssey.
Too good to struggle : From Meath Year Book 2002
31 December 2002
Kilmainhamwood might have expected to challenge for senior honours in 2002, but instead they found themselves with relegation on their minds at a time when they would have hoped to be thinking in terms of possible silverware.
The good news for the club’s supporters was that they survived and later went on to turn in a superb showing at the All-Ireland Football Sevens when they became the first Meath club to reach the final, while, with the future in mind, their was success for the club’s under-14 team.
When the ’Wood led Cortown by five points near the end of the third quarter in their final Senior Football Championship Group B match at Kells, their prospects of earning a place in the knockout stages were very much alive.
That was until the wheels came off and Cortown, as gutsy and committed as ever, battled back to beat them by a point as Glen Loughran fired over the winner 10 seconds from the end of normal time.
Instead of dreaming of a first Keegan Cup annexation since their memorable breakthrough triumph in 1996, Kilmainhamwood found themselves in relegation trouble - surely something a club with so many talented players couldn’t have envisaged at the start of the campaign.
But just how much talent they possess was very apparent next time out in the championship. Losing to Cortown meant the teams finished level at the bottom of the table and that meant they had to come face to face again, this time in a preliminary relegation play-off at Moynalty.
The ’Wood had managed their only win of the group stages when defeating Trim by a point at Athboy in May, but they lost to Skryne by eight and the failure against Cortown meant they finished with only two points - the same as Cortown.
But how different the outcome was in the second meeting as the ’Wood won the preliminary relegation play-off between the sides with ease by 12 points on a 3-9 to 0-6 scoreline, thus avoiding the very slippery slope that can be a one-off relegation tussle.
The reality is that Kilmainhamwood have far too many good players, particularly in a potentially lethal attack, to be spoken of in terms of intermediate football and some of that talent was on show at the All-Ireland Football Sevens staged by the Kilmacud Crokes club in Dublin on the eve of the All-Ireland football finals on September 21.
Kilmainhamwood’s achievement in reaching the final in their third appearance in this highly popular seven-a-side tournament, which is contested by many of the top clubs in the country, deserves to be applauded and but for a gruelling semi-final against Bryansford from Down they would surely have run Derry’s Bellaghy, the reigning All-Ireland Club champions, much closer in the final at Glenalbyn.
Bellaghy, powered by Derry senior players Karl Diamond, Joe Cassidy and Fergal Doherty, built up a commanding 15-point (4-8 to 1-2) interval lead, but the ’Wood never gave up battling and scored three second half goals, two from Jonathan Corrigan and one from Raymond Cunningham. However, Bellaghy still proved too good on a 6-11 to 4-4 scoreline, but it was certainly a superb achievement by the ’Wood to advance to the final of a competition that takes a some winning. They had reached the semi-finals in 1997 when they lost to Castleblayney after eliminating Bellaghy at the quarter-final stage and are obviously going in the right direction in their endeavours to go all the way.
In all, the ’Wood played seven matches in the 2002 competition, beating St. Laurence’s (Kildare) by 6-1 to 4-5, Castleblayney (Monaghan) by 3-9 to 2-3 and Tir Chonaill Gaels (London) by 4-3 to 2-6 in the group stages, before defeating Kerry’s Castleisland Desmonds in a preliminary quarter-final on a 5-4 to 1-10 scoreline.
However, that victory was achieved at a very heavy price as Paul Shankey was red-carded and that ruled the county player out for the remainder of the tournament, which represented a huge blow to their prospects.
Clan Na Gael from Tyrone provided the quarter-final opposition and even in the considerable absence of Shankey the ’Wood won by 5-6 to 3-6 to set up a semi-final meeting with Bryansford.
That proved to be a gruelling struggle, with the Meath representatives trailing all the way until Francis Owens, who was actually playing in goal, pounced for a late goal which earned them a 3-5 to 1-10 victory and a final ticket.
Unfortunately, that highly demanding and energy-sapping match, combined with five earlier outings, exhausted the ’Wood and Bellaghy proved superior in the final.
A feature of Kilmainhamwood’s highly commendable showing in the tournament was their ability to score goals as they netted no fewer than 30 times in their seven matches, with Ray Magee scoring eight of them.
The Kilmainhamwood panel was made up of Francis Owens, Sean Mulligan, Paul Shankey, Michael Shankey, Liam Shankey, Alan Shankey, Ray Magee, Raymond Cunningham, Paddy Carolan and Jonathan Corrigan.
If Kilmainhamwood do manage to win the All-Ireland Sevens at some stage in the future, perhaps some members of this year’s triumphant under-14 side will be on show.
The success by this dedicated bunch of youngsters was one of the highlights of the year for the club as Henry Corbally’s team edged out a gallant Syddan side by 2-7 to 1-7 in the Div. 4 North final before a big crowd at Nobber, thanks largely to a late goal from the penalty spot by Stephen Kiernan who was the ’Wood’s top scorer with 1-3.
As the final drew to a close Syddan held a one-point advantage, but Kiernan calmly slotted home the penalty and a minute later Kevin Shields wrapped up the title with a point.
The ’Wood had started the match well and a superb individual goal from team captain Alan Carolan midway through the opening half boosted them to a 1-5 to 0-5 interval lead, but Syddan, who had earlier beaten the ’Wood in the league, overtook them late in the second half after Dermot Kelleher had netted.
However, that dramatic late rally gave Kilmainhamwood the title after Alan Morris, Harry Corbally, Shane McGrath, Phillip Moran, Shields and Kiernan had performed particularly well.
It was Kilmainhamwood’s first trophy at under-age level in over a decade, so it clearly represented a significant achievement, while the under-12 team also produced some impressive performances which augur well for the future before losing the Div. 4A final to Nobber.
The victorious Kilmainhamwood under-14 team in the final was: J. Clarke; A. Bennett, A. Morris, P. Hanratty; M. Carolan, H. Corbally, S. McGrath; P. Owens, A. Carolan (1-1); C. Gilsenan (0-1), J. Carolan (0-1), P. Moran; K. Shields (0-1), P. Smith, S. Kiernan (1-3). Sub - D. Carolan for Smith.
Kilmainhamwood might have expected to challenge for senior honours in 2002, but instead they found themselves with relegation on their minds at a time when they would have hoped to be thinking in terms of possible silverware.
The good news for the club’s supporters was that they survived and later went on to turn in a superb showing at the All-Ireland Football Sevens when they became the first Meath club to reach the final, while, with the future in mind, their was success for the club’s under-14 team.
When the ’Wood led Cortown by five points near the end of the third quarter in their final Senior Football Championship Group B match at Kells, their prospects of earning a place in the knockout stages were very much alive.
That was until the wheels came off and Cortown, as gutsy and committed as ever, battled back to beat them by a point as Glen Loughran fired over the winner 10 seconds from the end of normal time.
Instead of dreaming of a first Keegan Cup annexation since their memorable breakthrough triumph in 1996, Kilmainhamwood found themselves in relegation trouble - surely something a club with so many talented players couldn’t have envisaged at the start of the campaign.
But just how much talent they possess was very apparent next time out in the championship. Losing to Cortown meant the teams finished level at the bottom of the table and that meant they had to come face to face again, this time in a preliminary relegation play-off at Moynalty.
The ’Wood had managed their only win of the group stages when defeating Trim by a point at Athboy in May, but they lost to Skryne by eight and the failure against Cortown meant they finished with only two points - the same as Cortown.
But how different the outcome was in the second meeting as the ’Wood won the preliminary relegation play-off between the sides with ease by 12 points on a 3-9 to 0-6 scoreline, thus avoiding the very slippery slope that can be a one-off relegation tussle.
The reality is that Kilmainhamwood have far too many good players, particularly in a potentially lethal attack, to be spoken of in terms of intermediate football and some of that talent was on show at the All-Ireland Football Sevens staged by the Kilmacud Crokes club in Dublin on the eve of the All-Ireland football finals on September 21.
Kilmainhamwood’s achievement in reaching the final in their third appearance in this highly popular seven-a-side tournament, which is contested by many of the top clubs in the country, deserves to be applauded and but for a gruelling semi-final against Bryansford from Down they would surely have run Derry’s Bellaghy, the reigning All-Ireland Club champions, much closer in the final at Glenalbyn.
Bellaghy, powered by Derry senior players Karl Diamond, Joe Cassidy and Fergal Doherty, built up a commanding 15-point (4-8 to 1-2) interval lead, but the ’Wood never gave up battling and scored three second half goals, two from Jonathan Corrigan and one from Raymond Cunningham. However, Bellaghy still proved too good on a 6-11 to 4-4 scoreline, but it was certainly a superb achievement by the ’Wood to advance to the final of a competition that takes a some winning. They had reached the semi-finals in 1997 when they lost to Castleblayney after eliminating Bellaghy at the quarter-final stage and are obviously going in the right direction in their endeavours to go all the way.
In all, the ’Wood played seven matches in the 2002 competition, beating St. Laurence’s (Kildare) by 6-1 to 4-5, Castleblayney (Monaghan) by 3-9 to 2-3 and Tir Chonaill Gaels (London) by 4-3 to 2-6 in the group stages, before defeating Kerry’s Castleisland Desmonds in a preliminary quarter-final on a 5-4 to 1-10 scoreline.
However, that victory was achieved at a very heavy price as Paul Shankey was red-carded and that ruled the county player out for the remainder of the tournament, which represented a huge blow to their prospects.
Clan Na Gael from Tyrone provided the quarter-final opposition and even in the considerable absence of Shankey the ’Wood won by 5-6 to 3-6 to set up a semi-final meeting with Bryansford.
That proved to be a gruelling struggle, with the Meath representatives trailing all the way until Francis Owens, who was actually playing in goal, pounced for a late goal which earned them a 3-5 to 1-10 victory and a final ticket.
Unfortunately, that highly demanding and energy-sapping match, combined with five earlier outings, exhausted the ’Wood and Bellaghy proved superior in the final.
A feature of Kilmainhamwood’s highly commendable showing in the tournament was their ability to score goals as they netted no fewer than 30 times in their seven matches, with Ray Magee scoring eight of them.
The Kilmainhamwood panel was made up of Francis Owens, Sean Mulligan, Paul Shankey, Michael Shankey, Liam Shankey, Alan Shankey, Ray Magee, Raymond Cunningham, Paddy Carolan and Jonathan Corrigan.
If Kilmainhamwood do manage to win the All-Ireland Sevens at some stage in the future, perhaps some members of this year’s triumphant under-14 side will be on show.
The success by this dedicated bunch of youngsters was one of the highlights of the year for the club as Henry Corbally’s team edged out a gallant Syddan side by 2-7 to 1-7 in the Div. 4 North final before a big crowd at Nobber, thanks largely to a late goal from the penalty spot by Stephen Kiernan who was the ’Wood’s top scorer with 1-3.
As the final drew to a close Syddan held a one-point advantage, but Kiernan calmly slotted home the penalty and a minute later Kevin Shields wrapped up the title with a point.
The ’Wood had started the match well and a superb individual goal from team captain Alan Carolan midway through the opening half boosted them to a 1-5 to 0-5 interval lead, but Syddan, who had earlier beaten the ’Wood in the league, overtook them late in the second half after Dermot Kelleher had netted.
However, that dramatic late rally gave Kilmainhamwood the title after Alan Morris, Harry Corbally, Shane McGrath, Phillip Moran, Shields and Kiernan had performed particularly well.
It was Kilmainhamwood’s first trophy at under-age level in over a decade, so it clearly represented a significant achievement, while the under-12 team also produced some impressive performances which augur well for the future before losing the Div. 4A final to Nobber.
The victorious Kilmainhamwood under-14 team in the final was: J. Clarke; A. Bennett, A. Morris, P. Hanratty; M. Carolan, H. Corbally, S. McGrath; P. Owens, A. Carolan (1-1); C. Gilsenan (0-1), J. Carolan (0-1), P. Moran; K. Shields (0-1), P. Smith, S. Kiernan (1-3). Sub - D. Carolan for Smith.
Wood you believe it : From Meath Year Book 2001
31 December 2001
Kilmainhamwood’s 0-15 to 0-8 defeat of Simonstown in A FL Div. 1 decider in Pairc Tailteann on Saturday 20th October saw the north Meath club annex league silverware for the second successive year having won Division 2 in 2000. The victory went some way towards atoning for the club’s SFC quarter final defeat at the hands of Skryne
The ’Wood were well fancied to go all the way in the senior football championship despite suffering a heavy defeat at the hands of Dunshaughlin in the 2000 decider. It was felt that the north Meath side had under performed on the day and were strong contenders for the 2001 campaign.
They spluttered into the quarter final by virtue of scoring narrow victories over Simonstown and Ballinlough in the first two rounds of the group to ensure qualification. In their final group game they suffered another heavy defeat at the hands of Dunshaughlin, but there was still a steely determination in the camp to get back to the final and to make amends for their poor showing in 2000.
So it was with heads bowed that Kilmainhamwood left Pairc Tailteann on Sunday 7th October having come out on the wrong end of a 1-10 to 1-8 score line against championship favourites Skryne after a match that was played in atrocious weather conditions.
Kilmainhamwood had ousted Skryne at the penultimate stage in 2000 and were quietly confident of causing a similar upset. However, the weather conditions, injuries to key players and some poor finishing ensured that lightning wouldn’t strike twice in the same place.
County players Ray Magee and Paul Shankey inspired the ’Wood to a 1-3 to 0-4 interval lead. Colm Gilcreest got them off to a dream start in the fourth minute when he found the net after a long delivery from Aidan Crosbie had deceived the Skryne defence. When Trevor Giles blazed a penalty wide (yes another miss) three minutes later it looked as if it was going to be the ’Wood’s day.
Their undoing came about in a nine-minute period at the beginning of the second half when Skryne hit 1-3 without reply. It left the ’Wood four points adrift and despite having the lions share of possession for the remainder of the game they were unable to claw back the deficit although they closed the gap to the minimum on two occasions in the closing stages.
Magee weighed in with an excellent personal tally of five points on the day. However, the ’Wood’s over reliance on the Meath corner forward in the scoring department was to prove costly. The loss of Larry McCormack with a second half shoulder injury also detracted from the ’Wood’s ability to notch up vital scores.
The north Meath outfit were also dealt a cruel blow when they were forced to field without midfielder Martin Curtis because of a groin injury. He was introduced as a second half substitute to good effect when he replaced McCormack, but his fielding ability and teak-tough all round game was sorely missed in that telling nine minute spell when Skryne made the decisive break.
The league final gave the ’Wood the ideal platform to bounce back, coming two weeks after the Skryne defeat. They had amassed a total of 16 points from their 11 league outings, one point behind the north Navan combination. They had already scored a league and championship double over their opposition and many neutral observers felt it would be third time lucky for Simonstown.
Kilmainhamwood’s Centenary Park under floodlights is an awesome sight. Strangers to that part of the world might be forgiven for thinking a spaceship had landed such is the brightness and intensity of the lights. In the two weeks preceding the league final the lights beamed out across north Meath to signal that the ’Wood were at home and taking the league final very seriously.
Magee had been the club’s leading marksman throughout the championship and many supporters felt he would have to be on top of his game if the ’Wood were to annex the Tommy Mooney Memorial Cup. The Meath star didn’t let the ’Wood’s supporters or his teammates down when he turned in a "man of the match" performance in recording a personal tally of eight points.
One local paper reported on the final victory as the "Ray Magee Show" which was a huge injustice to "Smoothie’s" teammates. Six other members of the team got on the scoreboard. Alan Shankey (0-2), Francis Owens, Ken Russell, Ray Madden, Aidan Crosbie and Ray Cunningham (0-1) each, all made telling contributions.
Ronan Finnegan, who made a brave point-blank second half save from Ronan Brady, Martin Curtis who was a tower of strength at midfield and Ray Cunningham who was asked to adopt the unfamiliar role of an attacking wing back in the second half, and Paul Shankey who put in a busy hour, were other to play their part in this victory.
Simonstown shaded the opening exchanges and led 0-7 to 0-5 at the interval. Magee (0-3), Alan Shankey and Ray Madden (0-1) notched the winners first half scores. At one stage during the first half the north Navan outfit opened up a four point lead but the ’Wood finished the half the stronger and halved the deficit just before the break.
Eamonn McEnaney’s half time talk certainly worked the oracle for the ’Wood. The former Monaghan manager also made a number of astute positional switches at the break, which were to bear fruit in the second half. The most notable of these switches was placing Cunningham in the half back line (in a swap with Francis Owens) where he collected an abundance of possession.
On resumption, the ’Wood took the game by the scruff of the neck and within four minutes they had cruised into the lead. Two points from Magee and a peach of a point from Ken Russell gave them the initiate.
Aidan Crosbie and Magee stretched the lead to three points before Finnegan pulled of his point-blank save from Ronan Brady. Magee then fired over another fine point to make it 0-11 to 0-7, before Ned Kearney notched Simonstown’s only second half score.
Magee yet again, Francis Owens, Alan Shankey and Cunningham applied the icing to the cake to complete this comprehensive route.
The beer flowed freely in celebration later that night and indeed for much of the next day. Capturing the A FL Div. 1 crown hadn’t quite made up for losing to Skryne in the championship, but it went some way towards healing the wound.
Kilmainhamwood- R Finnegan; G Owens, L Shankey, D Cunningham; F Owens (0-1), R Madden (0-1), K Russell (0-1); P Shankey, M Curtis; A Shankey (0-2), C Gilcreest, M Shankey; R Magee (0-8), A Crosbie (0-1), R Cunningham (0-1). Subs- J Corrigan for D Cunningham. S Mulligan for Crosbie.
Kilmainhamwood’s 0-15 to 0-8 defeat of Simonstown in A FL Div. 1 decider in Pairc Tailteann on Saturday 20th October saw the north Meath club annex league silverware for the second successive year having won Division 2 in 2000. The victory went some way towards atoning for the club’s SFC quarter final defeat at the hands of Skryne
The ’Wood were well fancied to go all the way in the senior football championship despite suffering a heavy defeat at the hands of Dunshaughlin in the 2000 decider. It was felt that the north Meath side had under performed on the day and were strong contenders for the 2001 campaign.
They spluttered into the quarter final by virtue of scoring narrow victories over Simonstown and Ballinlough in the first two rounds of the group to ensure qualification. In their final group game they suffered another heavy defeat at the hands of Dunshaughlin, but there was still a steely determination in the camp to get back to the final and to make amends for their poor showing in 2000.
So it was with heads bowed that Kilmainhamwood left Pairc Tailteann on Sunday 7th October having come out on the wrong end of a 1-10 to 1-8 score line against championship favourites Skryne after a match that was played in atrocious weather conditions.
Kilmainhamwood had ousted Skryne at the penultimate stage in 2000 and were quietly confident of causing a similar upset. However, the weather conditions, injuries to key players and some poor finishing ensured that lightning wouldn’t strike twice in the same place.
County players Ray Magee and Paul Shankey inspired the ’Wood to a 1-3 to 0-4 interval lead. Colm Gilcreest got them off to a dream start in the fourth minute when he found the net after a long delivery from Aidan Crosbie had deceived the Skryne defence. When Trevor Giles blazed a penalty wide (yes another miss) three minutes later it looked as if it was going to be the ’Wood’s day.
Their undoing came about in a nine-minute period at the beginning of the second half when Skryne hit 1-3 without reply. It left the ’Wood four points adrift and despite having the lions share of possession for the remainder of the game they were unable to claw back the deficit although they closed the gap to the minimum on two occasions in the closing stages.
Magee weighed in with an excellent personal tally of five points on the day. However, the ’Wood’s over reliance on the Meath corner forward in the scoring department was to prove costly. The loss of Larry McCormack with a second half shoulder injury also detracted from the ’Wood’s ability to notch up vital scores.
The north Meath outfit were also dealt a cruel blow when they were forced to field without midfielder Martin Curtis because of a groin injury. He was introduced as a second half substitute to good effect when he replaced McCormack, but his fielding ability and teak-tough all round game was sorely missed in that telling nine minute spell when Skryne made the decisive break.
The league final gave the ’Wood the ideal platform to bounce back, coming two weeks after the Skryne defeat. They had amassed a total of 16 points from their 11 league outings, one point behind the north Navan combination. They had already scored a league and championship double over their opposition and many neutral observers felt it would be third time lucky for Simonstown.
Kilmainhamwood’s Centenary Park under floodlights is an awesome sight. Strangers to that part of the world might be forgiven for thinking a spaceship had landed such is the brightness and intensity of the lights. In the two weeks preceding the league final the lights beamed out across north Meath to signal that the ’Wood were at home and taking the league final very seriously.
Magee had been the club’s leading marksman throughout the championship and many supporters felt he would have to be on top of his game if the ’Wood were to annex the Tommy Mooney Memorial Cup. The Meath star didn’t let the ’Wood’s supporters or his teammates down when he turned in a "man of the match" performance in recording a personal tally of eight points.
One local paper reported on the final victory as the "Ray Magee Show" which was a huge injustice to "Smoothie’s" teammates. Six other members of the team got on the scoreboard. Alan Shankey (0-2), Francis Owens, Ken Russell, Ray Madden, Aidan Crosbie and Ray Cunningham (0-1) each, all made telling contributions.
Ronan Finnegan, who made a brave point-blank second half save from Ronan Brady, Martin Curtis who was a tower of strength at midfield and Ray Cunningham who was asked to adopt the unfamiliar role of an attacking wing back in the second half, and Paul Shankey who put in a busy hour, were other to play their part in this victory.
Simonstown shaded the opening exchanges and led 0-7 to 0-5 at the interval. Magee (0-3), Alan Shankey and Ray Madden (0-1) notched the winners first half scores. At one stage during the first half the north Navan outfit opened up a four point lead but the ’Wood finished the half the stronger and halved the deficit just before the break.
Eamonn McEnaney’s half time talk certainly worked the oracle for the ’Wood. The former Monaghan manager also made a number of astute positional switches at the break, which were to bear fruit in the second half. The most notable of these switches was placing Cunningham in the half back line (in a swap with Francis Owens) where he collected an abundance of possession.
On resumption, the ’Wood took the game by the scruff of the neck and within four minutes they had cruised into the lead. Two points from Magee and a peach of a point from Ken Russell gave them the initiate.
Aidan Crosbie and Magee stretched the lead to three points before Finnegan pulled of his point-blank save from Ronan Brady. Magee then fired over another fine point to make it 0-11 to 0-7, before Ned Kearney notched Simonstown’s only second half score.
Magee yet again, Francis Owens, Alan Shankey and Cunningham applied the icing to the cake to complete this comprehensive route.
The beer flowed freely in celebration later that night and indeed for much of the next day. Capturing the A FL Div. 1 crown hadn’t quite made up for losing to Skryne in the championship, but it went some way towards healing the wound.
Kilmainhamwood- R Finnegan; G Owens, L Shankey, D Cunningham; F Owens (0-1), R Madden (0-1), K Russell (0-1); P Shankey, M Curtis; A Shankey (0-2), C Gilcreest, M Shankey; R Magee (0-8), A Crosbie (0-1), R Cunningham (0-1). Subs- J Corrigan for D Cunningham. S Mulligan for Crosbie.
Out of the blue! : From Meath Year Book 2000
31 December 2000
Although blitzed by Dunshaughlin in the Senior Football Final, Kilmainhamwood can look back on their achievements in 2000 with pride and a large degree of optimism for the future. Royal County reviews an eventful year for the North Meath Club.
Having captured the Keegan Cup in 1996 it was a widely held view, that the club would feature prominently in the Senior Football Championships for the latter stages of the nineties. Quite the reverse happened.
In three successive years the ’Wood failed to get past the group stages and in 1999 they suffered the indignation of a relegation play-off appearance. It took all the guile and experience of veteran attacker Brian Stafford who notched a personal tally of 1-8 to see off Slane in that particular encounter. The genial attacker thought it would be his swansong!
After three years in a Senior Football wilderness, the ’Wood had almost reached the point of no return. The talent and ability was still there in abundance. The question was had the players the mental toughness and the dedication required to fight their way back up the slippery slope?
The appointment of Eamonn McEnaney as coach proved to be a master stroke by the ’Wood’s back room team. The tough and respected task master had a proven track record with Castleblayney Faughs and the Monaghan Under 21’s. He also knew the core of the team having watched the class of ’96 joust with Faughs on numerous occasions. Likewise the players knew and respected the former Monaghan great.
At a meeting in January McEneaney was introduced to the players. From the outset he set out his stall. He explained that he would leave "no stone unturned" and felt that if the players were serious they could return to the dizzy heights of 1996. As he addressed the players that night "you could here a pin drop."
McEneaney designed a tough and rigorous training schedule and the players responded well. Buoyed by early victories in Div. 2 of the All County "A" league the ’Wood looked in good shape for the SFC opener against Summerhill.
Disaster struck! The ’Wood went under 0-9 to 2-5 at Dunderry. Larry McCormack and Francis Owens carried nagging injuries into the game which greatly reduced the ’Wood’s firepower. They were also forced to field without versatile defender Paul Shankey, who broke a bone in his foot in Meath’s N.F.L. semi-final victory over Kerry.
Brian Stafford had decided at the start of the season to "bow out" and concentrate his efforts on coaching Curraha in the JFC. He did however tog out for the "B" League team and made a number of starring appearances in the Junior Championship. Many felt his services would be required if the ’Wood were to advance to the knockout stages.
He did return for the next game when the goal poacher turned game keeper. He deputised between the posts for Ronan Finnegan in the 0-11 to 0-9 victory over Moynalvey. It was an uninspiring victory, but a victory nevertheless which put them back on course for a place in the quarter finals.
Beaten finalists in 1996, Seneschalstown were the ’Wood’s third round opposition. Played at Pairc Tailteann the ’Wood ground out a creditable 1-13 to 1-10 victory. Paul Shankey was given the task of shackling county star Graham Geraghty. The victory set the ’Wood up for an intriguing final group game with Walterstown, while Seneschalstown were plunged into the relegation zone.
Shankey was to play a prominent role in the 2-5 to 0-6 victory over the "Blacks" which guaranteed the ’Wood and quarter final berth. Picked at corner forward he was deployed between the full back and half back lines as an extra defender and mopped up a lions share of possession. Walterstown’s decision to adopt a similar defensive policy with their "free man" lead to a dour encounter. Nevertheless the ’Wood advanced to the quarter final for the first time in four years.
Dunderry who beat the ’Wood in the 1995 decider were red hot favourites to repeat the dose in the quarter-final. In the run up to the match former coach Paddy Clarke deputised for McEnaney who was holidaying in the U.S. at the time. Entering the final quarter Dunderry led by six points with the finishing post in site. The ’Wood’s selectors played their final ace and what an ace it proved to be. Stafford was sprung from the bench, scored a vital goal and inspired an unlikely recovery. In the end Dunderry were the happier to escape with a draw. In the replay the ’Wood notched up a 3-8 to 1-9 victory. Once again Stafford came off the bench to play a vital role, but their task was made easier by the first half dismissal of Dunderry attacker Barry Callaghan.
If the ’Wood’s victory over Dunderry sent ripples throughout the county, their sensational disposal of reigning champions Skryne in the semi final caused a minor earthquake. One prominent G.A.A. reporter in his match preview said the ’Wood would need a "millennium miracle" to overcome the Trevor Giles / John Mc Dermott led kingpins.
Little did he know that the ’Wood had miracle workers in Ray Magee, Francie Owens and Larry McCormack who grabbed the goals in this famous 3-12 to 1-13 victory. Stafford made his now customary entrance late in the second half, played an important part in Magee’s killer goal and tacked on a trade mark free from the hands for good measure.
When the group draws were made the ’Wood were virtually written off as championship contenders. They were quoted at odds of 16-1 for outright victory and drifted to 25-1 after the first round defeat at the hands of Summerhill. Against all the odds the ’Wood made it to the final, a fine achievement in itself.
However, the bitter memories of going under to a superior Dunshaughlin side will still be fresh in the memories of the players next spring. They will be acutely aware that they under achieved that day and that they have the potential to go one better in 2001.
It might just be the ammunition that Eamonn McEneaney and his fellow mentors require to spur them on to even greater heights.
Although blitzed by Dunshaughlin in the Senior Football Final, Kilmainhamwood can look back on their achievements in 2000 with pride and a large degree of optimism for the future. Royal County reviews an eventful year for the North Meath Club.
Having captured the Keegan Cup in 1996 it was a widely held view, that the club would feature prominently in the Senior Football Championships for the latter stages of the nineties. Quite the reverse happened.
In three successive years the ’Wood failed to get past the group stages and in 1999 they suffered the indignation of a relegation play-off appearance. It took all the guile and experience of veteran attacker Brian Stafford who notched a personal tally of 1-8 to see off Slane in that particular encounter. The genial attacker thought it would be his swansong!
After three years in a Senior Football wilderness, the ’Wood had almost reached the point of no return. The talent and ability was still there in abundance. The question was had the players the mental toughness and the dedication required to fight their way back up the slippery slope?
The appointment of Eamonn McEnaney as coach proved to be a master stroke by the ’Wood’s back room team. The tough and respected task master had a proven track record with Castleblayney Faughs and the Monaghan Under 21’s. He also knew the core of the team having watched the class of ’96 joust with Faughs on numerous occasions. Likewise the players knew and respected the former Monaghan great.
At a meeting in January McEneaney was introduced to the players. From the outset he set out his stall. He explained that he would leave "no stone unturned" and felt that if the players were serious they could return to the dizzy heights of 1996. As he addressed the players that night "you could here a pin drop."
McEneaney designed a tough and rigorous training schedule and the players responded well. Buoyed by early victories in Div. 2 of the All County "A" league the ’Wood looked in good shape for the SFC opener against Summerhill.
Disaster struck! The ’Wood went under 0-9 to 2-5 at Dunderry. Larry McCormack and Francis Owens carried nagging injuries into the game which greatly reduced the ’Wood’s firepower. They were also forced to field without versatile defender Paul Shankey, who broke a bone in his foot in Meath’s N.F.L. semi-final victory over Kerry.
Brian Stafford had decided at the start of the season to "bow out" and concentrate his efforts on coaching Curraha in the JFC. He did however tog out for the "B" League team and made a number of starring appearances in the Junior Championship. Many felt his services would be required if the ’Wood were to advance to the knockout stages.
He did return for the next game when the goal poacher turned game keeper. He deputised between the posts for Ronan Finnegan in the 0-11 to 0-9 victory over Moynalvey. It was an uninspiring victory, but a victory nevertheless which put them back on course for a place in the quarter finals.
Beaten finalists in 1996, Seneschalstown were the ’Wood’s third round opposition. Played at Pairc Tailteann the ’Wood ground out a creditable 1-13 to 1-10 victory. Paul Shankey was given the task of shackling county star Graham Geraghty. The victory set the ’Wood up for an intriguing final group game with Walterstown, while Seneschalstown were plunged into the relegation zone.
Shankey was to play a prominent role in the 2-5 to 0-6 victory over the "Blacks" which guaranteed the ’Wood and quarter final berth. Picked at corner forward he was deployed between the full back and half back lines as an extra defender and mopped up a lions share of possession. Walterstown’s decision to adopt a similar defensive policy with their "free man" lead to a dour encounter. Nevertheless the ’Wood advanced to the quarter final for the first time in four years.
Dunderry who beat the ’Wood in the 1995 decider were red hot favourites to repeat the dose in the quarter-final. In the run up to the match former coach Paddy Clarke deputised for McEnaney who was holidaying in the U.S. at the time. Entering the final quarter Dunderry led by six points with the finishing post in site. The ’Wood’s selectors played their final ace and what an ace it proved to be. Stafford was sprung from the bench, scored a vital goal and inspired an unlikely recovery. In the end Dunderry were the happier to escape with a draw. In the replay the ’Wood notched up a 3-8 to 1-9 victory. Once again Stafford came off the bench to play a vital role, but their task was made easier by the first half dismissal of Dunderry attacker Barry Callaghan.
If the ’Wood’s victory over Dunderry sent ripples throughout the county, their sensational disposal of reigning champions Skryne in the semi final caused a minor earthquake. One prominent G.A.A. reporter in his match preview said the ’Wood would need a "millennium miracle" to overcome the Trevor Giles / John Mc Dermott led kingpins.
Little did he know that the ’Wood had miracle workers in Ray Magee, Francie Owens and Larry McCormack who grabbed the goals in this famous 3-12 to 1-13 victory. Stafford made his now customary entrance late in the second half, played an important part in Magee’s killer goal and tacked on a trade mark free from the hands for good measure.
When the group draws were made the ’Wood were virtually written off as championship contenders. They were quoted at odds of 16-1 for outright victory and drifted to 25-1 after the first round defeat at the hands of Summerhill. Against all the odds the ’Wood made it to the final, a fine achievement in itself.
However, the bitter memories of going under to a superior Dunshaughlin side will still be fresh in the memories of the players next spring. They will be acutely aware that they under achieved that day and that they have the potential to go one better in 2001.
It might just be the ammunition that Eamonn McEneaney and his fellow mentors require to spur them on to even greater heights.
The Wood from the trees : From Meath Year Book 1999
1999
31 December 1999
Kilmainhamwood’s footballers will look back on 1999 with mixed emotions - regret and relief. Many people’s ante-post favourites for championship glory, they found themselves in the unenviable position of being in a relegation dog fight to stay in the top flight at the end of the season. Long time selector Denis Farrelly reviewed an eventful year with Royal County.
Before a ball was kicked in anger the ’Wood were dealt a massive blow with the defections of Martin Crosbie and Ray Cunningham to St Oliver’s Drogheda and Kingscourt respectively. Despite the loss of such high profile, high calibre players, Denis and his co-selectors Sean McCormack and Percy McKeever were in upbeat mood. He explained "The loss of the two boys was a big blow to us but we felt we were still good enough to be in the shake up."
Lady luck deserted the ’Wood last year when they were dumped out of the ’98 championship by ultimate winners Dunboyne in the final group match. A freak goal with virtually the last kick of the ball robbed the North County Meath side of a place in the quarter final. Again this year the Gods conspired against the ’Wood and they were beaten by Simonstown and Cortown by a single point on both occasions. In both of these matches the ’Wood deserved at least a share of the spoils.
Denis added "In our first championship game we played Simonstown and we lost by a single point having played very well. We beat Slane in the second match and lost by a single point to Cortown. We lost those two games by a kick of the ball. We could have easily been in the quarter final as opposed to being involved in the relegation end of things." He went on "only for a late goal against Dunboyne last year we would have went on to win the senior championship and there isn’t any doubt in my mind about that. If that had happened we might not have lost the players we did. There is a very fine line between success and failure especially in a club where the pick is quite small."
In what proved to be a very tight group the ’Wood still had a mathematical chance of making the knock out stages although it would have taken a minor miracle. They needed to beat Navan O’Mahonys in their final group game and hope that Slane could beat Simonstown. This would have forced a three way play off between Slane, the ’Wood and Simonstown for the runners up spot in the group behind Cortown. The ’Wood put in an abysmal showing while Slane faired worse, with both Navan teams chalking up comprehensive victories. O’Mahonys victory pushed them into the comfort zone in the group. Kilmainhamwood and Slane were left propping up the group on two points each.
To determine which of the teams finished bottom of the group Slane and the ’Wood were forced to meet a second time. In arguably their best performance of the year the North County Meath team ran out four point winners and thus avoided the relegation play offs. Brian Stafford rolled back the years that day with a vintage performance notching a personal tally of 1-08. Based on this performance the veteran attacker has lost little of the guile, class and accuracy which made him one of the most lethal forwards in the modern game and proved he still has what it takes to compete at this level for another year at least.
Despite the aforementioned defections and the lack of lady luck the ’Wood still had twelve of the ’96 championship winning team in this year’s squad. So why did they fair so badly? Denis admitted that the defections had hit hard and that luck had not been with them but he also pointed out that. "It is basically up to the individuals themselves and in fairness you couldn’t say that the players put the effort in. We hadn’t a full turn out and a full commitment to training. Too many players were living on past achievements."
Neutrals amongst the sizeable attendance at the ’Woods last group match against O’Mahonys would bear out Denis assertion. In too many departments the ’Wood were found wanting and the superior fitness and hunger of the opposition proved too much for the kingpins of ’96. The dejected faces of the players leaving the Kilberry venue told its own tale.
Many eyebrows were raised when the ’Wood seemingly decided to adopt an ’in house’ policy towards coaching. Under the stewardship of now Louth manager, Paddy Clarke the ’Wood had garnered unprecendented success. Many felt it would take a ’power name’ to re-ignite the spark that had ben missing since ’96. Denis explained "It was always our intention to get an outside coach. I personally contacted ten big name coaches within the game. For one reason or another they weren’t available. It wasn’t for the want of trying I can tell you. Terrier like when Denis gets the bit between his teeth he rarely lets go until the job is done. On this occasion his best efforts didn’t bear fruit.
The core of this team are still in their mid 20s and many would contend that they have yet to reach their peak. So what does the future hold for the club? The Farrelly philosophy is quite simple - you only reap what you sow. "The players have a lot of deep thinking to do as to what they want to achieve in football. It is only by deciding what they want to take out of the game, will they decide what they are going to put in to it. They haven’t become bad footballers overnight. They just have to re-focus their attitude towards the game."
Denis is optimistic for the future and feels that the present senior squad can reach the dizzy heights of ’96 again, but only through dedication and application. Meanwhile another bunch of highly talented and eager youngsters are waiting in the wings for their time to shine at senior level. Denis concluded: "There is a very good under 17 team coming through at the moment. There are guys like Mark Kiernan, Michael Shankey, Mark Shields, Noel Smith, Patrick Carolan and Shane Clarke who are bonding well together. They have a lot of football ability, and if they stick at it they definitely will make it at senior with out any bother. And they will make it sooner rather than later."
Kilmainhamwood’s footballers will look back on 1999 with mixed emotions - regret and relief. Many people’s ante-post favourites for championship glory, they found themselves in the unenviable position of being in a relegation dog fight to stay in the top flight at the end of the season. Long time selector Denis Farrelly reviewed an eventful year with Royal County.
Before a ball was kicked in anger the ’Wood were dealt a massive blow with the defections of Martin Crosbie and Ray Cunningham to St Oliver’s Drogheda and Kingscourt respectively. Despite the loss of such high profile, high calibre players, Denis and his co-selectors Sean McCormack and Percy McKeever were in upbeat mood. He explained "The loss of the two boys was a big blow to us but we felt we were still good enough to be in the shake up."
Lady luck deserted the ’Wood last year when they were dumped out of the ’98 championship by ultimate winners Dunboyne in the final group match. A freak goal with virtually the last kick of the ball robbed the North County Meath side of a place in the quarter final. Again this year the Gods conspired against the ’Wood and they were beaten by Simonstown and Cortown by a single point on both occasions. In both of these matches the ’Wood deserved at least a share of the spoils.
Denis added "In our first championship game we played Simonstown and we lost by a single point having played very well. We beat Slane in the second match and lost by a single point to Cortown. We lost those two games by a kick of the ball. We could have easily been in the quarter final as opposed to being involved in the relegation end of things." He went on "only for a late goal against Dunboyne last year we would have went on to win the senior championship and there isn’t any doubt in my mind about that. If that had happened we might not have lost the players we did. There is a very fine line between success and failure especially in a club where the pick is quite small."
In what proved to be a very tight group the ’Wood still had a mathematical chance of making the knock out stages although it would have taken a minor miracle. They needed to beat Navan O’Mahonys in their final group game and hope that Slane could beat Simonstown. This would have forced a three way play off between Slane, the ’Wood and Simonstown for the runners up spot in the group behind Cortown. The ’Wood put in an abysmal showing while Slane faired worse, with both Navan teams chalking up comprehensive victories. O’Mahonys victory pushed them into the comfort zone in the group. Kilmainhamwood and Slane were left propping up the group on two points each.
To determine which of the teams finished bottom of the group Slane and the ’Wood were forced to meet a second time. In arguably their best performance of the year the North County Meath team ran out four point winners and thus avoided the relegation play offs. Brian Stafford rolled back the years that day with a vintage performance notching a personal tally of 1-08. Based on this performance the veteran attacker has lost little of the guile, class and accuracy which made him one of the most lethal forwards in the modern game and proved he still has what it takes to compete at this level for another year at least.
Despite the aforementioned defections and the lack of lady luck the ’Wood still had twelve of the ’96 championship winning team in this year’s squad. So why did they fair so badly? Denis admitted that the defections had hit hard and that luck had not been with them but he also pointed out that. "It is basically up to the individuals themselves and in fairness you couldn’t say that the players put the effort in. We hadn’t a full turn out and a full commitment to training. Too many players were living on past achievements."
Neutrals amongst the sizeable attendance at the ’Woods last group match against O’Mahonys would bear out Denis assertion. In too many departments the ’Wood were found wanting and the superior fitness and hunger of the opposition proved too much for the kingpins of ’96. The dejected faces of the players leaving the Kilberry venue told its own tale.
Many eyebrows were raised when the ’Wood seemingly decided to adopt an ’in house’ policy towards coaching. Under the stewardship of now Louth manager, Paddy Clarke the ’Wood had garnered unprecendented success. Many felt it would take a ’power name’ to re-ignite the spark that had ben missing since ’96. Denis explained "It was always our intention to get an outside coach. I personally contacted ten big name coaches within the game. For one reason or another they weren’t available. It wasn’t for the want of trying I can tell you. Terrier like when Denis gets the bit between his teeth he rarely lets go until the job is done. On this occasion his best efforts didn’t bear fruit.
The core of this team are still in their mid 20s and many would contend that they have yet to reach their peak. So what does the future hold for the club? The Farrelly philosophy is quite simple - you only reap what you sow. "The players have a lot of deep thinking to do as to what they want to achieve in football. It is only by deciding what they want to take out of the game, will they decide what they are going to put in to it. They haven’t become bad footballers overnight. They just have to re-focus their attitude towards the game."
Denis is optimistic for the future and feels that the present senior squad can reach the dizzy heights of ’96 again, but only through dedication and application. Meanwhile another bunch of highly talented and eager youngsters are waiting in the wings for their time to shine at senior level. Denis concluded: "There is a very good under 17 team coming through at the moment. There are guys like Mark Kiernan, Michael Shankey, Mark Shields, Noel Smith, Patrick Carolan and Shane Clarke who are bonding well together. They have a lot of football ability, and if they stick at it they definitely will make it at senior with out any bother. And they will make it sooner rather than later."
The 'Woods' man of Steel : From Meath Year Book 1998
31 December 1998
Sean McCormack played for Meath at the highest level. Royal County explores an era that is a million miles away from the life we now live in.
When Meath captured their third senior All- Ireland football title in 1967 it represented a personal triumph in the face of adversity for goal -keeper Sean McCormack. In his early childhood days Sean could only look on as his friends played out their dreams of playing on the hallowed turf of Croke Park. Royal County spoke to the personable Kilmainhamwood clubman and heard his remarkable story.
" I was about six at the time and my father kept a few calves, and one day I decided to go for a jaunt on one of them. You know the stupid games children play. The calf threw me into a ditch and a splinter lodged in my knee. It was very sore and swollen at the time but later it became much worse. The doctors couldn’t find the cause of the problem and I spent about two years in the Cappagh hospital in Dublin. At one stage things got that bad that the doctors were talking about amputating the leg above my knee. My father wasn’t having any of it and eventually I got home with a metal splint on my leg which meant I couldn’t work my knee. I walked with a limp and the lads at school called me ’ Bocka’ because of the limp."
Sean’s father Patsy instructed the teachers at the local national school not to allow him take part in any sport. Sean takes up the story, " We used to position the goals in such a way that Mrs Dillon ( Sean’s teacher ) couldn’t see us when she looked out the window at break times. I got stuck in the goals and because of the metal leg nobody would come in near me with the ball. In those days the worst kid got stuck in the goals and because I couldn’t run I always ended up playing there. He continued to wear the metal splint for a full two years until it was discarded.
" In my early teens I was able to run with a very slight limp and it was at that stage that I began playing outfield." Sean’s first taste of success came in 1961 at minor level when he togged out at right full back on the Castletown/ Kilmainhamwood team that eventually went on to win the championship. " There were six or seven of us from Kilmainhamwood on that team. Larry and Padraig ( Sean’s brothers ) Matt and Tom Clarke and Willie Mooney and there were a few lads from the ’Wood amongst subs. As far as I can remember we beat Duleek in the final and they had six county minors at the time."
The following year Sean was picked on the Meath Junior team that went on to win the All- Ireland. Sean recalls with a wry smile. "The Junior scene at the time was fiercely competitive. It was taken every bit as seriously as the Senior. We beat Cavan in the final at Ardee in front of a crowd of about 11,000. From what I can remember we held on for a deserved victory against a gale force wind in the second half. There would have been three or four Kilmainhamwood lads on that team. Myself, Padraig, Tom Monaghan and John Carolan were all on the Meath team. There were three or four from Kingscourt on the Cavan team also. The funny thing is that six out of the seven worked in Gypsum so you can imagine the craic before and after the game."
The Meath Junior team of 1962 were ineligible the following year having won the All-Ireland but Sean was called back into the panel in 1964. " I was living in digs in Dublin at the time, and I got a postcard from the County Board saying I had been picked for the Meath Juniors. I went along expecting a subs jersey and when they handed me the yellow jersey I thought I was the sub goal- keeper. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I turned it over and saw I was actually playing." Cork beat Meath that year after a replay but it proved a huge stepping stone for McCormack. Sean made his mark as an inter county goalkeeper and it was to prove the first step on the road to representing Meath at senior level.
Sean recalls " I was called into the senior set up at the tail end of 1965 and managed to get a few tournament games. I was picked as first choice keeper for the first round of the championship in 1966. I managed to hold my place and we got to the All-Ireland Final. Galway beat us that day. We were terrible. It was Galway’s third in a row. I think about eight of the Galway team went straight back home after the match. It didn’t mean that much to them. It meant an awful lot more to the Galway team that won this year I can tell you."
Disappointed and dejected the Meath team bounced back the following year and Sean was to fulfill his life long ambition to win a senior All- Ireland. Sean recalls " We beat Cork by a couple of points but it was a poor game. We were terrible in the first half but we improved in the second half and deserved to win." And what of Sean’s own performance that day ? " I hadn’t an awful lot to do really. A few high balls and a few on the chest. I don’t think I had a shot to save. It was a quiet game for me really ."
And what are his abiding memories of that historic day ? " In those days the Meath team assembled at Barry’s Hotel. A lot of the lads would walk down to Croke Park and listen to the banter amongst the crowd. It was easy to do that in those days because there were no County uniforms. You just wore your own clothes. Directly after the match myself and the Red ( Collier ) threw our bags to Scups White and made our way out with the crowd again. We made arrangements with him to pick us up at a pub later on. I don’t think either of us drank at the time. We just sat there and listened to the craic. It’s hard to believe but neither of us were recognised."
" In comparison to other Counties we were well looked after at the time. We always had a steak after training while other counties might only get a salad or something. But we were all responsible for our own kit. I remember the day before the All Ireland (’67) I was cleaning my old boots and my father Patsy said I should get a new pair. In those days I was earning £ 11.50 a week and a pair of boots was £ 5.00. I went out to Vincie Cahill in Kells who had been on the Meath team a few years previously and whom I knew quite well hoping to get a bargain. Vincie explained that a pair of boots had been robbed from outside the shop, but the thief took a size eight and a size nine. He offered me the boots at £ 3.50. Believe it or not I wore those boots for the rest of my career."
1967 represented the highlight of Sean’s footballing career although he continued to play in goals for the County until 1972. Meath went under to Kerry in the All Ireland Final in 1970 after beating Galway in the semi final. Again Sean has vivid memories " I played particularly well in the victory over Galway. I was asked by R.T.E. to do an interview after the match and obliged. When the interview was over I went back to the dressing rooms to collect my kit. Everybody had left. I came back out onto the pitch and made my way through the Hogan Stand to find the whole place locked up and me inside. I eventually got out by climbing the wall of the Handball alley, across a roof and jumping out onto the road. I don’t think that would happen nowadays."
THE OLDEST TROPHY IN MEATH WASN’T LONG IN FOLLOWING THE CHAMPIONSHIP AND LEAGUE DOUBLE OF 1996
When 1996 turned into 1997 both the Keegan and Mooney [Division 1 League] Cups rested on the Kilmainhamwood sideboard, both for the very first time. It was always going to be a difficult act to follow.
Too difficult as it turned out. In view of the enormous effort that was invested by the entire panel and the team officials into the championship and league successes of 1996 there was always going to be a question mark about the team’s hunger in 1997 and although the players gave their best, it was asking too much for a repeat.
And there were extenuating circumstances.
Manager Paddy Clarke departed having guided the club to unprecedented success, there were a handful of niggling injury problems and, on a couple of vital occasions, Raymond Cunningham’s involvement with Cavan’s successful Ulster Championship campaign led to his absence from a Kilmainhamwood attack of which he was a most influential figure.
Things were different when it came to the business end of the Feis Cup... the ’Wood had a full panel available and it counted.
Seneschalstown, who, like Kilmainhamwood, had disappointed in the championship, were looking for consolation when the teams met in the final at Rathkenny at the end of November. It was very wet and very windy but the two teams managed to serve up a thriller and patrons received a bonus when the game went to extra time.
The Furzemen had first use of the considerable breeze and soon raced into an early three point lead, 0-5 to 0-2. However, midway through the half Aidan Crosbie made a terrific interception and the ball eventually found it’s way to Raymond Cunningham who sent it to the net from close range. The goal was always going to be worth its weight in gold, coming at a time when Seneschalstown were dominating and with the ’Wood playing into the teeth of the gale. Within minutes Crosbie was forced to retire with an injury and Seneschalstown regained the initiative. A Padraig Coyle goal put them in the driving seat although their three point interval lead, 1-6 to 1-3 was anything but secure.
With the wind at their backs and only three points to make up the omens were good for the ’Wood. But scores were extremely difficult to come by in the third quarter. Still, at the threequarter stage, they were on level terms, thanks to points from Raymond Cunningham, (two), Brian Stafford and Francis Owens. With the scores level at 1-7 apiece it was anybody’s game although Kilmainhamwood were best positioned. They took the lead for the first time with ten minutes remaining thanks to a point from a free by Raymond Magee and at that stage seemed a good bet to make history by winning the competition for the first time. But Seneschalstown rallied and equalised through Mattie McCabe before regaining the lead with a point from Padraig Coyle. McCabe added another and the game had apparently turned in the Furzemens’ favour.
Into the last minute and a half, Kilmainhamwood rallied yet again and points from Brian Stafford and Raymond Cunningham saved the day, for the moment at least. The final score at the end of an absorbing hour’s football was 1-10 apiece... extra-time.
Once again the Wood had to face into the contrary elements for the first period of extra-time, but on this occasion, they showed tremendous determination by scoring 1-2 while restricting their opponents to a single point in the opening fifteen minutes. The goal came after ten minutes when substitute Michael Clarke combined with Brian Stafford before sending the ball to the back of the Seneschalstown net. The points came from Cunningham and Stafford and the score at the break was 2-12 to 1-11 in Kilmainhamwood’s favour.
In the second half of extra-time, the men in white and blue again outscored their opponents, this time by 0-3 to 0-1 with their points coming from Raymond Magee, Raymond Cunningham and Brian Stafford. the final score was Kilmainhamwood 2-15, Seneschalstown 1-12.
Ken Russell was in outstanding form at centre-field, while Raymond Cunningham and Brian Stafford demoralised the opposing defence by scoring 1-10 between them. In defence, Gerry Owens, Shane Russell and Liam Shankey were rock-solid.
The winning team was; Ronan Finnegan; Shane Russell, Ray Madden, Damien Cunningham; Gerry Owens, Liam Shankey, John Corrigan; Martin Crosbie, Ken Russell (0-1); Raymond McGee (0-3), Paul Shankey, Raymond Cunningham (1-5); Aidan Crosbie, Brian Stafford (0-5), and Francis Owens (0-1). Substitutes; Alan Shankey, Michael Clarke (1-0).
Sean McCormack played for Meath at the highest level. Royal County explores an era that is a million miles away from the life we now live in.
When Meath captured their third senior All- Ireland football title in 1967 it represented a personal triumph in the face of adversity for goal -keeper Sean McCormack. In his early childhood days Sean could only look on as his friends played out their dreams of playing on the hallowed turf of Croke Park. Royal County spoke to the personable Kilmainhamwood clubman and heard his remarkable story.
" I was about six at the time and my father kept a few calves, and one day I decided to go for a jaunt on one of them. You know the stupid games children play. The calf threw me into a ditch and a splinter lodged in my knee. It was very sore and swollen at the time but later it became much worse. The doctors couldn’t find the cause of the problem and I spent about two years in the Cappagh hospital in Dublin. At one stage things got that bad that the doctors were talking about amputating the leg above my knee. My father wasn’t having any of it and eventually I got home with a metal splint on my leg which meant I couldn’t work my knee. I walked with a limp and the lads at school called me ’ Bocka’ because of the limp."
Sean’s father Patsy instructed the teachers at the local national school not to allow him take part in any sport. Sean takes up the story, " We used to position the goals in such a way that Mrs Dillon ( Sean’s teacher ) couldn’t see us when she looked out the window at break times. I got stuck in the goals and because of the metal leg nobody would come in near me with the ball. In those days the worst kid got stuck in the goals and because I couldn’t run I always ended up playing there. He continued to wear the metal splint for a full two years until it was discarded.
" In my early teens I was able to run with a very slight limp and it was at that stage that I began playing outfield." Sean’s first taste of success came in 1961 at minor level when he togged out at right full back on the Castletown/ Kilmainhamwood team that eventually went on to win the championship. " There were six or seven of us from Kilmainhamwood on that team. Larry and Padraig ( Sean’s brothers ) Matt and Tom Clarke and Willie Mooney and there were a few lads from the ’Wood amongst subs. As far as I can remember we beat Duleek in the final and they had six county minors at the time."
The following year Sean was picked on the Meath Junior team that went on to win the All- Ireland. Sean recalls with a wry smile. "The Junior scene at the time was fiercely competitive. It was taken every bit as seriously as the Senior. We beat Cavan in the final at Ardee in front of a crowd of about 11,000. From what I can remember we held on for a deserved victory against a gale force wind in the second half. There would have been three or four Kilmainhamwood lads on that team. Myself, Padraig, Tom Monaghan and John Carolan were all on the Meath team. There were three or four from Kingscourt on the Cavan team also. The funny thing is that six out of the seven worked in Gypsum so you can imagine the craic before and after the game."
The Meath Junior team of 1962 were ineligible the following year having won the All-Ireland but Sean was called back into the panel in 1964. " I was living in digs in Dublin at the time, and I got a postcard from the County Board saying I had been picked for the Meath Juniors. I went along expecting a subs jersey and when they handed me the yellow jersey I thought I was the sub goal- keeper. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I turned it over and saw I was actually playing." Cork beat Meath that year after a replay but it proved a huge stepping stone for McCormack. Sean made his mark as an inter county goalkeeper and it was to prove the first step on the road to representing Meath at senior level.
Sean recalls " I was called into the senior set up at the tail end of 1965 and managed to get a few tournament games. I was picked as first choice keeper for the first round of the championship in 1966. I managed to hold my place and we got to the All-Ireland Final. Galway beat us that day. We were terrible. It was Galway’s third in a row. I think about eight of the Galway team went straight back home after the match. It didn’t mean that much to them. It meant an awful lot more to the Galway team that won this year I can tell you."
Disappointed and dejected the Meath team bounced back the following year and Sean was to fulfill his life long ambition to win a senior All- Ireland. Sean recalls " We beat Cork by a couple of points but it was a poor game. We were terrible in the first half but we improved in the second half and deserved to win." And what of Sean’s own performance that day ? " I hadn’t an awful lot to do really. A few high balls and a few on the chest. I don’t think I had a shot to save. It was a quiet game for me really ."
And what are his abiding memories of that historic day ? " In those days the Meath team assembled at Barry’s Hotel. A lot of the lads would walk down to Croke Park and listen to the banter amongst the crowd. It was easy to do that in those days because there were no County uniforms. You just wore your own clothes. Directly after the match myself and the Red ( Collier ) threw our bags to Scups White and made our way out with the crowd again. We made arrangements with him to pick us up at a pub later on. I don’t think either of us drank at the time. We just sat there and listened to the craic. It’s hard to believe but neither of us were recognised."
" In comparison to other Counties we were well looked after at the time. We always had a steak after training while other counties might only get a salad or something. But we were all responsible for our own kit. I remember the day before the All Ireland (’67) I was cleaning my old boots and my father Patsy said I should get a new pair. In those days I was earning £ 11.50 a week and a pair of boots was £ 5.00. I went out to Vincie Cahill in Kells who had been on the Meath team a few years previously and whom I knew quite well hoping to get a bargain. Vincie explained that a pair of boots had been robbed from outside the shop, but the thief took a size eight and a size nine. He offered me the boots at £ 3.50. Believe it or not I wore those boots for the rest of my career."
1967 represented the highlight of Sean’s footballing career although he continued to play in goals for the County until 1972. Meath went under to Kerry in the All Ireland Final in 1970 after beating Galway in the semi final. Again Sean has vivid memories " I played particularly well in the victory over Galway. I was asked by R.T.E. to do an interview after the match and obliged. When the interview was over I went back to the dressing rooms to collect my kit. Everybody had left. I came back out onto the pitch and made my way through the Hogan Stand to find the whole place locked up and me inside. I eventually got out by climbing the wall of the Handball alley, across a roof and jumping out onto the road. I don’t think that would happen nowadays."
THE OLDEST TROPHY IN MEATH WASN’T LONG IN FOLLOWING THE CHAMPIONSHIP AND LEAGUE DOUBLE OF 1996
When 1996 turned into 1997 both the Keegan and Mooney [Division 1 League] Cups rested on the Kilmainhamwood sideboard, both for the very first time. It was always going to be a difficult act to follow.
Too difficult as it turned out. In view of the enormous effort that was invested by the entire panel and the team officials into the championship and league successes of 1996 there was always going to be a question mark about the team’s hunger in 1997 and although the players gave their best, it was asking too much for a repeat.
And there were extenuating circumstances.
Manager Paddy Clarke departed having guided the club to unprecedented success, there were a handful of niggling injury problems and, on a couple of vital occasions, Raymond Cunningham’s involvement with Cavan’s successful Ulster Championship campaign led to his absence from a Kilmainhamwood attack of which he was a most influential figure.
Things were different when it came to the business end of the Feis Cup... the ’Wood had a full panel available and it counted.
Seneschalstown, who, like Kilmainhamwood, had disappointed in the championship, were looking for consolation when the teams met in the final at Rathkenny at the end of November. It was very wet and very windy but the two teams managed to serve up a thriller and patrons received a bonus when the game went to extra time.
The Furzemen had first use of the considerable breeze and soon raced into an early three point lead, 0-5 to 0-2. However, midway through the half Aidan Crosbie made a terrific interception and the ball eventually found it’s way to Raymond Cunningham who sent it to the net from close range. The goal was always going to be worth its weight in gold, coming at a time when Seneschalstown were dominating and with the ’Wood playing into the teeth of the gale. Within minutes Crosbie was forced to retire with an injury and Seneschalstown regained the initiative. A Padraig Coyle goal put them in the driving seat although their three point interval lead, 1-6 to 1-3 was anything but secure.
With the wind at their backs and only three points to make up the omens were good for the ’Wood. But scores were extremely difficult to come by in the third quarter. Still, at the threequarter stage, they were on level terms, thanks to points from Raymond Cunningham, (two), Brian Stafford and Francis Owens. With the scores level at 1-7 apiece it was anybody’s game although Kilmainhamwood were best positioned. They took the lead for the first time with ten minutes remaining thanks to a point from a free by Raymond Magee and at that stage seemed a good bet to make history by winning the competition for the first time. But Seneschalstown rallied and equalised through Mattie McCabe before regaining the lead with a point from Padraig Coyle. McCabe added another and the game had apparently turned in the Furzemens’ favour.
Into the last minute and a half, Kilmainhamwood rallied yet again and points from Brian Stafford and Raymond Cunningham saved the day, for the moment at least. The final score at the end of an absorbing hour’s football was 1-10 apiece... extra-time.
Once again the Wood had to face into the contrary elements for the first period of extra-time, but on this occasion, they showed tremendous determination by scoring 1-2 while restricting their opponents to a single point in the opening fifteen minutes. The goal came after ten minutes when substitute Michael Clarke combined with Brian Stafford before sending the ball to the back of the Seneschalstown net. The points came from Cunningham and Stafford and the score at the break was 2-12 to 1-11 in Kilmainhamwood’s favour.
In the second half of extra-time, the men in white and blue again outscored their opponents, this time by 0-3 to 0-1 with their points coming from Raymond Magee, Raymond Cunningham and Brian Stafford. the final score was Kilmainhamwood 2-15, Seneschalstown 1-12.
Ken Russell was in outstanding form at centre-field, while Raymond Cunningham and Brian Stafford demoralised the opposing defence by scoring 1-10 between them. In defence, Gerry Owens, Shane Russell and Liam Shankey were rock-solid.
The winning team was; Ronan Finnegan; Shane Russell, Ray Madden, Damien Cunningham; Gerry Owens, Liam Shankey, John Corrigan; Martin Crosbie, Ken Russell (0-1); Raymond McGee (0-3), Paul Shankey, Raymond Cunningham (1-5); Aidan Crosbie, Brian Stafford (0-5), and Francis Owens (0-1). Substitutes; Alan Shankey, Michael Clarke (1-0).
Kilmainhamwood 1971 or 1972
Report required
Early Days
The first recorded mention of Kilmainhamwood GFC
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
1920 - 1940
This is the section for the 1920 to 1940.
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
1940 - 1960
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
1960 - 1980
First Kilmainhamwood Player of the year award (Philip McCormack)
1996 The Golden Year (Keegan Cup Winners)
|
|
2000 (Keegan Cup Runners Up)
|
|
2009 (Mattie McDonnell Runners Up)
|
|