Kilmainhamwood's 0-15 to 0-8 defeat of Simonstown in A FL Div. 1 decider in Pairc Tailteann on Saturday 20th October saw the north Meath club annex league silverware for the second successive year having won Division 2 in 2000. The victory went some way towards atoning for the club's SFC quarter final defeat at the hands of Skryne The 'Wood were well fancied to go all the way in the senior football championship despite suffering a heavy defeat at the hands of Dunshaughlin in the 2000 decider. It was felt that the north Meath side had under performed on the day and were strong contenders for the 2001 campaign. They spluttered into the quarter final by virtue of scoring narrow victories over Simonstown and Ballinlough in the first two rounds of the group to ensure qualification. In their final group game they suffered another heavy defeat at the hands of Dunshaughlin, but there was still a steely determination in the camp to get back to the final and to make amends for their poor showing in 2000. So it was with heads bowed that Kilmainhamwood left Pairc Tailteann on Sunday 7th October having come out on the wrong end of a 1-10 to 1-8 score line against championship favourites Skryne after a match that was played in atrocious weather conditions. Kilmainhamwood had ousted Skryne at the penultimate stage in 2000 and were quietly confident of causing a similar upset. However, the weather conditions, injuries to key players and some poor finishing ensured that lightning wouldn't strike twice in the same place. County players Ray Magee and Paul Shankey inspired the 'Wood to a 1-3 to 0-4 interval lead. Colm Gilcreest got them off to a dream start in the fourth minute when he found the net after a long delivery from Aidan Crosbie had deceived the Skryne defence. When Trevor Giles blazed a penalty wide (yes another miss) three minutes later it looked as if it was going to be the 'Wood's day. Their undoing came about in a nine-minute period at the beginning of the second half when Skryne hit 1-3 without reply. It left the 'Wood four points adrift and despite having the lions share of possession for the remainder of the game they were unable to claw back the deficit although they closed the gap to the minimum on two occasions in the closing stages. Magee weighed in with an excellent personal tally of five points on the day. However, the 'Wood's over reliance on the Meath corner forward in the scoring department was to prove costly. The loss of Larry McCormack with a second half shoulder injury also detracted from the 'Wood's ability to notch up vital scores. The north Meath outfit were also dealt a cruel blow when they were forced to field without midfielder Martin Curtis because of a groin injury. He was introduced as a second half substitute to good effect when he replaced McCormack, but his fielding ability and teak-tough all round game was sorely missed in that telling nine minute spell when Skryne made the decisive break. The league final gave the 'Wood the ideal platform to bounce back, coming two weeks after the Skryne defeat. They had amassed a total of 16 points from their 11 league outings, one point behind the north Navan combination. They had already scored a league and championship double over their opposition and many neutral observers felt it would be third time lucky for Simonstown. Kilmainhamwood's Centenary Park under floodlights is an awesome sight. Strangers to that part of the world might be forgiven for thinking a spaceship had landed such is the brightness and intensity of the lights. In the two weeks preceding the league final the lights beamed out across north Meath to signal that the 'Wood were at home and taking the league final very seriously. Magee had been the club's leading marksman throughout the championship and many supporters felt he would have to be on top of his game if the 'Wood were to annex the Tommy Mooney Memorial Cup. The Meath star didn't let the 'Wood's supporters or his teammates down when he turned in a "man of the match" performance in recording a personal tally of eight points. One local paper reported on the final victory as the "Ray Magee Show" which was a huge injustice to "Smoothie's" teammates. Six other members of the team got on the scoreboard. Alan Shankey (0-2), Francis Owens, Ken Russell, Ray Madden, Aidan Crosbie and Ray Cunningham (0-1) each, all made telling contributions. Ronan Finnegan, who made a brave point-blank second half save from Ronan Brady, Martin Curtis who was a tower of strength at midfield and Ray Cunningham who was asked to adopt the unfamiliar role of an attacking wing back in the second half, and Paul Shankey who put in a busy hour, were other to play their part in this victory. Simonstown shaded the opening exchanges and led 0-7 to 0-5 at the interval. Magee (0-3), Alan Shankey and Ray Madden (0-1) notched the winners first half scores. At one stage during the first half the north Navan outfit opened up a four point lead but the 'Wood finished the half the stronger and halved the deficit just before the break. Eamonn McEnaney's half time talk certainly worked the oracle for the 'Wood. The former Monaghan manager also made a number of astute positional switches at the break, which were to bear fruit in the second half. The most notable of these switches was placing Cunningham in the half back line (in a swap with Francis Owens) where he collected an abundance of possession. On resumption, the 'Wood took the game by the scruff of the neck and within four minutes they had cruised into the lead. Two points from Magee and a peach of a point from Ken Russell gave them the initiate. Aidan Crosbie and Magee stretched the lead to three points before Finnegan pulled of his point-blank save from Ronan Brady. Magee then fired over another fine point to make it 0-11 to 0-7, before Ned Kearney notched Simonstown's only second half score. Magee yet again, Francis Owens, Alan Shankey and Cunningham applied the icing to the cake to complete this comprehensive route. The beer flowed freely in celebration later that night and indeed for much of the next day. Capturing the A FL Div. 1 crown hadn't quite made up for losing to Skryne in the championship, but it went some way towards healing the wound. Kilmainhamwood- R Finnegan; G Owens, L Shankey, D Cunningham; F Owens (0-1), R Madden (0-1), K Russell (0-1); P Shankey, M Curtis; A Shankey (0-2), C Gilcreest, M Shankey; R Magee (0-8), A Crosbie (0-1), R Cunningham (0-1). Subs- J Corrigan for D Cunningham. S Mulligan for Crosbie. Tweet

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