The Intermediate title eluded Ballivor in 1999 but with people like Caroline Burke involved at administrative level, no stone will be left unturned in their bid to capture the Mattie McDonnell Cup. The skids were put on Ballivor's intermediate championship run at the semi-final stage this year when St. Pats, Stamullen knocked them out of contention. The scoreboard in Walterstown read 0-12 to 0-8 as referee Seamus McCormack blew his final whistle. According to club secretary/PRO, Caroline Burke, disappointment dosen't begin to describe the emotions felt by Ballivor supporters in the aftermath of that clash. "That's not the word for it, we were devastated. We had very high expectations at the start of the year and losing out at the semi-final stage was very hard to take. We could have won it but didn't, that's all that matters. "Most of our players would also play hurling with either Kildalkey or Killyon so they'd have been playing, training, in both hurling and football, very hard all year. It can be very time consuming and was bound to have some adverse effect on them. We were also missing Conor Martin and Daniel Fagan for the St. Pats game. They're big losses for a small club like ourselves." That's Ballivor's year wrapped up in a nutshell. Chronicling Caroline's involvement in the GAA, at both club and county level, may take a little bit longer. A native of Palmerstown in Dublin, Caroline moved to her husband Toby's native Ballivor seventeen years ago when the couple were married. There was no family history of involvement in the GAA whatsoever while living in Dublin. Motor racing was the main attraction in her family. The move to the Royal County, however, ignited an interest. Caroline and Toby have two children. Kevin lines out with the club's U15, U16 and U17 teams, while Sinead plays football with Boardsmill and was a member of the Meath U12 'B' team in 1998. "The entire family is into football in a big way, we eat, sleep and drink football," reveals Caroline. " Caroline made her debut at administrative level in 1992 when she was elected asst. secretary. Her seventh term as secretary is just coming to an end while she has been PRO and asst. treasurer for the last six years, as well as Co. Board delegate since '93 and one of the driving forces behind the club's weekly lotto. She's also a member of the Co. Board's Special Investigations Committee! For his part, Toby was Juvenile chairman last year and a member of the club's executive this year. "Prior to becoming active on committees and so on, I had been involved on the periphery of the club, helping out anyway I could with functions etc. "I'm absolutely delighted to be involved with the club and at Co. Board level, it's a wonderful experience and I really enjoy the work. I get on very well with all the delegates. A lot of people think it's a disadvantage for me, being a female, but I've never had any reason to feel that way. People accept you for what you are and the work you do." In her role as secretary of Ballivor, Caroline, like all other club secretaries in the county, had the unenviable task of dealing with the distribution of tickets for this year's All-Ireland. "The ticket situation, at first, looked to be very serious but I have to say that it turned out better than we had expected. By the end of the week building up to the All-Ireland we had got more tickets than many had anticipated. Unfortunately, however, twelve paid up members still missed out. "There definitely has to be a fairer way of distributing tickets, what it is I don't know, but I think the amount both participating counties received this year was a gross insult. It was terrible to see the amount of people who couldn't get their hands on tickets." While she could have done without all the headaches, Caroline wasn't complaining. What would other counties have done for the chance to participate in the All-Ireland decider? Needless to say, the end result was the icing on the cake. "It was a great year, absolutely fabulous. On the day itself I wasn't too sure which way it was going to go, Toby, on the other hand, predicted Meath would do it easy. "When Cork got the goal it was a bit worrying but once they didn't capitalise on it immediately I could sit back and relax because I knew we were home and dry. If a team dosen't finish Meath off when they get the chance that's the end of them. I relished every minute of the second half . . . after their goal of course!" Was Caroline confident that the Royal County could land their seventh All-Ireland title at the outset of this year's campaign? "I thought they were definitely in with a good chance. The league may not have went according to plan but it's very hard to judge a team in league games. The championship is do or die and that's when Meath are at their best." Caroline adds: "It was a pity the juniors couldn't pull it off as well. We had four lads, Fergus McMahon, Darren Davis, Trevor Smith and James Mitchell, on the junior panel." Returning to Ballivor, the club's second string reached the quarter-final of the Junior 'C' championship where eventual winners Rathkenny brought their interest to an end. Earlier in the campaign they had, as Caroline says, 'annihilated' Rathkenny's final opponents Summerhill. The Intermediates gained promotion from Div. 3 of the All-County A leagues in '98 and they consolidated their position in Div. 2 this year with a mid-table finish. Incidentally, Willie Keegan, James Kelly and Martin Doyle were once again over the Ballivor Intermediates for '99. The club undertook some development work on their facilities during the course of the year. The affable Burke explains: "We completely drained the pitch and erected new posts and wiring around the pitch. The dug outs were also knocked but we've yet to build the new ones. We've the normal type of clubhouse, four dressing rooms, showers, a meeting room etc." Grounds fit for Intermediate champions . . . will the year 2000 also mark the dawn of a new era for Ballivor GFC? Ballivor collect reserve title Ballivor collected the 1998 B FL Div 3 title after an easy victory over St. Ultans at Athboy in early April. James Mitchell's personal tally of 2-4 helped Ballivor on their way to an impressive victory. The game was practically over after only 15 minutes when Mitchell, Martin Doran and Keith Martin had all netted for the winners. Ballivor looked impressive throughout with U17 International and minor star, Paul Feeney dominating at centre forward. St. Ultan's did rally back, somewhat in the second half, but their efforts were only in vain, especially after Mitchell netted his second goal of the game. Most impressive were Martin Doran and Mitchell who totalled 3-6 between them. Sean Kennedy at corner back also excelled. Ballivor: R McKeown; S Kennedy, J Keogh, F Byrne; T Fox, P Carroll (0-1), F Leavy; D Fagan, J Keogh; B Flynn (0-6), P Feeney, K Martin (1-0); P Doyle; J Mitchell (2-4); M Doran (1-2). Subs: D Mitchell, JD Flynn, T Sherlock. Tweet

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