All belonging to Kilbride GFC are hell-bent on maintaining a twin-pronged approach to achieving progress within Meath's Gaelic games arena. The past year saw that very policy work to a tee. Kilbride GFC has long advocated a policy of trying to match success off the field with success on it. In 2001 that policy was seen at its most vivid with the glare of the club's spanking new floodlight system being outshone only by the shiny silverware scooped by the club's finest in the division five decider last autumn. Kilbride gaels don't have it particularly easy. Although their headquarters is pitched right smack in solidly Gaelic football territory, there are extenuating circumstances which the club has to deal with on an annual basis. For a long time now, and for the foreseeable future, Kilbride's most loyal sons and daughters have been busily trying to extricate themselves from the nether regions of Royal County football circles. It's a difficult task - though one with which the club is most definitely making headway. "One of our neighbouring clubs, Dunboyne, has done very well at senior level in recent times and we have to aspire to joining them in the fast lane of Meath football. After all the Kilbride club was winning senior championship titles long before Dunboyne hit the winning trail. "Unfortunately at the present time, we haven't quite got the resources that a lot of other clubs in Meath can call upon. "We're making progress on an annual basis though and I'm optimistic that our most recent league win will herald more successful times for the club in the near future," enthuses Pat Donnellan, secretary of the Kilbride club. There's no sense that Pat, or anyone else at the heart of matters at Kilbride GFC, is looking with jaundiced eyes at Dunboyne. And just because it appears that Kilbride is being sandwiched by a pincer movement involving the likes of Dunboyne on one side and Donaghmore/Ashbourne on the other (not to mention St. Paul's and Ratoath) doesn't mean to say that paranoia strikes deep into the heartland of Kilbride football territory. Kilbride beat Bellewstown to win the division five football title without the assistance of any sympathy votes and that's the way Kilbride's hardcore members and supporters want it. "We know we're one of the smallest parishes in the county and we've probably got one of the smallest pools of players available to us also but we're determined to make the most of our resources. "This year we won the division five title. Next year we hope to win the division four title and continue to climb the ladder thereafter. There's great potential within the club and there's a great pride and spirit in Kilbride too. "Of course, the championship is the big one for every club but I think the current team has the potential to do something significant in that regard sooner rather than later. "There's a good mix of youth and experience in the current team. I feel that a lot of the players on the Junior A team are probably at their prime right now and if we can recruit more new players of the calibre of David Harford who came from St. Vincents, I think we can make a big impression in the championship in the coming years also." Division five title-winning achievements bear no comparison, Pat admits, to those far-flung days when the likes of Martin, Gerry and Jack Quinn plus George Glynn, Pat Bruton and other All-Ireland winning medallists were bringing home senior championship titles to Kilbride. "There's always been a great footballing tradition in Kilbride over the 50 years and more of the club's existence and it's interesting to see sons of former Kilbride greats playing for the club at the present time. "A lot of the same names keep cropping up here in line-ups over the years and it's these families and a lot of other people besides who have been responsible for keeping the flag flying in Kilbride." Under the current chairmanship of Austin Reddin, Kilbride GFC does indeed continue to carry on a great tradition and, thanks to the club's most recent success over Bellewstown, a winning one at that. The win over Bellewstown fairly complemented the progress the club made in 2001 in terms of the development of its facilities. Thanks to its successful weekly lotto (sold primarily in the villages of Kilbride and Clonee), the club is financially sound and thanks from the proceeds of the lotto and a national lottery grant, the committee members of Kilbride GFC were able to push ahead with work on the erection of perimeter fencing and state-of-the art floodlighting. And just to add to the coffers, a night at the dogs fundraising venture at Harold's Cross stadium helps to defray unavoidable expenses. With a fine clubhouse in place at Kilbride's well manicured grounds in the village since the early nineties, one of the finest playing surfaces in county Meath to call upon and a pool, albeit small, of talented players, the future looks bright all-round for Kilbride. "We see ourselves as very much a progressive, go-ahead club with a hard-working committee in place, good facilities and a lot of talented footballers playing their hearts out for the club. There are a lot of positive things connected with the Kilbride club right now." The club organised a 'Night of the Dogs' this year and apart from the fundraising aspect of the event it was a great social occasion. Nearly half the parish was in Harold's Cross that night and we owe a debt to Noel White, Tommy Mahon and Meenagh Geraghty who were the organisers of the evening." While obviously mindful of the disappointment which beset the club in 2001 during its championship campaign which saw it fail to make the play-off stages after disappointing defeats to Meath Hill and Athboy ("the straw that broke the camel's back"), Pat - a director of the Health and Safety Authority - reckons that the panel of players assembled by team-trainer Vinny Donnelly in 2001 has the ability to at least reach the championship semi-finals in 2002. Long-term, Pat is hopeful that the expected increase in the population within Kilbride GFC's catchment area will make for a welcome increase in the numbers of players available for selection at all levels in the club in the coming years. "Underage football is weak at the club right now because the numbers simply aren't there. While numbers attending the local national school have increased in recent years, a lot of the new pupils are from adjoining parishes. Unfortunately, the number of pupils from the Kilbride parish attending the school is static. "We feel that we're in a period of consolidation right now. Building on the division five win is important but we would welcome an increase in the number of people living in the parish. "We need greater numbers of players so as to sustain our Junior A and Junior C teams plus give a boost to the numbers available to our juvenile mentors. "Kilbride is a prime area for the location of housing developments and I'm sure that there's a strong possibility that player resources won't be a problem for us in the not too distant future." Promotion up the ladder for Kilbride Kilbride's League success over Bellewstown this year was just rewards for the enormous among of effort being invested by dedicated club officials. Down Kilbride way they don't come much more determined than PRO Ann Farrell and she was only too delighted to report the good news. "It was a great boost, every club needs a little injection of success every now and again to keep the hope alive," was how Ann Farrell summed up the effect the Dublin border club's ACFL Division 5 final success over Bellewstown at Skryne would have on Kilbride GFC. "We're a very small club so any little achievement is a great help trying to keep the pieces together," she added. A strong first half performance paved the way for Kilbride. At half-time they were 2-8 to 1-2 to the good and despite scoring just one point after the resumption, they held on to clinch a fully deserved victory. Midfielders Richard Bruton and Andrew Rennicks and forwards Dermot White, Pat McDonagh and Geoffrey Sheridan were particularly effective in the first half for the team in green and red. "It was a reasonably comfortable win," explained Ann. "We played exceptionally well in the first half and, to all intents and purposes, had the game won at that stage. The second half was a scrappy affair and Bellewstown did do their best to come back into contention but our lads had enough in reserve and never really looked like being overtaken." Silverware has been a scarce commodity down Kilbride's direction in recent years so, needless to say, last October's win sparked great celebrations. "We had a great turnout at the game and everyone went to the County Club afterwards where the team had a meal. From there we went on to the Village Inn in Clonee who are the sponsors of the team and the rest of the night was spent there celebrating." Incidentally, the League success marked the end of team manager Vinny Donnelly's reign, which last three years, and he certainly bowed out in style! Relatively speaking, Kilbride performed reasonably well in this year's Junior championship. They enjoyed wins over St Vincent's, Dunshaughlin and Trim but defeats at the hands of Meath Hill and Athboy proved costly. They came agonisingly close to qualifying for the knock-out stages but a one point loss to Athboy put them out of contention. "With a bit of luck we could have made it through to the semi-final but these things happen. At least we proved that we weren't that far away. Playing in Division 4 next year will be a big help to us. The standard will be that little bit higher and that can only benefit the players." Ann has served as PRO of Kilbride since 1994; along with current treasurer Mena Geraghty, she was one of the first women to take on a role on the club committee. In addition, when husband Patsy was manager of Kilbride - he was involved for eight years during which time two League titles were garnered - Ann acted as the club's main jersey washer! According the to the mother of the house, the entire Farrell family is GAA "mad". Son Emmett is Kilbride's regular 'keeper while daughters Tara, Tracey and Eimear togged out for the club's ladies football team for the few years the ladies club existed. As you'd expect Ann also adopted a hands-on approach with the ladies club and was chairperson for a number of years. Prior to that she was involved, both as a player and administrator, with the local camogie team for thirty years until it disbanded in 1993. Her camogie medal collection includes three senior and two junior championship souvenirs. Such is her passion for all things pertaining to the GAA in Kilbride and Meath, it's difficult to believe that Ann isn't in fact a Meath native by birth. Royal County was shocked to learn that Ann was actually born in Galway, Cornamona on the Lake of Lough Corrib to be exact, and demanded an explanation! "My family moved from Galway to Kilbride when I was two years of age," she replied. "I attended school in Kilbride and got married in Kilbride so I consider myself to be a Kilbride and Meath person." So Ann was sporting the green and gold in Croke Park on the 23rd of September this year? "Absolutely, I was devastated. I have been a keen supporter of Meath all my life, even back in the days when Longford beat us in the Leinster championship, and further back. "Like a lot of other people I was extremely confident going up to Croke Park for the final, I was sure we were going to do it. I just can't explain what went wrong, things just didn't go right for us on the day. "We're certainly not as bad as the All-Ireland final would have you believe, just the same as Kerry are not as bad as their performance against us in the All-Ireland semi-final. It was just one of those things, but I have no doubt that we will be back again next year. We have a point to prove to Galway and I'm sure the players will do their best." Meanwhile, no prizes for guessing what tops Ann's ambitions for the future of Kilbride GFC. "To win the junior championship, that is the big one," she stated. "While it's great to have won the League this year, at the end of the day, Leagues are Leagues and Championship is Championship. It's the crowning glory of all achievements and hopefully we will achieve that in the near future." The Kilbride team which was on duty in the Division 5 final against Bellewstown in October was: E Farrell; J Sheedy, C Rennicks, D Cully; Robert Bruton, B White (0-1), J Bruton; Richard Bruton (0-1), A Rennicks; O Nolan (0-1), P McDonagh, G Sheridan (0-1); D Harford (1-4), R Rooney (0-1), D White (1-0). Subs - K Quinn for Rooney, S Walsh for Sheridan, N Keoghan for J Bruton. Tweet

Most Read Stories