Back in the big time
November 27, 2011Maintaining senior championship status is no easy feat, as Drumgoon so painfully learned after winning their first IFC title back in 2002.
'The Goonies' are bidding for a longer stay in the top flight this time round, as club chairman Bernard McIntyre explained in the days after their 0-11 to 1-7 triumph over Crosserlough, who themselves were looking for an immediate return to the SFC. Aidan Quigley's team put together the performance of their season to deny the fancied Kilnaleck men and McIntyre is confident that they will be able to produce more of the same in 2012 under the Monaghan man
"We'd like to get a good run in the senior championship next year," stated the chairman. "There are some strong teams up there, but you just never know and hopefully we'll be able to match some of them. I feel that Aidan will stay too, because he's quite a popular man here at the moment and it would be another major boost to the club."
When Drumgoon's senior footballers set out their stall for 2011, reaching an intermediate championship final was considered as bonus territory, according to McIntyre. At the start of the year newly appointed manager Quigley, along with selectors Aidan Brassel, Thomas McDonald and Bernard McIntyre, set the main objective for his players as achieving promotion from Division Two of the All County Football League.
"At our first meeting in February we had a players' meeting and the main objective was set to try and get promotion in the league," stated McIntyre, whose son Niall lines out in goals for the senior team, whilst also acting as secretary of the club.
"We felt that anything after that would be a bonus for us. That was the way we were looking at it, because there was so many years with regards to the championship that we were reaching quarter-finals and semi-finals and kind of taking our eye of the ball in the league. This year we went all out to get promotion and thankfully we'd still be in the shake up by the time the championship came around."
Ironically, Drumgoon's Division Two campaign would start with a trip to 2010 intermediate champions Drumalee and would serve up a thrilling contest at St Felim's Park, which finished all square on a 1-12 to 3-6 score-line. Wins over Swanlinbar (0-9 to 1-4) and Drung (0-13 to 0-8) followed, before a derby clash with Kill ended in another draw (2-10 apiece) for Quigley's men.
Still undefeated, Drumgoon went into May with plenty of optimism as a 0-16 to 0-11 win over Killinkere at Boyle Park was backed up with a hard fought win over Knockbride (1-14 to 2-8), the side which sent them packing in the previous year's IFC at the quarter-final stage. Victory over Shannon Gaels (2-12 to 2-9) would see Quigley's side head into June without a defeat and when Bailieborough visited a week later the Shamrocks would find themselves on the receiving end of a 3-14 to 0-7 thumping, as the Goonies began to flex their considerable muscle.
"We drew our first game against Drumalee and after that I think we just started to improve as the season went on," said McIntyre, who watched each game from the sideline as team selector.
"We lost our big midfielder Mickey McDonald to Australia in May and it took us a while to adjust to life without him. But thankfully we did and we were in a good position and in decent form heading towards the championship. In July we played Crosserlough in Kilnaleck and they beat us by seven points, but we were without six of our starting line-up that day and I think that might have played a part for us in the final."
Drumgoon would score wins over Shercock (2-13 to 0-9), Butlersbridge (2-7 to 0-10) and Cavan Gaels (3-12 to 0-9), before suffering their first defeat of the season to neighbours Cootehill (1-11 to 1-6) at Hugh O'Reilly Park and two more defeats to Cornafean (1-11 to 0-13) and Crosserlough (1-14 to 1-7) would follow ahead of embarking on their championship campaign.
Up first were a Cavan Gaels side which were holding ace attacker Sean Johnston in reserve, and although the Cavan captain came off the bench to kick two scores, Drumgoon's sterling performance throughout the hour was enough to see them secure a 2-11 to 1-9 and claim two valuable points.
A hard fought win over Drumlane in Redhills, where again goals were crucial for Quigley's men, as they earned a 3-9 to 0-12 win, moved them closer to a quarter-final berth. But in the group's remaining game, a 2-12 to 1-10 defeat would be suffered to Ballyhaise and a Drumgoon would have to rely on score difference to carry them through. A 0-15 to 0-13 win for Cavan Gaels over Drumlane wouldn't prove substation for the Cavan town to advance and in the end it was Drumgoon and Ballyhaise that would move into the knock-out stages.
"We played Cavan Gaels in the first game and it wasn't too hard to get the lads up for it. They played really well on the day and ran out deserved winners in the end," said McIntyre.
"We beat Drumlane the next day in a really tough game in Redhills and the following Friday we had to play Ballyhaise. We were short a few through injury from the Drumlane game in such a short space of time and we were beaten, but thankfully our score difference was enough to get us through to the quarter-finals."
A showdown with Kill for a place in the last four wouldn't unravel as the close derby that was anticipated, considering that the two sides had drawn in their league meeting earlier on in the season, as Drumgoon were rampant in a one-sided contest which saw them finish emphatic 1-15 to 0-6 winners to book a semi-final date with Killeshandra, whom had saw off Knockbride after replay in their own last eight encounter.
"We went into the Killeshandra game knowing that it was going to be tough," McIntyre admitted. "They're a fit and physical team. We went in at half-time losing by four points. We improved vastly in the second-half and Michael Hannon got a goal which was the turning points for us. They came back at us, but we held on thankfully to go through to the final against Crosserlough."
After a nail-biting 60 minutes for the Boyle Park faithful, the 1-9 to 1-6 win over 'the Leaguers' at Kingspan Breffni Park would see the Drumgoon club into a long-awaited county final on October 2 at the same venue, where a large crowd would be anticipated with the intermediate championship final preceding the senior decider later that evening.
While nerves going into such an occasion were to be expected, McIntyre explained that the players were focused on the job at hand doing into the decider against a Crosserlough club which boasted such a rich tradition.
"There wasn't that much hype going into the final, to be honest," he said. "We just had to get the team focused and they knew themselves that if they could match Crosserlough, we would be able to counteract them.
"In the game itself we felt very comfortable in the first-half and kept comfortable when we went in at half-time. But we were expecting a battle in the second-half and we got one."
Conor Moynagh, who had been a star through the Cavan minors' Ulster championship winning campaign at centre-back, got Drumgoon off the mark within 30 seconds of the throw-in and Quigley's charges made sure they were firmly on top in the early stages as more points from James McDonald and Moynagh once more flew over to move into a 0-3 to 0-1 lead.
Crosserlough responded via a goal from an Enda Gaffney penalty to take their first lead of the game, but a fired-up Drumgoon side were going nowhere as another point from the superb Moynagh squared the sides once more and a slick run and point from centre-back Michael Hannon handed the advantage back to 'the Goonies'.
Barry McKiernan (free) and Niall Fortune swapped scores, before Crosserlough landed their first from play in the 18th minute when outlet Gaffney darted the ball between the uprights. A sublime point from Keith Fannin, after the versatile attacker prevented Philip Smith's clearance, and a Paddy McCabe free ensued over the next ten minutes to close the half at 0-8 to 1-3 in Drumgoon's favour.
Quigley introduced Aogan Farrell to the fray three minutes into the restart and they picked up where they left off with McCabe stroking over another placed ball five minutes in. The deadly corner-forward would bring Drumgoon's tally into double figures soon after, but Crosserlough hit back immediately to keep things on a knife edge as the game entered its final quarter.
The Kilnaleck outfit made a burst to try and haul themselves into the lead, but kicked a few bad wides in doing so and let Drumgoon off the hook. Still trailing by the minimum, Crosserlough hunted for an equaliser but came up short and when McCabe got himself impeded in front of the posts, he composed himself and made no mistake in nudging Drumgoon two in front into injury-time.
Crosserlough were in sore need of a goal, but were kept out by the brilliant Adrian Crossan - the Drumgoon captain had flown home from his honeymoon in San Francisco to line-out at number three for his club - and Michael Hannon, while the likes of Edward Gaffney, Philip Smith, Tommy McKitterick and Killian Moynagh went through Trojan work until the very end.
A Gaffney free in the dying stages was all that Crosserlough could muster in the end, which left them one short, as 'the Goonies' clung on to their one-point lead until the long whistle which saw them clinch the Gilroy Cup for the first time since 2002.
Drumgoon (IFC final v Crosserlough): Niall McIntyre; Tommy McKitterick, Adrian Crossan, Edward Gaffney; Philip Smith, Michael Hannon (0-1), Killian Moynagh; Keith Fannin (0-1), James McDonald (0-1); Conor Moynagh (0-3), Jim McNally, Shane Smith; Niall Fortune (0-1), Shane McGorry, Paddy McCabe (0-4, 4f). Subs: Aogan Farrell for S Smith (33mins), Padraig McGorry for K Moynagh (39), Ian Craddock for S McGorry (52mins), Paul Crossan for McKitterick (60mins).
Afterwards McIntyre summed it all up by stating: "It was just a great day for the club and the players deserve great credit for the way they performed.
"We had won the Junior C Championship the weekend before the intermediate final and we couldn't really celebrate with it coming up, so there were huge celebrations when we got back home.
"We had 38 players togged out for the final and it takes that kind of commitment to win. Jimmy Reilly and Martin Clerkin are two men I should also mention because they did fantastic work in training the players for us and we were out training at 8am on Sunday mornings. We would rarely be more than three people short and, as I said, we just wanted to win the league - anything after that was a bonus."
Juniors also taste sweet success
A week before Drumgoon's showdown with Crosserlough in the IFC decider, the club's second-string were mildly celebrating their Junior C Championship final victory over Drumalee at Hugh O'Reilly Park in Cootehill, where they finished 0-16 to 1-10 winners.
Having come through tough games against Cornafean (3-9 to 1-8), Shercock (1-11 to 2-6) and Crosserlough (2-11 to 0-14) to reach the last two, Drumgoon looked in danger of having all their good work undone in the opening stages of the final as Drumalee raced into a 0-8 to 0-4 lead at half-time, with Conor Bates and Ian Craddock (3) notching the points during the opening half-hour to keep the Eire Ogs within touching distance of the Cavan town side by the halfway stage.
Despite facing into a second-half breeze, Drumgoon raced out of the traps after the resumption and would be level eight minutes in after accurate efforts from Paul McCabe (2), Paddy Smith and Craddock flew over Cillian O'Connor's crossbar. After that 'the Goonies' wouldn't look back as Paddy McCabe and Conor Bates sent them into the lead, which was stretched to six after more overs from Paddy Smith and Martin Clerkin. With Bates and Francis Mahon firmly on top at midfield, Drumgoon continued to turn the screw, as a late goal for Drumalee would only prove consolation.
Drumgoon (Junior C final v Drumalee): Gerry Hughes; Eamon McCluskey, Barry Crossan, Mark Murray; Cathal Smith, Brendan McCabe, Ronan McDonald; Francis Mahon, Conor Bates (0-3); Ian Craddock (0-2), Paddy Smith (0-5); Paul McCabe (0-3), Dean Hand (0-2). Subs: Martin Clerkin (0-1), Jimmy Reilly. Tweet
