Cleary predicts Cortown upturn
November 27, 2011These are tough times for Cortown. A competitive senior outfit not so long ago, they found themselves relegated to the junior ranks this year after a poor run of results in the intermediate championship.
Since throwing in his lot with the green and golds nine years ago, Con Cleary has witnessed their decline first hand. It hasn't been easy, but he's convinced there's enough pride, determination and emerging talent to turn things around.
"Numbers, or lack of them, is our biggest problem. We lost four lads - Gary Coyne, Paddy Kerrigan, Stephen Fitzmaurice and Deccie Casserly - to emigration this year and for a small club, they were devastating losses," he says.
"Cortown and Kilmacud Crokes are worlds apart in terms of numbers. Crokes are one of the biggest GAA clubs in the country and their biggest problem is providing games for everyone.
"In contrast, Cortown have small numbers but we are still able to put out two teams and have 24 or 25 down training every night. We had a great team in the late '80s and early '90s and a lot of the lads who played then now have kids playing. We want to get back up to that level and I've no doubt it can be done.
"There is fierce pride in this club and the talent is coming at underage level. In the meantime, we'll keep it going, keep rolling out the teams and keep trying to better ourselves."
Con was 31 when he joined Cortown from his native Kilmacud Crokes in 2002. He had 13 success-filled years with the Stillorgan club, winning three Dublin SFC medals and an All-Ireland club title in 1995 when he lined out at full back in the final against Bellaghy of Derry. He captained Crokes from 1996 to 2000 before a move to Kells saw him come on Cortown's radar.
"My wife Una O'Keeffe is a Kells woman and that's how I ended up moving down there," recalls Con, whose son Sean was a member of the Gaeil Colmcille under 10 team this year.
"My brother-in-law Brian Dowds knew John Henry, who was a player and a selector with Cortown at the time, and that's how my involvement with the club came about. I've been with them nine years and still play a bit of junior football for them.
"When I joined Cortown first, they were a strong senior team and had a lot of good players. The likes of the Henrys, Packie, Kit and John, were still playing and Brian Murtagh was manager. In 2004, we reached a SFC quarter-final under Mattie McCabe but lost to Skryne. That was probably the last hurrah for that team as we were relegated to intermediate two years later.
"We were nearly relegated to junior in 2007 but survived and bounced back to reach the intermediate final the following year under John Henry where we were beaten by our parish rivals St. Ultan's. Gordon Codd was forced to retire through injury shortly afterwards - that put a bit of pressure on us and we've been battling to hold our own since then."
This year was Enfield man Damien Griffin's second in charge of Cortown with Cleary and Glen Loughran acting as his selectors. One of Cortown's top players of the past decade, Loughran tore his cruciate ligament last year and was forced to sit out most of the 2010 championship and as well as this year's campaign.
"He has been a huge loss to us, but he's close to regaining full fitness again and that can only be good news for Cortown. Glen was a mainstay of the Meath junior team for many years; he's a quality player. Gary Coyne, Colm Kerrigan and John McFadden have also played with the county juniors, while Darragh O'Halloran was on the Meath minors a few years ago," Con explains.
Cortown endured a difficult 2011 intermediate championship campaign. Drawn in Group C, they lost their opening game to newly-promoted Ballinabrackey by 1-5 to 1-12 and further defeats to Na Fianna (1-6 to 2-14) and Ballinlough (0-2 to 0-8) left them with no chance of reaching the knockout stages before they faced Longwood in their final game. The manner of the defeat to Na Fianna in Boardsmill was especially hard to take as Cortown had raced into a 1-2 to 0-1 inside 10 minutes and were still very much in the game at half-time, only to fade away after the restart.
Against Ballinlough, they were within striking distance with 15 minutes to go but once again finished poorly and were decisively beaten.
In the relegation playoff Cortown were in a three way playoff with St. Michaels and parish rivals St. Ultan's. Cortown lost out to St. Michael's by six points. The Carlanstown men had already defeated Ultan's which set up a do or die battle between the two neighbours.
A big crowd turned out in Kilmainham but it was St Ultan's who came out on top and consigned Cortown to the junior ranks for 2012.
Cortown's second team fared only slightly better in the junior 'C' championship. After a great 0-14 to 0-4 victory over Ballivor in the first round, they suffered defeats to Duleek/Bellewstown (0-10 to 1-10) and Rathkenny (0-5 to 0-12). Against the latter, Cortown fell four points in arrears after 10 minutes before Con Cleary kicked two quick points to halve the deficit. But Rathkenny had surged into a six-point lead by half-time and, despite the best efforts of Trevor Coyne, Ivan Coyne, Declan Clarke and Alex Butler, Cortown couldn't close the gap in the second half.
The highlight of an otherwise disappointing year for Cortown was the appearance of St. Cuthbert's in the minor league Division 6 final. And while defeat was their lot against local rivals Gaeil Colmcille, the Cortown-St. Ultan's combination could still take a great deal of encouragement from their performances throughout the campaign.
For long periods in the final, it looked like Gaeil Colmcille would run out comfortable winners but St. Cuthbert's never gave up and two late goals left only four points - 2-8 to 2-4 - in it at the final whistle.
The Kells side led by 1-4 to 0-2 at the break, with Ryan O'Rourke accounting for both of St. Cuthbert's points. Tony Smyth reduced the deficit on the restart before goalkeeper Cian Farnan produced two fine saves to deny Hugh Martyn and Oisin Reilly. However, he was eventually beaten by Reilly for Gaeil Colmcille's second goal and further scores from Liam Ferguson, Reilly and Ryan O'Reilly pushed the winners 10 points clear.
But inspired by Tony Smyth, St. Cuthbert's kept going and a brace of goals from Ryan O'Rourke had them back in the hunt. Unfortunately, though, time ran out on St. Cuthbert's brave comeback. Among those to impress for the Bohermeen parish side were Cian Farnan, Conor Smyth, Tony Smyth, Ryan O'Rourke and Mark Allen.
"There is great work being done at underage level," Cleary enthuses.
"People from both sides of the parish are putting in a huge amount of work. St. Cuthbert's are particularly strong in the grades below under 14. It gave everyone involved a great lift to see the minors play in a county final this year. They may not have won the cup, but they put up a great show that can only auger well for the future of both clubs."
The Cortown team which faced Rathkenny in the junior 'C' championship was: Vincent Keating; Glen Flanagan, Patrick Watters, Brian Tiernan; Richard Reilly, Mervyn O'Brien, Tomas O'Brien; Liam Rennicks, Declan Clarke; Brian Faulkner, Trevor Coyne, Keith Flanagan; Ivan Coyne, Con Cleary, Christopher McGrath. Subs: Micheal Reilly for Christopher McGrath, Alex Butler for Keith Flanagan, Glen Loughran for Liam Rennicks, Colm Tevlin for Tomas O'Brien, Tom Boyle for Mervyn O'Brien. Tweet
