SUMMERHILL… 0-16
RATOATH… 0-13
There are things in life, the certainty of which is beyond question, yet the reasoning behind it is equally elusive. Which in itself makes decoding and circumnavigating the circumstances in question all the more difficult.
Think of the reality that, with the exception of 2010, any time a Down senior football team qualified for an All Ireland final they won it.
Likewise, no matter how many times people try to advise me of the contrary, left footbed penalty takers are a recipe for disaster. Anyway, another inalienable truth – as Joe Sheridan pointed out on co-commentary with the excellent as ever Davy Rispin – “Summerhill are a different animal when they get to knockout football”. Are they what!
And don’t we in Dunboyne know it better than most. Any hint of soft underbelly will be pulverised. In both the drawn and replayed U-21 FC finals of 1997, our lot appeared to have them kicked into a corner – everywhere bar on the scoreboard. Thus, like every team the wily old fox Mr Kerrigan ever sent out, they were like greyhounds on the scent of a hare as we repeatedly failed to put them away.
Until eventually, full back Barry Fagan lofted over the score which earned them the replay, in which the O’Reilly brothers, Mark and Niall, and the Rispins – Gary and Brian – summarily took care of business. When not even the introduction of 15-year-old Ger Robinson (the same as the latter Rispin as it happened) could save Dunboyne skins.
Then, about a month short of a year later to the day, it was a case of rinse and repeat. Again Dunboyne got off to a flyer but again the Kerrigan-coached crew worried Gerry Cooney’s charges out of it as Martin McNally – who would later hit the headlines for different reasons – sent over a winner with the last kick of the game. In so doing, chalking up one of Dunboyne’s ten FL Div. 1 Final defeats.
Conversely though, it was upon beating our great blue and gold rivals the following year that one began to believe the dream that we dared to dream really could come true. And indeed it did in that autumn of 1998. Jump 20 years on, and our quest for glory had even more of its destiny in the hands of those who were then under the joint stewardship of John Lyons and one of our own, big Dave Clare. Back then without the shorts!
For me at least, getting the better of Summerhill in a final is that bit extra special. So seldom does it happen. Like what they say about beating Kilkenny in a hurling final. Thus, for that reason, and innumerable other poignant ones – stretching from Dunboyne to Rome to Anfield to Ballinamore and back again, our 2018 annexation of Tom Keegan at greatest expense to the home of full backs has left an indelible emotional mark on many of us which, God willing, will never fade.
That said, that is not to say the one working arm wouldn’t be given to lift again. It absolutely would, in a heartbeat. But here’s the thing, winning teams are possessed of something which can be neither taught nor implanted. You either have it or you don’t.
What’s more, it’s a glowing endorsement of the makeup of not only the Summerhill players but the club in general that they keep bouncing back. The most recent incarnation thereof being their sixth county final outing in nine years.
In another nod to the durability of the folk from the ‘Hill, it’s worth noting that, of all those finals they have contested, only in 2023 did they come out on the right side thereof.
Indeed, in light of some of those shortcomings, particularly against Dunboyne in 2021 and not even getting out of the group last season, you began to wonder, for some of the senior citizens in their battalion, the ship carrying the chance of another Keegan Cup gong had sailed.
But then they coaxed the man known to us all as Smersy back into their fold. The gentle giant who won an IFC medal with our lads in 1992 before going to win an AIL medal in rugby with St Mary’s College in 1999.
The lure of our native games – and a GAA pedigree to rival any stallion in Coolmore drew him back. To the extent that he re-arranged his honeymoon in order to line out for Dunboyne’s second team ln a JFC Final two days after his wedding. From memory, Gary Byrne did likewise.
His next GAA involvement was also with ourselves as joint manager of our senior team with Robbie Brennan, before the pair also instilled their wisdom into several of our underage teams.
As is his wont though, Dave again spread his wings. Working with Celbridge in Kildare and Lucan Sarsfields in Dublin. Incidentally, during at least one of those spells, he was the last man (prior to September 2025 in a dead rubber encounter against Sarsfields) to beat Naas in their own territory.
Before also achieving the feat with Lucan in the Leinster Club SFL, and with Kilmacud Crokes in the Championship equivalent on two separate occasions.
Now, as if re-arranging their honeymoon wasn’t evidence enough, either Dave’s wife Claudine is the most patient understanding spouse on the planet – leaving laundry space for the trademark oversized black shorts with white stripe between each match or the Incredible Hulk has a lifetime supply thereof!
Whatever the case, once he got back on the horse – metaphorical, trust me, no animal could be subjected to such toil – the top of the queue would be the only place that would do.
Especially as they would have considered themselves to have grossly underachieved last term. Even though they tagged on another league title along the way.
Anyway, doubtless there are those who – upon mention of professionalism – automatically cower at the thought of Euro signs. Is there a monetary element to it? Of course there is, but the concept cannot be just shoehorned into that bracket.
There’s more to it than that. Much more. One need only look at the calibre of people DC surrounds himself with. If you want to go back to when he and John Lyons worked in conjunction with current Kildare manager Brian Flanagan. Or even look at the backroom brigade he currently has in situ.
The living legend that is Pat ‘Spuddy’ O’Halloran – who knows me far better than he thinks he does – having plotted the downfall of my nephew Ian Byrne and his Trim colleagues on the hurling field more times than one cares to recall.
Also there is Ken Keoghan. A truly unique character. Goalkeeper on the Oldcastle team defeated by Dunboyne in the 1998 SFC decider, principal of Kilcloon NS and, I am 99% certain, also goalkeeping coach with the new Lilywhite boss.
Not that they needed outside intervention in terms of goalkeeeping with the great hometown hero Tony McDonnell still a commanding presence in the dressing room.
But there’s also Ger Ryan and Paul Divilly as well as a clatter of backroom deputies covering everything from Physio to Stats to Video Analysis and everything else in between.
However, the fulcrum of it all is Dave Clare himself. People gravitate towards him in a way which is hard to define but I shall attempt to do so in a few paragraphs time. Suffice to say all you need to do is look at the bigger picture around him.
Ken Keoghan going out of his way to be part of his entourage, ‘Spuddy’ who was involved wirh at least two other teams this season also. But to me, the greatest tribute which could be affixed to the man is to see the ageless fine wine that is Micheal Byrne still commuting from his farm in Limerick to don the blue and gold.
Davy Larkin, where do I even begin? I don’t know if he knows me, but he’ll not have known how much I admire him as a footballer. Another man with plenty of rings on the tree, but, like a good pint, the further you delve in the better it gets!
All of the above, of course, relates totally to football, but what many mightn’t realise is the amount of good the man in the (extremely) tight fitting Bainisteoir top does without fanfare or favour.
Yours truly can vouch for that more than most. Especially lately as I’ve floored by several bouts of ill health myself and the passing of my dear mother just a month ago.
But remember this – everybody is fightibg their own battles. Some of which you may never see or hear about. Even, or perhaps especially, those who appear zoned in on helping everybody else.
Though perhaps most telling is that the troops continue to go to the well when there’s hardly a trickle left. Yet that is exactly what Summerhill had to do on several occasions throughout their ultimately glorious odyssey in recent months. Never more so than at the outset thereof when – after being broadsided by Gaeil Colmcille in their opening outing.
Thus, their arses were dangling very close to the bacon slicer when taking on our lot on in round two. Moreover, the blades appeared to be whirring with lethal menace when the black and amber had a buffer of three points with under ten minutes to go. It was then, however, that the old advice about not poking the bear deployed here in another sporting context not so long ago came into play.
Sensing clear and present danger, those sponsored by Gordon Elliott let out an inch of rein and galloped away from their would-be conquerors. Thereafter, in their final group game, it was a case of knowing how to get what they needed against Skryne. Pedigrees in that locality don’t come more blue blooded than the name Lyons. So it was scarcely surprising that it was Conor of the famed clan who essayed forth the two pointer which put Dunboyne out and saw the ‘Hill through to the knockout stages.
And so we arrive at Joe Sheridan’s prophecy. Clare’s crew did indeed become a different animal when they arrived at the third last hurdle. One with ruthless killer instinct. Thus they appeared to go up through the gears in the quarter final against Trim. Mind you, it must be said that the defeated unit didn’t do themselves any good by not fielding their best team.
Still, negotiation of the local derby set up the clash which for many was the county final in all but name. Another collision between themselves and Dunshaughlin. While such inclinations might be easy to understand being arrived at, they were, in fairness, wholly disrespectful to a Ratoath side who had themselves lifted the Keegan Cup three times in the past six seasons.
Ironically, then, and I think even the most ardent devotee of the blue and gold would admit they were more than a little bit fortunate to make it through to the showpiece fixture at all. Firstly because Ruairi Kinsella was most certainly fouled towards the end of normal time and there was a nefarious odour off the free awarded to Summerhill which took the tie to extra time.
That said, all any team can do is play the whistle. In other words, keep going until you are told to stop. Thus when the underdogs were afforded the reprieve they took full advantage thereof. Then again, in spite of same, they were again thought to be considerable outsiders ahead of their latest Royal Rumble against Ratoath.
However, time and tide have proven that Summerhill – and their manager in particular – like nothing more than upsetting the apple tar…eh cart (sorry Bertie!). So in one sense, it should have been absolutely no surprise to see them race into a 0-10 to 0-04 interval advantage with Diarmaid McCabe, Conor and Eoghan Frayne and, in particular, Liam Shaw sparkling in attack. The latter picking the biggest day of all to stage his coming of age as a senior footballer.
Be that as it may, even Ray Charles or Stevie Wonder could see that, with the sheer weight of armoury in their ranks, Paul Galvin’s gang were always going to get their ‘spell’, and when they did a phalanx of scores from Jack Flynn, Gavin McGowan, Daithi McGowan and Eamon Wallace made it appear the complete turnaround was a mere formality.
Not quite though, because whatever little bit of Lion(s) is in their makeup most have afforded them a few extra lives to secure county title number nine, and how fitting it was that it was arguably the two most influential footballers in the county who jointly had the final say. Eoghan Frayne slotting over the point which put them three clear and then, the man mountain Adam Flanagan catching the final ball as Ratoath went for a match saving ‘major’ and put it dead.
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