Much better from Syddan
November 27, 2011Syddan have spent the past number of months wondering what might have been had they been at full strength for their do-or-die Group B IFC clash with Dunderry last August.
Only needing a draw to qualify for the quarter-finals, there was heartbreak for the Louth-border side when injury-time points from Stephen Coogan and Martin Garry saw Dunderry win by 0-12 to 1-7 and progress at their expense.
But what if Brian Dillon hadn't failed a late fitness test, county minor Barry McConnell hadn't been ruled out with a cruciate ligament injury and Eamon Maguire had been in the country? And what if long-serving midfielder Stephen Dillon hadn't suffered a broken finger in the throw-in and was forced to retire a short time later? Would the result have been different? Syddan captain Pauric Young clearly thinks so.
"I think we would have won and gone on to play in the knockout stages if the injuries hadn't conspired against us," he says.
"While there is never a good time to suffer injuries, ours came at the worst possible time. We needed everyone to be fit for the Dunderry game because our whole season rested on that game. But it didn't turn out like that and we made our exit from the championship, despite finishing on five points.
"Some years five points would be enough to get you through, but not this year unfortunately."
Despite the bitter disappointment of missing out on a quarter-final spot, Pauric believes the men in the green and yellow hoops could still take a lot of positives from the season.
"It was a good year in the sense that we weren't fighting relegation. Last year we only won one championship match against our neighbours Castletown in the last round of the group phase and that was enough for us to avoid going into the relegation playoffs.
"I would put much of our improvement down to Shay Duff's influence. Shay took over as manager last year after Tommy Smyth stepped aside and got a great response from every player. He's building a new team that is almost unrecognisable from the one that lost the 2005 IFC final to Duleek after a replay. There are lots of new faces, most of the lads are under 25 and the future looks bright," adds the full back, who has been on the Meath junior team for the past four years and whose sister Lisa has also represented the Meath ladies at junior level.
Under the guidance of former stalwart player Duff and his selectors Jack Carry and Robert Sheehy, Syddan had to settle for a share of the spoils with Carnaross in their championship opener at Moynalty last April. Syddan played some excellent football in the first half to lead by 1-7 to 0-4 at the break, but Carnaross came out for the second half with all guns blazing and turned a six-point deficit into a three-point lead. But Syddan scored a late goal to salvage a 2-10 apiece draw.
The green and yellows registered the first win when they got the better of table-toppers Gaeil Colmcille by 0-9 to 1-4 in Carlanstown. The Kells men led by 0-3 to 0-2 at the end of a low-scoring opening half, but Syddan took over in the second half to open up a five-point lead before Alan Hickey grabbed a late consolation goal for the losers.
A 1-10 to 0-8 victory over St. Michael's in Drumconrath put Syddan within touching distance of a quarter-final place. Early points from Gary Farrelly, Patrick Farrelly and Brian Dillon had Shay Duff's charges 0-3 to 0-2 in front after 10 minutes. Dillon took centre stage in the second quarter when he shot 1-3 to help Syddan to a 1-8 to 0-5 interval lead.
While Syddan were restricted to just two points from county junior Cormac Rowe in the second half, their lead was never seriously threatened by opponents who were going down to their third defeat on the trot.
It all came down to the final round in Pairc Tailteann where Syddan faced Dunderry for a place in the last eight. In what was a typically full-blooded encounter, the north Meath side got off to a great start when Fiachra Ross punched a goal, but Dunderry recovered and points from Andy Coogan, Stephen Coogan and Aaron Newman had them ahead by 0-7 to 1-2 at half-time.
Dunderry had extended their lead to 0-10 to 1-4 with 10 minutes to go, but the Syddan men dug deep and drew level with scores from Ben Bashford, Ross and full back Young. A draw would have done them nicely, but Dunderry had other ideas and claimed victory thanks to a late brace of points.
Apart from their injuries, Syddan were left to rue Philip Duff's late effort, which struck the bottom of the Dunderry post and rebounded to safety. When your luck is out, your luck is out.
"I don't think we had anything to be ashamed of by going out of the championship early. When you look at the teams that were in the group with us, Carnaross were in the final last year and St. Michael's were in the semi-final. And Kells (who were beaten finalists) and Dunderry are strong intermediate teams as well," Pauric reasons.
Syddan were disappointed to go out to Longwood by 1-8 to 1-9 in the Feis Cup, when Ian Curran's last-minute goal wasn't enough to save them, while they struggled in Division 2 of the All-County League. They received a boost at underage level, however, when Killary Emmets withstood a late rally by Gaeil Colmcille to lift the under 16 Division 3 league title on a 5-9 to 4-8 scoreline at Pairc Tailteann.
Goals from Matthew Deans and Brian Carroll helped the Syddan-Castletown combination to a 2-7 to 1-3 interval advantage and they extended their lead to 10 points in the second half thanks to further majors from Deans, Kevin Carry and Ross Blaney. But a strong finish from the Kells lads left just four points in it at the finish.
"We had most of that under 16 team, so that obviously augurs well for the future. I was over at that final and I have to say I was very impressed with the talent that was on show. There's some great footballers in that group," Pauric enthuses.
While Syddan may no longer dominate Meath football like they did for much of the 1950s, they remain a true bastion of the GAA and look forward to the day when county honours come their way once again.
The Syddan team which was edged out by Dunderry in this year's IFC was: D O'Sullivan; B Bashford (0-1), P Young (0-1), D Kearney; P Rafferty, C Rowe, L Halpenny; P Duff, S Dillon; I Curran (0-1), S Malone (0-1), G Farrelly; F Ross (1-3), P Farrelly, P Meade. Subs used: J Farrelly, S Finnegan and M Cassidy.
Killary Emmets' under 16 league winners were: Ben Corcoran; Sean Clare, Ronan Mooney, James Duff; Diarmuid Roe, Mark Fedigan, Andrew Kenny; Kevin Traynor, Matthew Deans; Jamie McMahon, Darragh Rowe, Kevin Carry; Brian Carroll, Ross Blaney, JJ Meade. Subs: Daniel Duffy, William Bellew, Aaron McQuillan, Michael Fedigan, Aaron Sheerin, Cathal Dardis, Stephen Hoey, Luke Kenny and Dillon Smith. Tweet
