Kildallan may have fallen short of the winner's enclosure at junior level in 2001 but there was no such ill-luck for the club's under 14 crew as they sped to league and championship titles. Kevin Carney reports The angst and anxiety generated by successive near-misses at junior league and championship levels could very well have had Kildallan heads well and truly down by this juncture. But while the club's travails at adult level continue to give cause for ongoing post-mortems, there is no such navel-gazing required at underage level in Kildallan as the titles just keep on rolling in! Recent years have seen the west Cavan club steadily embellish the sideboard with silverware as the best of the Kildallan underage talent exhibit their talents to supreme effect. In this respect, 2001 was no different. In fact things simply get better and better for all involved with Kildallan Bord na nOg as the white and reds added the under 14 Roinn C league and the under 14 Roinn B championship to their list of recent credits. The end of June saw the Ballyconnell-based club first make its mark at under 14 level. After a terrific campaign in which the team proved its entitlement to be ranked as one of the best teams at that age in the county, the Kildallan youngsters reached the league final where they faced their erstwhile adversaries Drung in what panned out to be a thrilling encounter. Kildallan posted notice of their intention to prove their worth by flying out of the blocks with the sort of spirit and determination redolent of their overall performances over the course of the year. With great precision and confidence, Darragh Doonan got the winners-elect off to the best possible start with a hugely important opening goal. As if to prove that they were worthy finalists, Drung retaliated almost immediately but when one of their forwards tried his luck for a goal, Kildallan 'keeper Mark Finnegan showed his class by comfortably grasping the ball into his chest. Drung continued to press in the early stages and another shot for goal was blocked in timely fashion by Kildallan corner back Evin Duignan. Duignan's clearance then kick-started a fabulous move. In a text move up field, young Duignan fed the ball onto Kieran O'Neill who, without delay, found Jason Curry in space who, after carrying the ball for a few steps, promptly stroked over Kildallan's opening point. Kildallan now began to settle and see more of the ball. Soon they were to bag their first major after another fine move upfield. Kildallan's opening goal came after the influential Kevin Doonan grabbed possession around the middle of the field. Showing excellent vision, the hard-working Doonan placed the hovering Jason Curry with a neat pass and in a flash young Curry had the ball in the Drung net to the delight of his team's supporters. It was all Kildallan at this juncture and another point from the powerful Shane Reilly had the west Cavan side on easy street as they stretched their lead to 12 points. Drung never looked like throwing in the towel though and a converted free by them shortly afterwards saw them belatedly get off the mark. Kildallan were comfortably positioned though and the quality of their play and the composure shown by the players on the ball reflected the team's overall dominance. Still the winners-elect were given a timely reminder of the fickleness of the Gods come a final when John Curran flashed in a welcome goal for Drung. Kildallan looked focussed once again as they set about defending their lead on the restart. And once again the Ballyconnell-based lads began proceedings with a flourish as two points from Shane Reilly re-emphasised their superiority. However Drung got right back into the game once more when John Curran goaled after a great solo run to leave just the minimum separating the sides as the second half gathered pace. Kildallan had to knuckle down and they duly did so with Kevin Doonan pointing from a free to help steady the ship. Kildallan remained on the offensive and when the aforementioned Doonan collected a short kick-out by Drung, he passed to Shane Reilly who scored another valuable point. Drung moved up field purposefully but some great defending by Kildallan backs Barry Brady and Darren Duignan and Kieran Smith kept them at bay as play swung from end to end. The aforementioned Smith also took time out to help launch Kildallan attacks also and with one of his passes out of defence, Kevin Doonan gained possession. Doonan passed to Jason Curry who quickly found Shane Reilly in space and with great aplomb, Reilly found the Drung net for a crucial goal. Another point from Shane Reilly boosted Kildallan's chances of victory even further. That score was soon followed by a nice point by Curry and thereafter by points from Darren Duignan, Pat McKiernan and Oisin Bannon as Drung backpeddled furiously. By now Drung had shot their bolt and the final minutes of the game saw Kildallan give a veritable exhibition. A fine goal by Shane Reilly and an equally fine point by Kevin Doonan eventually put the icing on the cake for a quite superb Kildallan team performance. Those who did duty so wonderfully at Breffni Park at the tail end of June were: Mark Finnegan, Evin Duignan, Kieran Smith, Darren Duignan, Barry Brady, Kieran O'Neill, Pat McKiernan (0-2), Kevin Doonan (0-2), Shane Reilly (2-8), Jason Curry (1-2), Darragh Doonan (1-1), Oisin Bannon (1-1), Brona Doyle. Subs; Madeline McManus, Finnan McGovern, Ferghail Fitzpatrick, Brona Wynne. Thereafter, the same squad continued to train and work hard in preparation for their assault on the Roinn B championship title. Perhaps predictably, Kildallan made it all the way to the county final where they met a highly potent Killinkere side in Breffni Park in mid-October. Once again, Kildallan played their part in engineering a thriller which had the attendance on the edge of their seats throughout the hour. In the end it took a tremendously determined final quarter display by Kildallan to forge a brilliant 5-12 to 6-6 victory. In what was a great advertisement for underage football in Cavan, Kildallan left their best wine 'till last in outscoring their opponents by six points to one in the last ten minutes to wrap up the spoils. Playing towards the town end of the field in the first half, Kildallan found themselves on the backfoot in the early stages after just two minutes nearly fell behind to a well-worked Killinkere goal only for 'keeper Mark Finnegan to make a fine point-blank save. Shortly afterwards, young Finnegan was forced to make an almost identical save. That save helped spur his forward colleagues to greater heights and a converted free by Shane Reilly came as some relief to the Kildallan camp. Back came Killinkere though and once again the aforementioned Finnegan had to act smart to deny Killinkere a goal. Killinkere eventually did get a point but at the other end Kevin Doonan and Fergal Fitzpatrick were unlucky to see shots blocked down. Kildallan showed a lot of determination to ease their way back into the game and when Stephen Crowe pointed and Shane Reilly lofted over a fine free in the 13th minute, the Ballyconnell lads had suddenly managed to make it all square at 0-3 apiece. Things got even better for the Ballyconnell-based lads two minutes later when Kevin Doonan made the most of slack marking to fire a shot from all of 25 metres which flew all the way into the back of the Killinkere net. Kildallan re-inforced their growing ascendancy with a beautifully worked goal scored by Oisin Bannon to leave the champions-elect 2-3 to 0-3 to the good with 18 minutes played. In an amazing four minute spell thereafter, four goals were shared with Kevin Doonan and Oisin Bannon grabbing the majors for Killinkere. However a fourth goal by Killinkere livewire Damien Sexton arrived just before half-time to leave Kildallan trailing by 4-6 to 5-4 at the interval. The aforementioned Sexton bagged another goal shortly after the restart to leave Kildallan with a lot of work to do. However like true champions, they dug in and a goal by Oisin Bannon sparked off a great Kildallan fightback. The final ten minutes saw Kildallan dominate with Shane Reilly popping over five points to secure the team's county title in typically stylish fashion. One wonders what 2002 holds for this talented group of Kildallan players? Either way, the team which brought further glory to Kildallan courtesy of their fantastic win over Killinkere was as follows: Mark Finnegan, Evin Duignan, Darren Duignan, Brona Boyle, Barry Brady, Kieran Smith, Kieran O'Neill, Pat McKiernan (0-1), Kevin Doonan (2-0), Jason Curry, Shane Reilly (0-9), Darragh Doonan, Oisin Bannon (3-0), Stephen Crowe (0-2), Fergal Fitzpatrick. Committed to Cause Although hailing from Crosserlough, Helena O'Grady is well and truly committed to the cause of Kildallan GFC. Here she reviews her adopted club's experiences over the course of the past year in philosophical mood. Helena O'Grady acted out the role of Secretary of Kildallan GFC in 2001 with commendable diligence and efficiency. That said, after the trauma the Ballyconnell-based club experienced last year in losing out narrowly in the hunt for league and championship honours, the close season did offer her much needed respite from what all gaels would agree is a tough number - arguably the hottest of all hot seats at club level. While the Kildallan faithful endeavour to make up for their conspicuous long-time absence from the winners' enclosure, immense groundwork is being done, year-in, year-out, to hasten the arrival of major silverware to the proud west Cavan club. Even at a not-so-successful GAA club, the paper trail is enormous and among the white and reds, things are no different. Thank goodness then for reliable administrators like Helena O'Grady. A native of Kilnaleck but ensconced in the west of the county for more years than Ballyconnell natives can rightly remember, Helena's heart was won over by Kildallan gaels many moons ago. One of a number of rock-solid club stalwarts who are prepared to spend a lot of time and effort working behind the scenes to lay title-winning foundations, Helena quite obviously treats her work for Kildallan GFC as a veritable labour of love. How else could a body give so much time and energy to the cause. Now in her third year in the hot seat, the outgoing club Secretary came on board the Good Ship Kildallan when she took her place on the club's underage committee back in the early nineties. For five consecutive years, Helena performed the role of secretary of Kildallan's underage committee. It was a good apprenticeship for the more arduous senior duties which she was later to assume. Though her apprenticeship at the coalface of affairs at the hugely progressive club saw her learn the ropes in double-quick time, the fact that she sported a proud Crosserlough football pedigree meant that it was almost fated that she was going to be like the lady to the manor born. Helena was born and reared in a football-mad environment. Her brothers, John, Anthony, Pat and Tom Rehill starred for Crosserlough seniors for many years and as such the then would-be Kildallan secretary had all the magic and joy of her native club's seven-in-a-row in which to luxuriate. As such the five years on Kildallan's underage committee merely honed Helena's innate knowledge of all things GAA. However, it did teach her sufficiently well about the inner-workings of your commoner-garden GAA club to make for a competent and efficient secretary in-waiting. Of course Helena is by now well and truly fully experienced in all matters pertaining to the work of club secretary. Even so, reviewing 2001 isn't any less painful because of it. "2001 was a disappointing year for us, especially with the way our championship campaign ended because we could have won it but instead allowed Drumgoon to lift the cup instead. "Losing to Castlerahan in the league final a few weeks afterwards was another disappointment but both of the teams we lost to in the finals were top quality teams and Drumgoon in particular had been knocking on the door for a couple of years and were always going to be very difficult to beat. "We didn't begrudge Drumgoon their win - they were worthy winners on the day. I think they had a bit more experience than us which showed in the final plus they really dug in and were very gritty in the latter stages of the match. "It was close all through but the turning point came when we had a player sent off. I think Drumgoon did well to capitalise on their extra man though." And what of Castlerahan? "They did very well last year and surprised a lot of people by how well they played overall during 2001. They have a lot of very good young players although we should have beaten them in the league final after we built up a good lead at half-time. "In fairness to Castlerahan, they made a few changes for the second half which worked for them. We never really got to grips with their renewed effort after half-time." Helena's disappointment at the way things panned out for her club at adult level in 2001 is predictable. Her annoyance and that of the club's members in general concerning the new relegation/promotion system as mooted by the county board is perhaps a bit less predictable though equally understandable nonetheless. "The players were devastated when the details of the new system were announced. It means that if we don't win the junior championship the club will be relegated again. "The new system will have the effect of diluting the importance of the league. League games will have no real importance because of the new system and the fact that it's to be brought in just for a two year trial is of no consolation to the players at our club at least. "Kildallan tried to get promotion out of division three for something like 16 years and to have that achievement undermined now is another blow on top of the disappointments we suffered against Drumgoon and Castlerahan. "I think it's going to be very difficult for mentors to motivate the players for the league matches this year. The county board may feel they're introducing the new system for the good of Cavan football but I think that what they might gain on the swings, they'll lose on the roundabout for as long as the new system stays in place." Not one noted for looking at the glass as being half-empty though, Helena says that, either way, the Kildallan club will approach the new league campaign with typical gusto. "We just have to get on with it and do the best we can and remember instead just how well we did at underage level last year," enthuses Helena, mother of current Kildallan players David and Wayne. Indeed, if the aforementioned defeats to Castlerahan and Drumgoon represented a double whammy for the white and reds, the success reaped at under 14 Roinn C league and under 14 Roinn B championship reflected the flip side of the coin. Add in a good under 16 campaign and the picture at Kildallan becomes a lot more upbeat and pretty looking. "You could say that our underage success in 2001 represented the silver lining for us. The winning of two titles at under 14 level shows just how much work is being done at juvenile level in the club and such success certainly augurs very well for the future of the club. "Even though the numbers available to the club at every grade are small with just Kildallan and Ballyconnell national schools to pick from, the club is fortunate in having very good mentors right up through the ranks." Certainly such a positive underage recruitment and training drive looks destined to reap Kildallan further dividends at adult level over the next six or seven years but, then again, it's not yesterday that the west Cavan side began producing some quality underage footballers. Players such as Noel Maguire, Enda Herron, David O'Grady, Padraic Wynne, Colm O'Hara, John O'Neill and Danny Conaty are fine young players as are the likes of Barry and Daithi Reilly plus Trent Fitzpatrick - all of whom have been guided up from underage ranks with great care and attention. With Belturbet native Mark Lawlor again at the helm, Kildallan's finest are again expected to challenge strongly for top honours. "The junior championship title is well within our grasp and although there's no certainties in football, I feel confident that we'll definitely be there or thereabouts when the championship gets to its final stages. "The players we have at the moment have the ability and the talent and I know they're determined to go one step further than they did in 2001. "Kildallan deserve to be playing in a higher grade of football and we need to aim to achieve that. The club is improving the facilities at our existing ground and it would be lovely if we could complement that work with some silverware this year." Here's hoping! Tweet

Most Read Stories