Winning the Under-12 Hurling Championship title made 2002 a year to remember for the Kiltale club and it certainly augurs well for the future as they bid to return to the glory days of two decades ago when the Jubilee Cup was won in successive years in 1982 and '83. How time flies. It hardly seems 20 years since that never to be forgotten breakthrough triumph in the Senior Championship and this very significant under-age success offers major hope that the most important piece of silverware in Meath club hurling will return to Kiltale at some stage in the future. Kiltale, who also advanced to the Under-13 HC 'A' final, where they lost to Trim, thrilled the club's supporters by defeating Navan O'Mahonys by 1-3 to 1-0 in the under-12 decider at Kilmessan on the October Bank Holiday Monday. It was an extra special success as it bridged a lengthy gap since Kiltale's previous under-age 'A' title which was achieved in 1975 when the club won the Under-14 Championship with a team that included the likes of Paddy Kelly, Mickey and Ger Regan and Liam Harnan, who went on to be such a key figure at centre half-back on the Meath senior football team under Sean Boylan, winning All-Ireland SFC medals in 1987 and '88. And how nice it was to see the sons of some of those players from the '75 team sharing in the 2002 success - Padraig and James Kelly and William Harnan. Kiltale fullback Mark O'Sullivan is a son of former Walterstown and Meath player Frank O'Sullivan, who now lives in the parish. It was a superb team effort from Kiltale in the decider, with the scores being shared between midfielders Shane McGann, who got a goal and a point, and 'player of the match' William Mahady who registered the other two points. McGann's goal and Mahady's first point helped Kiltale to a 1-1 to 0-0 interval advantage and a point from each of them proved sufficient in the second period when Michael Kelly found the net for O'Mahonys' only score in reply. Apart from Mahady and McGann, Kiltale had particularly outstanding players in Phelim Cunningham, O'Sullivan, Padraig Kelly, Luke Duffy, Simon Kennedy, Enda Smith and Harnan. The Kiltale team in the final was - P. Cunningham; A. Madden, M. O'Sullivan, S. Bannon; S. Courtney, P. Kelly, W.Harnan; W. Mahady (0-2), S. McGann (1-1); A. Crone, T. Mahady, C. Harpur; S. Kennedy, C. Gill, L. Duffy. Subs - B. Clarke, J. Kelly, N. Madden, T. Regan, S. Dunleavy, N. Harpur. It was a success that delighted the Kiltale club, including long-serving player Paddy Kelly who viewed it as a big boost with the future in mind. "It's seldom that a rural club wins the 'A' competition," he said. "Navan O'Mahonys dominated for years, with the exception of a few other clubs. We had two girls on the team to make up the numbers, so it was very much a case of all hands on deck, whereas other big clubs might be able to field one or two more teams in that grade. "Without doubt, the under-12 success is a very positive sign for the club. You would have to be hopeful that in seven or eight years' time they'll come through at senior level. We also reached the under-13 final, so the signs are good." Paddy Kelly continued to play his part with the Kiltale senior side in the 2002 championship, which certainly speaks volumes for his commitment and fitness. He has been playing senior hurling for Kiltale since 1978 and was a member of the Meath senior team from 1980 to '96. Kiltale were drawn in Division B of the Senior Hurling Championship, a section that also included Navan O'Mahonys, champions to be Kilmessan, Boardsmill, Dunderry and the team that would ultimately be relegated, Athboy. A big boost for Kiltale was the return of Cathal Sheridan and his presence in the team over the next few years will be of major help to the development of the younger players around him. Kiltale failed to emerge from the division, but can consider themselves somewhat unlucky as they lost by only a goal to Kilmessan in their final match, having earlier experienced a mixed bag of results. Sheridan was at centre half-back and the vastly experienced Kelly started at full-forward when they opened their divisional campaign against O'Mahonys at Kilmessan. Unfortunately for Kiltale, the Navan men picked the worst possible time to end their six-year run without a first round SHC victory as they won by 4-14 to 2-11 after Kiltale had held a 2-5 to 1-6 lead at the interval. Kiltale got back on track in the second round at Dunsany when they edged out Dunderry by 2-9 to 1-10 on a day that Sheridan looked very impressive. However, they suffered a big blow in round three when Boardsmill edged them out by two points (0-15 to 1-10), but Kiltale bounced back to record their biggest score of the competition when beating Athboy by 1-18 to 3-5 to retain some chance of achieving the goal of advancing from the group stages. Kilmessan had to win the crunch meeting with their neighbours in the last group match and did so at Dunsany on a 2-12 to 1-12 score line as goals early in the second half from Jimmy McGuinness and Ger O'Neill inflicted serious damage after Kiltale had led by 0-7 to 0-6 at half-time and by two points early in the second period. Kiltale were out of the championship, but Kilmessan went from strength to strength and claimed the senior title for the 25th time. However, it was a campaign that offered hope for Kiltale and Paddy Kelly is certainly positive about the future. But will he continue to line out for the senior team? "I kept playing for a lot of years to help keep the thing going," said Kelly, who is Hurling Coordinator for Meath and also chairman of the Leinster Hurling Development Committee. "You look at what you have at the start of the year and decide on that basis. But I can probably ease myself out now as we have a good team there and getting Cathal Sheridan back was a very significant boost." With his involvement in so many committees, the chances are that Kelly would have little time to concentrate on playing even if he wanted to and he remains passionate about the game of hurling in both Kiltale and Meath. "A strategy has been developed in the county where we have development squads at under-12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 levels," he added. "We realise it has to be done this way. It's very intense and the hope is that these young players will be up to the required standard when it comes to playing matches." Kiltale enjoyed a progressive run in the Div. 2 Hurling Championship, but eventually bowed out at the semi-final stage when they lost to Moylagh at Athboy by three points (2-7 to 2-4), with Meath minor footballer Joe Melia doing most of the damage by scoring 1-5 of the winners' tally. Kiltale had earlier kept their interest in the competition alive when defeating Kilmessan by 2-10 to 2-2 in a play-off, having earlier lost to the same side (1-9 to 0-10) in the divisional campaign. Tweet

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