Skryne, we watch them, fear them. In times past The High King of Tara sat upon his throne and also inspected the surrounding countryside from his elevated viewpoint on top of the hill. In more recent years the Hill of Tara has become a place where Skryne footballers are trained to become senior champions. However a peculiar silence has transcended down the hillside and into the parish lately. Three years without a Keegan Cup is by no means a famine, but Skryne men have big appetites. They expect success. These are strange days for Skryne football, strange days indeed. And still we watch them, fear them. In 1999 Skryne won the Meath senior football championship after beating Dunshaughlin1-12 to 0-8 in the decider. Their campaign was as impressive as it was comprehensive. They had become the yardstick team and no side in Meath seemed to have a response. For decades now Skryne has been a bastion of football in the county. Paddy and Michael O'Brien, David Carty, Brian Smith, Paddy Cromwell, Padraig Finnerty, Liam Hayes and Colm O'Rourke have all donned the blue and white jersey in the past. They are names that have sent shivers up and down opponent's spines. Not many can say they enjoyed competing with Hayes in midfield, evading the clutches of Finnerty or keeping tabs on O'Rourke. Nowadays the names may have changed but little else. Trevor Giles, John McDermott and Mick O'Dowd are the new force of Skryne football although this year they have nothing to show for their endeavours. In fact Skryne have failed to recapture the form that saw them storm the '99' championship, but still they have come close on two occasions. In 2000 they were knocked out at the semi-final stage and in 2001 they fell to Dunshaughlin in the final itself. This year they lost to Seneschalstown, 1-10 to 1-7, in a quarter-final clash. Their championship year was over and the first wisps of autumn had not yet arrived. "Seneschalstown played very well that day, especially in midfield. It was still fairly close towards the end but we just couldn't get back level. Of course we were disappointed afterwards because the expectancy is high here," says club PRO Dermot Carty. Dermot is a long serving clubman and has carried out a huge amount of roles in his time with Skryne. Prior to taking the PRO job about six years ago he had stints as secretary and treasurer. But his duties have not always been confined to carrying out administrative roles as he explains. "I played at pretty much every level with Skryne, right up from underage to senior football." Amazingly his playing career spans almost four decades, yet he has never won a senior championship medal. "I was a sub on the 1969 team that lost the final to Kilbride. They were on a role at the time and beat us in the 1971 final also. I was there when we lost in the semi-final in 1970 and also played in that 1971 game but never ended up on the winning side." Dermot continued to play for the Skryne seniors and was number 13 the day they faced Navan O'Mahony's in the 1981 decider. "We had a great team that year. The likes of Liam Hayes, Colm O'Rourke and Tyrone All-Star Kevin McCabe were all playing. Unfortunately we lost that final after a replay but we should have won the first game. An O'Mahony's player pulled Colm O'Rourke near the end of the drawn game and the referee should have given us a free but we didn't get anything. Instead they got the draw and then beat us in the replay. We had let the first game slip," he believes. As Dermot says himself he continued to play football at one grade or another up until "nineteen ninety something." And although the efficient PRO has won a number of Feis Cup medals and what not in his time, he admits he would swap them all for just one senior championship. But like a true Skryne man he wallows little in the past and is more concerned with the present crop of players and their quest for Keegan Cup glory. Like everybody else he was impressed with their initial championship performances in which they picked up two wins in succession. They beat Kilmainhamwood 1-15 to 0-7 in April and then overcame the Cortown's challenge, 2-13 to 2-5, in early May. Two games, two wins, and Skryne were looking good. However the Taramen's next championship outing was not until August against Trim and that, according to Dermot, was part of their downfall. "The break upset us because we had been playing well in our opening games and then there was this huge gap. Looking back I think we peaked then in those early games and by the time of the Trim match we weren't in the same form. We had been training around the Hill of Tara for months but the whole thing had become too drawn out." Skryne slumped to a 2-13 to 1-11 defeat against Trim but still managed to finish joint top of the group on four points courtesy of those earlier victories. "Trim were better than us on the day and they have done very well this year and were always going to be there or thereabouts. But I think the writing was on the wall for us after that game." And so it proved with the defeat to Seneschalstown. However Dermot puts forward another very interesting possibility for Skryne's failure to win a championship since 1999. "This team have been in or around the top for a long time now. We came close in 1998 and then won it in '99'. In 2000 we lost to Kilmainhamwood in a semi-final and then last year we got to the final. That is a long time to be constantly making it to the latter stages of any championship. Perhaps they are a little bit tired and the early exit this year might actually benefit them in the coming months." But Dermot also believes the current team might need another year or so to fight again for a championship. "I think next year might be a transition year. The team may need a little more time but the potential is definitely there and we have some good young players coming through." Skryne's league form was inconsistent but they still finished mid-table in Division 1A. Relegation was never a prospect with Gaeil Colmcille and Donaghmore/Ashbourne both struggling at the foot of the table. Both Skryne's Trevor Giles and Mick O'Dowd were part of Sean Boylan's Meath set-up this year. O'Dowd may not be as prominent on the Meath side as his club team-mate but anybody who has ever seen him play with Skryne will know he has bundles of ability. Giles' talents are already well documented and Dermot is a fan. "Trevor is a great footballer and a nice lad. He was superb for Ireland in the International Rules series this year." Indeed Giles is one of the best all-round footballers in the country at the moment. That he plays for Skryne is no great surprise. In the past they have always been able to produce some of the finest footballers to ever play for Meath. They were groomed in Fr. McManus Park and accordingly shipped out to Croker to represent their county. Many people have worked diligently in the background, and continue to do so, in order to help Skryne players progress their football careers. "I think the hard work of manager Dessie Finnerty should be mentioned. He brought in Sean Dempsey to help train the lads and both have shown great commitment to the team. Also we are lucky to have a great chairman here in Kevin O'Rourke and a hard working and dedicated committee," states Dermot. Skryne, there is something urbane about them. They might not have won the Keegan Cup in three years but they still represent everything that is good about club football in the county. They have lifted the senior championship on eleven occasions but somehow, even in defeat, they have always been the elite football club in Meath. Dermot Carty says that next year will be a transition period for the club but we all know what a dog can be like when he is backed up against a wall. Cynically and nervously we whisper among ourselves that up on the Hill of Tara Skryne are hatching their next batch of young players in the mould of a Giles or a Hayes. Skryne, we watch them, fear them. Tweet

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