Success in the Reserve League Div. 2 proved to be the highlight of the 2002 season for the St. Colmcille's adult football club. The league commenced in February when Colmcille's recorded a victory away to Ballivor. This good start was followed by wins over Castletown, Kilmainhamwood, Moynalvey, St. Patrick's and Na Fianna, while draws were achieved against Skryne, Navan O'Mahonys and St. Ultan's. That draw against Skryne was a performance of the highest standard in this grade, reflected in the final score line of 2-13 each. This match was to prove highly significant later on as both teams remained unbeaten in the competition and went on to meet in the final. The final was played at Donore on Sunday, October 13 and, once again, the match turned out to be a very close affair. St. Colmcille's gained the upper hand in the opening half thanks to points from Emmet Grogan (four), Gary McCloskey (two), Damien Beakey and Gary Black (one each) and a great goal from McCloskey. Those scores left Colmcille's leading by four points at half-time (1-8 to 0-7). Mark Whearty extended the advantage to five points with as many minutes of the second period gone, but that score proved to be the winners last for a 15-minute period, during which time Skryne hit back with 1-2 to level the match at 1-9 each. Skryne appeared to be taking control of the final at that stage, but the St. Colmcille's players demonstrated their undoubted character and commitment as they stemmed the tide and a point by McCloskey put them ahead once again. This was followed just a minute later by a fantastic goal from Daniel Black and that proved to be the decisive score of the match as the teams swapped points over the remaining five minutes, the Colmcille's score coming from Whearty. Those final five minutes were extremely tense and a highlight of that closing spell was the tenacious defending by all the St. Colmcille's players as they demonstrated how much they wanted the title. The sound of the final whistle brought great relief and joy as Colmcille's had won by 2-11 to 1-10 and after the match the cup was presented to captain Richie McCullen. The great character and commitment of the team was epitomised by Owen O'Brien who played on after he fractured a finger after 10 minutes, with his final culminating in the further discomfort of dislocating his shoulder in the last five minutes. The club owes Owen and all his teammates a big thank you for their outstanding commitment throughout the year and this victory is a testament to their determination and commitment. The club has wished Owen a speedy recovery and the hope is that this victory will be followed by many more successes in the coming years. Nobby Dunne managed the successful team, with assistance from Dave O'Brien, Finbar Ronan, Oliver Kavanagh, Gerry Healy and Brendan Beakey. The St. Colmcille's panel for the final was - C. Rohan, N. Woods, R. McCullen, A. Healy, G. Fox, E. Sarsfield, B. Mullen, O. O'Brien, A. Farrell, G. McCloskey, G. Black, B. Morris, E. Grogan, D. Beakey, D. Black, M. Whearty, N. Cooney, T. Kiernan, I. McCloskey, S. Collier, P. McEntee, C. Duff and E. Diamond. St. Colmcille's were drawn in Div. A of the Intermediate Football Championship, a section that also included Duleek, Drumconrath, Rathkenny, Curraha, Carnaross, Slane and Castletown. This team was coached by former star Meath corner-back Bob O'Malley, but failed to qualify for the knock-out stages of the competition. However, that success achieved by the Reserve League Div. 2 side gave the club's supporters plenty to cheer about and was undoubtedly the highlight of 2002 from an adult football perspective. Hurling St. Colmcille's have been working on the development of hurling in the area for the past few years and, conscious of the large number of new housing developments in the area, the club looked at recruiting new residents who came from traditional hurling areas. The club's hurling development officer is Michael O'Donoghue who was appointed in 1999. Michael is a native of Nenagh in County Tipperary and moved to the area in 1992. Work began in 2000 with a group of seven to nine year-olds and a number of blitz competitions were entered in 2001. In 2002 St. Colmcille's competed in the Meath Under-11 Hurling Championship for the first time. While they failed to register any success in the competition this year, the team gave a good account of themselves in all of their games and the coaches are very pleased with the improvement in standard that has taken place over the last few years. St. Colmcille's also took part in some indoor tournaments in Gormanston which allowed the youngsters to practice the skills of the game during the winter months. The club has also been lucky to recruit two excellent coaches in John Hennessey, who hails from the Bishopstown club in Cork, and Mick O'Neill, who comes from Graiguenamanagh in County Kilkenny. Both these men moved to the area in the last few years. St. Colmcille's now have a basic structure in place for the promotion of hurling in the area. They have a small but very interested group of players who are busy learning the skills of the game every week. There is plenty of room for many more and the hope is that in the next few years St. Colmcille's will have a thriving and successful hurling section. The club is also lucky in the fact that the drainage improvements at the Piltown pitch have now made it a very good surface for playing hurling on. History repeats itself Twenty-five years ago in 1977, three St. Colmcille's players were involved as Meath enjoyed a memorable run which took them all the way to the All-Ireland Minor Football Championship final. Unfortunately, the end result was a big disappointment as the Royal County, coached by 1967 All-Ireland hero Ollie Shanley, lost the decider by 2-6 to 0-4 against a very strong Down team which was managed by one of the Mourne county's all-time great forwards, Sean O'Neill. Meath were bidding to win their second All-Ireland title in the minor grade and the first since 1957 when they also met Ulster opposition at the final hurdle in the shape of Armagh. The St. Colmcille's players who were involved in the '77 campaign were John McCloskey, who lined out at right corner-forward in the final, and Danny Black and Noel Grogan who were members of the panel. McCloskey proved to be very accurate and was Meath's second top scorer during the memorable campaign with 3-9 from six games. That left him just behind Walterstown's Frank O'Sullivan who tallied 2-15. The St. Colmcille's forward was the leading scorer with 1-2 as the Royal County opened their Leinster Championship campaign with a very comfortable 2-9 to 0-3 victory over an outclassed Longford side at Mullingar in late June and he scored an identical tally in the comprehensive 4-7 to 0-6 semi-final victory over Louth at Croke Park. He was on the mark with a point as Meath edged out Dublin in the Leinster final, also at Croke Park, by 1-7 to 0-9 to earn the county its third provincial title in the minor grade and he added 1-3 to his scoring figures as New York were easily overcome by 1-13 to 0-4 in an All-Ireland quarter-final, also at Croker. Meath were outsiders going into the All-Ireland semi-final against a well-fancied Cork team, but they gave the Royal County's followers a big lift when recording a superb 0-12 to 1-5 victory, with McCloskey once again getting on the score sheet with a point. That meant he had managed to hit the target in all five matches that Meath played en route to the decider and the final against Down was the only game in which the St. Colmcille's player didn't trouble the umpires. Indeed, Gerry Cooney of Navan De La Salle, later to become a highly successful senior player with Walterstown and a very talented manager, was the only Meath player to score in the final. Twenty-five years later and history repeated itself with a Meath minor team reaching an All-Ireland final where an Ulster side provided the opposition. Again defeat was Meath's lot but as in 1977 a St. Colmcille's man played a key-scoring role as Meath advanced to the final. Young Mark Whearty endeared himself to all Meath folk with the match-winning goal against Galway in the All-Ireland quarter-final. His pace, low centre of gravity and elusiveness was expertly utilised by the Meath selectors as time and time again they introduced him to change the course of games. Against Kerry an important point came at a time when the Munster men looked like making a comeback. It is amazing how the club have the knack of producing scoring forwards, long may the trend continue! Tweet

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