Nobber hold their own
November 27, 2011Nobber's phenomenal achievements in 2010 were always going to be a hard act to follow and so it proved as they made an early exit from this year's senior football championship race.
But it was by no means a poor season for the north Meath outfit who were happy to consolidate their place in the top flight after an exhaustive 2010 campaign which carried over into this year.
"This year was all about finding out feet in senior football and holding our own," selector Thomas Tierney explains.
"It was our first year back in senior in nearly 20 years and it would have been unrealistic to expect us to win it. We lost a few games, but I think we showed in our win over Seneschalstown that we are well up to this level. I personally think we are good enough for senior football and I'd expect us to push on and become a competitive force over the next couple of years."
After capturing the Mattie McDonnell Cup, winning the All-County Football League Division 3 title and partaking in the Celebrity Bainisteoir programme on RTE, Nobber could have done with a break and some time to recharge the batteries at the end of last year. But their run to the Leinster club IFC final - which was postponed on several occasions due to the freezing weather - meant they were back in action just three weeks after Christmas.
Having tasted provincial and All-Ireland success on the back of their 2002 junior championship success, the black and golds were eager to repeat those heroics in the intermediate grade, but a 0-10 to 0-12 defeat to Kildare champions Ballymore in Ballymore Eustace put paid to such hopes.
With Kildare senior star James Kavanagh on board, Ballymore made the most of the breeze in the first half to lead by 0-9 to 0-4 at half-time. But three points-in-a-row from Brian Farrell and another from Gordon Weldon left just the minimum between the sides with less than 10 minutes remaining. However, the home side responded with two points and survived a late goal attempt by Brendan Heffernan - which flew inches over the crossbar - to capture the Leinster crown.
That defeat was soon forgotten about when Nobber's second team defeated Trim by 1-13 to 0-11 in the delayed All-County League Division 3 Reserve final on the last weekend of January. That victory brought the club's 2010 trophy haul to three, while they were also runners-up in the aforementioned Leinster club IFC final and the JFC 'C' final to Donaghmore/Ashbourne.
"Last year was an incredible year for us, but the downside to it was that it ran into this year and the lads had no time to recover. 2011 just crept up on us. We couldn't do any hard training for fear that we'd burn them out altogether," recalls Thomas, who was part of a management team comprising Davy Cahill (manager) and former Cavan star Michael Faulkner, who replaced Andy Hayes as a selector this year.
Despite their long season and lack of senior experience, Nobber didn't look out of place among the elite of Meath football. Drawn in Group B, they were beaten by Navan O'Mahony's, Dunshaughlin and Donaghmore/Ashbourne but produced a superb performance to shock last year's beaten finalists Seneschalstown.
"That was the highlight," Thomas says without any hesitation.
"Along with O'Mahony's, they are favourites to win the championship every year and it was a big thing for us to beat them. Overall, I thought we gave a very good account of ourselves."
A brace of goals from county full back Kevin Reilly proved Nobber's undoing against O'Mahony's in the first round at Castletown. After trailing by 0-4 to 1-7 at the interval, Davy Cahill's charges suddenly came to life in the final quarter when Brendan Heffernan's point was followed by a Brian Farrell goal which left just two points in it with three minutes remaining.
But the town side, who had their captain Barry Regan sent off following an off-the-ball incident in the 37th minute, steadied themselves and after Alan Forde pointed, Reilly grabbed his second goal to give them a somewhat flattering 2-10 to 1-7 victory.
There was more disappointment for Nobber when they succumbed to Dunshaughlin by 1-7 to 1-12 in their second outing in Simonstown. After controlling the first 20 minutes, the north Meath side found themselves trailing by 0-5 to 0-6 at the break. They regained the lead immediately after the restart when Brian Farrell netted, but a goal in reply from Cathal O'Dwyer put Dunshaughlin back in the driving seat.
Nobber's long wait for a senior championship win was finally ended when they stunned Seneschalstown on a 2-12 to 0-14 scoreline at Rathkenny. Brian Farrell was in inspirational form for the winners, finishing with a personal tally of 0-8. Brothers Alan and Niall Farrell also played key roles in the success, with midfielder Alan accounting for both of their goals.
His first goal came at the end of the opening quarter when a free-kick from 60 yards deceived Seneschalstown goalkeeper David Lyons and ended up in the back of the net. That score gave the north county side a 1-4 to 0-3 lead and they had extended their advantage to five points, 1-9 to 0-7, by half-time.
The 2009 Keegan Cup winners quickly reduced the gap to two points on the restart, but Nobber kept their cool and they never looked back after Alan Farrell converted a penalty in the 48th minute that had been awarded for a foul on Brian Farrell.
Sadly for Nobber, that was as good as it got with an unlucky 1-7 to 0-12 defeat to Donaghmore/Ashbourne in their fourth outing putting paid to their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals with a round still to play against Simonstown.
Davy Cahill's men looked to have grabbed a precious victory when wing back Philip McEntee's goal gave them a 1-7 to 0-9 lead in injury-time. But there was still time for their Dublin-border opponents to hit back with two frees from Eoin Reilly and one from play by Ciaran Beirne.
Donaghmore/Ashbourne had led by 0-5 to 0-4 at half-time, but a brace of converted frees from Brian Farrell put Nobber ahead before the winners rallied again to open up a 0-8 to 0-6 lead. McEntee's goal seemed to have won it for Nobber, but there was a late sting in the tail.
In the relegation playoffs Nobber put in one of their best displays of the season with a 1-16 to 3-8 win over Trim. That result plus Trim's subsequent loss to Duleek/Bellewstown guaranteed senior football in Nobber during 2012.
While Nobber haven't been immune from the scourge of emigration, they haven't been as badly affected as some clubs as Thomas explains: "We have lost Jamie Owens, Brian Meade and Richard Shields to America, but we've been luckier than most clubs. We've good young players like Paul Meade, Karl Cassidy and Fiachra McEntee coming through and we're not too bad regarding numbers."
The highlight of Nobber's year at underage level was their comeback win over Dunsany in the under 14 Division 5 championship final at Pairc Tailteann. Dunsany led by 2-2 to 0-2 at the break and there looked to be no way back for Nobber when they added a third goal to lead by 3-4 to 0-4 early in the second half. Inspired by Aidan Shields, however, Nobber staged a remarkable recovery to win by 5-7 to 5-6 with the in-form corner forward helping himself to a personal tally of 4-1.
Nobber also contested an under 12 final, only to lose to Oldcastle.
The Nobber team which shocked Seneschalstown in this year's SFC was: C O'Reilly; P Weldon, B O'Reilly, A O'Brien; P McEntee, C Clarke, B Meade; A Farrell 2-0 (1f, 1pen), G Farrelly; N Farrell 02, B Heffernan, G Campbell; J Owens 0-1, B Farrell 0-8 (3f, 1sl), D Lambe 0-1. Subs: F McEntee for Campbell, R Shields for Meade.
Nobber's under 14 championship winning team was: Thomas Murtagh; Michael Bradley, Alan Jackson; Cormac Clarke, Ryan Hughes, Eoin McAllister; Sam Ogumgbe, Darragh Cassidy; Jordan Morris, Oliver Campbell, Jack Condra; Ben Sheridan, Aidan Shields. Subs used: Kevin Shalvey and Patrick Horgan. Tweet
