If you are unnerved by the thought of a good hard battle against local rivals, then you shouldn't play for Kill Shamrocks. Every second game these lads play seems to be against one of the neighbours and it'll be the same again this year as they renew acquaintances with the likes of Cootehill, Drung and Drumgoon from just down the road not to mention a whole host of others who aren't exactly a million miles away. Taking part in Division Two and the IFC will not be for the faint of heart.
Last year, Kill proved their worth when they qualified for the quarter-final stage of the intermediate championship for a second successive season, beating Laragh by 0-12 to 1-6 along the way to emerge from a section that also included Killinkere. In the Last Eight, they squared up to local rivals Drung. It proved a luckless day for the Shamrocks who fell to a narrow 0-7 to 0-6 defeat. They had come within one kick of a ball of an IFC semi-final place…
Despite the obvious disappointment of this setback, new club chairman Noel McMenamin (whose sons Barry and Darragh both line out on the first team) reflects on the 2009 season with a generous degree of satisfaction:
"The mood in the club is great," he conceded as Kill prepared for the challenges of a new season. "We stayed up in Division Two and we got to the quarter-finals of the intermediate championship. We certainly would have settled for that at the start of the year. The championship quarter-final was a huge occasion against our near neighbours Drung, who we play with at underage level. The players know all each other well and it was a tight game. We had 14 wides on the day and we genuinely feel that we should have won it." Captain Pierce McKenna also missed a penalty in that game and was sent off for a second yellow card offence near the end, before Drung stole the match with a last-gasp winner.
"We had gone up to Division Two the previous year and we held our league status, which was our main aim for the year. So that has to be viewed as a success. And when you consider that we were only put out of the IFC by a single point and were unfortunate not to get to a semi-final, I think it's fair to say we gave a good account of ourselves throughout the year."
Barry Crudden handled managerial duties in 2009 and he has been replaced this year by Thomas Duffy from Carrickmacross, a man the Shamrocks are delighted to have on board. What will be the goal for 2010, then? "Maybe we should be pushing for a semi-final place in the championship but it's vital that we hold onto our Division Two status. For a club like Kill, it's absolutely essential that we're playing at the highest level possible. We'll aim for the upper half of the table this time. If we achieve that, it would be a great confidence-booster."
The club has been given further encouragement by the involvement of Anthony Brady and Cian McPhillips on the Cavan minor squad in 2010, while Darren Tiernan was with the Breffni County U18s in '09. Kill also had various representatives on the county Development Squads last year. All things considered, the Shamrocks are giving a good account of themselves under difficult circumstances:
"We're a small club in a small area and we can't even field an U14 team any more since they stopped the girls from playing. So we had to join with St Finbarr's in 2009. That was a pity for us because in 2008 we'd won the U14 Roinn 'D' league and got to the Roinn 'C' championship final. We were going well and the girls were a big part of that because of the small population, but they changed it around for some reason and we couldn't field a team on our own anymore. Decisions like that put more and more pressure on small clubs, who are already facing an uphill battle.
"I remember in 2008 we played Killgarry in the Roinn 'C' final and they arrived with 30 players for a 13-a-side final.
"Having said all that, our underage partnership at St Finbarr's is going well and we're benefiting a lot from it. We're joined with Drung right up through the ranks and the amalgamation allows our lads to play some football at a decent level and hopefully they'll be able to improve and one day come through onto the senior team.
"We're also hoping for a good showing from our junior 'B' team this year. They'll be playing in Division Six and we're confident that they'll finish well up the table."
As with any GAA club, there's always work taking place behind the scenes. In recent months, Kill erected new dug-outs and they're also working on a new all-weather training area at one end of the pitch at Rathluden Park, which will keep players off the main pitch when they're training. Plans are also in the pipeline to put up a scoreboard in Tullyvin as the club continues to evolve and provide its members with the best possible service. This might seem like small things but every little piece of work and improvement carried out by a small club is highly significant. "One thing we're aware of is that sponsorship won't be as plentiful as it was in the past, due to the recession, but hopefully we can get through the difficult times," says the chairman.
Indeed, Kill isn't just about football. There is also a progressive Scor element to the club with both the Novelty Act and Ballad Group performing well at the county finals last year, while the St Finbarr's ladies are going well and contributing to the overall strength of the GAA locally. "We're keeping whole families interested in it," Noel concludes.
Kill - 2009 Cavan IFC quarter-final V Drung: David Ward; Noel Foster, Damien Foster, Barry McMenamin; Cian McPhillips, Brian McCarey, John McCarey; Sean Caffrey (0-1), Conor McCarey; Conor McCaffrey (0-1), Marcus Magee, Darragh McMenamin; Darren Tiernan, Pierce McKenna (0-1), Niall McCaffrey (0-2). Subs: Mark Kelly, Anthony Brady (0-1), Raymond Magee. Tweet

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