The right stuff to bounce back
December 30, 2010It's not too difficult to imagine the sense of frustration and disappointment that seeped through the Hunterstown clubhouse after Rovers were relegated to junior fare towards the backend of 2010. One day, the Red & Whites appeared on the brink of qualification to the quarter-finals as they pushed champions-elect Young Irelands all the way in their second group match; next thing, they were heading for the trapdoor after losing their relegation play-offs to Roche and Geraldines.
There were, of course, mitigating circumstances as the loss of key personnel impacted dramatically on what is essentially a young side. On a positive note, Hunterstown competed well in Division Three of the all-county league and remained in contention for promotion as they qualified for a promotion play-off semi-final against Glen Emmets on Sunday October 24th. Unfortunately, defeat was their lot in that game as they were lucklessly edged out after extra time.
Looking back on the year gone by, club chairman Peter Landy concedes: "We'd be very disappointed. Relegation certainly wouldn't have been one of our plans at the start of the year. We would have wanted to sustain ourselves but we lost two or three prominent players to emigration and injury. It's something that's affecting a lot of rural clubs but it hit Hunterstown particularly hard in 2010.
"We have a relatively small pick to start with and when you lose a few influential players from a panel of 20, then you're always going to feel it. It's very hard to replace that kind of quality. Generally, from a team of 15, you'd be working off maybe twelve really good players. When you lose two of your top twelve, you're suddenly playing with just two-thirds of a team.
"Having said that, we weren't too far away. In the first group game against the Joes, we didn't perform at all and still only lost by a handful of scores. We let ourselves down that day - if we'd performed at all we could have beaten them.
"The second group game was against Young Irelands, who of course went on to win the IFC, and we had them on the rack. We missed a goal chance in the last minute, which would have given us a two-point win and thrown the group wide open. Chances like that came and went during the year and we didn't take them. With a little bit of luck we could have beaten the Irelands and it would have been the toss of a coin to see who progressed.
"But we lost the game and that result left us in trouble, looking at a relegation semi-final after just two championship matches. In the old system, you could get away with losing one or two games, and maybe still even qualify, but it's tighter now and there's no room for error.
"Padraig Matthews, who's an intercounty footballer, was a massive loss. He did his cruciate and the play-off final against the Geraldines was his first game back. Paul Carrie, who has consistently been our highest scorer for four or five years, went to Australia. If you take players like that out of any club, then they're going to struggle. They are two great scoring forwards, who would be worth six or seven points in any game, and if you look back at our results during the year, Padraig and Paul would have made a huge difference to Hunterstown. With them available, we'd have made it to the knockouts."
Having started the year poorly with a series of losses in Group B of the Paddy Sheelan Cup followed by reasonable enough form in the league (albeit, the bottom division…), Hunterstown played St Josephs in their opening Group D assignment at The Grove but fell to an uninspiring 1-9 to 0-5 defeat on Sunday July 4th. The following weekend, they were consigned to the relegation dogfight when an improved performance still culminated in a very unlucky 2-7 to 1-9 loss to DYI. Midfielder Richard Taaffe got the Hunterstown goal, while full forward Alan Landy weighed in with five points. The team on duty that day was: David Fedigan; Richie Cunningham, Robert Martin, Martin Lennon; Shane Dowdall, David Finn, Paddy Matthews; Tony McKenna, Richard Taaffe (1-1); Brian Matthews (0-2), Ciaran Carrie, Brendan Lennon (0-1); Paddy Mooney, Alan Landy (0-5), Conor Finn. Subs: Fergie Clerkin, Chris McCann.
This condemned Tocka Duff's charges to the IFC relegation play-offs wherein defeats to Roche Emmets (2-12 to 0-10 on September 5th) and the Gers (4-17 to 2-8 thirteen days later) determined that Hunterstown would be playing junior football in 2011.
All things considered, the club chairman remains upbeat as he turns his thoughts to the challenges lying ahead:
"Padraig Matthews is back and he'll be a massive addition to the team next year. We're not sure yet about Paul Carrie, but we're hoping he'll be back. But we'll have no problem with him regardless of what he decides - work is scarce and people are going to do whatever they have to do.
"We introduced three or four minors to the team during the year and they have shown some potential. But it's a big step-up to play at intermediate grade and it was probably a step too far for them… However, they showed signs of progress and they'll be a year older and wiser next year.
"We'd be hopeful that we can turn it around. We have a young team. David Fedigan is the oldest lad on the team now, in his early 30s, but the rest of them are much younger. The bulk of them are 21 or 22, so we have the makings of a good team there.
"Off the pitch, the biggest thing this year was that we started to play games on our new juvenile pitch, which is going to be a major plus for us. We've also developed a new training area, which is partially lit up, so there's plenty of activity around the club and we're looking to the future.
"We will continue on and nobody is giving up. We're hoping to bring in a new management structure and our main target will be to try to get out of Division Three. We're also looking forward to competing in the junior football championship - and perhaps getting to the latter stages…" Tweet
