Ended on a high
December 31, 2010title was certainly nothing to begrudge as club chairman Eugene Carolan explained.
2010 unravelled as a series of ups and downs for Knockbride. From a day to forget against Drumalee in the intermediate championship semi-final, to one to remember against Drumlane in the Division Two league decider, which saw the men from Canningstown finish their season very much on a high.
When Nobber native Larry McEntee took his approach to this past season last January, he knew the ingredients were their for intermediate success. With players of the calibre and experience of Larry Reilly, Raphael Rogers and John Tierney, allied with new talent in Brendan Carolan and Eamon Carolan filtering through, Knockbride were always going to be in the shake-up for a return to the top flight.
McEntee's men couldn't have asked for a better start as they stunned Ballyhaise in their first outing of the year with a 0-9 to 0-7 victory in Canningstown.
"We started well," said chairman Eugene Carolan. "We beat Ballyhaise the first day out and that kind of got the ball rolling for us because they'd have been the favourites to get promoted. We lost a couple of games but we were basically unbeaten at home all year until the last few games before the championship."
The next day out saw a trip to Boyle Park in Drumgoon end in defeat (0-12 to 1-8), but the team found their goal-scoring touch soon afterwards and racked up wins over Cavan Gaels (3-10 to 2-12) and Butlersbridge (4-12 to 1-9) to surge up the table and underline their intentions for a leap to Division One.
Come May, Knockbride had their third win on the bounce with a sweet pair of points taken off rivals Bailieborough on a 2-9 to 1-9 score-line in Canningstown, where again it was the hosts ability to find the back of the net that made all the difference. A blip away to league-leaders Drumlane (1-9 to 0-8) only stalled Knockbride's charge momentarily as Cootehill were put the sword the next day out on a 1-12 to 0-10 score-line and a hard earned draw against Kill (0-12 to 1-9) was followed by a rousing 2-7 to 1-4 victory at home to Drung.
A top-two finish was in sight, but two narrow defeats in-a-row at the hands of Shercock (1-13 to 0-12) and Killinkere (1-8 to 1-7) at the end of June put a serious dent in the team's hopes. They turned it around the next day by travelling to St Felim's Park in Cavan town and seeing-off would-be intermediate champions Drumalee by 1-12 to 2-8, but the games were running out for McEntee's men to catch high-flying Ballyhaise and Drumlane at the top.
"We didn't get promoted and maybe we need another season before going up to Division One. It was still nice to finish in the top four though and knowing that we had a league title to compete for before going into the championship," said Eugene.
After going 12 rounds of the league, McEntee and his selectors, Michael O'Reilly and Ciaran McCabe, tuned their players up for battle in the intermediate championship and a bid to capture the club's first title in the grade since 2000. Knockbride entered into a group which read: Drung, Drumlane, Ballymachugh and were confident of progression to the last eight.
It was another perfect start to a campaign for the men from Canningstown, who were led by talisman Larry Reilly and young ace Brendan Carolan to a 1-15 to 1-7 victory over Drung at Hugh O'Reilly Park in Cootehill. Throughout the entire first-half of this encounter, the winners showed just what they were capable of as they raced out of the traps through scores from Reilly, Raphael Rogers and Carolan to open up a 0-6 to 0-2 advantage by the quarter hour mark, when the latter fired in the game's only goal, which catapulted Knockbride into an unassailable 1-11 to 0-4 lead by half-time.
A missed penalty didn't help Drung's cause in the early stages of the second-half, as the Reilly and Carolan continued to crack over the points down the other end, along with singles from Peter O'Reilly, Seamus O'Brien and Ciaran Lynch, which totally killed off Drung's challenge and sealed two points to take the early initiative in Group One.
The win would have given McEntee's charges plenty of confidence going in against an in-form Drumlane side. However, the team just didn't perform at Kingspan Breffni Park that afternoon and were made succumb to a 2-12 to 0-5 defeat the hands of the west Cavan outfit. It meant that the remaining group game against Ballymachugh became crucial, as either could advance to the quarter-finals along with Drumlane, whom had already booked their place to the knock-out stages with two wins.
Minus the services of Larry Reilly through injury, Knockbride had to avoid a three-point defeat so they wouldn't be pipped to the last eight on score difference. Stephen King's side took it to their opponents in the early stages and opened up an early two-point lead, but a powerfully-struck Seamus O'Brien goal seemed to have turned it around for Knockbride as they led by 1-5 to 0-4 at half-time.
Ballymachugh revived themselves after the break and a Niall Baxter goal brought them level, before three superb points from Christopher Rooney had them in front. Raphael Rogers and Niall O'Reilly lashed over points to narrow the deficit to the minimum just before the full-time whistle, which was enough to see Knockbride through despite a 1-9 to 1-8 defeat.
When Knockbride's name was picked from the hat for the quarter-final draw it was rivals Drumgoon that followed to set-up a mouth-watering clash in Kingscourt on the first Friday in September. In the meantime, McEntee's side had pulled off another coup when they overcame Ballyhaise's challenge in mid-August to reach the Division Two final, but not too many believed that Knockbride could portray the same kind of form again when they met a Drumgoon side now ranked as favourites after topping a group which contained favourites Ballyhaise, Killeshandra and junior champions Butlersbridge - all of whom they put to the sword…How wrong they were.
In the opening 20 minutes, Knockbride dominated 'the Goonies' as centre-forward Raphael Rogers set the tone for them with three brilliant points inside the first four minutes, in which time the fit again Larry Reilly had a goal chance saved by Niall McIntyre in the Drumgoon goal. By half-time the green and reds were 0-6 to 0-3 to the good.
Knockbride stuck to their guns in the second-half, as returning pair Peter Reilly and John Tierney helped build up their lead by five points coming into the final quarter. Drumgoon did hit back to narrow the deficit down to the minimum, but when Larry Reilly flew past the Drumgoon defence on two separate occasion to clip over more points it was clear that 'the Goonies' purple-patch was over and Knockbride were into the last four after clinching a 0-12 to 0-9 victory.
The team now faced the possibility of reaching a second final in the space of a month, with a victory over Drumalee giving them the chance to contest the big prize on October 10th. There was still a semi-final hurdle to overcome though and on a miserable night at Kingspan Breffni Park it was the Cavan town side that emerged to their third intermediate decider in five years at Knockbride's expense.
In a dour affair, hindered by the weather conditions, a 0-2 to 0-1 score-line to Drumalee at half-time summed up things. A Larry Reilly free was Knockbride's only score of the first-half after 18 minutes and they could only double that tally through Brendan Carolan in the second-half, while Mickey Brennan would lead Drumalee's charge to the final down the other end which would eventually see them take the title after overcoming Drumlane in the final.
"After playing so well against Drumgoon, we let ourselves down in the semi-final against Drumalee," Eugene commented on Knockbride's IFC campaign.
"We didn't get going at all and on the night nobody performed for us, which I suppose was the biggest disappoint but we still had a league title to play for going into our last game and that gave us a wee bit of a lift."
Knockbride would meet Drumlane in Redhills, where both sides were keen to finish their season with some silverware after faltering to Drumalee in the championship.
The winners got off to an ideal start in their 1-9 to 0-11 victory, as Peter Reilly netted inside the first minute and John Tierney booted over a long-range free to give Knockbride a 1-1 to no score advantage. Drumlane hit back, but it was the old guard in Tierney along with Peter and Larry Reilly, who had the east Cavan side leading by 1-6 to 0-5 at half-time.
In the second-half, Drumlane clawed back to go within one of Knockbride before a brilliant individual score from Larry Reilly had his side in better shape with 15 minutes to go and despite the westerners pulling back level, a last-gasp effort from Raphael Rogers made sure that Knockbride would not be ending their season empty-handed, as team captain John Tierney was given the Division Two Cup to bring back to east.
Knockbride (ACFL Div 2 final v Drumlane): Ronan Keaskin; Declan O'Reilly, Damian Traynor, Michael O'Reilly; Peter O'Reilly, Michael Clarke, Eamon Carolan; John Tierney (0-2), Ollie Mulvey; Niall O'Reilly, Peter Reilly (1-3), Adrian Carroll; Larry Reilly (0-3), Raphael Rogers (0-1), Brendan Carolan. Subs: Ciaran Lynch for N O'Reilly, Larry Maguire for A Carroll.
U13s clinch Roinn C Championship
Knockbride's Under 13 footballers had also enjoyed success over Drumlane earlier on in the year when they pipped the west Cavan outfit to the Roinn C Championship title in early August.
Played in Ballinagh, the game looked to have slipped away from Knockbride in the early stages as they fell behind by two goals in the opening ten minutes, but the Canningstown boys recovered and struck scores through Patrick Rodgers and Stephen Maguire to leave the sides level at 2-2 to 1-5 going in at the interval.
A Rodgers goal moved Knockbride into the lead within 90 seconds of the restart, but, to their credit, Drumlane hit back again and scored 1-4 without reply to leave their opponents with a mountain to climb. Demonstrating terrific resolve, Knockbride went on to own the last 15 minutes of the game from there on, with another goal from the superb Rodgers setting them alight.
Declan Nulty, Philip Rodgers and Jordan McCabe all held firm at the back, while Dylan Clarke and Ciaran Carolan regained a foothold around the centre to help Knockbride dominate in the possession stakes, while the deadly duo of Rodgers and Maguire shot the points to make sure that the red and greens would be taking home the title on a 3-8 to 3-7 score-line.
Great credit must go to the players as well as the management team of Michael Donohoe, Philip Smith, Raphael Rogers and Ciaran Rogers for the effort put in throughout the year, which also saw many of them narrowly miss out on an Under 14 championship triumph against Dernacrieve Gaels in the final.
Knockbride (U13 Roinn C final v Drumlane): James Lynch, Conor Smith, Declan Nulty, Philip Rodgers, Jordan McCabe, Liam Meehan, Dylan Clarke, Ciaran Carolan, Patrick Rodgers (2-6), Rory Donohoe, Niall McCabe, Stephen Maguire, David Rodgers.
Ladies just miss out
Knockbride ladies mounted an unbeaten run to the county senior football championship final this past August, but were pipped at the post by defending champions Lurgan on a 2-12 to 2-7 score-line in Lavey.
Aisling Traynor's early goal had Knockbride in the early lead and they kept up the fight to the favourites, who had coasted in front by half-time. Lurgan continued to rack up the scores in the early stages of the restart before Knockbride hit a purple patch through ace forwards Traynor, Elaine O'Connor and Emma Scanlon which saw them trail by a mere goal in the final ten minutes.
Aggie Clarke also got on the score-sheet to keep Knockbride within touching distance, but in the end it was Lurgan that got the breaks and held out for a five-point victory.
Come October, defeat to Lacken in the Division One semi-final would end the Canningstown women's season, but the club would still have something to show for their efforts throughout 2010 as the Under 16s stole the show when they claimed the Division One league title in September with an emphatic 7-5 to 2-6 win over Templeport in Crubany. Tweet
