On the field 2010 was a fairly disappointing year for Killinkere but great work off of it means these are exciting times for all involved with the club. By Shane Corrigan.

After a promising league campaign, where they flirted with the top-end of the table, Killinkere struggled to hit peak form when the intermediate championship came around. The team's journey was short-lived as they failed to safely navigate their path out of a three-team group containing local rivals Bailieborough Shamrocks and Cootehill.

Truth be told, football wise anyway, the 2010 season was not an easy one for Killinkere. The year was always going to be difficult on the playing front after the tragic deaths of two key players in Simon Delaney and Tommy-Michael Clarke within the space of four months. Both players were crucial cogs in Killinkere's machine and it was always going to be a difficult challenge, if not impossible, to overcome those losses. The effect of their passing on the entire community was immense as both were friendly, courageous and athletic young men.

Delaney, a goalkeeper with Cavan at minor and Under 21 level, tragically died as he bravely tried to help three men in a boat on a local lake who had gotten into difficulty in August of 2009.
Four months later, on December 27, tragedy struck again following the sudden death of 24-year-old Tommy Michael Clarke. Clarke, a brother of former Cavan player James, was an integral part of the Killinkere team and the loss of two instrumental figures always meant the year of 2010 was always going to be a challenging one for the team.

It's at times like these that a GAA club becomes much more than just a sporting outlet and everyone involved with Killinkere rallied together to show the spirit that makes the GAA such a unique organisation. Brendan Clarke, chairman of the Killinkere Club, admitted the loss of the talented duo was a devastating blow to everyone.
"As a football club we were all devastated and shocked. It's tough on the club and on the entire community. Both losses were such a shock to the area. They were both good young men and they will always be missed. We are a close club and 2009 was just a terrible year for us.

"Both were a huge loss to the club both on and off the field and this year was our first year without them which was difficult. Simon always had potential to be a great goalkeeper and last year he was starting to realise that potential. In fact, I would go as far to say that Simon and Tommy Michael were our two best players in 2009 and I'm not just saying that because they are gone. Tommy Michael was brilliant for us too and this year was always going to be difficult without them," he said.

In fairness to Killinkere, who were managed by Sean Finnegan this year, they battled to a respectable sixth place finish in the ACFL Division Two campaign. On April 4 their opening game brought them to Kill where they shared the spoils. It was a modest start but very few teams come out of that pitch with two points and it gave them an early point on the board.
The rest of the campaign turned out to be somewhat of a roller-coaster ride but by the end of it the club had survived comfortably after picking up 12 points via five wins, five losses and two draws. However, considering that the club has regularly been fighting for survival in the ACFL Division Two in recent years their overall form represented genuine progress.
Club PRO Mark Farrelly says inconsistency was their biggest problem throughout the campaign but felt in the grand scheme of things it was a reasonably successful campaign.

"Everyone in the club would have been reasonably happy with where we finished in the league. I'd say that if we could have gotten a bit more consistency to our performances we could have pushed on and finished up near the top but it just never happened for us. We would win two games in a row and then lose two and you just can't do that if you are going to be competing at the top end of the league.

"Our best result of the year would have been our win over Drumalee I would say. They went on to be in the final of the intermediate championship so by beating them we showed we can compete with the best teams at this level if we are on form. Overall though I would say the league was a big improvement on previous years and it was nice not to be looking over your shoulder in the latter rounds," he said.
Their adventures in the intermediate championship did not go to plan however as both Cootehill and Bailieborough overcame the challenge of the men in green and gold at the group stage.
The 1-8 to 0-10 defeat in their opening game against Cootehill was a very disappointing result and one which they look back upon as a game they could and arguably should have won.

Cootehill Celtic produced a stunning comeback to snatch a late victory in a fiery IFC encounter at Kingspan Breffni Park. Killinkere were by far the better team in the first-half and went in 0-6 to 0-3 in front at half-time but things fell apart for them after the break as Cootehill remerged a transformed side and kicked 1-4 without reply. A late rally led by James Clarke and Emmet Fitzsimons gave them some hope but by that stage the damage had already been done and it left them facing Bailieborough in a do or die contest.

Killinkere (IFC v Cootehill): Sean McGovern; Martin Reilly, Terry Brady, Finbarr Smith; Oliver Sharkey, Paddy Smith, Gary Denning; John B Smith, Declan Smith; Darren Smith (0-2), Kevin McCabe, Anthony Brady (0-1); Emmet Fitzsimons (0-3), James Clarke (0-3), Damien Sexton (0-1).

The Bailieborough defeat brought the curtains down on the senior teams expeditions until 2011 but in fairness it was not the easiest of tasks considering that Cootehill were the '09 beaten finalists while Bailieborough beat Killinkere in the quarter-final that year as well before losing to eventual champions Lavey.
Chairman Clarke is optimistic about their future prospects and feels that they are not all that far away from competing at the top-level of the Intermediate championship after running both teams close in the group stages.

"I suppose looking back it you would see it as a disappointing year because we didn't come out of the group stages of the championship and no club wants that to happen. We were close to Bailieborough the day we played them; we maybe could have won. Cootehill only beat us by a point as well. I would say we ran both close but we just couldn't do enough to get out of the group.

"I only see it as slightly disappointing because our league form this year was much better than in previous years when we were struggling away at the bottom of Division Two. We got a few good results and we were comfortably around the middle of the table by the end," said Clarke.
Farrelly also felt that the club will be looking to improve next year.

"The championship turned out to be very disappointing for us because at the start we would have felt that we were good enough to get out of the group. We lost both games and we just never really got going in either game at all.
"We were beating Cootehill in the first game by five points at one stage and even though they had two men sent-off we let it slip. That left us going into the Bailieborough game in a winner takes all situation and losing wasn't nice because they had beaten us the previous year at the quarter-final stage," he said.
Despite the club failing to win anything significant at underage level over the course of 2010 it is not all doom and gloom around Killinkere, according to the PRO.

"It was a kind of middle of the road year for the club. We didn't win anything at underage level but that wouldn't be a huge concern just yet," he said.
"The Senior team has started to benefit by the introduction of a few minor players into the set-up this year and they will improve as time goes on. Emmet Fitzsimons was on the county minor team this year and Darren Smith would have been on it the year before so we have some talented younger players coming through."

Off the field, Killinkere have done some excellent work to improve their facilities. Significant focus and time was put into the playing facilities and the club now has two top-quality pitches to help cater for all their teams. As well as that, the stand on the main-field was also finished, so supporters can no longer use the rain as an excuse for not turning up for games!

All joking aside, when reflecting on the year both Farrelly and Clarke were adamant that improving the club facilities was the most positive aspect of 2010 and they wished to thank everyone who was involved in the project.
"It took a lot of work and effort but it's great to have the second field up and running and it was also great to get the stand finished off. The place is looking great at the minute but there is still a bit of work to do though and I would like to see us upgrade our dressing rooms over the next few years," said the Killinkere chairman.

The improvements that have been carried and the ones in the pipeline ensures that the club, whether they are having success or not on the field, will always have a place they can be proud to call home. Tweet

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