Transition times in Drung
December 31, 2010relegation from the ACFL Division Two and in the Intermediate Football Championship - not that they were all that far off in the latter. However, it was St Finbarr's that again stole the show this past season.
While Drung's bid to go one better than they did in 2009 and reach the intermediate championship final may have faltered early on this time around, there was still plenty of positives to take.
Under the managership of Ramor native Michael Tynan, Drung set out their stall for a promotion push in the league and a good run in the intermediate championship in 2010.
"Basically, we wanted to win the intermediate championship and do well in the league," club chairman Gavin Smith put it simply.
"We were missing Barry Watters for most of the year which was a big blow to us. He was away doing work for the Asian county board. James Reilly was there the whole year, but James Galligan missed a good few games being involved with the county, so it became difficult for us."
Things got off to a shaky start an opening defeat away to Killinkere (0-11 to 0-8) was followed by another narrow defeat at home to Drumalee (1-12 to 0-11), before a visit to high-flying Ballyhaise ended in a comprehensive 0-14 to 0-6 loss which rooted Drung to the bottom of Division Two.
The team's luck looked set to change when Drumgoon were visitors to Bunnoe, but yet again all fortune deserted them as 'the Goonies' left with a 1-9 to 2-5 victory to confirm a fourth straight defeat for Tynan's charges. A visit to Terry Coyle Park didn't see the red and whites fair any better as Cavan Gaels' second-string took the points on a 1-11 to 0-8 score-line.
Another marginal defeat to Butlersbridge (1-13 to 1-10) left the Bunnoe men wondering if the Gods were against them, but come the end of May they had their first point on the board after a hard fought clash at home with Bailieborough Shamrocks, which finished all square on 2-10 each; another game which saw a win slip away.
Heavy defeats to promotion-chasers Drumlane and Knockbride underlined the gulf between the sides, but disappointing defeats to Cootehill and Kill really summed up Drung's league form as they earned one more point before their championship opener against Knockbride come the third weekend in July.
"We were definitely unlucky with a couple of the games we lost in the league because there was only a point or two in them," said Gavin.
"We would be a very young team which are kind of going through a transition period at the moment. Andrew Rossiter and Niall Cassidy have been two young lads that came into the team this year and they did very well for us, so at least there was some bonus."
Drawn in a group with Knockbride, Drumlane and Ballymachugh it was backs to the wall for Drung come the championship and their first test came against the Canningstown men, whom had major designs on landing a first ever title in the grade.
The teams collided at Hugh O'Reilly Park in Cootehill, where the favourites pulled into an early lead, as Gavin explained:
"We played Knockbride first in Cootehill and were lucky not to be ten points behind at half-time, to be honest," he said.
"We brought it back to within four or five points in the second-half and were looking good to comeback, but we missed a penalty. That was the real turning-point in that game and Knockbride went on to win by about six or seven points in the end."
It meant that their second round meeting with Stephen King's Ballymachugh became a do-or-die clash, with the winners still within a chance of progression to the quarter-finals going into their remaining group game.
Played at St Felim's Park in Drumalee, the game was a well-contested one which was on a knife-edge throughout as three first-half saves from two-time All Star nominee James Reilly kept Drung in the game and when young up and comer Andrew Rossiter blasted in the game's only goal the Bunnoe men were in the driving-seat and kept their three-point lead until the very end to maintain a chance of reaching the last eight.
A Drumlane side which had already achieved promotion in Division Two stood in their way, and when the sides collided at Kingspan Breffni Park in August they produced a topsy-turvy encounter, which proved that for all their defeats during the course of the season Drung weren't that far off the mark.
The favourites made a riveting start, bagging an early goal and sending over eight points to take in a commanding lead at the break. A second goal should have sank the Drung ship, but they never gave up hope as county man Ciaran Galligan and the returning Barry Watters took the fight to Drumlane and pulled the margin back to four points before the west Cavan men emptied their bench and ran-out 2-13 to 1-10 winners.
In the end, Drung would agonisingly miss out on the quarter-finals through score difference, with Drumlane topping the group and Knockbride pipping Tynan's team to second place to bring the curtain down on their campaign.
However, a special mention must go out the club's superb run to the Reserve Division Two final, which extended the squad's season by another month.
After a brave run in their league campaign, which saw the senior squad second-string winning seven of their 11 games, drawing one and losing just three, Drung finished third in the ACFL Reserve Division Two table, qualifying for the semi-final come the end of August and defeating Shercock by 1-13 to 1-12 in a hard-fought encounter to advance to the final.
In the final, first-placed Ballyhaise were the opposition and five points would separate the sides by the full-time whistle as Drung finished on the wrong side of a 0-12 to 0-7 result to be denied the title.
St Finbarr's keep silverware coming
In March, Drung/Kill amalgamation St Finbarr's became the first to win the Christopher Sheils Memorial Tournament when they defeated Shercock by 3-8 to 1-8 in the final on the new 3G pitch at Kingspan Breffni Park.
The Under 16 seven-a-side event took place over three days and was organised by the county board to remember the former Cavan and Ramor minor footballer, who tragically lost his life on October 10, 2009.
St Finbarr's, Shercock, Cavan Gaels and Killygarry were the teams to come through their group and advance to the semi-finals, with Finbarr's comprehensively defeating Killygarry by 5-8 to 0-9 thanks to goals from Stephen Jackson, Aaron Watson, Damien O'Brien, team captain Ian Middleton and Brian Crowe.
Having come through a close battle with Cavan Gaels, Shercock awaited the Saints in the final which both sides served up as a thriller for those in attendance.
The amalgamated side drew first blood with points from Caolan O'Reilly and Ian Middleton, but Shercock responded in emphatic fashion when Niall Clerkin rattled the net from close range.
However, the town side would be rattled themselves when Finbarr's goalkeeper Stephen Jackson belted a kick-out which deceived his opposite number, Colin Clerkin, and bounced into the Shercock net. Moments later, Caolan O'Reilly pulled off some superb work to cross to Ian Middleton, who fisted a second goal in as many minutes, which helped his team into a 2-5 to 1-3 lead at the break.
In the second-half, Niall Clerkin brought the deficit down to four for Shercock with a neat over, but Finbarr's buried in their third goal via Middleton and three points in-a-row from their reliable outlet Damien O'Brien up front made sure their would be no way back for their opponents and that theirs would be the first name on the Christopher Sheils Cup.
Three months later and St Finbarr's were back on the winning podium when they outfought Ballymachugh in a highly-entertaining Under 16 Division Two league final at PJ Duke Park, Stradone.
Led from the back by centre-back and captain Aaron Watson, Thomas Jackson's team clinched a deserved victory in the closing stages when wing-forward Cormac Fitzpatrick blazed through for their fourth goal four minutes from the end.
Goals made all the difference for the Drung/Kill combo in the first-half as they led by a comfortable 3-6 to 0-7 score-line, with Stephen Jackson, Damien O'Brien and Ian Middleton all raising the green flags for the Saints.
It looked as though Finbarr's were to run away with it as they outscored their opponents by 0-3 to 0-1 early on in the resumption, but 13 minutes in Ballymachugh were handed a major life-line when Liam Buchanan crept in for a goal.
Despite going down to 14 players Ballymachugh kept up the fight Finbarr's and struck their second goal through Buchanan with seven minutes left to narrow the gap to just a point.
Some solid defending from the likes of Shane McCann, Brian Crowe and Watson and the back, allied with coolness up front from Damien O'Brien and Stephen Jackson steadied the Finbarr's ship and when Fitzpatrick finished off a slick move out of the defence to the Ballymachugh net the Cup was theirs.
Great credit must go to the players and management team of Thomas Jackson and Niall McCaffrey for their work with the team, which made a brave run to the semi-finals of the Under 16 Division One Championship, where they were defeated by favourites Cavan Gaels by the narrow margin of a point.
St Finbarr's (U16 Div 2 final v B'machugh): Niall Smith; Kieran Reilly, Shane McCann, Francis Hand; Brian Crowe, Aaron Watson, Ciaran Smith; Aaron McIntyre, Ian Middleton (1-1); Cormac Fitzpatrick (1-1), Stephen Jackson (1-2), Kevin Pritchard; Caolan Reilly (0-2), Gary Watters (0-1), Damien O'Brien (1-3). Tweet
