Looking to regain their scoring touch
November 30, 2009County player Moyles departed to St Oliver Plunkett's/Eoghan Ruadh in Dublin and that meant Blackhall were without one of their true leaders this year. They also had a new coach in Tom Nolan, who took over from Eamonn Barry, and while the championship started in reasonably positive fashion with a couple of narrow victories, it was all downhill after that.
Moyles started only two championship matches last year because of injury when Blackhall advanced to the semi-finals where they were well beaten by Navan O'Mahonys. They did have the consolation of later winning the A League Division 1 title with a final victory over Wolfe Tones, so they appeared to have something decent to build on for 2009.
Blackhall were drawn in group B of the SFC along with last year's intermediate winners St Ultan's, Dunboyne, Skryne and Walterstown and opened their campaign with a dramatic victory over the Bohermeen/Martry combination at Walterstown where a last minute goal from Andy Brady did the trick.
Mark Mullally (two), Andy Brady and Paddy Brady were on the mark with first half points for Blackhall, but St Ultan's led by 0-7 to 0-4 at the interval and opened up a clearcut advantage at the start of the second half when Ciaran Rogers goaled. Nolan's team improved as the second period progressed and had cut the deficit to 0-9 to 1-9 at the three-quarter stage.
They still looked set to suffer a narrow defeat when a point behind near the end, but St Ultan's gave away possession from a line ball and were punished in the most severe fashion when Andy Brady found the net to earn Blackhall a 1-12 to 1-10 win.
Blackhall made a brilliant start to their second round match against Walterstown at Dunshaughlin and a superb goal from Tadhg Brosnan helped them push into a 1-4 to 0-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. But they failed to score again in the first half and their advantage was down to three points (1-4 to 0-4) at the break.
They were only a point in front at the three-quarter stage, but pushed on again to go four clear, before Walterstown applied a lot of pressure in the closing stages. Blackhall held out for a 1-9 to 0-10 victory and had maximum points in the bag from two outings.
But that was as good as it got in the group campaign and they suffered the first of two successive defeats next time out against Skryne, also at Dunshaughlin. Both teams were very wasteful and the Tara men led by 0-6 to 0-2 at half-time, before pushing five points clear by the 42nd minute.
Sean Whelan gave Blackhall a boost with a goal and when Skryne had Vinny Reilly sent off the balance of power had shifted. The Kilcloon/Batterstown combination were soon on level terms and with numerical superiority looked likely to win, but Skryne scored three of the last four points to be ahead by 0-11 to 1-6 at the end.
Getting scores again proved to be a problem for Blackhall when they concluded their group schedule against Dunboyne at Ashbourne. They started well and led by 0-4 to 0-0 after 12 minutes with points from Paddy Brady (two), Andy Brady and Denis Beirne, but the danger signs were already there because goalkeeper Tommy Dalton came to their rescue with a couple of great saves.
Blackhall's lead was down to the minimum (0-6 to 0-5) at the interval and, alarmingly, they added only one point in the second half. They suffered a huge blow shortly after the change of ends when Brosnan was sent off and goals from Ger Robinson and Craig Berrigan sent Dunboyne on their way to a 2-11 to 0-7 victory.
Despite losing half their group matches Blackhall were still in the championship, but not for long. It was back to Ashbourne for the preliminary quarter-final and this time, without the services of Brosnan, they didn't score at all in the second half as Dunshaughlin won by 1-12 to 1-4.
Blackhall led by 1-4 to 0-4 at half-time, by which stage their scoring woes were already in evidence. Alan Nestor had a penalty saved by Ronan Gogan and when a retake was ordered he shot wide, but they did get a goal when Nestor set up Denis Beirne to find the net in the 23rd minute.
The half ended badly for both teams when Blackhall's Stephen Nally and Dunshaughlin's Michael McHale were red carded and the men in black and amber were level within four minutes of the restart. A Conor Staunton goal helped them push clear and the losers' misery was complete when Mark Mullally was sent off at the end of the third quarter.
Dermot O'Brien, the possessor of a famous footballing name, picked a good year to break into the Blackhall first team - 2003. He was right corner-back on the team which came from nine points behind at half-time to defeat Simonstown Gaels in that year's SFC final and was this year's senior captain. He acknowledged that the departure of Anthony Moyles represented a big loss.
"Losing Anthony was a big blow," he said. "It's clear from our results this year that he was a big loss. He's a county player and a great leader. But you can't blame our poor season on him. We had a few injuries and Alan Nestor went to America. He missed a couple of championship games.
"We never really got on a run and confidence went down. We won our first two championship games against St Ultan's and Walterstown, but there was a gap of about six weeks to our next game against Skryne. We couldn't get the momentum going."
After those two victories things started to go wrong for Blackhall and after failing to take advantage of numerical superiority in the third round of group matches against Skryne, they suffered two heavy defeats - to Dunboyne in their last divisional assignment and Dunshaughlin in the preliminary quarter-final.
"We started well against Dunboyne and Dunshaughlin, but didn't maintain it," Dermot added. "Scoring was a problem for us this year. You can't blame all that on the forwards. You need to get your half-backs and corner-backs forward. We scored only a point in the second half against Dunboyne and didn't score in the second half against Dunshaughlin.
"I can't put my finger on why that happened. I know we had players sent off in both those games, but that wasn't a huge factor. Heads went down. We fell to pieces in those games. It was a very disappointing year for us."
And how does he view Blackhall's prospects for 2010?
"We have to regroup," he said. "We have no Anthony Moyles, but we have a few good lads coming through, like Donnacha Tobin and John Kelly who have played for the Meath minors. They will have gained experience from this year.
"We need to keep the panel together, avoid injuries and start training early. Not much will be expected of us next year after the way things went this year. We might thrive as underdogs."
The Blackhall Gaels team against Dunshaughlin was: T Dalton; D O'Neill, D Dalton, D O'Brien; J Kelly, N O'Hora, D Tobin; P O'Brien (0-1), M Mullally; P Brady (0-1), S Nally, D Beirne (1-0); M Crampton, A Nestor (0-2), A Brady. Subs - S Whelan for Crampton, I Kennedy for Brady, L Rattigan for Kelly, C McElligott for P O'Brien.
FINAL DISAPPOINTMENT FOR HURLERS
After losing at the semi-final stage in 2008, Blackhall Gaels must have entertained realistic hopes of going all the way this year when they reached the Intermediate Hurling Championship final, but Longwood defeated them decisively on the big day at Pairc Tailteann.
Blackhall opened their group campaign against last year's Senior Championship relegated team Drumree and won by 3-8 to 3-3 at Kiltale to get their title bid off to a great start. Longwood were overcome by 1-12 to 0-11 in the second round at Boardsmill and when a 1-13 to 1-8 win followed against Dunderry at Kiltale things were looking good.
Ratoath was the venue for a clash with Kilmessan's second string and Blackhall won by 1-10 to 1-7. That was followed by a walkover from Kilskyre and then it was on to the more serious business of a semi-final meeting with a Dunderry team they had already beaten by five points.
Dermot Carty (three frees), Darren O'Loughlin (two) and Thomas Murphy pointed for Blackhall in the first half at Kiltale and they were on level terms (0-6 each) at the interval. Despite being without Johnny Meyler, Conor Burke and Nigel O'Hora they took over in the second period and were ahead by double scores at the finish (0-16 to 0-8).
Team manager Fergus Smyth missed that game because he was acting as a linesman at the All-Ireland Under-21 semi-final between Clare and Galway in Semple Stadium, Thurles, but he was back in command for the final which turned out to be a big disappointment for Blackhall.
They were under pressure in the first half, but points from Dermot Carty (four frees), Darren O'Loughlin, Stephen Morris and Johnny Meyler helped them to stay in touch and they trailed by only 0-7 to 0-10 at the break.
Longwood suffered a big blow when Mickey Burke was sent off a minute into the second period and when Carty converted two more frees to cut the deficit to the minimum eight minutes after the restart it looked to be advantage Blackhall. But instead it was the side with 14 players who responded best.
Blackhall managed just two further points and with the superbly accurate Anthony Healy inspiring Longwood they looked unstoppable. A goal from substitute Bernard Reilly proved a huge boost and they were well clear at the end, winning by 1-15 to 0-11.
The Blackhall Gaels team was: E Dalton; C Burke, D McGowan, C Delany; K O'Connor, S O'Loughlin, Daniel Carty; T Murphy, J Kelly; Dermot Carty (0-6), J Meyler (0-3), T Coyle; S Morris (0-1), M Mullally, D O'Loughlin (0-1). Subs - A Nestor for Burke, A Ferris for Coyle, J O'Malley for O'Loughlin. Tweet
