Stars for the future
November 27, 2011Retaining a county championship title is no easy feat, and in 2011 it proved a bridge too far for Kingscourt's senior footballers as they were dumped out of the Cavan SFC race by an avenging Cavan Gaels side, whom they conquered in the previous year's decider, at the quarter-final stage.
Selector Robbie O'Connell, who had been involved in the team's success under Dudley Farrell in 2010, as well as the triumphs back in 1993 and '89 through '91, put the defeat to the Gaels down to a poor performance on the day, but in truth the Stars looked a shadow of the side which captured the Oliver Plunkett Cup just over 11 with victory over the Cavan town side.
O'Connell explained that when the 2011 season started, Kingscourt had set the very same objective for themselves under new manager Ciaran Quinn than when Farrell was in charge.
"Our aim was to retain the senior championship, which I suppose is the same aim as we have every year," O'Connell stated
"Ciaran Quinn came in as manager and he had myself, Gabriel Patterson and Joe McCarthy in as his selectors. We had lost a couple of players at the start of the year to emigration to Australia and America and our goalkeeper Brendan McCormack also retired and they were big losses to us, but the way we looked at it was is that it's something that every team has to deal with at the start of their year."
Quinn's new side would start the season as the team to beat in Cavan and when they travelled to Mullagh to open their All County Football League campaign against Cuchullains they impressed with a 3-9 to 1-6 victory, which saw Ryan McCormack bang in a hat-trick of goals from full-forward. The win sent out an early warning and when newly-promoted Drumlane visited O'Raghallaigh Park in the next round, the Stars would come away with a resounding 1-16 to 1-5 win to put themselves at the summit of the table after two outings.
However, the first defeat of the season would come sooner than expected when intermediate hopefuls Killeshandra edged a 1-14 to 2-10 win in Kingscourt, which was followed up by a win over Killygarry (3-9 to 1-8) and defeat to new league leaders Redhills (0-11 to 1-7). A hard-earned win away to Gowna (2-9 to 2-8) and a draw with struggling Lacken (2-7 to 0-13) maintained the Stars' bid for a top four finish, but defeats to Lavey (1-9 to 0-10) and Ramor (1-12 to 0-10) threw hopes of a semi-final place into jeopardy. Vital wins over Ballyhaise (2-9 to 1-9) and Belturbet (1-18 to 2-9) in the weeks before the senior football championship's start would have Quinn's charges in with a strong chance of making the last four though.
"We lost a couple of games at the start of the year, but we went on to have a good enough league campaign," said O'Connell
"We knew weren't playing as well as we were last year, when we won almost every game in the league, but our form wasn't too bad coming up to the championship and we were looking forward to start against Mullahoran in Breffni Park."
In what was the feature game of the opening weekend of club championship matches across the county, Kingscourt started brilliantly to open up a 0-6 to nothing lead after the first 15 minutes at Kingspan Breffni Park, where Ryan McCormack, Barry Reilly (2), Gavin Sheehan and Tomas Malone got the early scores for the holders.
Mullahoran would eventually hit back, but it was the Stars that held all the aces at the break as they led by 0-8 to 0-5. In the second-half, the Dreadnoughts upped their game immensely and drew level by the final quarter, as they shackled the town side's attack. Philip Tinnelly grabbed a badly needed score for the champions before Ryan McCormack dropped a free just short, but in the end it was Mullahoran that edged a 0-11 to 0-10 victory to all but secure their place in the quarter-finals.
The defeat saw Quinn's men come under a mountain of pressure to defeat Lavey in their remaining group game, as otherwise they would be in for an early championship exit. It was the New Inns outfit that opened an early lead in the game to go 0-3 to 0-1 in front, before a superb goal from Ryan McCormack ignited Kingscourt in the second quarter as they led by 1-6 to 0-6 at the break.
The Stars flew out of the traps in the second-half and kicked points via McCormack and Colm Smith, but couldn't shake off the determined Lavey men. Ulster Under 21 medal winner Barry Reilly looked to have won it for Kingscourt late on, but two later scores from Kevin Brady secured a draw, which, in the end, would be enough for the Stars to progress from a three-team group on score difference.
Kingscourt (SFC v Lavey): James Farrelly; Mark McGovern, Thomas Wakely, Barry Tully; Keith McCabe, Alan Clarke, JP Reilly; Gary Sheehan, Colm Smith (0-1); Joe McMahon, Philip Smith (0-1), Tomas Malone; Barry Reilly (0-1), Ryan McCormack (1-5, 1-3f), Sean Og Gargan. Subs: Joe Dillon (0-1), Pat Tinnelly, David Martin.
"The first day against Mullahoran we started brilliantly, but we just didn't finish it out and it ended up costing us the match," said the selector. "The next day we played Lavey in Virginia and we were lucky enough to get the draw. A win would have done either team that day because we were in a three-team group, but a draw was good enough for us to get through on score difference thankfully."
The quarter-final pairings saw Kingscourt pick none other than Cavan Gaels out of the hat in a repeat of the previous year's county final. Again the Gaels were fancied to progress, but there were the few neutrals that believed Kingscourt were capable of springing another upset against the favourites.
On the day, however, the Stars were simply outgunned by their rampant opponents, as the Gaels opened a 1-6 to 0-1 lead in the first 20 minutes which would develop into a 10-point advantage by half-time. Joe Dillion Jr, who enjoyed a Ulster Minor Championship success with Cavan in July, was among Kingscourt's best performers on the night, contributing 0-2 from full-forward, but the overall performance was one Quinn's charges were left to rue as the full-time score of 1-16 to 0-8 told its own story.
"We played very badly," O'Connell put it simply. "The game was on a Saturday evening in bad weather conditions and we played extremely poor in the first-half. We improved in the second-half, but we just weren't at the races in the first-half and it cost us that day in Breffni."
Kingscourt would get a chance to gain revenge of their rivals just a few weeks later when the two sides met in the league at O'Raghallaigh Park, where the home side recorded an impressive 5-7 to 0-11 victory to qualify for the semi-finals, but they know on that championship front that there's plenty left to do if they are get back to the Promised Land they reached in 2010.
O'Raghallaigh Gaels are Cavan's finest
In September, Kingscourt/Shercock amalgamation O'Raghallaigh Gaels did their respective clubs proud when they defeated Cavan Gaels at Kingspan Breffni Park to land the county minor football championship title.
Having cruised through their opening two rounds against St Joseph's (1-20 to 0-9) and Eire Og Celtics (5-17 to 1-8), O'Raghallaigh Gaels went into the September 11 decider against the Cavan town side as favourites but knew they'd be up against a tougher task in the form of Cavan Gaels, whom had also coasted to the final after two games.
Played in dreadful conditions, the game produced a drab first-half in which the winners led by a mere point before racing five points clear after the first 10 minutes of the second-half. Vincent Coyle registered a well-finished goal for Cavan Gaels to make a game of it in the last quarter, but the Kingscourt/Shercock amalgamation dug deep in the closing stages to see out victory.
Padraic Sheridan had Cavan Gaels off the mark after three minutes with a fine point, before Cian McArdle cancelled-out the effort with a close range free and Aaron Browne had O'Raghallaigh Gaels into their first lead on nine minutes when he spilt the uprights from his centre-forward position. Oisin Sheridan grabbed the next score for the Cavan town side, but they wouldn't score again for the remainder of the half as they let too many chances go by the wayside. The Blues could have had a goal in the 23rd minute when Cian Donohoe sent Vincent Coyle through with only the goalkeeper to beat, but the centre-forward hit the umpire instead of the net. It was a let off for O'Raghallaigh Gaels and they would regain the lead a minute before the break through McArdle's second accurate free.
Another goal opportunity went a begging for Cavan Gaels on the eve of half-time, when Andrew Graham's soft shot was heroically cleared off the line by Padraic Faulkner, which left the score-line reading 0-3 to 0-2 in O'Raghallaigh Gaels' favour at the halfway stage.
The Kingscourt/Shercock combination resumed matters well by notching scores through Owen Duffy and Ryan Carey, before a Coyle free helped to stem the tide for Martin Dunne's charges. O'Raghallaigh Gaels could have found the net afterwards when Killian Clarke's shot was tipped over by Ritchie Murphy in the Cavan Gaels goal, but they would still manage to open up a five-point gap when efforts from McArdle (free) and Browne flew over.
After shipping a knock in the first-half which saw him having to be withdraw at half-time, Cavan Gaels captain Paul Graham re-took to the field and within minutes of coming back on the Cavan minor captain landed a rousing point to trim his side's deficit. The score helped to lift the trailers' spirits and they hunted for another score when Graham carried possession from midfield and his cunning pass found Coyle's unmarked run, and when the number 11 accepted the pass he made no mistake in burying in a low finish to make it a one-point game.
The next score was crucial and as things unravelled it was O'Raghallaigh Gaels that would go on to grab four without reply, as McArdle and super substitute Ryan Clerkin, who raised three white flags, demonstrated their scoring prowess with the pressure on to secure the title.
O'Raghallaigh Gaels (MFC final v Cavan Gaels): Shay Rooney; Rory Sheridan, Eoin Lynch, Owen Duffy (0-1); Padraig Faulkner, Brian Sankey, Colin Clerkin; Joe Dillon, James Farrelly; David Harpur, Aaron Browne (0-2), Niall Clerkin; Ryan Carey (0-1), Killian Clarke (0-1), Cian McArdle (0-5, 4f). Subs: Jack Sheehan for D Harpur (43 mins), Ryan Clerkin (0-3) for J Farrelly (47 mins), Paul Sloane for R Sheridan (60 mins).
Seniors end season on a high
In October, Kingscourt secured the ACFL Division One title for the first time since 1992 with a 1-7 to 0-6 victory over Mullahoran in a wet and windy Ramor Park in Virginia.
After playing out a draw a fortnight previous at the same venue, it was Mullahoran that started the game stronger with two Eddie O'Reilly points in the opening minutes before Kingscourt settled into the game and hit the forefront around the quarter hour mark with scores from Barry Reilly, Philly Smith and a splendid effort from Alan Clarke seeing them into a lead 0-4 to 0-2. Both teams added to their tallies before the break but it was the Stars that led by 0-6 to 0-3 come the half-time whistle.
Mullahoran resumed with two quick scores to narrow the gap to the minimum, but Kingscourt showed no signs of panic and stuck to their guns, entering the final quarter with everything still to play for. Midfielder Ciaran Gorman found himself dribbling on to the goalkeeper and he coolly shot low into the corner and from then on any notion of Mullahoran restoring parity in the game looked far-fetched. Both teams added points in the latter stages but it ended up leaving Mullahoran four short come the long whistle as JP O'Reilly became the first Kingscourt man in 19 years to lift the ACFL Division One Cup.
Juniors clinch B Championship title
The club junior footballers were also made go through a replay before taking the county Junior B Football Championship title on a 2-7 to 1-5 score-line against Killygarry on the Kingspan Breffni Park 3G pitch.
After two late Killygarry points forced a draw in Virginia the previous fortnight, the replay would follow the junior football championship decider between Shercock and Munterconnacht, and would see the Stars display a terrific first-half performance from which they wouldn't look back. Goals from the superb Anthony Corcoran at full-forward and Ruairi O'Rourke saw the town side go in with the 2-5 to 0-3 lead. In the second-half, Killygarry would pull back a goal of their own but it would never be enough to suffice as Drew McCabe cracked over a sublime point for the would-be winners which was backed up by another from Sean Farrelly to ensure that the titles was theirs.
Kingscourt (Junior B FC final replay v Killygarry): Mark Cunningham; Eoin Lynch, Colm Kiernan, Aidan Smith; Aaron Brown, Padraic Faulkner, Tom Tully; Terry Reilly, Joe McCarthy; Michael Flood, Kieran Smith, Ruairi O'Rourke (1-1); Sean Farrelly (0-1), Anthony Corcoran (1-3), Drew McCabe (0-2). Subs: Brendan Corcoran, Cian McArdle, Daire McMahon, Thomas Rodgers, Rory Sheridan. Tweet
