And breathe! That was some weekend of club championship action in the Royal County. In the interest of fairness and transparency, it will be stated that, due to having to deal with some very trying personal circumstances, I was unable to get to any of the matches, but, thanks to the media miracles that are TG4 and Clubber TV, the four senior quarter finals and the Intermediate third-last-hurdle encounter between Kilbride and St Patrick’s in Ashbourne on Friday evening.
So, as best I can, let’s take a gallop through the weekend’s action. The evening’s events began as they would go on. Finn White and Timmy Farrell breaking from defence with the ball, Dan Boyd pulling the strings in attack with Davy O’Leary putting on a shooting clinic and a late Adam Malone goal proving crucial.
On the vanquished St Pat’s side, some might try and poke holes in the efforts of star man Jamie Murphy, but in fairness to the man built like a bulldozer, when the sh*t hit the fan, it was his efforts which sustained the Stamullen men’s ambitions for as long as was the case. Though it’s only right to acknowledge he was ably assisted by Oisin Black and Donal Landy and Ben Sullivan throughout.
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So to what could only be described as Super Saturday in Pairc Tailteann, and elsewhere. You may recall in a very recent post in this space that mention was afforded to the propensity of country teams to rattle the cages of town ones, but what happens when two of the former collide?
In short, something wonderful from a neutral perspective. Add to the already enticing mix that on one side you had the redoubtable men from Ballinabrackey, appearing in the knockout stages of the SFC for the first time in their club’s history, taking on one of the aristocrats of football in the county, Skryne.
Mind you, in the early stages, an uninitiated spectator might have thought the team’s credentials were the other way around. Because, with Niall Smullen and Leo Cullen more than holding their own at midfield, decorated warriors like Danny Quinn, Damien Carroll and (Chris) Juicey O’Connor got the lads from the Offaly border away to a start they couldn’t have dreamt of.
However, as the late Pat ‘Spoggy’ Kelly – iar Uachtarain of St Peter’s Dunboyne – proclaimed when Brendan Reilly again donned the black and amber after being out for over two years with injury “You can’t beat class”! Thus, slowly but surely, the class of Darragh Campion began to tell – and indeed demonstrate what the county team missed out on this season owing to his absence.
It has to be said, mind you, that he was ably assisted by Shane Smyth, John O’Regan, John Finnerty, Niall Finnerty, Conor O’Brien and, in particular, the ageless Ciaran Lenehan, as Mick O’Dowd’s side took a 1-10 to 0-07 lead into the break with the aid of the aforementioned wintry breeze still to come for them.
The Bracks, though, and many more like them, don’t do scripts. So it should have been no surprise, really, when Cullen and Smullen again established aerial supremacy – Skryne’s cause not being helped by the early loss of Harry Rooney. Indeed, for long stretches here, it appeared the loss of the towering farmer, midfielder and team captain would spell doom for the Tara team’s ambitions.
An inclination not dissuaded by the imperious efforts of Smullen in particular as the former Clonard player driving over three monstrous two pointers. Things got even better for Ciaran Giblin’s charges moments later when, after brilliant interplay between Sean Coffey, David Carroll and Mark Coffey resulted in the latter blasting an unstoppable shot to the Skryne net.
This was far from the blue and white’s first rodeo, mind you, and, driven on by Lenehan and John and Niall Finnerty and the outstanding Campion, it was the former of the two Finnerty brothers who flicked the ball to the net and left the McManus Park residents a step closer to a 14th Keegan Cup triumph.
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In a lot of ways, there were many similarities between the curtain raiser and the contest which followed it in that, both eventual winners Summerhill and the defeated Trim side appeared to perform better into the elements.
In the end, though, it was the aforementioned experience of campaigners like ‘keeper Sean Muddiman, Ross and Ronan Ryan, Adam Flanagan, Adam McDonnell, Davy Larkin and Conor Frayne, aligned with burgeoning talents such as Jack Bannon, Jamie O’Shea, Liam Shaw and Eoghan Frayne – yes, the county captain still has further development in him – which earned the blue and gold another joust with Keegan holders Dunshaughlin.
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Speaking of the current kingpins, it could be said that, at long last, they beared their teeth for the first time this term when it was needed against the perennially obstinate Wolfe Tones.
With Adam O’Neill controllig the midfield sector early on, Caolan Ward, Tomas O’Reilly, Saran O’Fionnagain and Tom Gavagan, the Tones got away to a flying start, crowned by a brilliant goal by Gavagan. Which had its origins in a monstrous kick out from Ciaran O’Gallachoir which was then shunted onwards to O’Reilly who in turn offloaded to Gavagan who nutmegged Tim O’Sullivan and rattled the champs’ net.
Pedigree counts for a lot though. In the annals of Dunshaughlin GAA, they don’t come much more purebred than a Kealy. So perhaps it shouldn’t have been a shock that it was Adam of the famous clan who was the driving force behind his colleagues eventually sparking to life.
Whereupon scores from the wing back himself, Conor Duke, Mat Costello and a phalanx of frees from Luke Mitchell gave Kevin Kealy’s crew a perhaps unlikely 0-09 to 1-05 interval advantage.
Be that as it may, the beginning of the second half, it was very much a case of deja vu as the Tones wrestled back the initiative as Saran brought his personal tally to five points while his brother Bruagach and Robbie O’Donnell and Gavagan and Oisin Martin blazed the purple and gold into a six point lead once again.
There was no room for dancing at the crossroads mind you. Because, even despite losing Adam Kealy (temporarily as it happened) the champions set about bolting down their crown in the howling wind. It gives a fair indication of a team’s overall good health when top notch players like Conor Gray, Ruairi Kinsella and Aaron Murphy can have – by their vaunted standards – quiet days and they still manage to keep themselves afloat.
Reason being that others, such as young Kealy and Niall Byrne and Ben Duggan and Charlie O’Connor stepped up to the plate and, in the cases of the first and last named, must have set the lights flashing on Robbie Brennan’s radar. Not to mention that of Dave Clare whose Summerhill outfit have the ‘pleasure’ of trying to dislodge the holders next time out.
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If one was to go by the recent history of Meath club football and the club in question in particular, the thought of Ratoath going into anything under the radar would be most likely swatted off as folly. But that is exactly where Paul Galvin’s troops find themselves in advance of last week’s quarter final collision with Donaghmore/Ashbourne.
Now, in the interest of fairness, at least some of that stemmed from the fact that, with one of their own, Timmy O’Regan at the wheel, the ‘Moores were, to the one seeing eye here at least, the surprise packets in the race for Tom Keegan. Then again, should it really be that big of a surprise when the quality of the players available to the green and white is taken into consideration.
Yes, younger guns like Darragh and Thomas McGovern, Zach Thornton and Evan Kelly, not to mention other classy operators of whom yours truly is unsure about age-wise, but, if the ball breaks for them under that heading, but, if so, the Meath boss should certainly feel compelled to at least give both James Crumlish and Jamie Browne a run. However, special mention must also be reserved for three gents who need no introduction – Andy Colgan, Sean Curran and Andy Tormey.
Logic would say that the inter county ship has sailed for the decorated triumvirate (even if the endeavours of their colleague Bryan Menton would say otherwise) but their brilliance throughout the club campaign deserves to be recorded in due recognition.
However, no matter where the radar might be located, Galvin’s gang are only two steps away from a fourth SFC title in six years. To got with the SHC crown the currently have custodianship of for the first time since 1963. There are no obvious contenders to take it off them either.
Moreover, it stands as a fairly ringing endorsement of an entity’s credentials when they can afford to hold players of the calibre of Conor McGill, Joey Wallace and Cian Rogers in reserve. Which was the further franked in light of the telling contributions they all made when deployed to active service by the bearded enigma from Finugue.
Pick a winner? I’d be willing to wager about as much as the coin referees use for the pre match toss, but if absolutely chastised to nail colours to one mast, gut feeling is that Skryne will move away from being on the ‘unlucky’ 13th county titles to land on the same number as Darragh Campion’s jersey.
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