Carnaross out of luck
November 27, 2011
Carnaross' failure to build on their appearance in last year's IFC final was a source of huge disappointment to their captain Paddy Nugent who believes they didn't get the same breaks in this season's campaign.
After reaching last year's IFC final, Carnaross had set their sights on going a step further this year. So it was a major disappointment for all involved with the Cavan-border club when their championship involvement failed to extend beyond the group stage.
Carnaross' failure to build on the great strides made during 2010 has led to suggestions that they were a flash in the pan or a one-season wonder. It has also been suggested that they still haven't recovered from their crushing 0-7 to 3-12 loss to Nobber in the Mattie McDonnell Cup decider, but while admitting that his team didn't play as well this year, Carnaross captain Paddy Nugent believes it was more a case of them not getting the same breaks as last year.
"Whereas last year we got a lot of luck in the group stages, we didn't get any this year," he contends.
"We played our best football in the knockout stages last year, and I think we would have done the same if we had got the chance again this year. I don't think we were any poorer or any less prepared this year - we just didn't get the breaks. Everyone knows there's very little between any of the intermediate teams and it usually comes down to luck.
"But luck wasn't on our side this year unfortunately."
The long-serving defender continues: "We were very disappointed with the way the year panned out because our minimum target was to qualify for the knockout stages. Things were looking good after the first two rounds when we had three points on the board, but we lost our way after that."
While Dublin native Alan Stephens was once again at the helm this year, he had two new selectors in Thomas Farrelly and Joe Morrissey who replaced Malachy Plunkett, Alan Gillic and John O'Reilly. Drawn in Group B of the IFC, Carnaross' first game was against Syddan and following an exciting contest at Moynalty, they had to be content with a share of the spoils.
Syddan led by six points after 20 minutes, but a Declan Reilly goal brought Carnaross back into it and just three points, 1-4 to 1-7, separated the teams at the break. Within minutes of the restart, last year's finalists were on level terms thanks to a second goal from Niall McDonnell, and Ollie Murphy and McDonnell followed up with points to push them two clear.
When John L McGee made it a three-point game with 10 minutes to go, Carnaross looked set to prevail but Syddan then struck for an equalising goal. Brian Comaskey edged the Carnaross back in front again, only for Syddan to reply again and leave the sides locked on 2-10 apiece at the final whistle.
Alan Stephens' charges registered their only win of the campaign against local rivals St. Michael's in their second round meeting at Kells. John L McGee's second-minute goal gave Carnaross a dream start and further scores from Niall McDonnell, Peter Mullan and McGee had them six points clear after only five minutes. But St. Michael's gradually reduced the deficit and hit four points without reply in the closing stages of the half to leave the sides level at the break on 1-7 each.
The Carlanstown/Kilbeg outfit took the lead for the first time after the restart, but they could never get to grips with the outstanding John L McGee who shot six second half points to bring his tally for the day to 1-10 as Carnaross ran out 1-15 to 1-10 winners.
Sadly for the Cavan-border club, that was as good as it got in this year's championship. Their neighbours Gaeil Colmcille inflicted the first of two costly defeats on them in Moynalty on May 15. The Kells men immediately stamped their authority on proceedings by scoring two goals inside the first three minutes, but John L McGee led a Carnaross comeback with a brace of goals (the second from a penalty) to leave them trailing by just two points, 2-3 to 2-5, at the break.
However, the dismissal of substitute Stein Carpenter left Carnaross facing an uphill task in the second half and, while McGee netted a second penalty to bring them back onto level terms, Kells' numerical advantage eventually told as they ran out 2-10 to 3-4 winners.
A 1-8 to 0-14 defeat to Dunderry in their final group game confirmed Carnaross' exit from the championship. There was nothing to separate the sides until Dunderry popped over two points in first half injury-time to take a 0-7 to 0-5 lead into the interval.
Dunderry had extended their advantage to five points before John L McGee gave Carnaross hope with a goal following a long ball in from his brother Dermot. However, Dunderry scored the next three points and, although McGee and Paddy Nugent replied for Carnaross, it was a case of too little, too late.
"The rot probably set in against Kells when we let in two goals in the first three minutes and then went down to 14 men after 20 minutes," remembers the captain, whose brothers Thomas and Peter are also key members of the Carnaross defence.
"And then we kicked 14 wides against Dunderry, which came back to haunt us in the end. It's very hard to win any championship match when you put up a wides tally like that."
Consistency, or lack of it, was a problem for Carnaross this year and never was this more evident than in the Feis Cup when they shocked Seneschalstown in the first round, only to make a tame exit at the hands of Longwood in their next game. Their Jekyll and Hyde form also put paid to their hopes of securing promotion from Division 3 of the All-County League.
"I know Seneschalstown were missing a few players the day they played us, but it was still a big scalp for us to take. It was probably our best win of the year, but then we went and lost our next game to Longwood which was obviously very frustrating," explains Paddy, who captained Meath to win a Leinster JFC title in 2006 and was left corner back on the team that defeated Galway in the All-Ireland final three years previously.
Nugent welcomes the emergence of players from last year's Division 5 minor league winning team, insisting that this injection of new blood is "badly needed".
He adds: "It's great to have good young players like Niall McDonnell, Charles and Michael Brogan and Damian Smith coming through. We also had Declan Reilly back from Canada, which was a big boost to us this year. Thankfully, we haven't been affected too badly by emigration and long may that continue to be the case."
Needless to say, the stalwart defender hopes Carnaross can bounce back in 2012 and that Alan Stephens will be there to lead them once again.
"Alan has done a lot for us since he became manager. We were flirting with relegation to junior when he came to us, but he transformed our fortunes in a short space of time and we're all the better for having him at the helm," he concludes.
The Carnaross team that defeated St. Michael's in this year's IFC was: Cillian Comaskey; Michael Brogan, Thomas Nugent, Peter Nugent; Eamonn Comaskey, Paddy Nugent, Peter Farrelly; Charles Brogan, Brian Comaskey; Declan Reilly, John L McGee (1-10), Damian Smith; Ollie Murphy, Peter Mullan (0-2), Niall McDonnell (0-3). Subs used: John Plunkett, Dermot McGee and Ciaran McDonnell.
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