Bright future ahead
November 27, 2011It's tough at the top. The wise-crack saying applied to so many of Cavan's All County Football League regulars whom had lost players through immigration or injury this past season - none more so than Killygarry.
Before a ball was even kicked in 2011, the Crubany men knew they would be without ace attacker Martin Reilly for the entire campaign after the former Burnley FC player went under the knife to correct a cruciate ligament problem. The ailing economy didn't help matters either, as Kells man Benny Reddy would have to operate with a few short of the pack from 2010 when he took over as senior team manager at the start of the year.
"Benny Reddy was over the team this year. He's a Kells man and he had PJ Galligan and Raymond Galligan in with him as his selectors," explained McHugh, who has been secretary of the club for the pas three years.
"The team's objective at the start of the year would have been to do as good as possible in the league and championship. It was as simple as that really. We knew we weren't going to be at full strength though. We were without our star forward Martin Reilly for the entire season. He had an operation on his cruciate and he literally didn't kick a ball for Killygarry in 2011.
"We'd also lost a few players to emigration at the start of the year and are likely to be without them for another year at least, so you could say we were going into the new season quite depleted from the previous year."
Nonetheless, Reddy would still have his team primed and ready for the start of the league campaign at the end of March whey they travelled to take on newly promoted Drumlane in Milltown and came away 0-10 to 1-4 winners.
It was the perfect start to Reddy's reign, but defeats to Gowna (3-10 to 3-8) and Kingscourt (3-9 to 1-8) quickly followed before a hard-earned draw away to Lacken (3-8 to 4-5) and a win over Lavey (0-9 to 0-7) at the Athletic Grounds helped steady the ship by the third week in May. A visit to league-leaders Redhills at the end of the month would end in a narrow 1-13 to 1-11 defeat, while Ramor's visit to Crubany wouldn't prove anymore profitable for the home side, as they went down on a 2-10 to 0-13 score-line.
Relegation was fast becoming all too grim a prospect and a rousing 2-14 to 0-10 victory over bottom-placed Killeshandra would prove a crucial result as the season grew on, as defeats to Mullahoran (0-12 to 1-5) and Ballinagh (1-14 to 0-9) followed, before another vital point was gained against Ballyhaise (1-10 to 1-10). The sings were ominous coming into July as a 3-8 to 2-7 defeat was suffered at the hands of Belturbet, but a 0-10 to 0-9 win over Castlerahan in Crubany would lift sprits immensely as the team entered the senior championship race.
"We started the league with a good win against Drumlane in Milltown, but just didn't follow through after that the way we would have like to," said McHugh.
"We were losing games narrowly that we could have won and it left us going into the championship with thoughts of relegation in the league in the back of our minds. Our form hadn't been great coming up to the championship. We had Denn, Cuchullains and Drumalee all in our group and we knew it was going to be difficult, but at the same time we didn't fear any of them."
Denn were first up for Reddy's charges and on the day they would have a number of top-class performers but the key player was Stephen McGovern, who finished with 1-6 to help inspire Killygarry to victory in Lavey.
Points from Damien Keaney and Thomas Leonard gave them the ideal start before McGovern struck for a fine goal to send the Crubany men in leading at the break by 1-6 to 1-4. In the second-half, Reddy's team resumed brilliantly to fire over points via Damien Keaney, Thomas Leonard, Shane Kelly, Stephen McGovern (2) and Andy McGovern to put themselves in a commanding eight-point lead. Their opponents pulled back a few scores in the final quarter, but points from Thomas Leonard and Cathal Keaney secured the 1-14 to 1-8 win to help put one foot in the quarter-finals.
A week later, Killygarry made the familiar trip to the News Inns looking to book their place in the last eight with victory over Cuchullains. They raced out of traps to open up a 0-5 to nothing lead after 13 minutes, with the reliable Stephen McGovern nothing two frees and former county senior Donal Thomas rifling over two fine efforts to go along with Shane Kelly's single. Cuchullains would eventually hit back, but they were rocked by a John Lyng goal in the 18th minute which moved Killygarry towards a comfortable 1-9 to 0-6 advantage at half-time. The Mullagh side rallied in the opening stages of the second-half to bring the deficit back to three points, but crucial scores from Thomas and Lyng secured a 1-11 to 0-9 win for Killygarry and a place in the quarter-finals to savour.
Killygarry (SFC v Cuchullains): P Galligan; D McKenna, E Smith, M McGovern; A McGovern, B Murray, R Sheridan; P Cahill, D Thomas (0-3); N Smith, T Leonard (0-1), D Keaney (0-1); S McGovern (0-4), J Lyng (1-1), S Kelly (0-1). Subs: C Keaney, F Crowe.
The result sent Killygarry safely through to the SFC quarter-finals ahead of their final group game against intermediate champions Drumalee at Kingspan Breffni Park, where Reddy's men would end up losing their first game of the competition by 1-12 to 1-11, despite marksman Stephen McGovern again impressing with 1-7 of his team's tally.
"Our last game was against Drumalee and it was kind of a dead-rubber affair, as the result didn't make a difference to either team," McHugh explained. "In saying that though, it was a local derby and we wanted to keep our winning streak in the championship going, but we ended up losing out by a point to them in Breffni Park.
"We drew Castlerahan in the quarter-finals and again we had no fear of them going into the game, but at the same time we knew we would have our work cut out if we were going to beat them."
Reddy stuck with a side which was blended with youth and experience at Kingspna Breffni Park, with Brendan Murray and Ross Sheridan apart of a pacy half-back line and minor star Shane Kelly in the left corner of the attack, while old reliables Eoin Smith and Padraig Cahill lined out at full-back and centre-field respectively, as Killygarry looked to book their place in the last four.
It was Castlerahan though that made the better start by shooting over the first three scores, before the Crubany side eventually got off the mark through Stephen McGovern in the 15th minute. McGovern and Donal Thomas raised the next two white flags to level matters, but their team suffered a set-back when Sean Brady snuck in down the other end for the game's first goal. Unwilling to lay down, Killygarry bounced back and fired in a goal of their own through none other than marksman McGovern to leave the score at 1-4 to 1-3 at half-time in Castlerahan's favour.
The Ballyjamesduff side would make a rampant start to the second-half as they opened up a seven-point lead, before Killygarry eventually broke the resistance with a point from Donal Thomas, which sparked a revival as Shane Kelly, Michael McGovern and Thomas Leonard all booted over scores to make it a three-point game with five minutes to go. But all their good work was undone in the final minutes when Cian Mackey was sent through for the killer goal which ended all hopes of a semi-final spot, as Castlerahan emerged victorious on a 2-11 to 1-8 score-line.
McHugh's simple assessment of the defeat was: "On the day we didn't perform to our full potential. We wasted a lot of chances and Castlerahan were deserving winners."
Castlerahan would move on to the final, after defeating Belrtubet, to play Cavan Gaels, while Killygarry were left to scrap for their Division One status in the All County Football League towards the end of September, which they dually did after drawing with Cuchuallins in Crubany in the final round of fixtures.
McHugh is hopeful that the team can come back a stronger unit next season and hit the ground running in both league and championship.
"We wouldn't be expecting those players that emigrated to be back with us next year," the secretary admitted, "but hopefully we'll have Martin Reilly back to full fitness and Fergal Clarke as well. We also have a good few minors coming through that are showing great potential. Shane Kelly, in particular, is a very good prospect for the club and hopefully there'll be a few more like him in years to come."
Promising U14s reach Roinn B final
On the underage front for Killygarry in 2011, the club's Under 14 footballers showed their worth when they ran all the way towards the Roinn B league final against a strong Laragh United side.
The Crubany boys, under the managership of Simon Fay and Declan Gilsenan, were one of the star teams of the campaign and caught the attention of all involved when they defeated Bailieborough Shamrocks on a resounding 6-14 to 2-8 score-line in the opening round in the Athletic Grounds at the end of March. A defeat to Laragh in their next outing would only be a minor bump in the road, as Killygarry saw off Templeport (6-10 to 5-9), Belturbet (5-17 to 2-7), Lacken (5-13 to 1-19) and Drumlane (6-15 to 0-5) to secure their place in the semi-finals of the competition, where they defeated Knockbride by 4-13 to 3-10 after a titanic battle at Kingspan Breffni Park.
Awaiting in the final was a Laragh side which won all of their seven league games before disposing of Beltubet by 6-10 to 0-9 in their semi-final. The young Stradone men went into the decider as red-hot favourites at the end of May but would be in for a surprise from their opponents who pushed them all the way at Kingspan Breffni Park before a late draw was secured at 2-10 each.
In the replay in Drumalee, Killygarry made a blistering start to lead by 1-2 to nothing in the opening stages, with full-forward Conor Smith bagging the goal, and points from the same player and Darragh Gannon would see the young men in red and black head in at the break with a 1-4 to 0-5 advantage at half-time. In the second-half though, Laragh would up the ante immensely, firing in a goal three minutes into the restart to take the lead. Darragh Kennedy and the accurate Gannon both struck points in response for Killygarry, but it wouldn't upset their opponents' rhythm as they ended up storming to the title on a 2-14 to 1-6 score-line to deny Killygarry, whom had come so close the first day.
Killygarry (U14 Roinn B final replay v Laragh): P Monaghan; M Morgan, S Smith, A Lovett; D Brady, C Kelly, J Nulty; D Gannon (0-2, 2f), D Walls; J Cosgrave, D Kennedy (0-1), O Ennis; C Smith (1-3), C Mulvany, C Galligan. Subs: F McCarthy, E Brady.
Plans in place for new development
Killygarry's Athletic Grounds are currently on course for a make over, and according to secretary Noel McHugh, the club hope to get started by the end of 2011
"We launched a development plan at the end of last year and we're hoping to get work started on Prunty pitches very soon, with walking tracks around both fields, an indoor training facility and improved dug-outs and terracing. But top of the agenda is the main front field," he stated.
McHugh is confident that the new facilities will live up to the outstanding progress that Killygarry GAA has made overall in recent years, which earned them two huge acknowledgments from the Ulster Council in 2011.
"This year we achieved Club Maith accreditation from the Ulster GAA Council in the gold category," he explained, "which is an acknowledgement on how you run your club from things like financing and underage structures. There are about 100 different kinds of criteria that they judge you on and we're the only club in Cavan to get it thus far, so it's quite an honour. We also won The Irish News Club and Volunteer award as we were judged to be the best medium club in Ulster and we've been invited to participate in the Ulster Club and Volunteer conference." Tweet
