Looking forward, not back
December 31, 2004
It's difficult to believe that two decades have passed since Slane won the Intermediate Football Championship with a final victory over a St. Colmcille's team that included emerging stars in the shape of Bob O'Malley and Bernard Flynn.
That was a wonderful day at Pairc Tailteann back in 1984 for all concerned with the Slane club as they booked their place in the senior ranks by taking the intermediate title in the GAA's Centenary Year, but 20 years down the road their attempts to revisit such glory failed as they managed just one victory in the group stages of the 2004 championship and were well off the pace at the end of the qualifying campaign.
Slane would dearly love to be back up there with the big boys once again, playing their football in the Senior Championship as they did until relegated in 1999, but they must have been disappointed with their showing in the race for the 2004 intermediate crown as they failed to mount a serious challenge in Group B.
Their rather disappointing form over the past couple of seasons has been something of a surprise, especially considering that Slane had gone all the way to the semi-finals in 2002 when they lost to Ballivor who, of course, went on to lift the title by defeating Navan O'Mahonys in the final.
Slane's section in 2004 also included Donaghmore-Ashbourne, who they defeated to record their only victory of the competition, the 2003 Feis Cup winners Syddan, Rathkenny, Duleek, St. Colmcille's, Oldcastle and Castletown.
It was a tricky enough looking group, but with the top four teams to advance to the quarter-finals Slane must have felt that they had at least a reasonable chance to make it through to the business end of the race for the Mattie McDonnell Cup.
However, a disappointing start, which wasn't helped by the absence of a number of players and which brought defeats in their opening two matches against Castletown and Oldcastle, set the tone for a generally disappointing campaign and that left them playing an unsuccessful game of catch-up, with one eye looking at the possibility of a battle for survival.
Castletown, who had gone out at the quarter-final stage to the eventual runners-up Carnaross in 2003, provided a very difficult opening round obstacle at Rathkenny and Slane were decisively beaten on a 1-12 to 0-6 score line on a day when only two of their players managed to get onto the score sheet.
Castletown were dominant for the vast majority of the match, though they led by only 0-3 to 0-1 at the end of the first quarter, before pushing ahead by 1-5 to 0-3 at half-time. Slane also added three points in the second period and they were nine points adrift at the end.
They needed to bounce back quickly if they were to reignite their championship challenge, but their opponents in the second round were Oldcastle, a side that had played at senior level until relegated in 2002.
It was a big ask for Slane, but at least they responded with an improved performance at Simonstown before going under by 0-6 to 0-11. Poor finishing cost them dearly and they also made a very slow start as Oldcastle built up a 0-3 to 0-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. However, Slane recovered to be on level terms, before the winners pushed ahead again to hold a 0-7 to 0-4 advantage at the break.
With ace marksman Declan Kearns taking some nice points they brought the deficit back to the minimum, but that was about as good as it got and Oldcastle had five points to spare at the final whistle.
With two losses from as many outings, Slane needed a victory very badly, but with Duleek awaiting them next time out at Donore few would have fancied them to get it. They didn't manage that much-needed win, but with a team that was gradually getting stronger they did secure a draw (0-11 each) and their first point of the divisional campaign.
But such an outcome seemed highly unlikely when Duleek, the previous year's semi-finalists, led by five points with 15 minutes remaining. However, the tremendous accuracy of Kearns, who finished with a great personal tally of 10 points, proved decisive in a superb revival which culminated in the talented attacker slotting over the equaliser from a free after Eamonn Gibney had been fouled.
Slane's only win of the campaign was just around the corner and came at Duleek when they edged out Donaghmore-Ashbourne by 1-11 to 0-11. But the losers looked more likely to triumph for a good portion of the game and led by 0-7 to 0-4 at the break. They were also three points to the good at the three-quarter stage, despite the fact that Gibney's goal had earlier wiped out the interval deficit.
However, a final quarter salvo pushed Slane into a four-point lead, but Donaghmore-Ashbourne kept battling away and the woodwork saved the winners late in the match. Kearns again demonstrated his value to the side by contributing eight of their points.
Unfortunately for Slane, they failed to build on that victory and were somewhat unfortunate to lose to a strong Syddan side in the fifth round at Rathkenny, which meant they still had only three points to show for their efforts and were out of the qualification picture.
Rathkenny provided the opposition in the sixth round at Kilberry and Slane secured their second draw in the group as the sides finished level on 1-12 each, a result that killed off Rathkenny's slim hopes of reaching the knock-out stages and copper-fastened Slane's place in the intermediate grade. It was looking very precarious for Slane when they fell behind by 0-0 to 1-3 in the early stages, but the men in blue fought back and trailed by only a point (1-5 to 1-6) at half-time.
Rathkenny again looked to have taken a grip on the proceedings when they edged two points in front in the closing stages but, not for the first time by any means, the accuracy of Kearns proved invaluable as Slane finished best to earn a share of the points.
Pride was the only thing at stake for Slane when they played St. Colmcille's in the concluding round at Duleek and it was the seasiders who brought the curtain down on their group campaign with a crucial 0-8 to 0-5 victory in a low-scoring match.
At the end of it all, Slane found themselves well off the pace as they managed that one success against Donaghmore-Ashbourne, drew twice and lost four times. Unfortunately, that form just wasn't consistent enough to enable them to challenge for a quarter-final place, so it's back to the drawing board for 2005.
"Essentially, our year ended before it began," said club player and PRO Wayne Harding as he reflected on the campaign. "We carried two suspensions from our final game last year into our opening match against Castletown. That ruled out Eamonn Gibney and Brian McConnon and they were big losses.
"Stephen Carolan went to Australia for a year and didn't come back until late April/early May. Jonathan Cullen got married and missed the early games. As a result, our panel was weakened significantly from the start and it was very poor fare when we lost to Castletown.
"We improved slightly for the second round game against Oldcastle, but not enough. We had the suspended players back by then, but not the others, so we were still fielding a weakened team."
Next came that draw against Duleek and Slane's first point.
"I knew we would perform better against Duleek because the panel was significantly stronger by then," Harding added. "The feeling in the camp was better and things were improving. We earned our first point and followed it up by beating Donaghmore/Ashbourne. That was a huge boost to our survival prospects and also gave us a chance of qualifying in fourth position.
"After that we knew we had to beat Syddan. We were level in the last minute and then they got a goal that was a blatant square ball. We had no time to come back; that was the end of our hopes of qualifying.
"Our next match was against Rathkenny and we needed to get something out of that to be certain of our survival. We got a draw and followed that up with a defeat against St. Colmcille's when we were without a number of players due to holidays, etc. Indeed, we played three games smack in the middle of the holiday period which doesn't seem to make much sense."
It didn't happen for Slane in 2004, and that was through no fault of coach Oliver Carolan and selector Paddy Martyn who put in a huge amount of work, but the ambition is there to move up again.
"It should be remembered that we were very unlucky to lose to Ballivor in the semi-final two years ago and they went on and won it," Harding said. "We want to be a senior club again, but it's up to one and all in the club to see that we go up rather than back."
So why has it been such a struggle over the past two years?
"A certain amount of it is apathy, I'd say," he added. "Gaelic football is tough going and takes a big effort. These days people don't want to make that effort. Some are taking easier options.We won the U-21 'C' title last year and didn't get near the amount of players from that success as we would have hoped for, which is disappointing."
The club committee, through the leadership of chairperson Patricia Harding, have put great facilities in place, so the structure is undoubtedly there to secure future successes.
Slane tasted senior football and the excitement of mixing it with the big guns. They would like to taste it again.
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