'Cilles on the comeback
December 31, 2000
When those entrusted with the task of selecting the Meath GAA 'Club of the Year' award sit down to choose the 2000 recipient, St Colmcille's will undoubtedly feature high amongst the list of candidates.
How a club fared in a year is normally determined by the amount of cups/trophies on display in the trophy cabinet. For that purpose, St Colmcille's members can point to the u-12, u-14 and u-16 Division 2 crowns.
But, they also qualified for the MFC decider where O'Mahony's proved to be their conquerors while the club's intermediates, a very young team comprised mainly of minors, did very well to reach the championship semi-final.
Under the guidance of Richie Culhane , the seaside club topped their group in the Intermediate championship and qualified for a penultimate stage clash with Ballivor but, unfortunately, that was where the fairytale came to an end as St Colmcille's lost out on a scoreline of 0-18 to 0-14.
Although it was of no consolation to the losers when Eugene McDonnell's final whistle brought this contest to a an end, it was a highly entertaining game. The sides were level three times in the first half, while the scoreboard read 0-7 apiece at the break.
St Colmcille's got their noses ahead once in each half but on both occasions were unable to summon that extra little bit to pull clear.
The experience should stand to a young team, however. Chief marksman Niall Ronan for example, who scored eight points in the semi-final, was eligible for the minor grade this year. One of the brightest underage prospects in the county at the present time, he was midfield on the Meath minor team which lost out to Dublin in the Leinster MFC semi-final at Croke Park.
Others such as Brian Kelly, Damien O'Brien and Eoin Sarsfield will have a big part to play in what direction St Colmcille's will take in the years to come.
The biggest disappointing feature of the 'Cille's semi-final performance against Ballivor was their wide tally of ten.
The team in sky blue and navy enjoyed their best spell during the second quarter and unanswered points from Sarsfield, McKenna and Ronan (two frees) gave them a narrow 0-6 to 0-5 lead.
Ballivor responded with two points to regain the lead but it was all square shortly afterwards when Ronan, once again, pointed. St Colmcilles were then unlucky not to have raised a green flag when the post intervened to keep Damien Beaky at bay.
The second half followed much a similar pattern with the advantage swinging to and fro but in the end, when it mattered, most it was Ballivor who clicked into fifth gear to take the chequered flag.
The St Colmcille's Intermediate team which went under to Ballivor in the IFC semi-final: B Morris; S Black, N Cooney, R Collier; N Dunne, I Mullen, B Kelly; E Grogan, C Hall; E Sarsfield (0-1), D Beakey, E O'Boyle; D O'Brien (0-5), N Ronan (0-8), J McKenna.
Subs - E O'Brien for Kelly, G Black for McKenna
The Cille's minors went one step further than their Intermediate counterparts but, unfortunately, they too ended up without any silverware with O'Mahony's emerging with a 3-9 to 1-6 win from their tussle.
The Yellow Pages sponsored side can have no complaints at the final result as, on the day, they were beaten by a better team
O'Mahony's were strengthened by the presence of a number of the All-Ireland Colleges winning St Pat's team while Colmcilles fielded a number of the successful St Mary's, Drogheda team.
A sign of things to come arrived inside the first five minutes when Niall Kerby was off target with three frees. O'Mahony's made the most of those let offs when engineering a goal soon afterwards.
Fifteen minutes had elapsed on the clock before the east Meath outfit registered their first score, a goal from Niall Ronan. The O'Mahony's 'keeper failed to hold on to a free from Kerbey and the Meath minor pounced to finish to the net.
A point from Black left the two teams level but that was to be the last time for the remainder of the contest.
The Navan side led by 2-3 to 1-2 at the break, their second goal arriving in the 19th minute.
St Colmcille's couldn't have asked for better start on the resumption when Black volleying a point following a long ball from McKenna but O'Mahony's upped the tempo to run out comfortable winners.
The St Colmcille's Minor team which contested the county final was: A Healy; P Daly, D Dunne, K McGill; B Colgan, B Kelly, E O'Boyle; N Ronan (1-0), E Sarsfield; G McCloskey, J McKenna (0-2), G Black (0-3); M Clerkin, N Kerbey (0-1), D O'Brien.
Subs - C O'Boyle for McGill, M Whearty for Colgan.
St Colmcille's experienced better fortunes when they clashed with Simonstown in the u-16 Division 2 final at Duleek in July. 2-10 to 1-6 was their winning margin.
Centre-forward and captain Mark Whearty, who notched a personal tally of 1-3, was the star of the show. He was a constant thorn in the Simonstown defence and looks to have a bright future ahead of him in the St Colmcille's colours.
In defence, Meath u-16 Kevin McGill, who was a corner-back on the minor team, was a tower of strength and his probing runs forward created numerous opportunities for his forward colleagues.
Those were just two who stood out in the final but, if the truth be known, it was an excellent all round team display from the winners and each and everyone of the starting XV played their part in the success.
Corner forwards Jonathon Holcroft and Mark Magill scored 0-3 and 1-1 respectively for instance.
Whearty's first half goal boosted his side to a 1-3 to 0-5 interval lead. With Denis McEntaggart and Declan Gibbons holding the upper hand in the midfield exchanges the Saints, who were physically much stronger than their opponents, extended their lead at the beginning of the second half.
Simonstown had a goal disallowed midway through the second half but the town team never looked as though they could overtake Whearty and co. They did managed to net a goal near the end but that was nothing more than a consolation score.
The St Colmcille's XV which defeated Simonstown in the Division 2 final was as follows: R Healy; E Diamond, D Sheerin, M Fitzsimons; Simon Monahan, K Magill (0-1), M Black; D McEntaggart (0-1), D Gibbons; S O'Connor, M Whearty (1-3), Shane Monahan; J Holcroft (0-3), C Dowd (0-1), M Magill (1-1).
The club's u-14s also got in on the winning act when defeating Skryne to claim the FL Division 2 title on a scoreline of 2-9 to 2-6 in Bective at the beginning of June.
The east Meath side led by 1-5 to 0-1 at the break but were forced to stage a late rally after Skryne scored 2-5 in the opening twenty minutes of the second half. Skryne led by 2-6 to 1-7 with just seven minutes remaining but the 'Cille's responded in style when captain and full-forward Mark Magill set up Mark Sherry for a vital goal.
St Colmcille's finished the strongest with points from Sherry and Brendan Coyle to make sure of the victory.
The winners were best served by goalie Paul Madden, who pulled off a succession of fine saves and Shane Cassidy, Niall Reilly, Niall O'Grady, Joseph Murphy, Sherry and Magill.
St Colmcille's - P Madden; M Metcalfe, S Cassidy, N Dowd; N Reilly, S Monahan, W Tougher; J Murphy, N O'Grady (0-1); B Coyle (0-2), A Hageman (0-1), M Farrell; M Sherry (1-1), M Magill (1-3), C Kelly (0-1).
Sub - E Costello for Farrell.
Skryne also provided the opposition in the u-12 Division 2 final and were again left licking their wounds following a 4-8 to 3-6 defeat.
Despite trailing by as much as nine points at one stage during the second half, St Colmcille's kept plugging away and pulled off memorable victory.
Skryne were dominant for long periods and were 2-4 to 1-2 to the good at the interval. That team from Tara failed to score in the final quarter and St Colmcille's took advantage to pull of a miraculous recovery to snatch the spoils from under their noses.
A brace of goals from full-forward Graham Boyle and another from Richard O'Donoghue set the wheels in motion for the 'Cille's win. Boyle also netted his team's goal in the first half.
Lorcan Smith, Tadhy McHugh, Graham Reilly, Dean Adamson and Dean Collins were others to play well for the winners.
The successful St Colmcille's u-12 team was
- D O'Sullivan; C Reilly, L Smith, N Black; T McHugh (0-1), G Reilly, K Walsh; D Adamson, D Collins (0-1); R O'Donoghue (1-0), J Tuffy, M Gallagher (0-4); B Murphy, G Boyle (3-1), K Gough.
Subs - S Griffin for Reilly, C Mullen (0-1) for Murphy, P Collins for Gough.
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