Drumree drive on
November 30, 2009four semi-finalists from the six-team group which made up the Intermediate Hurling Championship. By Paul Clarke.
After their relegation from the senior ranks last year, many people expected Drumree to mount a serious assault on the intermediate grade this term, but a tally of three points in the qualification phase, made up of one victory and a draw, wasn't good enough to see them advance to the business end of the competition.
However, in fairness to the players, they were hampered by injuries to key players, while dual performer David Crimmins departed to the United States after playing in the first couple of championship games and was a huge loss.
Just six teams competed in the Intermediate Championship - Drumree, Blackhall Gaels, Longwood, Kilmessan's second string, which had won the junior title last year, Dunderry and Kilskyre and when Drumree played Blackhall in the opening round at Kiltale it was a battle of the previous two relegated sides.
Blackhall, who were to go on and reach the final where they lost to Longwood, won by 3-8 to 3-3 and should have been more in front at the end. Drumree didn't manage to score a single point from play and their chief marksman was David Wallace with 1-3, while David Troy and Stephen Doyle notched the other goals.
Kilskyre endured another difficult campaign, which eventually led to their demotion to the junior ranks, and Drumree achieved their only victory of the championship when the teams clashed in the second round at Dunganny. It was all over bar the shouting at half-time when they led by 2-11 to 0-4 and a further 2-7 was added in the second period as it finished 4-18 to 1-7. Wallace contributed 2-6 and Shane Kennedy got 2-1.
Boardsmill was the venue for a third round meeting with Longwood and it was all to play for at the break when the eventual champions led by 1-7 to 1-6. The exchanges remained close in the second half when Wallace's accuracy helped to keep Drumree in contention, but the 'Wood struck for a second goal in the closing stages which proved vital. Wallace scored nine points and Brian Coughlan, Stephen McGroder and Eoin Reilly also impressed for the losers.
A hat-trick of goals by Chris Fitzgerald made all the difference when Dunderry defeated Drumree by 3-5 to 1-9 next time out at Kiltale. This time Kennedy was Drumree's top scorer with 1-4 and Wallace rowed in with four points.
Drumree were on the verge of a second win of the championship until Kilmessan's Andrew Keena denied them with a late goal in the last round of group matches, also at Kiltale. A George Troy goal helped Drumree to lead by 1-8 to 0-3 at the interval, but they were outscored by 1-11 to 0-6 in the second half as it finished all square on 1-14 each. Wallace was on the mark with seven points and George Troy tallied 1-2 in what was their best performance of the campaign.
Johnny Gilsenan has been playing adult hurling with Drumree since 1998, usually at corner-back or wing-back. He won a Junior Championship medal that year and was also part of the team which made the move up to the senior ranks by winning the Intermediate Championship in 2003. He was highly impressed with Mickey Cole's input as coach this year and also praised the work of selectors Stephen McMorrow and David Farrell.
"I would have to praise Mickey," he said. "He was very good. He possesses so much experience in the game and the lads had great respect for him. He made hurlers out of lads. Hopefully, he will stay with us for next year.
"A lot of people thought we would go straight back up to senior this year, but once you go down to intermediate level it can be hard to get back out of it. That said, I would hope we will be back playing senior hurling soon.
"We have some very talented young players, like Brian Coughlan. David Wallace is another very good hurler. He is our free-taker. Shane Troy played at full-back at the start of the championship, but ended up playing at full-forward. He's a talented lad. Stephen Doyle is another very good player. It takes time for young players to develop, but when they do I believe we will give it a real rattle."
But this year Drumree made a losing start to the championship and the overall campaign proved to be something of a struggle.
"We lost our first championship match against Blackhall Gaels," Johnny recalled. "It's not a reflection on the team, but we just weren't good enough on the day. We beat Kilskyre very easily in the second game and then lost to Longwood by four points.
"Our goalkeeper Ger Troy didn't play in that game because he had a back injury. He was gone for the rest of the year and was a big loss. I played in goal for the Longwood game, but Sean O'Regan took over between the posts after that. We weren't too far away against Longwood. They got a goal near the end which finished us.
"Their corner-forward scored three goals when we lost to Dunderry. They were slack goals. Defensive errors cost us in that game. We played our best hurling of the year in the last round of the championship against Kilmessan, but it was a case of too little too late. They scored a goal with the last puck of the game to force a draw."
Drumree didn't have the best of luck in this year's championship and apart from losing the services of Crimmins after he went to the United States for the summer, and that injury sustained by goalkeeper Ger Troy, they also lost David Troy during the course of the championship. With a clean bill of health on the injury front and with their young players continuing to mature they certainly have grounds for optimism looking into the future.
FOOTBALLERS WITHDRAW FROM JFC
Fifty years after they won the title things were so very different for Drumree in the 2009 Junior Football Championship and after suffering heavy defeats in the first two rounds against Kilbride and Skryne's second string team it was decided to withdraw from the competition.
They were coached by Martin Ryan, who is a Mayo native living in Dunshaughlin, but their prospects were hindered by the loss of six or seven players, including John Cullinane who transferred to Longwood and Kit Doyle who moved to Dunderry. In the circumstances, the extent of their struggle was quite understandable.
The signs weren't encouraging for Drumree from early this year when their form in Division 5 of the All-County A League was poor. They opened up with a 1-3 to 3-8 defeat against Curraha, lost to St Paul's by 0-7 to 2-8, failed to score against Kildalkey who notched 5-11 and went under to Moynalty by 0-1 to 0-9 ahead of the commencement of the championship.
Ratoath provided the setting for their JFC opener against a Kilbride team which included former county player Cormac Murphy at full-forward and the writing was on the wall for Drumree at the change of ends when they trailed by 0-1 to 1-9, with their point coming from a Johnny Brennan free.
They fared somewhat better in the second half and were well served by Shane Troy, Ciaran Kenny and Brennan, but there was never going to be any way back and Kilbride were ahead by 1-14 to 0-5 at the final whistle.
It was back to Ratoath for a second round meeting with Skryne and things looked quite promising for Drumree when they scored the first two points. But it was all downhill after that and they didn't manage another score until the last five minutes as the Tara men won by 21 points on a 4-12 to 0-3 score line. Shane Troy, Brian Coughlan, Johnny Gilsenan and Kevin Burke were Drumree's best players on a difficult day.
At that stage Drumree still had championship matches against Moylagh, Drumbaragh and Navan O'Mahonys to come, but they didn't materialise because the decision was taken to withdraw from the competition before their third round meeting with Moylagh.
However, they did continue to field a team in the league and in one match they got close to Curraha who had earlier beaten them by 11 points. This time there was just two in it as Curraha won by 1-10 to 3-2.
It was sad to see the club's footballers struggle to such a degree 11 years after they had won the junior title, but it's now a case of looking to the future. Playing in the Junior B Championship next year will give them a chance to regroup and with some talented young players in their ranks things are likely to improve.
First underage silverware for Drumree
Drumree were crowned U14 Div2 hurling champions of Meath in Dunganny following a titanic struggle with Clann na nGael (5-8 to 5-7). The victors went into the match as slight favourites having been unbeaten in the run up to the final.
This was an historic win for the club as it was the first piece of hurling silverware won by the juvenile section which was only formed this year.
In a close first half Clann na nGael lead by a goal at the break. After the resumption Clann na nGael dominated the early exchanges. Drumree stuck to their guns and gained the upper hand in the mid-field. They could not turn this domination into scores and trailed by seven points late in the match.
Drumree never gave up and kept battling and were rewarded with scores from David Moore, Josh Wall, and Liam Carey to leave them trailing by two points deep into injury time. They were rewarded with a free 30 metres out which was lobbed in "around the house". The sliotar broke to Killian Gavin who coolly slotted the ball to the back of the net to secure a one point victory for Drumree.
There were outstanding performances from Diarmuid Christie, Gareth Rooney and David Dunne in defence. The brave Darragh Walsh left his sick bed to turn in masterful performance in the second half. David Reilly dominated midfield while Dan Ormsby and Liam Carey were the pick of the forwards.
Seamus Harmon presented the cup to Drumree captain Gareth Rooney.
Drumree: Lorcan Casey, Darren Lawless, Diarmuid Christie, David Dunne, Gareth Rooney, Darragh Nolan, Shane Gallogly, David Reilly 0-1, Josh Wall 1-3, Dan Ormsby 0-1, Killian Gavin 1-0, Liam Carey 1-3, David Moore 2-0. Subs Alan Reilly for Lorcan Casey, Darragh Walsh for Darragh Nolan, Stephen Farrell for Diarmuid Christie, Kevin Madden, Eddie Murphy, James Logan, Aidan Mc Mahon, Andrew Doolan, Senan O Muiri. Tweet
