Just what it means to hold onto your hard-earned senior status was glaringly apparent at Pairc Tailteann in mid-August when Cortown secured the precious point that guaranteed their survival in the premier grade. Cortown didn't achieve that invaluable draw against any old team - they got it against a Dunshaughlin side that had won the previous three Senior Football Championships and had annexed the Leinster crown eight months earlier. When the draw for the Senior Championship was made earlier in the year, Cortown undoubtedly noted with more than a passing interest that their concluding match in Group A would be against Eamonn Barry's high-flying side and their fervent hope was surely that they would be safe from the threat of the drop at that stage and wouldn't have survival on their minds going into such a tough assignment. But the reality was that they were far from safe as Cortown had managed only one group victory up to that advanced stage of the competition and they looked in serious danger of ending up in another of those dreaded relegation dogfights that no club wants. Cortown have a small enough pool of players to choose from at the best of times, but when the championship commenced last spring they were severely handicapped by the absence of several players, many of whom were vital to their cause. Therefore, it came as no great surprise when they opened their campaign with a loss against Frank O'Sullivan's Walterstown at Pairc Tailteann, going down by 0-9 to 1-12 after trailing by only a point at the interval. They returned to Pairc Tailteann for a second round assignment against Dunboyne and were again well in the hunt at the break when trailing by 0-4 to 0-6. But two second-half goals from Ger Grehan gave Dunboyne a decisive edge and there was no way back for Cortown who lost by nine points (0-7 to 2-10). When they lost heavily to Stamullen outfit St. Patrick's (1-10 to 4-13) at Walterstown in the third round, Cortown shared bottom spot in the group with Summerhill after both had lost their opening three matches and it got worse for Cortown next time out when Trim beat them by 0-11 to 0-6 at Kildalkey, despite fielding without county star Darren Fay. With Summerhill beating Kilmainhamwood in another crucial game in the same round it meant that Cortown were now tailed off at the bottom of the section without a point to their name. "We lost our first four group games which was a concern at the time," recalled Cortown defender and assistant-secretary Ivor O'Halloran as he looked back on the championship campaign. "But on the bright side we were improving and we were gradually getting our missing players back." The fifth round match against Kilmainhamwood at Moynalty in mid-July was a massive assignment for both clubs. Brian Murtagh's side needed a result very badly and they got it in the shape of a 1-10 to 0-10 victory as Glen Loughran starred at midfield, scoring three early points. Gordon Codd scored the all-important goal in the second-half. The success boosted Cortown's survival hopes considerably, but plunged the 'Wood deep into relegation trouble. With Summerhill losing to Dunboyne there were now three clubs tied together at the bottom of the group on two points - Cortown, Kilmainhamwood and Summerhill - with just two rounds to go. The survival battle had started in earnest and would get more and more interesting. "The win over Kilmainhamwood was a massive success for us given the circumstances," O'Halloran added. "We knew we had a big chance going into that match because we have a very good record against them." Another huge assignment followed in the sixth round against Summerhill and with Packie Henry at his brilliant best in the first-half things were looking reasonably bright for Cortown at the interval when they held a narrow 0-7 to 1-3 advantage. But if Henry was brilliant in the opening period for Cortown, Summerhill's ace attacker Cathal Sheridan was the undoubted star of the second as his contribution proved invaluable. Sheridan, who played such a huge role in Meath's 2003 All-Ireland Junior Championship success, was moved to full-forward and brought his overall tally for the match to 1-6 by scoring 1-3 to put the 'Hill firmly in the driving seat. That left Cortown in deep trouble as they trailed by 0-9 to 2-7 and they were 1-10 to 2-12 adrift at the final whistle after John Henry had netted from an injury-time penalty for a goal that was no more than a consolation score. "We were confident, but certainly not overly confident, going into the match against Summerhill," O'Halloran recalled. "After the victory over Kilmainhamwood we were hopeful and, as well as that, Summerhill had had a bad result against Dunboyne. We felt we had a real chance, but they played better than before and beat us." The reality for Cortown after that loss was that they needed something from their final group game against Dunshaughlin, which was a very tall order indeed for a team that had managed just one victory from their previous six outings in the divisional stages. Few gave Cortown much of a chance against the county and provincial champions, but Cortown have always been courageous and they were very determined to nip the possibility of a drop to the intermediate ranks in the bud there and then. Dunshaughlin held a narrow 0-5 to 0-4 advantage at the interval after David Coyne, Sylvie Skelton, Loughran and Ivan Coyne had been on the mark for Cortown. Codd and Skelton were in top form, but things looked bleak when the reigning champions pushed five points clear (0-9 to 0-4) at the three-quarter stage. Cortown had endured 18 barren minutes without a score and appeared to be in dire trouble, especially against a side as experienced as Dunshaughlin who surely wouldn't allow such a healthy lead to slip from the grasp. Even when Packie Henry and Skelton sent over points to bring the deficit back to three points with eight minutes left on a clock that surely seemed to be ticking relentlessly from manager Murtagh's point of view, good odds would have been available on Cortown getting something out of the game. But they had absolutely no intentions of throwing in the towel and when Christopher Henry centred, Loughran was there to fist the ball to the net. Incredibly, after being five points adrift, gutsy Cortown were on level terms, but the drama wasn't over at that by any means. Packie Henry went close to putting Cortown ahead 30 seconds after the goal when he hit a post and then Niall Kelly sent over one of his typical long range frees to put the champions back in front. Surely Cortown couldn't come back again and salvage something. But, cometh the hour, cometh the man and that man was none other than Packie Henry who fired over the equaliser. Cortown held out after that to signal scenes of sheer joy for their players, officials and supporters in Pairc Tailteann. At the end of all that drama and excitement it finished Cortown 1-7, Dunshaughlin 0-10. "Getting that draw was very satisfying," O'Halloran added. "It was a great relief. There was plenty of celebrating after it. But I suppose you have to let your hair down once in a while. Staying up meant so much to us, because there's a lot of pride attached to being a senior club. "That said, we would really like to be challenging for the senior title, not merely trying to survive. After all, that's why we're there. There's absolutely no point in being a senior club just for the sake of it. "We have a very small pool of players and can struggle to field a second team at times, so I suppose staying in the senior ranks was a good achievement. But we would rather be challenging." So what is the future likely to hold for Cortown and have they the resources to think in terms of the upper end of the Senior Championship scale in the years to come? "Thankfully, we have a strong under-21 team this year," he added. "Seven or eight of those players are in their final year at under-21 level and they will be coming onto the senior panel which is an encouraging sign for us. "We can definitely hold onto our senior status, but we would really like to progress from where we are now and maybe start to challenge." Cortown also fielded teams in the Junior B Championship, the A League Div. 2 and the B League Div. 1 during 2003 without much in the way of success, but they did fulfil all their fixtures. However, the memories of that evening at Pairc Tailteann when they secured their place in the Senior Championship will surely help shorten the winter for the Cortown players and their supporters. Tweet

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