Looking forward
November 27, 2011After ending 2010 on high note, with a strong run to the semi-finals of the intermediate championship and a Division Two league triumph over Drumlane on the last day of the season, Knockbride approached this past season with plenty of optimism that they could repeat the trick to finish up with at least one trophy again.
However, between retire-ments and key players emigrating, the men from Canningstown would always be fighting an uphill battle in 2011 and that proved just the case as they were stationed among the bottom teams in the Division Two table for much of their year, before displaying their season's best form in the group stages of the IFC.
When Larry McEntee came in as Knockbride's senior team manager he looked to install a sense of self belief and a winning mentality among the players, but he would starting the season with a few short of the pack from 2010, including club and county great Peter Reilly, who had finally hung up his boots after so many years of outstaying service to the club.
"The manager this year was a man by the name of Larry McEntee and he had Ciaran McCabe and Niall Smith in as his selectors," explained John Clarke, who has been PRO with the club for five years now.
"We didn't lose too many at the start of the year to emigration, although our full-back David Traynor was gone and John Tierney went during the championship. We also had Peter and Michael Reilly retire at the end of last year, which were obviously great losses to club."
Come the last weekend of March McEntee would have his charges primed for their opening game of the season away to Cootehill, but it was the home side that would end up scoring an impressive 2-14 to 0-8 to condemn Knockbride to their first loss of 2011.
The following weekend in Canningstown the hosts would bid to get themselves on track with a 1-8 to 1-5 win over Cornafean, but defeats to big guns Denn (0-13 to 0-7), Drumalee (1-13 to 1-11), Drumgoon (1-14 to 2-8) and Crosserlough (2-9 to 0-8) on the bounce would kill off any outside chance of promotion.
It was the third week in May before McEntee's team gained a sorely needed win away to Drung (2-6 to 0-11) and backed up the result with a 2-11 to 2-9 victory away to Killinkere the following weekend.
"I suppose our ambition would have been to try and stay in Division Two of the All County Football League and get a decent run in the intermediate championship," Clarke explained.
"We had a tough league campaign and in the end we only won three or four games which left us in relegation trouble by the time the championship started. John Tierney was a big loss during some of those games in the league, but we just didn't perform as well as we would have like through the entire campaign."
More defeats to Swanlinbar (2-15 to 1-9) and Shannon Gaels (0-15 to 0-11) would follow, before a win over Shercock (1-9 to 0-10) and draw against Bailieborough (0-7 to 1-4) saw the team pick up form heading into the championship towards the end of July.
Knockbride went into their championship opener against Cootehill at O'Raghallaigh Park in Kingscourt needing to reverse the result of the league fixture back in March which saw them suffer a 12-point defeat at the hands of the Celts. In what was a cracking contest, two goals from veteran Larry Reilly gave the Canningstown outfit the upper hand at half-time, as they led by 2-2 to 0-7.
Cootehill resumed strongly to surge into the lead within seven minutes of the restart, but demonstrating terrific spirit their opponents took back the lead with Niall McCabe's superb point in the 58th minute. Through the superb defending of Michael Clarke and Ciaran Lynch the town side couldn't muster a scoring response as the points of Larry Reilly down the other end wrapped up a 2-11 to 0-12 victory for Knockbride, who all but had one foot in the quarter-finals.
They would require a win over Drung the following weekend at in Cootehill to confirm their place in the last eight of the IFC. In the end a five-point advantage in the opening quarter proved all the cushioned lead Knockbride would need to see off the Bunnoe men at Hugh O'Reilly, where ace forward Brendan Carolan and Larry Reilly were again in fine form for the winners.
After opening a 0-2 to 0-1 lead, McEntee's men took a grip on the game in the 11th minute when Larry Reilly and Niall McCabe combined to thread Larry Maguire through on goal on the wing-forward buried a devastating finish beyond James Reilly in the Drung goal. Brendan Carolan moved the would-be winners five in front with a fine point, before Drung hit back with a goal, but through John Tierney, Larry Reilly and Carolan Knockbride boasted superior scoring prowess to take in the 1-7 to 1-3 lead at the break. Drung resumed strongly to narrow the deficit to two points, but scores from Tierney, Seamus O'Brien and Larry Reilly would get Knockbride over the line on a 1-10 to 1-8 score-line.
Knockbride (IFC v Drung): Ronan Keaskin; Peter O'Reilly, Michael Clarke, Niall O'Reilly; Sean Rogers, Ciaran Lynch, Dermot O'Brien; John Tierney (0-2), Ollie Mulvey; Larry Maguire (1-0), Seamus O'Brien (0-2), Adrian Carolan; Niall McCabe, Brendan Carolan (0-3), Larry Reilly (0-3).
McEntee's charges journey back to Kingscourt for round three, with their in the knock-out stages sealed, to take on rivals Bailieborough at O'Raghallaigh Park, where it looked for so long that the Shamrocks were about to earn a point, before a Niall McCabe goal three minutes into added time ruined their hopes and saw Knockbride clinch a 1-9 to 0-9 and top spot in the group.
Knockbride, who saw John Tierney jet off to Australia after the group stages, would draw Division One side Killeshandra out of the hat and when they two sides met for a place in the last four Park in late August a cracking contest developed at Kingspan Breffni.
After a tight first-half, the sides went in level on 0-4 each, before the Leaguers threatened to pull away in the early stage of the restart with points from Declan McKiernan. Knockbride, however, hit back in superb fashion through the goals of Brendan Carolan and Larry Reilly (penalty) and led by three going into the last quarter. The town side dug deep and managed to get themselves back in front late on, but at the death substitute Adam Traynor knocked over a last-gasp free to rescue a replay for the Division Two champions.
A week later the sides met at the same venue, where a poor first-half performance let Knockbride down, as they trailed by 1-7 to 0-3 at the halfway stage. Larry Reilly pulled his side back into the game, as he fired in one of the goals of the championship in the opening stages of the second-half, and despite some fine points following the former county senior's major, Knockbride would en up exiting the championship on a 1-11 to 1-7 score-line, as Killeshandra advanced to a semi-final with Drumgoon.
"We were unlucky to draw the first day, I thought," said Clarke. "But the second day I felt we never looked like winning the game although it was close towards the end. Larry (Reilly) was terrific for us in the replay, as he had been all season long, but we came up short in the end and it ended our championship involvement."
U14s suffer heartbreak in Roinn B final
In September, Knockbride's Under 14 footballers did the club proud when they reached the Roinn B Championship final against Lacken at Kingspan Breffni Park, where they would unfortunately fall to a late 6-3 to 4-8 defeat.
After having got off to a shaky start which saw them snatch a late 1-7 apiece draw with neighbours Bailieborough in the quarter-final, Knockbride's campaign would catch fire the following weekend in the replay which saw them come away 3-8 to 2-0 winners from St Anne's Park in Bailieborough. The next day saw the young Canningstown men take on Belturbet at the Kingspan Breffni Park 3G pitch, where they were made dig deep against the Rories for a slender 1-6 to 1-5 victory to book their place into the competition's decider.
In the final, a strong Lacken outfit, which overcame Kingscourt, awaited Knockbride and the two sides would serve up a fascinating game which saw the latter make a strong start through the points of Patrick Rogers and Stephen Maguire. Lacken posted a quick 2-1 in response but it didn't dampen Knockbride's spirits as a chipped goal from Aaron Cundelan saw the difference trimmed to 3-1 to 1-5 at the break.
In the second-half, Lacken banged in their first goal in the early stages, but the young Canningstown men wouldn't give in as Cundelan raised two green flags in the space of five minutes to move his team into a 3-7 to 4-3 lead. Lacken took back the lead, but when the brilliant Cundelan set-up Roy Donohoe in front of the posts the corner-forward made no mistake in rifling to the net, before Dylan Clarke's 62nd minute point looked to have won it for Knockbride. However, despite the resolute defending of Declan McNulty and Jordan McCabe, Lacken grinded out one last chance a minute later and fired to the net to break the hearts of the young Knockbride men, whose efforts certainly didn't deserve to see them finish on the losing side.
Knockbride (U14 Roinn B final v Lacken): David Rogers; Conor Smith, Declan Nulty, Conor Smith; Liam Meehan, Jordan McCabe, Philip Rogers; Cian Carolan, Patrick Rogers (0-1); Ciaran Smith (0-1), Stephen Maguire (0-2), Niall McCabe (0-1); Dylan Clarke (0-1), Aaron Cundelan (3-2), Rory Donohoe. Tweet
