Kevin's working to get the most from their resources
December 30, 2010The lack of success over the past couple of years meant that the Mid Louth side would not have been ranked among the main contenders at the start of the campaign, but there was few who doubted that, on their day, they had the ability to compete with the best in the grade.
Due to their limited pool of players, hopes of turning that potential into a consistent run of form would be dependent of having all players available and an early season confidence boost to instil a sense of belief in the team.
Unfortunately for the club those factors failed to materialise and according to team captain, James Boylan, it turned out to be a season where the club failed to meet their expectations.
"I suppose the best way to describe our year is to say it was very disappointing because we just never got going. At the start of the year the mood was reasonably confident because we felt we hadn't done too badly last season, but from early on things began to go against us.
"It was evident after a couple of weeks pre-season that we wouldn't have everyone available and straight away we lost four or five of the squad. The lads just couldn't commit to the football due to work and at present work has to come first.
"Unfortunately we are a small club and we just don't have the resources to replace them. There are some good young lads coming through the ranks and involved in the second team but it takes a couple of years to step up to the first team," explained James.
Despite that setback, the team was hoping that they could build confidence in the early part of the season, but again things didn't go according to plan.
"We played Annaghminnon in the first round of the Kevin Mullen Shield and although we had the winning of the game, we didn't take our chances and ended up losing the match. That was a blow for everyone because when you lose a game like that it knocks your confidence.
"After that we had tough games against St Nicholas and Glen Emmets and having lost those we were out of contention."
However, the extra games in this year's competition proved beneficial as the Philipstown men got on a good run, picking up victories against St Nicholas, Wolfe Tones and, most satisfying of all, Lannleire.
That raised hopes of making an impression in the league, but the draw was unkind to the Kevin's as they faced one of the title favourites, St Fechins, away from home in the first round.
Defeat in that game set the tone for what was to be a disappointing league campaign which certainly didn't augur well for the Junior Championship. However, it transpired that the battle for the Christy Bellew Cup provided St Kevin's with their high point of the year, according to the captain.
"Going into the championship you always hope to make an impression and as it turned out we had our best displays in the group stages. In our first game we ran the Sean McDermotts to a single point and the quality of that performance is reflected in how they did for the remainder of the season.
"We all felt after the game that we could have beaten them and probably if the game had gone on for another few minutes we would have. Perhaps if we had more confidence we might have come through but it showed what we were capable of and it proved that if you work hard enough things will happen for you," he added.
That left the Kevin's needing to defeat Annaghminnon Rovers to advance to the quarter-final and again they
produced an impressive display to come out on top and achieve their objective of making it to the knock-out stages.
Victory set up a mouth-watering clash with neighbours, Lannleire, and although the Philipstown men went in with high hopes, it proved to be a game for forget as the Dunleer men won comfortably.
"I think that everything that could go wrong, did go wrong on the night. We lost a couple of players through injury in the build up to the match and after Lannleire got off to a very good start, we were just chasing shadows. We did work hard to get back in the game but again you need the belief that only comes from winning games and we never seriously threatened to get back into the game.
"As a result our view of the championship is mixed as although we were happy to have made it through to the quarter-final, the manner of our exit was very disappointing. It is always the case that if you play well and lose you can accept it, but it is hard to take when you go out without putting up a fight," continued James.
Despite their failures this year, Boylan is still confident that the team has something to offer and is hoping that they can give a true account of themselves in 2011.
"I know it wasn't easy at times this year but there is no reason why we can't start the New Year with confidence. I think it will be the same approach as the start of this campaign as we will try to get everyone available and get a bit of confidence back.
"I think we are a better team than we showed this year and I believe that we can be competitive. We need to get everyone training from the start of the year and hopefully get on a winning run early on and if you do that you will get a lot more commitment from players."
James believes that a good season is not only important for the current panel, but also the future of the club as a successful side will provide the encouragement for the young players in the club to make their mark.
"We also have a few good young lads playing at minor level and while it will take a few years for them to progress, it is important that we have a strong team for them to step into because everyone knows that success breeds success." Tweet
