It's a sunny August afternoon in Kells and the pungent smell of freshly cut grass drifts through the melting streets. Joe Murphy sits back and smiles. Back in 1966 he and his Gaeil Colmcille colleagues embarked on a memorable adventure in the SFC. At the end of their crusade they were paraded through these streets as kings. However, on this summer's day the immediate backdrop is vividly sombre. Gaeil Colmcille have just suffered a year from hell. In recent times they have clung on for survival in the senior football championship, never appearing genuinely good enough to win the Keegan Cup, but by no means looking out of their depth either. This year though, all of that changed. The new SFC format highlighted the gulf that exists between many clubs across the county. In the past, one win would pretty much have guaranteed a team's survival in the senior ranks. Gaeil Colmcille, with the undoubted talent that exists, had been able to do just that year in year out. However, one win would not suffice in 2003, and from the outset serious questions were asked about the side's credentials. "The seniors only just managed to stay up this year and it's sad to see the way it has gone, because it should never have been allowed get to that extreme," says Joe. However, spirits were high at the start of the year and following some impressive performances in 2002 - including a victory over Dunboyne and a draw with eventual Leinster club champions Dunshaughlin - coach Colm McEvoy was confident that his team could make an impact this year. By the end of the summer though McEvoy had quit, Gaeil Colmcille had won only one game in the championship and avoided a relegation play-off by a single point. They had suffered a humiliating 29-points drubbing from Blackhall Gaels and endured a nightmare campaign in Division 2A of the league. Joe played for the club in a different era, when senior county honours were a realistic target every year. He played at midfield for the Kells Harps, before they amalgamated with Drumbaragh and Kilmainham to become Gaeil Colmcille. Today, he is still regarded as one of the club's greatest ever players. He played minor football with Meath for three years and was soon drafted up to the senior panel. He won two senior county football championships with Gaeil Colmcille and played at full-forward for the Royals in the 1970 All-Ireland final against Kerry. He lined out alongside some of the great names in Meath football and has some fantastic memories, but also a few regrets. "I was brought in on the panel in 1966 and played midfield during the National League. Back then the winners got a trip to America, which was a pretty big deal. I was playing in the quarter-finals when we beat Cavan, and then we were to play Dublin in a semi-final two weeks later. "But I picked up the paper the following week to find out the Meath panel for that game and my name wasn't on it. One week I was a starting player and the next I was gone, not just to the bench, but off the panel altogether. I was devastated and I'm sure I cried that day." For the record, Dublin beat Meath in the semi-final. However, Joe would have better days in a Meath jersey and all thanks to an unlikely individual. "After I was dropped in '66 Micheál Campbell said he would never talk to me again if I went back to play for them. But in 1970 Micheál was the Meath manager and he actually asked me would I go back, so I did." That year Meath went all the way to the All-Ireland decider, but were beaten by a resilient Kerry outfit in the first ever 80 minute final. "We played Offaly in the Leinster final that year and were ten points down at half-time. They scored another point straight after the break but we still came back and beat them in the end. It was great to win a Leinster medal. Then we beat Galway in the semi-final to set up a final with Kerry. "There was not as much hype about an All-Ireland final then as there is now. There was no such thing as reporters ringing you up or anything like that. I was actually working in our pub the night before the game and went to half nine mass on the Sunday morning. Even there you would only have had a few people coming over to you talking about the game and wishing you good luck. I went home after mass, had my breakfast, got picked up and headed to the game." Kerry won the All-Ireland that year, thanks largely to a DJ Crowley goal. "I didn't know it at the time, but the Kerry line were calling Crowley ashore and about to take him off. Then he got the ball, ran through our defence and scored that goal. I went back and played the following year but we didn't achieve what we had in 1970." At club level, Joe had been the fulcrum of a Kells team that lifted two senior football titles in the 1960s. In 1964 they went all the way to the final, only to be beaten by the mighty Kilbride team of the time. However, in 1966 Gaeil Colmcille went one step further and after three epic encounters with Kilbride. They lifted the senior championship for the first time ever. The 1966 team are fondly remembered as the finest the club has ever fielded. The Kings of Kells. Two years later, Gaeil Colmcille were crowned senior football champions yet again when they beat Walterstown in the final. "It was brilliant to win the championship in 1966, and for a short while afterwards we were treated like minor celebrities in the town. They were great games against Kilbride and we were made work hard to win the championship. We drew the first two games but thankfully won at the third attempt. Then in 1968 we beat Walterstown. Those were great days," he recalls. Joe finished his playing career with Drumbaragh and coached a number of sides including Kilmainham, who he guided to an under-21 title. His passion for the game has never dwindled and his son Paul has been a regular on the Gaeil Colmcille panel in recent years. On the field this year, the club's senior championship campaign started off against Seneschalstown in early April. They put up a strong showing but two Seneschalstown goals proved decisive as Gaeil Colmcille fell 0-12 to 2-10. Skryne were next up, but a poor first-half performance in which they failed to capitalise on a strong wind proved to be their downfall. John McDermott dominated midfield for Skryne and helped his side to a 1-13 to 0-6 victory. Arguably Gaeil Colmcille's best performance of the championship came against Dunderry in Athboy. The Kells side matched their opponents for much of the encounter and were unlucky not to take something from the game. Dunderry edged the result by a single goal, 1-10 to 0-10. With three defeats in succession the Kells players realised their next game, against fellow strugglers Ballivor, was a proverbial six-pointer. They responded brilliantly to the pressure, and Paul Murray's goal helped them to a 1-9 to 0-6 victory. Following that game McEvoy walked away, citing the players' lack of interest as his reason. Successful Meath minor coach - and Gaeil Colmcille stalwart - Benny Reddy, took charge for the remainder of the year. His first task was to lift the team for a local derby with Ballinlough. With Longford Town soccer ace Alan Murphy lining out for the first time all year, Gaeil Colmcille started brightly. Tommy Shine was outstanding, but Ballinlough's evergreen star Jody Devine kept his team in touch with some great scores. Ballinlough pointed a controversial injury-time free to draw the match, but the result was to be enough for both sides to avoid relegation. Gaeil Colmcille were made sweat for survival though as Ballivor surprisingly beat Seneschalstown to narrow the gap to a single point with two games remaining. An Evan Kelly inspired Simonstown Gaels beat the Kells side 2-11 to 0-7 in their next outing to force the relegation issue right down to the wire. Their final game is one they would rather forget, as Gaeil Colmcille signed off their 2003 championship crusade with a 29 points drubbing from Blackhall Gaels, 3-22 to 0-2. However, they avoided a relegation play-off when Skryne beat Ballivor two days later. The club suffered a number of personnel problems this year and were without some of their top players at crucial stages in the championship. They are aiming to turn it around next year but Joe doesn't agree that a high profile coach is the long-term answer. "I don't think it should matter because if fellas are interested enough to play then they will train under anybody really. Martin Barry was here a few years ago, and McEvoy was pretty good by all accounts, so there should have been no problems getting the lads training," says Joe. "A big name coach will only be that until the players get to know him and then all of a sudden the newness falls off and you're back to square one again. I think the players need to be encouraged a bit more. "I remember when I was coming into the senior team and the older players would be patting you on the back and giving you a bit of encouragement. But nowadays it seems to be a bit different and young fellas are getting roared and shouted at, and that doesn't do them any good." For the class of 2003, the winter is going to be a long one. There is not much they can take from the last 12 months, but all is not lost. The club has a number of talented young players coming through and they should bring a freshness to the set-up. For them, it has been a club eternally starved of success. But if they need any examples that Gaeil Colmcille were once champions, that great players donned the red, white and green jersey and represented the county, then they could do worse than remember the Kings of '66. Hurling ambitions run dry It's been a difficult year for the Gaeil Colmcille club. Some may even say it's been a defining year. The year when the glass looked half empty. Or even a little bit less, perhaps. By Gordon Manning The Kells Gaels have spent the winter soul searching. Searching for some answers. Searching for some solutions. At times over the past 12 months it was impossible not to notice the life being sucked out of the club. The proverbial clouds gathered in January and refused to budge. It's been a difficult year for Liam Newman too. He's taken his fair share of knocks in the past 12 months - more than most in fact. And yet through it all, he was the one player the intermediate hurlers and senior footballers looked to for inspiration when their backs were against the wall. The 27-year-old dual-star lined out at midfield for both the hurlers and footballers this year. It is a role he has filled with both teams for quite some time now, and he was rewarded with a call-up to the Meath junior hurlers this year. Being a dual-star, he played more championship games than any other adult player in the club in 2003. Consequently, he also endured more defeats than most. But he was still the player putting in the tackles in the final minutes, still the one man urging his teammates to keep their heads up. He won't admit it, but he's been Gaeil Colmcille's most consistent player in the last few years. He's affectionately known as 'Horse' around Kells. The man who, night after night, gallops way out in front of the pack at training. His father, Willie, is chairman of the club and a selector with the intermediate hurlers. Once again Liam was an ever present with the middle grade hurlers this year, but things didn't go according to plan for the team. An opening round defeat to Clann na nGael in Kilberry put them on the back foot straight away. "It was still close enough at half-time but they just got going in the second-half and pulled away from us," recalls Liam. "It was disappointing to lose, but they are one of the better intermediate teams, so we weren't really expecting a whole lot out of that game. We were missing a few players, and indeed we were short some key players at different stages throughout the championship." However, it was the loss to Na Fianna in their next game that would come back to haunt the Kells side. It was arguably their most disappointing showing of the championship. The south Meath outfit had 13 points to spare over Gaeil Colmcille at the final whistle. "That defeat was a huge blow and looking back at it, the Na Fianna game was the one that really cost us a chance of making the knock-out stages. Prior to the game, we would have expected to beat them. It was extremely disappointing," says Liam. The Conor Ferguson coached team bounced back though, and recorded their first championship win against Donaghmore/Ashbourne at Kilmessan in late June, 1-8 to 1-3. "That was a good win and some of the younger lads were very impressive. It was good to finally get a win under our belts and keep us in with a chance of making the knock-out stages," says Liam. Gaeil Colmcille's chances received a further boost when they beat hapless Blackhall Gaels, 2-10 to 1-6, in late July. "We played well in the second-half of that game and managed to build up a good lead. It was very tight in the first-half and we were actually level at half-time. The win put us right back in it though, and a victory over Kilskyre in our next game would have given us a great chance of going further." The clash with their north Meath neighbours was a winner takes all encounter. The sides have met many times through the years, but rarely had a game carried such significance in recent years. There was much more than just local bragging rights at stake. Gaeil Colmcille were confident they could put one over Kilskyre, but the town side succumbed to their country rivals by four points, 1-10 to 1-6. "It's hard to say where it went wrong that night, but Kilskyre were certainly more experienced than us. We had a lot of young players and that lack of experience can tell in games like that." The Kells players left Athboy that evening with the realisation that their championship aspirations were at an end for another year. A narrow defeat followed at the hands of Drumree in their final game. And there was a sense of cruel irony in the dressing-room prior to that tussle. "It was probably the strongest team we had all year. A lot of players - such as Ross Kelly - had come back, but unfortunately it was too late for this year." But it's not too late for next year, and that is what Gaeil Colmcille must remember ahead of their 2004 campaign. It is a sentiment not lost on Liam, who at 27 is now a senior member of the hurling panel. "We have a very young team and that is definitely encouraging for the future. Tommy Shine and Conor Ferguson are the longest around, but yeh I'm probably next in line," he laughs. "It was certainly a disappointing year. I started playing with the hurlers when I was only 16 or 17, and the club were in the senior championship then. For the last few years we have made the play-off stages of the intermediate pretty much every year. Everybody is disappointed by the way things turned out this year." In recent years, the Kells side have contested middle grade finals and semi-finals, so this campaign is one best forgotten. However, away from the club scene, Gaeil Colmcille had four men involved with the county's junior hurlers this year. Conor Ferguson, Barry Ferguson, Charlie Usher (who was also Meath's sub senior goalkeeper) and Liam all lined out for the Royal's junior hurlers. Liam played midfield alongside Drumree's David Troy and helped steer Meath to an All-Ireland semi-final against Donegal. Unfortunately, the Ulster side beat the Royals in Brewster Park. However, they had won the Leinster championship with victories over Louth and Longford. "It was a great experience to play for Meath. There is no question that it is a step up in standard, and it helps improve your game so hopefully I'll be involved again next year. But there is talk about doing away with the junior competition, which would be a pity." For now though, the emphasis switches back to the club scene. And although it may look portentous from the outside, Liam argues that it is not as glum as it appears. "The young players will have learned from this year and gained plenty of experience. Sometimes it's difficult to get the commitment because so many of the players also play football with the club. "But I don't necessarily believe we have to go searching for an outsider to turn things around. Paul Corcoran from Tipperary took a few sessions this year and was very good, so perhaps he will be involved again next year. "But it's just the structure that really needs to be improved, and if we can get our heads down then I think we'll definitely be in with a chance next year," concludes Liam. Stephen Reddy, son of Meath minor manager and great Gaeil Colmcille man Benny, was voted Young Hurler of the Year in September. The tenacious Richie Bradley picked up the adult award, so there are definitely grounds for optimism for the future. Yes, it's been a difficult year for the Gaeil Colmcille club. But it's been a defining one too. The excruciating lows of 2003 have forced the club to stand up and take a long hard look at the situation. The Kells Gaels are determined to turn the corner. They're planning for the future now, and that future starts in 2004. It's a matter of perception, but perhaps the glass might not be half empty after all. Perhaps! Tweet

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