Casting one's mind back upon the events of 2009, it's hard not to be impressed by the progress Ramor Utd. made. Even the most pessimistic historian would find himself ambushed by positives. Fact is: everywhere you look, the signs are encouraging for the Virginia men. Okay, they may not have set the world alight in the SFC, but in every other competition they involved themselves in, Ramor impressed mightily.
The seeds have been sown for a strong future and there's every reason to expect 2010 to be another significant year for the Pairc Reamor crew. Little wonder outgoing club secretary Frank McGuinness is in top tune these days:
"Two-thousand-and-nine was very good. We had a very good, strong, positive year and we competed well on all fronts. We didn't win anything major apart from the U21 championship but we were more than happy with all the teams. We have a huge membership and we believe the club is moving forward.
"Our underage exploits were particularly impressive, with wins in the U13 championship, the U16 league and the U12 league." Ramor also won a minor Division Two league and had two teams competing in the U14 leagues, which is very encouraging. "We have great numbers and we're very strong at juvenile level at the moment. We're getting between 130 and 150 youngsters out on the field on a Saturday morning and that kind of statistic tells its own story.
"The club in general is very strong, boosted by the population explosion we've experienced in Virginia. We had over 540 paid members of the club last year and we like to think we're in a very strong position going forward."
The highlight of the year has to be the U21 Division One championship success. Ramor-Munterconnaught defeated Belturbet in the decider at Lavey on a 1-9 to 0-8 scoreline. The holders led by 1-6 to 0-4 at the interval and never looked back thereafter. The victory was dedicated to the players' late colleague Christopher Sheils, who passed away tragically in October 2009 at the age of only 18. That U21 championship-winning team was managed by a backroom quartet of Ciaran Mackin, John Brady, Ray Cole and Eugene Sheridan, with Stephen Sheridan and Stephen Monaghan acting as joint captains.
"We can take a lot of heart from the fact that we beat Cavan Gaels in the U21 final in 2008 and again at the semi-final stage in 2009," says Frank. "They are the club everybody else measures themselves against and we can take a big psychological boost from those wins. A lot of our U21s are still only 17 or 18 and they have no fear whatsoever. And they have a winning mentality, which is infectious. From that panel of 28, we'll only lose three players next year, so we should be strong contenders in the U21 championship again in 2010."
The hard work done by many behind the scenes over the past few years is really starting to come to the fore in Ramor. The club's adult teams demonstrated a fair degree of consistency in the leagues in '09. "We finished joint-fifth in the junior league and fifth in the Division One league," Frank continues. We got a bad beating in the first round of the championship [against Castlerahan] but we regrouped to maintain our senior status through the play-offs [beating Cuchulainns] so we're looking forward to playing in the SFC and Division One again in 2010."
The Ramor team pipped by Gowna by 1-12 to 1-9 in a decisive SFC group stage, third round thriller on Friday August 7 2009 was: Aodghan Cahill; Raymond Farrelly, Ray Cole, Gareth Daly; Stefan Connolly, Damien Barkey, Barry Fitzsimons; Shane Gaffney, Stephen Monaghan; Philip Fitzsimons (0-1), Paul Quealy, Jack Brady (0-6); Ronan Keating, Paddy McNamee(1-2), Adrian Cole. Subs: Emmett Daly, Christopher Sheils, Paddy Brennan.
As Virginia College won their tenth county VS title in succession in 2009, Ramor had six players on the panel and five on the team itself. Off the field of play, the club has also completed its superb Astroturf pitch development (which is ideal for training and is also hired out to a lot of neighbouring clubs) as well as finishing work on the club dressing-rooms. With such a strong hand in evidence right across the board, the mood in the clubhouse is one of confidence. But how ambitious can they afford to get for the 2010 season?
"We'd love to win a senior championship inside the next two or three years," says Frank. "Because of the number of talented U21s and younger lads who are coming through onto the team, we feel that this is a good time to mount a strong challenge. Twenty-four of the 2009 U21 championship-winning panel are from Ramor and it's a very positive sign when you see so many lads wanting to transfer into our club. There's a good buzz about the place and a real feelgood factor.
"Kevin McDonnell is the manager this year and the former county stalwart Philip Kermath will be working alongside him. They're both former Ramor players and we're confident they can provide strong leadership. The goal for the seniors will be to finish in the top four of the league and to give a good account of themselves in the championship. We got to a semi-final in 2008 but it just didn't happen for us last year for some reason - even though we had more or less the same team. We need to keep working on building the team up.
"We had 108 at our 2009 AGM and we had 68 at the 2010 AGM during the really bad weather there in January. There are a lot of other clubs in Cavan who can only dream about those kinds of numbers, so we do accept that we're in a fortunate position at the moment and we hope to build on that.
"There's tremendous goodwill being shown towards the club in the local community. Out ladies play with Lurgan, which also includes Maghera, Munterconnacht and Killinkere - but the bulk of that team would be Ramor girls. We're also taking part in Scor and we started back in camogie in 2009 with an U14 team and we're hoping to build on that as well."
To say that these are busy times for Ramor would probably be an exercise in understatement. There are often three different groups training simultaneously at Ramor United Park and the demand on the club's facilities is stronger than ever. In terms of the contributions of parents, coaches and other volunteers, the lakesiders are in a very strong position. With the population in town mushrooming over the past decade, the local NS has outgrown its capacity and the recently-opened secondary school is already looking to extend.
Ramor volunteers painstakingly go from door to door to introduce themselves and the club to new residents in the area (with 21 people out on the beat one particular night last year!), while the club's strong sense of tradition is also maintained through the involvement of families who have been part of Ramor since its genesis - and always will be. Frank McGuinness concludes: "Our seniors were back in Division One for the first time in seven years and they fared well against the likes of the Gaels, Gowna and Castlerahan. To finish fifth was a fine achievement. They may not have won anything, but they laid down a marker for the future."

Christopher Sheils - a tribute

Christopher Sheils was born on July 28th 1991, a beautiful baby boy for Tony and Philomena, and a little brother for Amanda. For the next 18 years Christopher brought love, joy, hope, fun, loyalty, friendship, commitment, dedication, passion, confidence, determination and pride into the lives of his family, friends and community.
Christopher loved football, and indeed all sports, especially Manchester United. He dreamed of wearing the Cavan jersey from a young age and he realised that dream, much to his delight, and the joy of his family. Christopher's first jersey was the No.10. He was just 7 years old when he got a place on the Lurgan Community Games U-10 team that won the County final that year. Ironically, Christopher earned the No.10 jersey with the Cavan Minor team this year, and proved to be a very influential player during the League and Championship campaigns. Such was Christopher's determination and commitment to the team was that he battled his way bravely back from a potentially serious ankle injury at the start of the campaign to gain his place on the starting 15.
A great sense of achievement was felt by Christopher when he was selected to play for the Cavan U-16's in the Buncrana Cup in 2007. Cavan reached the final, drew it after extra time, but unfortunately the final was never replayed.
Indeed Christopher represented his county at a younger age, being part of the Lurgan U-14 Feile na nOg team who played in Carlow in 2002 and in 2005, he was part of the Lurgan U-14 Feile Hurling team who represented Cavan in Cork.
Carraigabruise N.S. and Virginia College were where Christopher received his education, and he was a model pupil. At the tender age of 9 he won a Cumann na mBunscoil medal with Carraigabruise and then went on to numerous achievements with Virginia College. He was U-14 and U-16 player of the year, he captained the U-14 side to a county final, captained the senior soccer team this year, won an U-16 county and two Senior county medals, and still managed to carry on successfully with his studies, having sat the Leaving Certificate in June. Christopher also passed his driving test.
The Ramor club was dear to Christopher and he wore the jersey with passion and pride. In his early years, the jersey was the green and white of Lurgan, in which Christopher enjoyed many successes, including medals from U-10, U-12, U-14, U-16 League and Championship. In the black and amber of Ramor Utd Christopher won an U-21 Championship medal last year and a Minor League medal this year. Christopher was a member of the Ramor senior team also. Incidentally, the U-13 team that Christopher won a championship medal with is this year's U-21 side. Only a few short weeks ago, Christopher played a starring role in a very competitive U-21 preparation match in Skryne, Co. Meath.
Off the field, Christopher aimed for success. He took a great interest in the coaching and development and completed many courses including the Coaching Foundation and Child Protection Courses.
Christopher was an inspiration to all the young players in the club, and they so admired his skill and his flair and tenacity in front of goal. Whenever Christopher was playing there was bound to be excitement;speed, skill, flashes of sheer brilliance and a myriad of scores.
Greatly admired too were Christopher's hats...he had a great collection and wore them with style. Hair was important too, and the night of his Debs, Christopher enlisted the help of his sister Amanda to ensure that it looked perfect. He set off looking very dapper and handsome in his new suit to enjoy a wonderful night with all his friends from Virginia College.
Christopher was enjoying his Sports, Leisure and Management course in Cavan College, and in his few short weeks there made an impact, making many new friends.
Christopher was a wonderful son, sharing with his parents his hopes and dreams for the future, giving them such joy and pride along the journey. He was a great brother, lively company and a friend to Amanda. To so many, Christopher was a loyal, fun friend, and he was a gifted sportsman. In his short life he achieved so much, yet had so much still to give. There is a void in our hearts, in our club and in our community that will never be filled. Christopher's life will inspire many young people as they remember the broad handsome smile of such a talented, yet modest young man who always gave his best to everything he did in life.
Christopher's life ended on October 10th 2009. He was laid to rest at St. Mary's Virginia. His memory will live on forever in our hearts. Tweet

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