Nineteen-ninty-nine was one of Rathmolyon's most difficult seasons since the club attained senior status nearly a quarter of a century ago. Club stalwart John Gorry believes that they may have turned the corner, though, as Royal County recently discovered. Rathmolyon will be glad to see the back of 1999, one suspects. A disastrous championship campaign almost culminated in relegation to the intermediate grade, a grade they haven't played in since 1975. Only a relegation play-off win over lowly Boardsmill managed to keep Rathmolyon up at the end of a season which was bitterly disappointing by recent standards. Just two draws from five championship outings was a very poor return for a club that has been to the forefront of the Meath senior hurling scene over the past decade. Rathmolyon stalwart John Gorry was understandably a relieved man after the green and whites had held onto their senior status. A member of the Rathmolyon senior set-up since 1980, the former county star believes that the absence of a number of key players, coupled with the fact that the club is rebuilding at the moment, almost cost them their place among the elite of Meath hurling. "It was a massive relief to beat Boardsmill in the relegation play-off because if we had lost that, a proud chapter in our history would have ended," he says. "The club is going through a transitional phase at present and a lot of the older players have decided to bow out. What also contributed to our poor year was the fact that we were missing a number of important players. The two Coles, Mick and Gary, Denis Ashe and Packie O'Brien all spent the summer in America and they are players we cannot afford to do without." Despite the disappointment of last season, the 1990s have been by far the most successful in Rathmolyon's history. A first Senior Championship triumph in 1993 was followed by another glorious campaign three years later. Both successes were overseen by Dubliner Dave Foley, a man who revived Raharney's lagging fortunes in Westmeath this year. Wear and tear has inevitably taken its toll on some of Rathmolyon's more senior players in recent seasons and last season's brush with relegation highlighted this. Only a handful of survivors remain from the '93 success and Rathmolyon must be patient as they await the development of younger, fresher players. "At this point in time, all that we can do is hope that the younger players will come through and mature into good seniors," Gorry comments. "Last year was the first time in nine years that we didn't qualify for the semi-final stages of the championship and that was hard to take. Because we're a rural club, we don't have a huge pick and we have to make the best of what resources we have. 1999 was a bad year but hopefully we can get back to winning ways in the year ahead." John expresses concern about Rathmolyon's long-term future, noting that last year's failure to field an under eleven side isn't an encouraging sign. "I would be reasonably confident that the current crop of 14 to 18 year olds in the club will make decent adult players and for this, Seamus Murray deserves great credit. But what does concern me is that we didn't have an under 11 team last year. It has been nine years since that was the case and that is a worrying sign." Former Meath and Westmeath senior hurling manager John Davis took charge of Rathmolyon for last season's championship campaign. With John Gorry and Martin Smith carrying out the training duties, the tone was set for a frustrating year when the green and whites drew with newly-promoted Longwood in their championship opener. Another draw followed against Trim before Rathmolyon's first defeat was inflicted on them by Killyon. In what proved to be one of the games of the championship, Rathmolyon clawed back a 14-point deficit in the second half before succumbing to defeat by virtue of an injury-time point for the Killyon men. Further disappointment followed in the games against Kilmessan and Athboy. The defeat to Athboy, who came into the game with just one draw to their credit, condemned Rathmolyon to a relegation play-off with Boardsmill. Fortunately for Rathmolyon, they retained their senior status, emerging victorious on a 1-10 to 1-4 scoreline. While Gorry endured his fair share of disappointment at club level last year, the 35-year-old machine operative made a welcome return to the county colours, assisting Meath in their All-Ireland Junior Hurling triumph over Tyrone. An All-Ireland 'B' Championship medal winner in 1993, the Junior success went a long way towards making up for the disappointment of missing nearly two years through injury. "I was delighted to get a call-up for the junior team from Noel Keating. It was like a reunion of the '93 senior side with myself, Martin Smith, Paddy Kelly, Tom McKeon and John Curtis all involved. We blended in nicely with the younger lads and it was great to get an All-Ireland medal at the end of it all." The talented defender was a key figure in Meath's retention of the All-Ireland Junior Championship, a title the Royals had won with a completely different team in 1998. Trained by Tipperary star Liam Cahill, Meath accounted for Roscommon (4-15 to 2-9), Mayo (1-13 to 0-3) and Louth (2-7 to 1-7) before overcoming Tyrone by 2-11 to 0-9 in the final. What added greatly to Meath's sense of achievement was the fact that only their first round opponents Roscommon were permitted from fielding their first team. "It just goes to show how good the standard of hurling is in Meath when what is effectively the county's third choice team can beat other counties' first choice teams. The standard of hurling in Meath is a lot higher than people give it credit for and if the county's senior hurlers were prepared to put in greater effort, we could get back to the stage we were at five or six years ago." All in all then, 1999 was very much a year of mixed fortunes for John Gorry. Now how he would like to see a vast improvement from Rathmolyon in the year ahead. Tweet

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