In Meath, hurling is by no means an easy business, but for over 15 years now David McGowan has continued to serve the Blackhall Gaels club to the best of his abilities. The experienced full-back spoke to Royal County about his club career and his time with the Meath juniors, with whom he tasted Leinster championship glory.

Playing the small ball game in a county which is dominated by the sport of Gaelic football doesn't have its appeal to everyone, but for David McGowan he wouldn't rather be doing anything else.
While hurling in Meath has its downfalls, David has experienced plenty of success during his playing career which he will never forget. Among his achievements with Blackhall Gaels are two county intermediate hurling championship triumphs and a junior championship success, while he also helped his native county to a coveted Leinster junior championship victory almost ten years ago.
However, the 31-year-old number three is far from content at leaving it there, as he hopes to help the Gaels capture another intermediate title and get a last crack against the top teams in the county before he bows out.

"I'm playing with Blackhall Gaels 14 or 15 years now and in that time we've won the junior once and the intermediate twice," David stated.
"It had been 30 odd years since we won the junior championship and Val Ledwith was over us that year. We had a lot of good players coming through the ranks then and Fergal Smith was one of our best.
"We won the intermediate in 2005 when Martin Curran was over us and we came straight back down from senior the following year, but we won it again in 2007. We struggled again in senior and it really showed that the difference between intermediate and senior is huge."

Nonetheless, David and co have been trying to get themselves back up to the senior ranks ever since, and in 2011 they made a strong bid when they stormed in the last eight of the Meath IHC, where they met the challenge of Kilskyre late August.
Under the managership of Kilmessan native James Battersby, David felt the Gaels were enjoying a reasonably good season up until the point where they came up against Kilskyre.

"The last couple of years we've been doing good by getting to semi-finals and quarter-finals," he said.
"James was over the team and things were going well when we got into the quarter-finals. The whole squad thought we had a very strong chance reaching a final if we could beat Kilskyre."
On the day, Blackhall Gaels would come up just short as two well-timed goals proved their undoing and Kilskyre's passage to the semi-finals, as they scored a 2-8 to 1-9 win in Dunderry.

The winners didn't have it all their own way, especially in the first half where they trailed by 1-5 to 0-3 at the break and it looked as though it was the Gaels' game to lose.
Blackhall where first off the mark when Dermot Carty pointed a free and added another two before Johnny Meyler finished to the Kilskyre net to put Battersby's men in a comfortable lead. Sean Geraghty was Kilskyre only scorer in the opening period, but it was the introduction of county senior footballer Peadar Byrne that gave the 2010 junior finalists the boost they needed.

Kilskyre got the perfect start to the second half when Simon Deevey booted to the Blackhall net and points from Lorcan Maguire and Tom Nugent left the match all square at 1-5 each. Another Deevey goal put Kilskyre ahead for the first time. Blackhall had to wait till the 15th minute for their opening score of the second-half courtesy of a well taken Dermot Carty point, but it was brace of points from Junior Reilly and one from Peadar Byrne sealed the win for Kilskyre and sent their opponents crashing out of the championship.

Despite the disappointment of ending another season empty-handed, David already has his sights set on 2012 and what he is hoping to achieve in the latter stages of his career. While a senior title may be somewhat far-fetched at this stage, David believes that another intermediate championship success is well within Blackhall Gaels' reach.

It's that positive outlook which has saw David achieve and keep his drive for success in past and present.
"I played Under 16 hurling with Meath, but broke my ankle the second game in so you could say that it should have been a short-lived career, but when I was called into the junior and stuck at it and won a Leinster junior medal in 2003," he stated.
The following years saw the Royals complete a three-in-a-row of provincial triumphs before the introduction of the Christy Ring and Nicky Rackard Cups in 2005.

The Christy Ring Cup hasn't proved a happy hunting ground for Meath since, and while David's inter-county career is long at an end he is still able to give a valid opinion as to why the small ball game is struggling in the county compared to how it has advanced in some places.
"I think problem is the support with hurling in Meath," he stated. "It's very hard to keep because football is so big here and it's a football county. It will be very hard for Meath, the way the inter-county structure is, to become a top tier team.
"Dublin have made a great impact, but that is something which is coming the last 15 years. It wasn't so long ago that Meath were expected to beat Dublin when ever they met them in hurling. Now Dublin are up there with the rest of the top contenders to win the All-Ireland and there's no reason why Meath can't be there one day."

An optimist, no doubt, but who's to say he's wrong?
David McGowan works at McGowan's Batterstown Ltd in Rathregan Batterstown, Co. The building company was founded by his father Jim McGowan - a carpenter by trade - back in 1977. Jim is still the company's director and runs things along with his wife Katherine. Tweet

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