Much to talk about for Kildallan
March 01, 2010When Kildallan embarked on their '09 season promotion from Division Three of the ACFL and a crack at the Cavan JFC was at the top of the agenda. With a solid team, full of both experience and talent, there could be no other objectives set for the club known as 'The First Ulsters'.
However, a good start can often be half the battle when it comes to striding on towards silverware and, unfortunately, this wasn't to be the case for Kildallan's senior footballers in 2009.
A home defeat to neighbours Corlough (0-14 to 1-10) cast the dye for what unravel as a tough year in Division Three, which would be threatened with relegation right up until the last game of the season.
A trip to Bailieborough ended in another narrow loss (0-11 to 1-6), before more homes defeats to Arva (1-8 to 0-9) and Swanlinbar (4-8 to 2-12) spelled worries of a drop to Division Four out plainly for Kildallan.
Along with Corlough, Kildallan were in serious danger of playing their league football alongside the top second-string sides in the county for 2010 and more losses to Shannon Gaels (0-17 to 1-9) and Butlersbridge before they embarked on the junior football championship didn't help Kildallan's cause.
"Unfortunately, Kildallan did very poorly with regards to the senior team in Division Three," said Cassidy.
"We didn't manage to get into double figures with regards to points in the league. I think we only got seven points in the league, where as any of the other years the worst we were getting was 12 points."
The team knew they would need to up the ante in training, as well as on the field, if they were to come out of a group which contained the hotly fancied Butlersbridge and arch rivals Templeport, by whom they were shown the exit door at the quarter-final stage of the JFC the previous season.
Kildallan knuckled down in training and by the time it came to play Butlersbridge in Belturbet in their championship opener in mid-June, it showed on the field at O'Moore Park. The game finished level on 0-10 each, which meant a win over Templeport would secure Kildallan's passage through to the last eight of the competition.
"In the championship we were in the same group as Butlersbridge and were very unlucky not to have beaten them after the way we played," said the club PRO.
"Thankfully, we carried that form into our next game and defeated Templeport to go through to the quarter-finals, where we had to play Butlersbridge again and they gave us a good beating over in Milltown and went on from there to win the championship."
Kildallan gained some revenge for their 2008 elimination by handing Templeport a 1-11 to 0-4 assault and booking their place into the last eight of the championship, where the draw again threw up Phelim Plunkett's Butlersbridge.
In Milltown, the Ballyconnell side took the fight to the would-be champions, but in the end Kildallan would finish on the wrong side of a 1-7 to 2-3 result and another championship campaign was over, while The Bridge went on to claim the title.
"I don't think we can have any real complaints about the way we went out of the championship. We played Butlersbridge twice in three games and on both occasion there was nothing between us. They went on to win the championship afterwards and I suppose that tells us that we're not too far away," said Cassidy.
Despite their exit from the JFC, Kildallan's season wasn't over by a long shot. There was still the matter of league safety to secure and when the ACFL resumed in late September and Kildallan suffered a agonising 2-12 to 2-11 defeat away to Ballymachugh, it needed to be a case of all hands on deck thereafter if the red and whites were to survive the division.
Victory at home to Munterconnaught (2-9 to 2-6) and a draw down the road in Bawnboy against Templeport (1-9 to 1-9) was enough to insure that Kildallan would remain in the third tier with seven points, finishing ahead of Killygarry and Corlough, who occupied the bottom two places in Division Three, to make sure that the club we be back where they started come 2010.
Championship success for Minors
The unquestionable highlight for the Kildallan club in 2009 was the Division Four Championship success of the minor football team. Managed by the experienced trio of
Patsy McPartland, Austin Cassidy and Gabriel O'Neill, Kildallan's minors defeated Cornafean in the championship final by 5-10 to 1-16 in Breffni Park on September 25th to take the title and record the club's first ever solo MFC triumph.
"The minor management team had been with that group of players for the last ten years from Under 8 up and at nearly every stage in those years they've always been consistent on winning some of the groups that they're in," explained Cassidy.
In an absolutely thrilling final, Kildallan held the edge thanks to superb forward displays from Killian Doonan, Niall Cassidy and Man of the Match Darragh McGovern, who finished with a personal tally of 3-3.
The first ten minutes were even, with the sides level on 0-2 each before McGovern's first goal flew past Gavin Brady and into the Cornafean net. Two minutes later the same player added his second major when he rolled a cool finish past Brady that left the signs even more promising for the town side.
Minutes into the second-half Doonan lashed in Kildallan's third goal to leave the scores standing at 3-5 to 0-5 and points from Niall Cassidy and McGovern extended the young Ballyconnell men's lead to 11. To their credit, Cornafean responded with a goal from Aidan McCaffrey to keep themselves within a chance, but an expertly converted penalty from McGovern and a last green flag from Cassidy put the scores at 5-7 to 1-7 in Kildallan's favour.
Cornafean mounted a min-revival in the closing stages, but some steady defending by the likes of Peadar Reilly and Shane McPartland made sure their would be no more goal concession on Kildallan's behalf, which was enough to make sure that the title was theirs come the full-time whistle.
Kildallan (Div 4 MFC final v Cornafean): Ronan Fitzpatrick, Mark Curry, Peadar Reilly, Killian Duignan, Shane McPartland, Cathal Sheridan, John Ross, Niall Martin, Conal Johnston, Killian Doonan (1-2), Niall Cassidy (1-2), Cian Crowe (0-2), Darragh McGovern (3-3). Subs: Paddy Reilly (0-1), Peadar Reilly.
"We won the Division Four Minor championship against Cornafean, which was important because previous to that Kildallan had been beaten by Shannon Gaels in the Division Four league final in May and they went on to get promotion. The score was 5-5 to 3-15 and Shannon Gaels moved up and we were left in Division Four. In the end tough we were glad of it because we went on to win the division come the championship in September," said Cassidy.
"The underage was the most success we had in 2009, with the Under 14s and minors winning silverware. Kildallan did fairly good at underage level all year. They got as far as the league semi-final in Under 16 and in the Under 14 they won the league."
The successful underage footballers in the club got their just rewards on February 6 of this year, when Tyrone All Star Stephen O'Neill presented them their medals at the Kildallan Dinner Dance in the Slieve Russell Hotel.
"Great credit must go to the underage committee for the work they've done in recent years. There is a very good committee there that work very hard and do a lot of fundraising. People like John Joe Brady and Roisin Neary are a credit in what they've done for the club," added Cassidy.
Fundraising
2009 also saw the club fundraise to knock a considerable amount off their debt for their superb playing facilities at First Ulsters Park in Ballyconnell.
"We did a bit of fundraising last year to try and take the debt off our pitch. The debt was something in and around €70,000 that was outstanding. We had a fundraising draw and we took in around €30,000. So that went a long way to taking the debt off of it and we're now looking at developing the field further and refurbishing the stand and stuff like that," Cassidy explained.
Gearing up for 2011 celebrations
Next year will see the club celebrate 125 years of the GAA in Cavan. As the first club in Ulster, Kildallan will only be one of the few clubs in the country that will be able to celebrate this unique achievement.
"Kildallan are planning the 125 year celebration in Ballyconnell because it is 125 years since the GAA was started in Cavan. That would be from 1886 to 2011 and our celebrations for the county will be starting some time in the early spring, early March or April," explained the PRO.
"We have big plans for it because there are only around four clubs in the country that can celebrate it. So we could be looking at changing the name back from Kildallan to Ballyconnell First Ulsters for the year and several different things to go along with it as well." Tweet
