Can do more
November 30, 2009
This year's campaign saw the Killyon senior hurlers fail to progress beyond the group stages of the championship, something that they will be hoping to rectify in 2010.
Since winning the senior hurling championship in 2005, Killyon have struggled in the top flight. Relegation has not been an issue, but for a club of their stature, not to be competing at the business end of the campaign is a position that they do not want to find themselves in much longer.
Killyon won their first county title in 1918, but the rural club had to wait a massive 61 years before the next title was annexed in 1979. However that crop of players dominated the Meath hurling scene as they went on to join an elite group of clubs that have won three consecutive senior championships.
In 1984, Killyon returned to winning ways as the Jubilee Cup was lifted for a fifth time and seven years later; they were back dining at the top table once again. There are always high hopes that a club can continue their winning ways, but 14 years elapsed before the latest group emerged as champions.
Now, four more years have passed and despite having the capabilities of beating anyone in the county, emigration, injury and retirement have taken its toll on the club.
The current economic recession has affected many clubs an especially rural ones where numbers can often be scarce at the bets of times. There is no doubting Killyon's pedigree and regardless of what happens in the future, they will always be regarded as one of the hurling strongholds in the county.
Men like Lar Tyrrell, Sean Ryan and Kit Mitchell will ensure that is the case. The club continues to field underage teams at all levels and the work is certainly been doing, and the Westmeath border outfit certainly epitomise what the GAA is all about.
This year's campaign saw the senior side placed in the same group as Dunboyne, Kildalkey, Boardsmill and Kiltale, three of which were amongst the favourites for the title. A tough group to say the least, but one that Killyon shouldn't have feared.
Despite the loss of some key players in recent years, they still have some of the best hurlers in the county among their ranks. Ray Massey and David Raleigh are two of the brightest young talents in Meath hurling at the moment. The likes of Brian Perry, Darren Ryan, Clayton Keegan and Mark Gannon know what it takes to win a championship as do JJ Gilsenan and goalkeeper Stephen Quinn.
Once again, the ever mercurial Sean Ryan oversaw the team's fortunes and throw in his experience amongst the talent at his disposal and they certainly have the ingredients to go all the way.
Nonetheless, you can do all the training you like, but if it can't be reproduced on the field then there is a problem. Killyon began with an impressive display against Dunboyne and losing out to the eventual finalists by 2-17 to 2-13 was nothing to be ashamed of.
A win over Boardsmill helped get the campaign back on track. This was a close match with both sides knowing a defeat would be detrimental to their campaign. Only a solitary point separated the sides at the end, but fortunately for Killyon, it was them who were the right side of a 1-14 to 2-10 victory.
Kildalkey were the next opponents and this was always going to be a tough match. The 'village' had reached the 2008 final and were many people's favourites to lift the title. On the day, they proved too strong for Killyon as they ran out winners by 2-10 to 0-7. Indeed, Kildalkey were to be crowned champions later in the year.
Heading into the last group game against Kiltale, there wasn't much to play for as qualifying for the knockout stages had ended with the previous defeat, while fears of relegation were also eased with Boardsmill's failure to win a group match.
This could be the main reason for Killyon to suffer their heaviest defeat in the campaign as Kiltale ran out winners by 2-16 to 0-11 as they progressed to the last four.
So, for Killyon another year had passed and although some of the younger players will not realise it at this stage of their fledging careers, it's another year gone and another chance missed. The length of a GAA player's adult career may seem like forever when starting out, but in the blink of an eye, it passes by.
There is no question that Killyon certainly have the potential to capture the club's eighth county title in the very near future. The return of some key players would certainly help, but the youth structure within the club means that they have the groundwork there already.
The club's under-21 side went down to a strong Kiltale side in the championship, but the junior 'B' team came closest to lifting some silverware for the year when they reached the county final.
In what was one of the toughest finals seen in recent years, Killyon came up against Donaghmore/Ashbourne. The match was packed full of incident with plenty of quality on show, but alas it all meant very little to the Hill of Down men at the final whistle as they lost out by a solitary point.
A goal deep in injury time saw Donaghmore claim the title, but despite the heartache of losing, Killyon can take many positives from their performance. Man of the match was young midfielder Thomas Raleigh, who is certainly a star of the future.
Adam Gannon was another Killyon player to cause plenty of problems for Donaghmore / Ashbourne with seven points. With Paul Rattigan, Killian Canavan, Ray McKeown and Marcus Coogan others to find the range Killyon went into added time with a two-point lead. All they needed to do was play out time then Donaghmore/Ashbourne struck with the killer blow.
For the record the Killyon team that lined out in the final was: J O'Connor; J Quinn, B Pollock, M De Lacy; S Bell, R McKeown (0-1), A Leacy; P Rattigan (0-1), T Raleigh (0-6); K Kelly, K Canavan (0-1), W Dixon; M Coogan (0-1), A Connolly, A Gannon (0-7). Subs - D Mitchell for Byrne 60 mins; M Raleigh for Bell 61 m.
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