Ross wants Kilmainham to push on
November 27, 2010suffer two defeats.
Back in 2006, with Paddy O'Rourke acting as coach, they made it through to the decider, but lost to a St Ultan's team which made another big step up the ladder of progression two years later by claiming the intermediate title. It was of no consolation to Kilmainham that they had lost to a highly talented side, but hopes were quite high that a much sought after junior crown was just around the corner.
Regrettably for everybody involved in the club, it hasn't worked out that way. Barry Lynch's almost constant absence from the team due to injury seriously hindered them in 2007 when they failed to emerge from their qualification group and the following year, with former Navan O'Mahonys' player Colm Kane at the helm, they lost by a point to Longwood at the quarter-final hurdle.
There was further disappointment last year when former Cortown player John Henry was their coach and they exited the title race at the last eight stage against Drumbaragh who, in turn, were eliminated by champions to be Longwood.
Kilmainham again went into the 2010 championship as one of the more fancied teams to lift the Matthew Ginnity Cup and when the draws were made they must have been very hopeful of a prolonged campaign after coming out in group C which also included Dunboyne's second string, Slane, Moylagh, Kilbride and Meath Hill.
O'Rourke was back in the hot seat as coach, with Anthony Farrelly and Mark Lynch acting as selectors, and all appeared to be going to plan when they opened up with a 1-15 to 1-10 victory over the St Peter's men at Dunsany in mid-April. The teams were tied (0-6 each) at the interval and despite conceding a third-quarter goal Kilmainham gradually assumed control on a day when Shane Butler scored their goal and Michael Newman was top marksman with eight points.
With that confidence-boosting win under their belts, hopes must have been high of another championship victory when they travelled to meet Meath Hill in the second round at Nobber, but this was a disappointing performance against a Hill team which defended stoutly and gave away only seven scores.
Newman scored a first half goal which helped Kilmainham to be on level terms (1-3 to 0-6) at the change of ends, but Meath Hill just did enough in a tight second period to shade the verdict on a 0-10 to 1-6 score line and give their own qualification prospects a significant boost.
For a club that was playing football in the senior ranks not that many years ago, Slane have been a disappointment at junior level and they were no match for Kilmainham when the teams met in the third round at Kilberry. Newman and Seanie Mahon scored goals in either half and Kilmainham led by 1-7 to 0-2 at the break en route to a runaway 2-14 to 0-2 victory.
Slane provided the setting for a meeting with Kilbride in mid-July and Kilmainham made it three wins from four championship outings when recording a comfortable 2-15 to 0-9 success. A good start proved half the battle and goals from Shane Morgan and Newman in the opening quarter paved the way for a 2-6 to 0-3 half-time lead.
Kilbride never stopped trying and added six points to their tally in the second period, but Kilmainham had done enough in the opening half to safeguard themselves against any sort of meaningful recovery.
Moylagh took the group stages of the championship by storm and by the time they faced up to Kilmainham in the last round of qualification games at Ballinlough in early August they had already secured their place in the knockout stages. The situation was very different for Kilmainham who needed to win to maintain their hopes of glory.
It was all to play for at the interval when the team from the north-west of the county led by the minimum (1-4 to 0-6), but they gained the upper hand in the second half to win by 2-9 to 1-7. Shane Butler notched the Kilmainham goal, but it was little more than a consolation score.
As the Kilmainham players headed away from Ballinlough they had to face up to the reality that their championship journey was over. When all was said and done in group C the table showed that Moylagh had been dominant as they finished on top of the pile with a maximum haul of 10 points from their five matches.
Meath Hill, who had edged out Kilmainham in the second round, filled the other qualification place on eight points after winning four games and losing once. Kilmainham's tally of six points just wasn't enough. The three teams which finished below them in the section, Dunboyne on three points, Kilbride on two and Slane on just one, were the only sides they had managed to beat in a disappointing campaign.
Ross Mooney lined out at right corner-back in the 2006 junior final against St Ultan's and the 23 year-old is one of Kilmainham's top defenders. The Kells native has been living in Kilmainham for the past six years and works as a chef in the Headfort Arms Hotel. He played for the Meath senior team in the O'Byrne Cup against DCU four years ago and was a member of the county junior panel this year.
"Preparations went well on the run-up to the league and championship," Ross said as he looked back on 2010 for Kilmainham. "There was great morale in training and everybody was getting on great. Barry Lynch missed a few games because of injury and I missed one or two as well, but we had everybody for the championship.
"We started the championship well with a win over Dunboyne, but the second round game against Meath Hill at Nobber was a disaster. They were very strong physically. We have such a young team and that didn't suit us. It was the same later on against Moylagh.
"We didn't play well at all in that game against Meath Hill. We missed chance after chance and paid the price. After that we had easy wins against Slane and Kilbride, but those games didn't do us any good. They were weak teams."
Unfortunately for Kilmainham the winning sequence wasn't maintained when it mattered most and Moylagh overpowered them when the teams met in the last round of group matches at Ballinlough. It was still only early August and they had to face up to the reality that the championship race was over for them for another year. To say the least, it was painful.
"Moylagh were the team to beat in the group," Ross added. "They had 15 strong lads when we played them. It was a very poor performance from us, but Moylagh were very good all over the field. They were physically strong and cleaned us out at midfield. We missed early chances and we also had an error early on which gave them a penalty. Justin O'Reilly scored a goal from it and that started us off on the wrong footing.
"It was a huge disappointment. It's hard to work out why we don't seem to perform on the big day. You can blame whoever you like, but at the end of the day it's about the players. We had trained so hard all year, but we under-performed against Meath Hill and Moylagh."
The Kilmainham players and team management will probably look back on that loss to Meath Hill early in the championship as the one which really derailed their title ambitions. If they had won that game, as most observers would have expected them to do, the pressure would have been off going into the final round of group assignments. Ross agreed.
"Looking back on it, the defeat against Meath Hill in the second round was where we lost it," he said. "We would have expected to win that game. We have been struggling for consistency since we reached the junior final in 2006. We have had three managers. We have been chopping and changing. You really need consistency."
For a club that enjoyed the thrill of reaching the junior championship decider four years ago, even if it resulted in defeat, life in the grade has been proving frustrating since and not even getting through to play knockout football in 2010 was particularly disappointing for all concerned. It's now a matter of moving on and when winter has turned to spring they will concentrate on the 2011 title race with renewed determination. Kilmainham have a generally young team and that must offer great hope looking ahead.
"We need to get into Division 3 of the league and be playing against better and stronger teams," Ross said. "You need to be playing at a higher level in the league if you want to go places in the championship."
BFL 6 final: Kilmainham
power past Clonard
A fine second quarter display saw Kilmainham claim reserve league silverware in Trim with a 0-14 to 0-6 win over Clonard.
Kilmainham got of to a great start and with 15 minutes gone were 0-5 to 0-2 ahead. It was after this that the eventual winners pulled away from Clonard to take a 0-11 to 0-3 interval lead.
Goalie Paddy Hennigan was strong between the posts and pulled off some stunning saves, and with corner backs Darren O'Sullivan and Darren King playing to the highest of standards, the Kilmainham defence was in save hands.
Gerard Morgan guarded the centre half back line by clearing and picking up loose ball from midfield. Seanie Mahon's quick pace and direct ball gave Kilmainham great advantage, but most impressive for Kilmainham was young Shane Morgan who notched up five points.
Those who impressed for Kilmainham were Shane Morgan, Seanie Mahon, Gerard Morgan, Darren King, Darren O'Sullivan and Paddy Hennigan.
Kilmainham - Paddy Hennigan, Darren O Sullivan, Harry Newman, Darren King, Denis Newman 0-01, Gerard Morgan, Shane Butler 0-02, Trevor Lynch, Petsie Curran 0-01, Mark Newman 0-02, Seanie Mahon 0-01, Shane Morgan 0-05, Declan Nelson, Peter Smith, Fergal Black 0-02. Subs - Darren Morgan for Darren O Sullivan, Tom Monaghan for Trevor Lynch, Michael Mahon for Declan Nelson, Stephen Woods for Fergal Black Tweet
