In a year when the Rathmolyon senior hurlers failed to build on their performances in 2000, it was left to the club's under 14s to provide the highlight. Club chairman Declan Regan looks back on the year's happenings. It may have been a largely disappointing year for the Rathmolyon senior hurling team but the same cannot be said for the under 14s who brought championship glory to the south county club. A memorable victory over Navan O'Mahony's earned Rathmolyon its first ever Under 14 'A' Championship success. It was the second year in succession that this particular group of players had made history. In 2000, they captured the Under 13 'A' Championship, the first 'A' title ever won by the club. "This is a team of born winners," declares a proud Rathmolyon chairman Declan Regan. "They clearly have the winning touch and their success over the past two years proves this. It was a great achievement for them to beat Navan O'Mahony's in the county final. O'Mahony's would have a much bigger pick than us but our lads still managed to come up trumps," he adds. Coached by Seamus Murray and Fergus Fagan, the team's success has been the culmination of years of hard work and determination. Not surprisingly, Regan is hopeful that this is only the beginning of a successful era for Rathmolyon. "If these lads can be kept together, you could be talking about them winning a senior championship seven or eight years down the road. They have loads of talent and have big futures ahead of them. But it is important that they are kept together," he says. Declan, who only recently retired from hurling, combined the role of chairman with that of senior team selector this year. Having pushed eventual champions Trim all the way in the 2000 championship semi-final, hopes were high of an improvement on that last season but, in truth, such never seemed likely. "It was a poor enough year," Regan admits. "We had our sights set on doing better than the previous year when Trim beat us by a last-minute point in the semi-final. But between retirements and fellas emigrating, our team was badly depleted and we were happy just to consolidate our senior status in the end." Rathmolyon were short as many as seven key players for this year's championship campaign. Former county stars Martin Smith and John Gorry retired, with the latter taking charge of the training duties at Dunboyne. Mick Cole and Tommy Cosgrove emigrated to the US while Padraig Gantley spent the year in Australia. Kenny Murray hardly pucked a ball due to other commitments. "In a small club like Rathmolyon, you can't afford to lose anyone, never mind seven. We had to bring in a lot of youngsters and, while they did well, you couldn't expect them to do much better than they did." In hindsight, the green and whites couldn't have asked for a tougher start to the championship. Their first two games were against Dunderry and Kilmessan and both resulted in defeats. Rathmolyon recovered to win the local derby clash with Longwood and followed it up with another victory over Wolfe Tones. They then suffered their third defeat of the campaign to Killyon, a result which ended any hopes of qualification for the knock-out stages. Regan believes the year might have had a disastrous conclusion had Dave Foley not taken over the team after the first round defeat to Dunderry. Foley's return to the club couldn't have been better timed, according to the chairman. "It would have been a struggle to stay up if Dave hadn't returned when he. He guided us to our only two senior championship victories in 1993 and '96 and seems to be able to get the best out of everyone. "From the time he took over this year, an improvement was evident in our performances. We're hoping that he'll stick with us next year because he attains the respect of all the players and has a great record with Rathmolyon." It was also a disappointing year for the club's junior team who managed just two wins all season. "The juniors would have done a lot better if so many lads hadn't been brought into the senior set-up. We were fully stretched for players," Declan explains. Club chairman for the past three years, Regan has been one of Rathmolyon's most committed members over the past decade. He was an important member of the teams which defeated Wolfe Tones and Kilmessan in the county finals of 1993 and '96. On both occasions, he lined out at corner back. Always hopeful, Regan expects Rathmolyon to be a more formidable outfit next season although he feels it could take up to three years for the club to renew acquaintances with Meath hurling's blue riband prize. "Realistically, this team will need about three years before it can win a championship. At the moment, it's very inexperienced with the average age being around 21 or 22. "We were forced into blooding a lot of young players this year but I'm sure the year will have brought them on a lot. If we can get a few of the lads who missed this year back, then we could be in a position to challenge for the championship sooner than expected." Over the next number of years, Rathmolyon hope to transform their playing facilities into among the best in the county. The new pitch, which has a carpet-like playing surface, was opened less than two years ago and the next step is to develop new dressingrooms. "We're hoping to get work started on the new dressingrooms next year," Declan says. "Our players and supporters are very loyal and it is our aim to provide them with the best facilities possible." Tweet

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