Blackhall fail to build on explosive start
November 27, 2011
Blackhall's failure to build on their 20-point demolition of Simonstown Gaels in the first round of this year's SFC was a source of huge disappointment to everyone associated with the south Meath club as chairman Gerry Stenson explains.
When Blackhall Gaels trashed Simonstown Gaels by 3-18 to 1-4 in the opening round of this year's SFC at Dunsany, their supporters began to dream of a first Keegan Cup since their historic success in 2003.
Alas, it proved a false dawn as they failed to win another game in the championship. They drew with Wolfe Tones and Oldcastle, but defeats to local rivals Summerhill and Trim meant that they missed out on a place in the knockout stages for the second year in succession.
It was also a disappointing year for the Batterstown/Kilcloon club's hurlers who failed to progress beyond the group stage of the IHC following losses to Rathmolyon, Boardsmill and Dunderry. They did manage wins against Wolfe Tones and Kilmessan, but these weren't enough to keep them in the championship race.
"We were disappointed not to do a bit better in both football and hurling," admits Blackhall chairman Gerry Stenson.
"When you produce a performance like the one we did against Simonstown it gets your hopes up, so to go through the rest of the championship without winning a game was a huge letdown. But even though we suffered with emigration and injuries this year, we're not making any excuses. We had our chances to qualify for the quarter-finals but didn't take them."
Gerry, who like Blackhall's secretary Jane Keane is a native of Co. Leitrim (Gerry is from Carrick-on-Shannon and Jane hails from Aughawillan), regards the display against Simonstown as one of the best seen from the senior team since the club was formed in 1995.
"It was an incredible performance, especially when you consider the dreadful start we got off to. They scored a goal after only two minutes, but the lads keeping taking their points and I suppose the sending offs for Simonstown helped us to run out easy winners in the end. It was one of those days when everything went right for us," he says.
"It's just a pity we weren't able to follow it up with another couple of wins. We didn't take our chances against Summerhill, a bad decision went against us in last minute of the Wolfe Tones game, we were lucky to draw with Oldcastle and we won't even mention the Trim game. It was set up for us after we beat Simonstown but for some reason, we weren't able to build on that performance.
"We finished mid-table in Division 1 of the league and had a good run in the Feis Cup, but the championship was a disappointment overall."
Blackhall's SFC Group A opener against their fancied Navan opponents will be talked about in Kilcloon parish for some time to come. Under the guidance of former Laois star Leo Turley, who was also a helm when the Keegan Cup was annexed at Simonstown's expense eight years ago, and his selectors Noel Farrell and Bruce Crehan, Blackhall got off to the worst possible start when Mark McCabe fisted an early goal for the Navan side. But the wearers of blue and gold responded in the best possible fashion by scoring an unanswered 2-10. Indeed, it took Simonstown 27 minutes to raise their first white flag through county player Shane O'Rourke.
The Gaels had wiped out Simonstown's early lead before Sean Whelan scored the opening goal in the 20th minute from a penalty. Young Dermot Carty added a second goal six minutes later as Blackhall took an unassailable 2-11 to 1-1 lead into the break. It continued to be one-way traffic in the second half as frustration got the better of Simonstown players Shane O'Rourke, Seamus Kenny and Ciaran Kenny, who were all given their marching orders. A third goal from Sean Whelan within seconds of the restart killed off any hope of a Simonstown recovery.
Sadly and somewhat surprisingly, that was as good as it got for the Blackhall senior footballers in 2011. Against neighbours Summerhill in their second outing, they failed to make use of a strong wind in the early stages and trailed by 0-3 to 0-4 after 21 minutes. But four points without reply from Denis Beirne, Dan O'Neill, Dermot Carty and Sean Whelan ensured Leo Turley's men of a 0-7 to 0-4 interval lead.
A second championship win looked to be on the cards after two Sean Whelan frees and a Colm McElligot effort extended Blackhall's lead to 0-10 to 0-4 seven minutes after the restart. But they would only score once more through Whelan as Summerhill stormed back to snatch a 0-13 to 0-11 victory.
Blackhall's 1-9 to 2-6 draw with Wolfe Tones in Trim will be remembered for the disallowing of what appeared to be a legitimate goal by Sean Whelan in the first half, a red card and a controversial injury-time penalty. The sides were level on 0-7 to 1-4 at the break, but the tide looked to have turned in the Gaels' favour when Noel O'Hora fisted Sean Whelan's free to the net.
But deep into stoppage-time, referee Cormac Reilly awarded a dubious penalty against Eric Broad for over-carrying and Wolfe Tones made no mistake from the spot-kick to earn a share of the spoils.
Blackhall needed a last-gasp pointed free from Sean Whelan to rescue a second draw with Oldcastle in their round four meeting at Bohermeen. Oldcastle were on the brink of registering their first win of the campaign when a foul on substitute Mark Crampton presented Whelan with the chance to level matters.
Leading by 0-6 to 0-5 at half-time, the Kildare-border men lost their way in the third quarter as Oldcastle opened up a 0-9 to 0-7 lead. But with Whelan on song from placed balls, they fought back to earn a 0-10 apiece draw.
Going into their last group game against Trim in Summerhill, Blackhall knew that a victory would secure them a quarter-final berth. But a relegation-threatened Trim team pulled off a surprise 1-15 to 1-10 win to end the Gaels' hopes of progressing.
Trim led by 0-8 to 0-5 at the halfway stage, but a goal from Paddy O'Brien had Blackhall level within two minutes of the restart. However, they then suffered a blow when the influential midfielder was forced to retire with a hamstring injury and Trim never looked back after Derek Donohoe netted in the 41st minute to give them a 1-9 to 1-6 advantage.
After contesting the 2009 IHC final and the semi-final last year, James Battersby's Blackhall hurlers were expected to mount a strong challenge for championship honours, but defeats to Rathmolyon (0-15 to 2-12) and Boardsmill (0-9 to 3-17) in their first two games left them with a mountain to climb. They recovered to beat Wolfe Tones with a brace of Shane O'Loughlin goals and another from Dermot Carty - all in the first half - proving decisive in a 3-12 to 0-8 victory, but a third defeat to Dunderry (0-14 to 1-15) ended their hopes of reaching the knockout stages before they rounded off the campaign with a 1-14 to 1-4 win over Kilmessan's second string.
"Our hurlers were more badly hit by injuries and emigration than our footballers were," Gerry recalls.
"As well as three or four emigrating, we lost three lads to serious injuries. When won we the IHC a few years ago we were a bit too young for senior hurling and came back down after a year, but the difficulty now facing us is that we have lost a lot of that team."
Despite the club's proximity to Dublin, Stenson says Blackhall have small playing numbers.
"There's a perception that we are a big club with big numbers, but that couldn't be any further from the truth," he explains.
"While Kilcloon is a big parish in terms of geography, there are only 750 houses and many of them aren't involved in the GAA. A lot of people are working in Dublin and don't have any affiliation with the area. Kilcloon and Batterstown are dormitory villages really.
"As well as that, 65 per cent of the kids who go to school in Kilcloon are from Maynooth and many of the kids who go to school in Batterstown are from Dunboyne, Dunshaughlin and Drumree. So we have quite a small pick when everything is weighed up."
The chairman of the past two years continued: "We struggled to field a minor football team in the 13-a-side (Division 5) this year, only fielded at under 12 level in hurling and have no underage camogie teams. Having said that, we're determined to keep plugging away and hope that next year brings us better luck."
The Blackhall Gaels that hammered Simonstown in their SFC opener was: Thomas Dalton; Declan Dalton, Noel O'Hora, George Beirne; John Kelly, Alan Nestor, Daniel Carty; Donnacha Tobin, Paddy O'Brien; Eric Broad, Dan O'Neill, Sean Whelan; Dennis Beirne, Tadhg Brosnan, Dermot Carty. Sub used: Colm McElligot.
The Blackhall Gaels team which defeated Wolfe Tones in the IHC was: Emmett Dalton; Nigel O'Hora, Dave McGowan, John O'Malley; Shane Whitty, Thomas Delaney, Niall Mangan; Stephen Morris, Conor Delaney; Colm Whitty, John Kelly (0-1), Thomas Coyle; Dermot Carty (1-6, 5f), Shane O'Loughlin (2-4), Kevin Coyle (0-1). Subs used: Philip Carey, Colin Farrell, Dan Whitty and Kieran Devaney.
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