With Brian Stafford staying on for his second season as trainer, Curraha named a new manager to work alongside him at the beginning of last season. He was Pat Moriarty, a Kerry man who's been involved with the club since 1995 having moved up from the Kingdom. In Kerry Pat played with Templenoe, the club of the Spillane brothers, Pat, Tom and Mick Pat's enthusiasm for the Curraha job and desire to do well are easily detected, as he recounts the ins and outs of the 2000 season. He remembers everything that happened: the dates, the scores, the incidents, the injuries, the good times and the bad. And he throws in a few opinions as well. He became manager at the beginning of the season having decided to call a halt to his playing days at the end of the 1999 campaign. Even the club's young whippersnappers at the end of that season had tired legs. Memorable stuff it was. Curraha faced fellow junior aspirants Meath Hill in a play-off for a quarter final spot in the championships, and the tie just went on and on and on. Four games it took to separate the sides. And at the end of it all, when Meath Hill made it through, Pat Moriarty found himself looking at the sidelines and seeing young lads chomping at the bit. "I thought to myself, I'm 37 years old, it's time to give them lads a chance." So he took a back seat, expecting peripheral involvement as the years rolled on. But his club colleagues had a different idea and at the following AGM he was asked to manage the team. He took the job after much thought, knowing that only a 100 per cent effort would suffice, and performed his duties with gusto and relish. He didn't set his priorities too high, but high enough all the same. One stood out above all: promotion from Division 5. "We should not have been in Division 5 in the first place," states John. "It was careless of us. We were relegated in '98 and in general, we weren't really giving the league a fair shot. The way it was, we had five lads playing soccer and one playing rugby, and when it came to the league we were giving way to the rugby and soccer. Last season we scrapped that policy and set our stall out to win the league." At the time of writing, Curraha were on the verge of doing just that, having romped their way through the league campaign. The manager recalls how it began. "We had four challenge games under our belt before we met An Gaeltacht in the first. We started slowly but came back into it well and won by two points. The lads who play the soccer said they would play as many league games as they could but as it turned out there was never a clash between the two, so we had them all year. "We said that we would look to the championship when it came around. Until then, our sights were set firmly on the league and getting out of Division 5. Our next game was on March 12th against St Vincents and it was a poor game for us. We won 0-15 to 0-11 but most of our scores came from frees from Declan Hanley. It was a case of digging in which we did." Two weeks later they met Kilmainham at home and recorded a 2-7 to 0-9 victory. "Again, I have to say we didn't play that well," maintains Pat. "We were lucky enough, but the important thing is that we were winning." Then the draw for the championship was made. "We all studied it carefully: Kilbride, Dunshaughlin, An Gaeltacht, Drumbaragh, St Brigids and Athboy. Like last year's draw it contained a number of our local rivals and, like last year, we were to meet Kilbride in the first round." Any more similarities? "Well, like last year, we beat Kilbride by a point. It was hard, tough game, quite physical - like any derby game really. What I remember particularly is our wing back John Traynor playing like a man possessed. He was our star man on the day. It was great to get out of our first championship game with a victory." So it was the middle of April and Curraha were still unbeaten. But then six weeks passed before their next game. "The fixture situation is a big problem in Meath. In Kerry at the start of the season you're given a fixture list for the whole year. They don't do that here and it only leads to uncertainty." That six week gap was filled with four challenge games, all against Division 3 opposition, who Curraha believe they are capable of playing against week-in week-out. Syddan, St Mary's, Rathkenny and Blackhall Gaels were all accounted for. Eventually May 28th arrived and a championship clash with Dunshaughlin. "We were luckly enough to beat them I suppose," says Pat. "We won a penalty in the last minute and Alan Carroll stuck it away to give us a 2-9 to 1-11 win." But then things started to go wrong for Curraha. Wing backs Senan Moynihan and John Traynor went to America for the summer. "Big losses," says John. With another injured they went into their third championship match against An Gaeltacht without three first choice players. "We were still hopeful but then disaster struck when our goalkeeper Liam Carroll got injured in the game and had to go off. "We were going so well at the start, leading 0-6 to 0-0, but we let in five goals and were beaten 5-8 to 3-9. Overall it was a very poor team performance." Defeat to Drumbaragh followed. They had let in eight goals in two games, they needed a settler. That came in the league, three nights later on June 27th, when they gave Longwood a sound beating. Two big games loomed then in the championship, against St Brigids and Athboy. "We knew St Brigids were a Division 3 side and we respected them but we knew we had to win. And we got a huge performance from the lads. We won 2-13 to 0-8. "And then in the last group game on July 17th we asked for a similar performance against Athboy who we felt were the best team in it. And we got that performance, winning 0-14 to 0-4." And so as the group panned out, Curraha found themselves awaiting the result of Kilbride versus Drumbaragh. The game ended in a draw which ensured a quarter-final play-off between Curraha and Drumbaragh. But it could have turned out so differently. "Most of our lads that weekend were away at a stag party. I went to the match and for the last ten minutes I ended up commentating on it for the lads on the mobile phone. It was very exciting stuff. Drumbaragh had a fifty in the last seconds and had they pointed it we would've been out but they missed it. We were over the moon to get a second chance." In the play-off, Curraha gained revenge over Drumbaragh for the group stage defeat, emerging comprehensive 2-12 to 0-10 winners to book their place in the quarter final. Having endured the nightmare of those eight goals they were now "back with a bang". But not everything was a bed of roses for Pat Moriarty's team. "In the Drumbaragh we had two players wrongly sent-off, we felt. Awful decisions in fact. So we were without those two lads against Ballinabrackey in the quarter-final, and also without Liam Carroll who got married the previous Friday. A club of our size can't afford to be missing players for big games but we just had to get on with it." It was a rain-soaked quarter final. "Like the Thunder and Lightening All-Ireland final," says Pat. "'Twas very wet altogether." It was a first-half dominated by defences. "Our forwards were great all season but this was one game when they faltered. We had 11 wides in the first half and only scored one point." Mind you, Ballinabrackey only got two, so it was all down to the second period. "We knew that if we created as much in the second half as we did in the first, we'd be in with a shout. As it happened we got a goal as soon as the second half started. But Ballinabracky plugged away and accumulated the points one by one, and eventually beat us 0-10 to 1-6. We had the chances to win but we just couldn't convert them on the day." For next season, Pat hopes that Brian Stafford will stay on as trainer. "The lads really respond to him. He's done it all so they listen to everything he has to say. Plus his training is excellent. Young lads can get easily distracted and not go to training but Brian's training is all ball work. The ball is incorporated into each exercise - that makes it easier and more interesting for the players." According to the manager, best for Curraha during the year were: Eoin Carroll, Christy Bermingham, Brian Cosgrave, Declan Hanley and Colm McManus, younger brother of county player Ian. It's to these players and others that Curraha look as they seek to maintain their good form of the year 2000. Curraha's u-12s claim Division 4 title Curraha scored a comprehensive victory over Dunderry to claim the u-12 FL Division 4 title in Rathkenny at the beginning of July by 3-8 to 1-3. The teams were level at the interval, 0-2 apiece, but with Brian Dowling, Sean Mallon, Terry Hetherton and PJ McMahon catching the eye, Curraha took control in the second half to record a memorable victory. Curraha - B Dowling; K Macken, C McGourty, S Arthur; M Battersby, PJ McMahon, B Marmion; S Mallon, T Hetherton, G Coyle, O Farrell, S Prenderville; G Harrington, P Marmion, D Coyle. Curraha career to Div. 5A title Putting behind them the disappointment of losing out in the quarter-finals of the junior championship earlier in the summer, the good and the great of Curraha demonstrated their staying power by going on to win the Division 5 (A) FL by securing a 2-8 to 1-8 win over Kilmainham at Rathkenny in late October. The Brian Stafford-trained victors showed true grit and determination to deny their battling opponents who opened brightly yet trailed Curraha by the odd point in three after a frenetic first quarter. It was all-square by the time Curraha scored their opening goal in the 21st minute when Alan Carroll gained possession inside the Kilmainham 14-metre line before finding the net with great aplomb. Carroll's major catapulted his side into a 1-2 to 0-2 lead but in a nip and tuck series of exchanges thereafter - highlighted by an intriguing personal battle between Curraha's Ian McManus and his direct opponent Barry Lynch - Curraha found themselves pegged back and at the interval, the teams couldn't be separated. Within moments after the restart, a quickfire Kilmainham goal left Curraha looking at a 1-4 to 1-7 deficit and it wasn't until the 43rd minute that the would-be winners found their feet with Gerry Butler pointing from a free and then firing over from play ten minutes later to leave just the minimum between the sides. Butler was on hand again 30 seconds later when he took full advantage of some neat work by Shane Keogh to rifle a great shot past the Kilmainham 'keeper. Curraha proceeded to try and seal the issue and a point apiece by Alan and Eoin Carroll left them 2-8 to 1-7 in front with a minute of injury time played. The following is the Curraha team, and scorers, which featured against Kilmainham: L. Carroll; C. Bermingham, R. Hetherton, J. Traynor; N. Keogh, D. Hanley, N. McDermott; L. Keogh (0-1), I. McManus; S. Keogh, G. Butler (1-3), C. McManus; B. Cosgrave, A. Carroll (1-3), E. Carroll (0-1). Subs; E. Doyle for Traynor; P. Moriarty for Bermingham. Tweet

Most Read Stories