These are rewarding times for the underage players of Drumconrath/Meath Hill. Kevin McDonald, a selector with the victorious minor side talks to Royal County about the amalgamation's winning formula. There are winners and there are losers. That's the nature of competition which makes it so exciting. The combined forces of Drumconrath/Meath Hill have stumbled upon the winning habit and they're enjoying every minute of it. The M.F.L. Division 2 title was garnered at the expense of Trim and Kevin McDonald, who was a selector with the victorious minor side, along with Paddy McMahon, Sean Reilly, Sean Boyle and Michael Kierans, reflects back over yet another successful campaign. Had he high expectations for the U18s at the beginning of the year? "We all felt that we had a good team," he admitted. "But aside from three of the players all the rest of them were U17. To be honest we thought it might be a year too early for them but we were delighted with the way things turned out." The Wayne Farrelly captained team have been no strangers to success. They boast the U14 championship and league double, along with the U15 title amongst their impressive curriculum vitae. Final opponents Trim were the only team to inflict defeat on the amalgamation in the earlier rounds so understandably they approached the final cautiously. In the end however, that loss proved to be a blessing in disguise. "With the benefit of hindsight losing to Trim in the earlier rounds was probably the best thing that could have happened to us. I don't want to appear to be making excuses but we were already qualified for the knockout stages and were missing two valuable players in Paul McMahon and Paul Tighe. "The players got their heads straight for the final and they knew they had to perform well if they were going to win. The lads who played badly the first day weren't going to be caught out again, particularly our midfielder Wayne Sherlock who had a fantastic game in the final." The selection committee drafted in Meath Hill adult player Paul Kierans and Drumconrath's Peter McMahon to put the minors through their paces on the training field and their efforts were rewarded when Drumconrath/Meath Hill overcame Trim on a scoreline of 1-14 to 1-8 at Kells. A strong start to the second half which yielded 1-2 paved the way for the North Meath side. Trim did manage to reduce the deficit to two but the dismissal of their wing back Evan Lynam was a set-back they were unable to recover from. "I suppose for the first quarter of the game we were on top," Kevin recalls. "We just couldn't make it count on the scoreboard. Trim came back at us and both teams were level at the break, but what we couldn't do in the first half we did at the beginning of the second to effectively put them away. He continues: "Possession wise we were the better team, we gelled well together. Trim did make it tough but our goalkeeper Martin McKenna pulled off some great saves. After their man was sent off and we got our extra man settled we started to pull away from them." As Kevin mentioned there wasn't much between the two teams in the first half which ended all level, Drumconrath/Meath Hill 0-7 Trim 1-4. The losers goal came after 20 minutes which left the scoreboard reading 1-2 to 0-3. Both sides exchanged a brace of points before Paul Tighe and Paul McMahon rounded off the first half scoring. Full forward Andrew Tighe netted the north county side's goal following good approach play involving Wayne Sherlock and Peter Tighe. Each side of raising the green flag McMahon (free) and Tadhg Boyle sent over points. That scoring spree placed the blue and reds firmly in the driving seat, 1-9 to 1-4. Trim replied with two points but Sherlock made it 1-10 to 1-6 before Lynam was sent off following an altercation with Byrne, the wing back having earlier been booked. To their credit Trim refused to throw in the towel and once again added two points to their total, but the rally was shortlived with Drumconrath/Meath Hill hitting four unanswered points to put the result beyond any doubt. Byrne and McMahon put frees between the posts before Boyle got on target from play and off a free. It was an impressive display from the winners for whom Sherlock was an inspirational figure at midfield with Boyle giving him good support and Byrne and McMahon making their mark in attack. Kevin echoes these sentiments, although prefers instead to concentrate on the team's collective effort rather than any individual display. "From 1 to 15 you couldn't fault anyone. It was a great team performance," he enthused. The combination qualified for the decider courtesy of a narrow 1-13 to 0-14 victory over Dunsany at the penultimate stage. In an exciting clash, played at Kilberry, the eventual winners held the initiative for most of the encounter including at half-time by 1-8 to 0-7 and although they fell behind in the closing stages, a strong finish secured their ticket to the final showdown. Wayne Farrelly, Austin Hickey, Boyle, Sherlock, Byrne, Andrew Tighe and Peter Tighe did most to ensure their safe passage. "Dunsany gave us one hell of a game in the semi," remarked Kevin. "It was a very close game with little separating the teams in the end. I'd have to say that the four best teams, Trim, Dunsany, St. Cianan's and ourselves, qualified for the knock-out stages." The victorious Drumconrath/Meath Hill team was as follows; M. McKenna; W. Farrelly (capt.), L. Reilly, W. Owens; Paul Tighe (0-1), A. Hickey, D. Sharkey; T. Boyle (0-3), W. Sherlock (0-1); A. Byrne (0-4), Peter Tighe, P. McMahon (0-5); E. Sheckleton, A. Tighe (1-0), B. Flanagan. Sub - D. McCullagh for Sharkey. Under 21s continue the winning tradition These are good times for the Drumconrath club, arguably the best ever. For many years, they were looked on as the poor relations of North Meath's football powers ... nowadays they can hold their own with any of them. Junior Championship successes in 1928 and 1963 made local legends out of the men who brought glory to the county's most northerly village ... the current crop of red-jerseyed footballers can certainly claim to be as effective ... at the very least. The 1996 Junior Championship victory may have been a long time coming but it was all the sweeter for that. And it also generated an enormous feeling of self-belief among players at all levels within the club. The momentum was maintained in 1997 when the Under-21 League title was captured in impressive style. The 1996 Junior final against Meath Hill was regarded as one of the best, probably THE best club match in the Royal County in that year. The Under-21 League final (replay) was arguably the best in 1997. The common denominator? Drumconrath! For a time, Gaels in the county savoured the prospect of another Drumconrath-Meath Hill final. It was not to be. On the day that Drumconrath qualified for the final by beating Boardsmill, Meath Hill were beaten by Ratoath. With due respect to Ratoath, who contributed enormously to the quality and excitement of the two matches, another meeting of fellow parishoners in a county final would have drawn an unprecedented crowd to an Under-age game. Boardsmill caused a substantial shock by reaching the semi-final but they were always going to find it difficult to match the passion and determination of the Drumconrath men. The game was played at Martry in early December, and boosted by the inclusion of five players who had lined out in the previous year's Junior final, Drumconrath swept to an emphatic 16 point win, 1-17 to 0-4. The men in red had first use of the breeze and wasted no time in establishing a commanding lead. James Hickey was in splendid form at centre-field and his accuracy was the main feature as a ten-point interval lead was established, 0-11 to 0-1. Early in the second half, another of his point attempts ended in the Boardsmill net and the game was over as a contest. Hickey finished with a remarkable personal tally of 1-9 and the other scores came from Derek Flanagan (0-2), Wesley Byrne (0-2), Wayne Reilly (0-2), and Leighton Irwin (0-2). Peter Tighe and John McDermott also shone for the winners. The final was fixed for the following Sunday at Rathkenny and what a game it turned out to be. Drumconrath were favourites but Ratoath were not bothered by their ranking as outsiders. Meath star Tommy Dowd had been drafted into the Drumconrath camp after the win over Boardsmill and there was no questioning the club's determination to bring home another Cup. By the end of the first quarter they led by three points, 0-4 to 0-1, the scores coming from Wayne Sherlock, Cathal Byrne and two pointed frees from James Hickey. Ratoath battled back and a mistake in the Drumconrath defence ended with the ball trickling over the line behind goalie Alan Ludlow. The Drumconrath defence came under more pressure and after Ratoath went a point ahead, a penalty was conceded following another defensive mix-up. The Ratoath goalie made the long trip up the field and duly stuck the ball in the back of the net to give his team a commanding four point lead. By half-time they were ahead by double scores, 2-4 to 0-5, and Drumconrath's prospects looked anything but bright. The North county men came out for the second half in an ultra-determined mood and within six minutes they had reduced the deficit to a single point. Alan Byrne scored an early point and then Wayne Sherlock caught the opposing defence flat-footed by fisting a James Hickey centre to the back of the net. Points from Wesley Byrne and James Hickey gave Drumconrath the lead and the final quarter saw the game swing first in one direction and then the other. After Ratoath had drawn level, James Hickey edged Drumconrath ahead again but Ciaran O Malley scored a late equaliser for the blue and golds. The final score was, Drumconrath 1-9, Ratoath 2-6. There was a feeling among neutrals that Drumconrath would win the replay which was played at Pairc Tailteann on the following Sunday. Two elementary defensive errors had prevented them from winning at the first time of asking and there was good reason to believe that the mistakes were unlikely to be repeated. The predictions did not do justice to a gallant Ratoath team. Once again, Drumconrath got away to a fine start and took a formidable early lead, 0-4 to 0-0. James Hickey was twice on target and the other points came from Francis Saul and Leighton Irwin. Goalie Alan Ludlow made a superb save and it wasn't until the start of the second quarter that Ratoath opened their account. They began to settle and but for another great save from Ludlow, they might have taken the lead before half-time. At the break it was 0-5 to 0-3 in favour of Drumconrath, whose fifth point came from James Hickey after Alan Byrne had done the spadework. Ratoath were all fired up on the re-start and were on level terms within two minutes. They had grabbed the initiative and were further boosted when the Drumconrath defence again succumbed to pressure and concede a "soft" goal. The next few minutes were going to be vital and it was Drumconrath's reaction to the goal that turned out to be the game's decisive factor. James Hickey pointed and before the threequarter stage, Wesley Byrne followed suit to leave just one point between the teams. Drumconrath had bravely regained the initiative and were rewarded when Alan Byrne took full advantage of an opportunity created by Kevin Flanagan to score a superb goal, leaving the score 1-7 to 1-5 in Drumconrath's favour. Now it was Ratoath's turn to display their reserves of courage. They scored three unanswered points to edge ahead again and at this stage, the Cup looked likely to head in the direction of Fairyhouse. Injury time was in progress when Leighton Irwin equalised and with spectators settling down for a period of extra time, Drumconrath launched another attack ... Alan Byrne and Wayne Sherlock were involved in creating the opportunity for Irwin to write his name into the club's folklore with a brilliant winning point. While Drumconrath supporters were understandably ecstatic, one had to feel sorry for the Ratoath players who had helped to make the Under-21 League final one of the year's highlights. The final score was 1-9 to 1-8 and James Hickey stepped forward to receive the Cup from County Board chairman Fintan Ginnity, who paid rich tribute to both teams for producing such quality, drama and excitement. The winning team, and scorers, was; A Ludlow, K Flanagan, J McDermott, C Byrne, A Hickey, P Tighe, D Flanagan, J Hickey (0-4), W Byrne (0-1), W Sherlock, F Saul (0-1), A Byrne (1-0), L Irwin (0-3). Tweet

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