A Byrneing light!
November 30, 2008
Ballinlough's bid to win the Meath IFC and Division 3 FL double in 2008 finished empty handed but, according to county star Peadar Byrne, the north Meath club will be a force to be reckoned with again in the year ahead.
After spending the best part of this decade struggling to survive in the Meath SFC, Ballinlough found themselves back in the intermediate grade this year and ended up just two steps away from booking an instant return to the top flight.
Overcoming Dunderry in the quarter-final, Ballinlough's party was spoiled by Cortown who edged a closely contested semi-final clash at Bohermeen in September after extra-time.
Cortown prevailed by 3-14 to 1-12 at the end of a riveting encounter in which county star Peadar Byrne scored 1-4 from his midfield berth. Ballinlough's woes were compounded in November when they lost the Division 3 FL final to St. Michael's.
"When we had achieved so much early on in the year it was a disappointing finish in both the championship and league this year," remarked Peadar. "The lads put an awful lot of work in at the start of the year to get fit which, if we're being honest, probably wasn't done in previous years. Vinny (Ryan) did a lot of work with us.
"It was disappointing to fade out of it in the end, particularly to lose to Cortown in a game which we probably should have won in normal time. Then the league final was a fifty-fifty game and, unfortunately for us, we came out on the wrong end of the scoreline."
Ballinlough's profligacy in front of the posts cost them dearly as Cortown made them pay the ultimate price in the additional twenty minutes.
"I think most people who were at the Intermediate semi-final against Cortown probably agreed that we should have won the game in normal time but, in fairness, Cortown did pull away from us in extra-time.
"We missed a couple of chances to increase our lead and they then got an opportunist goal which left us a point behind. We rallied to go a point up and we were kind of playing the better football but were unable to get an extra couple of points to cement our lead.
"One of our boys hit the post right at the end to win it; I was guilty of hitting the post with another chance as well before that. As I said, we probably should have won it in normal time but, fair play to Cortown, they were the better team in extra-time.
"We couldn't complain, once they got their goal in extra-time our chance was gone. Fair play to them they proved to be stronger in the end."
The two teams - St. Ultan's and Cortown - that defeated the 'Lough in this year's IFC ended up contesting the decider.
"I wasn't surprised when St. Ultan's beat Cortown in the final but I thought it would have been a much closer game than it turned out to be with them being parish neighbours. Ultan's are a very good footballing team; they're fast and fit and were always going to be hard bet on the big pitch in Pairc Tailteann."
There was further disappointment for the Vinny Ryan trained team when they finished up on the wrong end of a 1-10 to 1-9 scoreline in the Division 4 final against St. Michael's in Athboy. A St.Michael's scoring burst that yielded 1-3 without reply inside the first eight minutes of the second half proved to be their downfall.
"We let the league final slip as well from a position of strength when conceding those scores. It was another example of us not finishing off teams. In fairness though, we did do that in the earlier stages of both the championship and the league. We weren't scoring that heavily but defensively and at midfield we were very good. We were able to grind out victories. Unfortunately, we didn't do it when it mattered most though.
"We went ahead at the start and stayed ahead, it was tit for tat for most of the game before St. Michael's punched in a goal. They went ahead and while we came close to catching them up time ran out on us."
Every cloud has a silver lining though and promotion to Division 2 for 2009 was the main prize as far as the 'Lough was concerned.
"At the start of the year we agreed that getting promotion to Division 2 had to be a priority. If you want to be competitive in intermediate football, and have ambitions of going up senior, you have to be playing against the better teams in Division 2. Getting out of Division 3 was our main objective but it would have been nice to round it off with a league final victory."
The return to intermediate football has also had a positive impact on the Ballinlough club according to its most prized asset.
"Myself, Kevin (Devine), Ronan (McGuinness), Seamus (Byrne) and Benjy (Smith) would have played senior football for the last couple of years and would have known what it was like. We struggled in the senior for the last three or four years, we were depending on winning one game to keep us up. It was hard on young lads to come in and be motivated about that.
"We just didn't have the pick of players and being relegated from the senior in 2007 was very disappointing but once we went down we realised we could compete. Championship games were winnable; we had twenty-five training most nights and supporters coming to games knowing that we were in with a chance.
"It was a good thing from that point of view and for the club as a whole. Getting to the championship semi-final was a good boost for the parish and we'll be hoping to go a couple of steps further next year."
The same applies to the intercounty stage where Peadar and his Royal County team-mates failed to replicate the highs of the previous year which resulted in an All-Ireland semi-final appearance.
Some months on and he still struggles to comprehend what went wrong on that fateful night in Limerick but he's looking forward to a new beginning under Eamonn O'Brien.
"It was very disappointing how things went. The loss to Wexford really put a dampener on things. There was a big gap to the Limerick game but we did get motivated for the game and we were up for it but it just didn't go right for us on the day. That's championship football, if you don't perform on the day you get punished and that's what happened to us.
"There's no doubt that the players are there, in all lines of the pitch. With Eamonn O'Brien to come in now he will have his own way of doing things. He'll have his own methods and system of playing and, hopefully, things will go right for us. The players are there to do well on the intercounty stage and we look forward to making amends next year."
Finally, Peadar enjoyed his first taste of Railway Cup action this year when selected by Val Andrews and he defends the much maligned competition.
"It was great to get called into the Leinster squad. I suppose with a lot of players involved in the International Rules and others still involved with their clubs in championship the options for the management were limited but, from my point of view, I was delighted to get picked.
"Obviously things didn't go too well, losing the first round to Connacht, but I would hope to be involved in the Railway Cup again in the future. It's a competition that receives plenty of criticism but there is an interest in it amongst the players and the games can be very competitive," he concluded
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