Football ladder
December 31, 2003
St. Michael's desperately want to move back up the football ladder, but their hopes of doing so in 2003 were dashed at the quarter-final stage in the Junior Championship when a highly talented Wolfe Tones side beat them by six points at Kells.
The absence of county player Daithi Regan was sorely felt against a team of Tones' quality, even though they were without one of their key figures in ace attacker Alan Fox, and with Aidan McKeever helping himself to 2-3 the Kilberry outfit deservedly triumphed on a 2-10 to 1-7 score line.
Michael's, who were managed by Dan Breen from Kilmainhamwood, conceded two first-half goals, but they were still well in the hunt at the interval when they trailed by only three points (0-5 to 2-2). And when Andrew Rogers netted after the change of ends hopes of a successful recovery grew. But Tones had learned from previous campaigns. They never panicked as their position of supremacy was threatened and scored points with regularity to claim a semi-final ticket against Dunsany.
It was a disappointing end to the campaign for the Carlanstown-Kilbeg side who were surely left to wonder just what might have been had the injured Regan been available for the entire campaign.
The superbly talented forward had shown that he could mix it with the best on the inter-county scene, but he suffered a broken wrist towards the end of the first-half of Meath's All-Ireland Championship qualifier victory over Colm Coyle's Monaghan at Clones in late June and what a huge loss he proved to be for both club and county.
Regan demonstrated his undoubted value to St. Michael's when they started their Junior Championship group campaign against Bective at Kells in mid-April. He scored an impressive eight points over the hour and with Daithi Reilly and John Farrell supplying the goals in the second half, Michael's opened on a winning note, scoring by 2-12 to 2-6.
The winning start was maintained when St. Mary's were beaten by 1-9 to 1-6 in the second round at Rathkenny. Martin Gildea's early goal helped Michael's to a 1-5 to 1-2 half-time lead and with Regan again in brilliant form and scoring seven points overall another victory was achieved.
Regan emphasised his enormous importance to Meath's cause ahead of their Leinster Championship meeting with Westmeath when he scored no fewer than 11 points in his club's third round victory over Meath Hill at Castletown. Michael's won comfortably by 0-14 to 1-5 and were certainly looking good for a place in the knock-out stages after taking maximum points from their first three championship outings.
However, Navan O'Mahonys' second string, which went on to reach the semi-finals, brought the winning run to a halt in the fourth round at Castletown, winning by 2-5 to 1-5 as the loss of Regan was sorely felt. Even in the absence of the outstanding attacker, Michael's managed to lead narrowly by 1-3 to 1-1 at the break after John Farrell had notched the goal, but O'Mahonys did enough in the second period to edge through.
Michael's concluding group match was against St. Paul's from Clonee and it resulted in a 0-13 to 1-6 victory on a day when that great veteran Martin O'Connell demonstrated that there's plenty of football left in him yet as he scored seven points. St. Paul's came battling back with commendable spirit after Michael's had moved into a reasonably comfortable 0-8 to 0-3 half-time advantage, but with O'Connell playing extremely well and hitting the target with regularity, he guided his side to a three-point victory.
With the group stages out of the way it all meant that St. Michael's had finished joint top of the pile with O'Mahonys on eight points as both sides had won four of their matches and lost just one.
When you reach the knock-out stages of a championship in any grade you want to be in a position to have all your best players on the field. St. Michael's had the vast experience and talent of one of the county's most outstanding players of all time in O'Connell, but crucially, Regan was still absent for the quarter-final meeting with Tones and that was a burden which was simply too great for Breen's side to handle as they exited the championship race.
In the All-County A League Div. 3, St. Michael's finished just out of contention after completing their campaign on 13 points from 11 outings. They won six of their matches, drew one and lost the remaining four.
St. Michael's committee member Amby Cassidy, who is also very much involved with the under-age set-up in the club, described the championship loss to Wolfe Tones as "a big disappointment" as they were left to wonder just what might have been had Regan been on the field, providing them with that scoring potential.
"Daithi was a really huge loss to us," he said. "He's such a highly talented footballer. A small club like ours can't afford to be without its worst player, never mind its best. Daithi is so important to us."
Martin O'Connell has been important to St. Michael's for many a long year and has seen it all during a wonderful career. He continued to be vitally important in 2003, even helping the club to a tournament success after their championship hopes had been dashed.
"Martin is still going strong," Amby added. "He helped us to win the Meath Hill Tournament at the end of August when we beat intermediate club Drumconrath in the final. Martin played very well at full-back on that occasion.
"Winning that tournament meant a lot because it provided a big boost for us, especially coming so soon after the championship quarter-final defeat against Tones. It certainly provided a lift."
The big hope for St. Michael's will be that they can make a serious assault on the Junior Championship over the next couple of years and start to make their way back up that ladder.
"Next year, with Daithi back again and hopefully a full-strength team, we would have to be thinking in terms of reaching the knock-out stages of the championship and taking it from there," Amby said. "We would have to be hopeful for the future because we have some very talented young players coming along."
Among the leading prospects as the club looks ahead and hopes for a return to the good days at adult level are Brendan Ryan, Derek Flood, Peter Clinton and John Barry O'Reilly, who is a nephew of none other that Colm O'Rourke.
The St. Michael's second string also reached the quarter-finals of the Junior C Championship, but just like the first team they experienced disappointment in their quest for a place in the last four when they were edged out by Duleek on a 0-8 to 0-9 score line.
It was a heart-breaking defeat for the Carlanstown-Kilbeg combination as Duleek snatched a dramatic last-gasp victory with a late point from highly talented 16-year-old Chris Carney.
It was a disappointing way to exit the championship, but it was a big achievement for the club to have its second team reach the last eight and the fine showing in the B League Div. 3 was also highly commendable.
UNDER-AGE
St. Michael's have their sights set very much on the future and are working hard to promote the game in the under-age ranks and that was reflected in the fact that they reached two finals at under-14 level, losing to Castletown in both.
"We reached two under-14 finals, the League Division 4 and Championship Division 3, but we were beaten by Castletown in both of them," Amby Cassidy recalled. "It was a big achievement for a club with such a small pick and getting to those two finals has to give us hope for the future.
"There were some very talented young players in that team, including Philip Rogers who was on the Meath under-14 panel and who I describe as 'the next Mick Lyons'. He is a very strong player and very talented. Robert Briody and Mark Stafford are others who showed up very well and, overall, we would have to be optimistic as we look ahead.
"Our under-10s also had a very good year and won our own blitz, as well as the North-West blitz."
Junior Championship success may have eluded St. Michael's in 2003, but they will head into next year's championship full of hope and have every reason to look to the future with renewed optimism.
Silverware claimed
St. Michael's turned in a superb display to claim the B League Div. 3 title with a 0-13 to 1-4 final victory over Duleek at Rathkenny.
The Carlanstown-Kilbeg outfit were always in control and led by 0-5 to 0-2 at the interval as David O'Connell and Ben Farrell were in outstanding scoring form.
Duleek hit back with a goal after the change of ends, but Michael's were able to hit the target with sufficient regularity to ensure victory and were six points to the good at the finish.
John Barry O'Reilly, Derek Flood and Farrell were in exceptional form for Michael's who fully deserved their triumph.
Farrell finished top scorer with four points, closely followed by O'Connell and O'Reilly with three each.
St. Michael's - K. Regan; J. Rogers, K. Lynch, J. Farrell; M. Rogers, J. Flood, D. Flood (0-2); JB O'Reilly (0-3), J. Sheridan; D. Reilly (0-1), B. O'Brien, A. Rogers; B. Farrell (0-4), D. O'Connell (0-3), J. Reilly. Subs - R. Farrell for J. Reilly, B. Ryan for J. Flood, S. O'Connell for B. Farrell, P. Dowdall for M. Rogers.
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