North county outfit Meath Hill set their stall out at the beginning of the year to regain their Div. 4 'A' league status and make it to the knockout stages of the Junior 'A' Football Championship. Club secretary and captain Tadhg Boyle reviewed the year. In the aftermath of Meath Hill's narrow defeat in the final of the Div. 5 'A' league final at the hands of St. Brigid's, Tadhg Boyle admitted to having bitter-sweet memories of his first year in the club's secretarial hot seat. True, the 'Hill had make it to the knock-out stages of the Junior 'A' Football Championship and had gained promotion to Div. 4 of the league, which were the club's primary objectives at the start of the year. But it rankles Tadhg that they let St. Brigid's out of Kells on Sunday October 17 with the Div. 5 League title. It irks even more because he had a couple of chances in the closing stages to level the match, having scored the Hill's second half goal to haul them back into the match. "Our goal was to win the final once we got there. Obviously gaining promotion was a great consolation prize. We were six points down at once stage in the second half and came back to within a point of them 1-13 to 1-14, but we ran of time. I missed a free and another chance in the closing stages," he commented ruefully. Had one of those chances dissected the posts, the game would have gone to extra time. "We finished the stronger and we were pushing for extra time at the very least. Their backs were to the wall and we were camped in their half. I was confident of beating them had the game gone to extra time." Meath Hill's aim of regaining Div. 4 league status centred on their long-term ambitions in the Junior 'A' Football Championship. "We always felt we were out of place in Div. 5 considering the effort we put in this year. We met on 106 occasions, between training sessions, challenge, league and championship matches. We were confident the effort would pay off," he added. "Next year we will meeting a better class of opposition, which will stand us in good stead in the championship. The experience of playing better teams in the league, will be of great benefit to the younger members of the panel." Tadhg is fulsome in his praise of new coach, Andy Hayes who managed near neighbours Nobber to Junior 'A' glory in 2002. Hayes teamed up with club stalwarts Sean Boyle, Pat Matthews and Liam McCabe to form a formidable backroom quartet. "Andy did extremely well with Nobber and we were delighted to get him. He was a great asset to us and we are sure he will bring us to another level next year." With Hayes on board the Meath Hill bandwagon, talk of mounting a serious challenge on the Junior 'A' Football Championship was also in the offing. The Hill opened their account with a narrow victory over St. Vincent's in Round 1. " Nigel Maguire got our goal that day. It was a strange game in that we deserved our victory, even though we only had a point to spare at the finish, 1-11 to 1-10. St. Vincent's probably felt they deserved something out of that game," he recalled. The North Meath outfit gathered their second brace of points when they pipped Kilmainham 0-11 to 0-10 in Round 2. "There was very little between the teams as the score suggests. It was a win nonetheless and kept the momentum going," Tadhg added. St. Mary's provided Round 3 opposition - once again the Hill came out on top in a close fought victory 1-10 to 0-10. "Paddy Owens got the crucial goal that day. It was one of our better performances of the year. St. Mary's have been a hoodoo team for many years. We always struggled against them. We were confident of beating them, but we were conscious of the history between the teams, so we were happy to lay that hoodoo to rest," he elaborated. South Meath outfit Summerhill were waiting in the wings in Round 4. Once again it was a close fought encounter, with Meath Hill shading the decision. "We had a good outing against Summerhill in Bective. It was low scoring game, but Derek McMahon got the winner for. A lot of their team would have had senior experience in the past, so it was a good result for us." Just when it looked like Meath Hill were home and dried and in the Junior 'A' quarter-finals fellow North Meath hopefuls, St. Michael's loomed on the horizon in Round 5. The Hill new from the beginning of the year that St. Michael's were arguably the best team in the group and serious championship contenders. "We would have met them on numerous occasions in the past. We beat them in the quarter-final in 2002. We were keeping an ear out for their results all through the group," Tadhg added. "Our inability to get scores let us down on the day (they were beaten 0-9 to 0-7). We had been finding it hard to put up big winning scores all year. The backs did a great job of holding Daithi Regan to three or four points, but we only managed seven points, which wouldn't win too many games." The got their championship challenge back on track in Round 6 when they scored a three-point victory over Dunboyne, 1-11 to 1-8. "We had three points to spare over Dunboyne. That victory guaranteed us a place in the quarter-finals, which meant the pressure was off us in the last game in the group," he recalled. Meath Hill unconsciously took their foot of the gas in their final group game against Moylagh and paid the ultimate penalty. "We probably should have pushed on for the win against Moylagh, because it would have left us with an easier quarter-final. We were missing a few key players that day, but we wouldn't use that as an excuse. Moylagh deserved their victory." If Meath Hill had accounted for Moylagh in that game, they would have leap-frogged Dunboyne into second place in the group behind St. Michael's. That would have given us a quarter-final against Skryne, which would have been preferable to Dunsany who have been threatening to win the Junior 'A' for a number of years," Tadhg rued. Dunsany's ability to convert goal chances proved to be the decisive factor in the quarter final and they ran out comfortable winners 4-06 to 0-9. In their previous seven Championship outings Meath Hill had conceded just three goals to St. Vincent's, Summerhill and Dunboyne "We were just a point down at half time after conceding one of the goals. They got two in quick succession after the break and our heads dropped. The fourth goal put a very bad look on the score. They didn't walk through us, but four goals will would win most games," he recalled. Even though Meath Hill didn't expect to gain ultimate honours in 2004, they were nonetheless disappointed to bow out in the quarter-finals. "It was utmost in our minds that we could have pushed on even further," he remarked. Looking forward to 2005, Tadhg would like to see the team making a big impact in Div. 4 of the leagues and launch another assault on the Junior 'A' championship. "It was a learning curve for Andy, because he wouldn't have known that many of the players, especially the younger ones. But next year he'll know everybody and will be able to up it to another level in terms of fitness and organisation. He got a great response from the lads, and we are confident they will respond to him again next year." Off the field the club installed a set of very impressive floodlights at its pitch, having received a E70,000 grant from the Meath Local Sports Partnership. At the time of writing the club was involved in raising the E35,000 balance needed to complete the project. Meanwhile former secretary Celine Nulty and Francis Irwin deserve great praise for taking on the onerous task of writing a club history. At the time of writing the pair were involved in painstaking research, which involved trawling through the Meath Chronicle's archives in search of material relating to the club. It is hoped the history, will be published some time in 2005. Keep running up that 'Hill Two-thousand-and-four was a fairly decent year for Meath Hill, who gained promotion to Division Four of the all-county league and also reached the knockout stage of the junior football championship. Though disappointed to finish the season without any silverware (after losing the Division Five final by a point), Barry Kieran accepts that '04 provides the north county men with a solid platform to build upon. An All-Ireland junior football championship medallist with Meath in 2003, Barry Kieran enjoyed a reasonably successful year with his club in '04. Meath Hill made a gallant effort in both league and championship, gaining promotion to Division Two and qualifying for the quarter-final stage of the junior knockout competition. Unfortunately, that was as good as it got for the Blue & Whites, who were pipped by a point by St Brigid's in the Division Five decider and eliminated from the championship by Dunsany. However, there was enough promise in their performances to suggest that 'The Hill' can make an impression in the coming year(s). A Meath Hill man born and bred, Barry Kieran has served the local GAA club loyally at adult level since becoming a first-team regular in 1996. In his first year on the team, Meath Hill contested the county JFC decider. They also made it as far as the semi-final in 1997, '99 and 2001 only to come a cropper against Skryne, St Paul's and Wolfe Tones respectively. They've been banging on the door but have failed to make the step-up to intermediate grade. Once again in '04, the knockout stage of the premier competition was reached but ultimate silverware proved elusive. Promotion to Division Four was a definite step in the right direction, however. Understandably, it's all a little frustrating for Barry and his team-mates, who still await their first championship success. All they can do is hang in there, keep battling away, and hope for a break or two along the way. As seasons go, 2004 was quite satisfactory, as Barry concedes: "We were disappointed to have no silverware to show for it but, all in all, this year wasn't too bad. We were under strength after our top scorer [Paul Kieran] went to Jamaica, but the lads all pulled together and gave it their best shot." Indeed, Meath Hill made little of the absence of their leading marksman to claim a top two finish in their JFC group, thereby claiming a quarter-final berth. Barry takes the story up: "We won our first four games but then lost to St Michael's by two points [0-9 to 0-7] in Round Five. We beat Dunboyne but lost our last game to Moylough to finish second in the group. That got us through to a quarter-final, which we lost to Dunsany in Kilberry." Meath Hill demonstrated an abundance of spirit in those four opening round victories, all of which were narrow, hard-fought wins. St Vincent's were beaten by a point, 1-11 to 1-10, as were Kilmainham (0-11 to 0-10) and Summerhill (1-8 to 1-7). The Round Three and Round Six victories over St Mary's and Dunboyne were by margins of three points. The grit displayed in those matches was encouraging and augurs well for the immediate future (not that spirit was ever something that was lacking in Meath Hill!): "It was a good achievement to reach the quarter-finals considering that we had a few lads missing during the year. We didn't perform on the day against Dunsany, but we had done well to get that far under the circumstances. "Andy Hayes from Nobber started with the team in November and we had a few challenges before Christmas and Andy did a good job with the team. But we weren't getting the full numbers at training and that showed in the end. I believe that, if we have our full squad with everybody available, we could do well next year." Meath Hill will certainly be hoping to make a better fist of playing in Division Four than they did in 2003. On that occasion, they suffered relegation, but there's every possibility they'll consolidate their league status in 2005, despite the disappointment of losing the '04 Division Five final to St Brigid's of Ballinacree by a point at Kells on Sunday, October 17. "We were very disappointed to go down to Division Five in the first place, but we're happy to have come straight back out of it again," Barry notes. "Once we got to the final, we knew we were promoted regardless of the result and that probably took a bit of the edge out of the game. But we still wanted to win and the result was a disappointment, especially to lose by a point. We waited eight years for that final but we had lost our rhythm by the time the game came around, whereas they had been in the championship until two or three weeks before the game and they still had their sharpness. "Still, we got out of Division Five and we reached the knockout stage of the championship, so we're happy enough with that. We work off a small population here and it's hard to get a team together every year, but we've the core of a decent side here and we should be able to give it a good shot in 2005. We have five or six lads based in Dublin and they gave tremendous commitment during the year travelling up and down for matches and for training. That shows the kind of spirit we have in the club and it's a good sign for the new season. There was great spirit in the camp this year and, if we can carry that through, then we should be alright in 2005." Barry won an All-Ireland medal with Meath in 2003. The Meath Hill clubman was wing back on the Royal County side that won the Leinster and All-Ireland JFCs. As a result of their superb victory, none of those players were eligible to represent the county at junior level in '04. Barry notes: "It was a pity because it was a great experience but I'm hoping to maybe get back in there with the county juniors again next year." Two-thousand-and-three was Barry's first year with the Meath juniors. He attended the original trials in February and kept making the cut. He even played two matches with the Meath senior team: "It was some experience to get the jersey off Sean Boylan. I scored a point against Louth in a challenge, and I enjoyed that!" Barry Kieran is a quantity surveyor with Killoe Developments and has been with the company for two years. Killoe Developments builds houses all over Dublin and Meath and sponsored Division II of the all-county league in 2004. Tweet

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