Pascal Kelleghan is challenging his Ballinabrackey players to build on their phenomenal achievements of the past 12 months and become a senior club in the not too distant future.
Ballinabrackey could be forgiven for resting on their laurels after their wonderful achievements in late 2010 and early 2011. A first Matthew McGinnity Cup in 25 years, which was their fifth in all, was followed by an historic Leinster club junior championship last January.
And while they failed to add the All-Ireland crown, it was still the most successful and exciting championship run the Offaly-border club has ever had. No sooner had that campaign ended than manager Pascal Kelleghan and his selectors Darren Bannon, Aidan Dalton and Christy Cooney were plotting an assault on this year's intermediate football championship.
Drawn in Group C, they looked set to reach the knockout stages following victories over Cortown and local rivals Longwood, but a late collapse against Ballinlough in their third outing left them with too much to do going into their last game against Na Fianna.
"Our aim at the start of the year was to win the intermediate championship. People might say that was a bit ambitious coming from a club that had just come up from junior, but I was and still am convinced that there is enough talent in the club to win the intermediate," former Offaly star Kelleghan says.
"Unlike other counties, the step-up from junior to intermediate in Meath isn't huge. I'd say the Meath junior championship is as competitive and as hard to win as any in the country. We put ourselves in a great position to qualify for the quarter-finals after winning our first two games, but then the wheels came off the wagon in the closing stages of the Ballinlough game.
"We were two points up with 12 minutes to go but faded out of it after that and they won by five points in the end, which was very disappointing from our point of view."
A multiple Offaly SFC medal winner with Rhode whom he remains a key player for, Kelleghan concedes that the long season may have taken its toll on his Ballinabrackey charges.
"We basically had a 14-month training year which started in January 2010 and carried over into 2011," he reflects.
"After we lost the All-Ireland semi-final to Swanlinbar at the beginning of this year, we went straight into another campaign. Ideally, you would like to have had time to recover and freshen up. But I wouldn't have swapped winning the Leinster championship for the world.
"It's something I have been trying to achieve as a player with Rhode for a long time, and it was a dream come true to do it with Ballinabrackey in my first year with them. I went down there to win a county championship and to win the Leinster as well surpassed all my expectations."
With Rhode also reaching the Leinster club senior football final last year, the 31-year-old admits it was difficult at times to juggle both commitments. On one particular Sunday afternoon last November, Rhode and Ballinabrackey were involved on a double-bill at Pairc Tailteann in their respective Leinster semi-finals, and Pascal was forced to walk away from Ballinabrackey at half-time in their 0-8 to 0-5 victory over Westmeath's Milltownpass and prepare for Rhode's clash with Skyrne, which followed immediately afterwards.
"It got fairly hectic, but when you're winning it makes it that bit easier. I enjoyed every minute of it and that was a big reason why I wanted to give it another year with Ballinabrackey. I've built up a special relationship with these lads, they're extremely committed, and I owed it to them to come back for another year," he explains.
After defeating Ballivor by 3-11 to 0-11 to end their long wait for McGinnity Cup honours last year, Ballinabrackey embarked on an extended provincial run that saw them beat the champions of Longford, Kilkenny and Westmeath before overcoming St. Andrew's of Carlow in the final, which was postponed by over a month due to the freezing conditions until January 16.
Despite having to travel to Dr Cullen Park for the decider, the Bracks brought big support. However, they must have feared the worst at half-time when their team trailed by 0-3 to 0-5 having played with the breeze and the sun in the opening 30 minutes.
But within eight minutes of the restart, the Meath champions took the lead through unanswered points from Seamus Curry, Damien Carroll and Danny Quinn. Their Bagenalstown opponents replied with a fisted goal in the 41st minute, but it prove to be their only score of the second half as the Bracks eventually wore them down with some delightful scores in the final quarter.
Now only Swanlinbar, who had won the Ulster title on objection, stood between Ballinabrackey and an All-Ireland final appearance at Croke Park. Once again the green and gold brigade turned out in large numbers at Kenagh, Co. Longford, but this time they were left disappointed after the Cavan side scraped a 0-5 to 0-4 win.
The new season quickly came around for the Bracks and a mere 10 weeks after their All-Ireland odyssey had ended, they were lining out against Cortown in the opening round of the Meath intermediate championship. They came away with a 1-12 to 2-5 win and followed that up with another victory over Longwood where goals from Damien Carroll (penalty) and Danny Quinn propelled them to a 2-8 to 0-10 triumph.
But their championship hopes were dealt a huge setback when they suffered a 0-5 to 0-10 defeat to Ballinlough in Athboy. Ballinlough led by 0-3 to 0-2 at the end of the opening quarter thanks to scores from Lorcan Maguire, Kevin Devine and Colm Mallen, but with Damien Carroll in fine form from placed balls, the Bracks recovered to take a 0-5 to 0-3 lead into the break.
Incredibly, they failed to score again as Ballinlough reeled off seven points without reply in the second half to leave Pascal Kelleghan's side needing to beat an inform Na Fianna by five points in their remaining group - a task which sadly proved beyond them.
"It's crazy to think that one championship defeat can cost you a place in the knockout stages. In the Offaly intermediate championship, a team could lose two or three games and still get through. But, as I said already, the Meath championships are very competitive," Kelleghan says.
Ballinabrackey continue to put in a big effort at underage level and this year they could take encouragement from the achievements of their minor and under 16 teams who contested - albeit unsuccessfully - league finals. The minors lost the Division 7 league final to Dunsany by 0-9 to 4-12, while the under 16s succumbed to Bective/Canninstown on a 1-5 to 5-12 scoreline in their league decider.
In the early stages of the minor final, the Bracks played some excellent football and points from David Finn, Michael Kearney, William Lee and Aaron Gannon had them 0-4 to 0-2 up after 15 minutes. But 1-2 from half forward Nathan Pleavin helped Dunsany to a 1-5 to 0-7 lead at the break.
Unfortunately for Ballinabrackey, the second half turned into something of a nightmare as Dunsany added three more goals to run out comfortable winners. The Bracks' only response was two points from Evan Daly and Michael Kearney.
The Offaly-border outfit suffered an even bigger defeat to an impressive Bective/Canninstown combination in the under 16 final. The winners stormed into a 4-8 to 0-2 lead at half-time thanks to a brace of goals from Michael Lyness and one each from Adam Keating and John Moran. Ballinabrackey's best spell came in the opening minutes of the second half when Evan Daly got a point and then Shane Dunning got in for a goal. The same player hit the post with another great effort minutes later. However, Bective/Canninstown soon regained control and weren't to be denied.
The Ballinabrackey team which faced Bective/Canninstown in the U16 league final was: David cooney, Keith Quinn, Howard Monz, Shane Lee, Dean Mooney, Paddy Donaghue, Dara Kennedy (0-2), Shane Dunning (1-0), Adam Quinn, Evan Daly (0-2), Kevin Swords, Mark Kavanagh, Aran Kennedy. Subs: Eric Clancy, Dean Coyne and Shane Darby.
Bracks goals land U21FC title
Three goals over the course of the Coolrite Refrigeration Ltd Under 21 F 'C' final at Trim ensured Ballinabrackey overcame Dunderry (3-7 to 0-11).
The crucial moment came when Dunderry had a man sent off on the restart. Ballinabrackey led by 2-3 to 0-7 at the break but the gap was down the minimum when the referee issued the red card.
Ballinabrackey sensed the opportunity and kept Dunderry at bay, before they got in for a third goal, from John Lee, at the start of the final quarter.
That left it 3-5 to 0-10 and with numerical advantage, Ballinabrackey saw out the hour to claim the Stiofain O Mealoid Cup.
Ballinabrackey captain Danny Quinn was the game's top scorer from play and put 1-3 to his name. His fourth minute goal left it 1-0 to 0-2.
Another player with JFC-winning experience Damien Carroll netted the second goal from a 20th minute penalty awarded for a foul on Kevin Coyne and the board read 2-2 to 0-4.
Dunderry to their credit levelled the game at 0-10 to 2-4 with 40 minutes gone.
However, Ballinabrackey outscored their opponents by 1-3 to 0-1 from there to the end to claim the spoils.
Ballinabrackey - G. Murray; M. Kearney, S. Donoghue; D. Thompson, N. Judge, K. Coyne; D. Carroll (1-3, 1-0 p, 0-2 fs), P. Lee; W. Lee, P. Kenny, A. Munnelly; D. Quinn (1-3), J. Lee (1-0). Subs - N. Thompson for W. Lee, D. Finn (0-1) for Coyne (both 41), V. Connolly for J. Lee (57).