After unprecedented success at minor and U21 levels in recent years, Summerhill appear on the cusp of a return to prominence. County Board treasurer Colm Gannon, who figured on the side that took Meath and Leinster by storm in the mid-seventies, is confident that the present crop has something unique to offer. Moreover, he believes that within three years the Keegan Cup will nestle in Summerhill once again and talk of the glory years will finally subside. In Summerhill, the great team of the 'seventies is still spoken of in reverential tones. It was a special side, romping to four successive SFCs as well as a Leinster club crown, and is deserving of its immortal place in the annals of Royal County GAA. However, club stalwart Colm Gannon, a member of that trailblazing outfit, believes the past belongs in the past and prefers to look to the future. Rather than eulogising over the mighty feats of many moons ago, Colm chooses to place his faith in the talented crop Summerhill currently have at their disposal. According to the personable County Board treasurer, it's only a matter of time before the most coveted trophy in Meath football returns to the south county village for a sixth time. Referring to the wonderful pool of talent at Summerhill's disposal for the 2006 campaign, Colm points out: "Their era is now; ours is in the past. There's no point harping back to the team of the 'seventies because we have an exceptional bunch of players in Summerhill right now and they are the ones we should be talking about. "A lot of the players we have now can measure up to those we had in the past, and they've also enjoyed remarkable success at underage level - something no Summerhill teams ever achieved before. So I've no doubt that the future of Summerhill GFC is in good hands and that these players can go on to make their own mark on Meath GAA history." Generous words indeed from a man who featured on one of Meath's all-time great club sides. Summerhill captured their first ever intermediate championship in 1972 (beating Martry in the final) and followed up with a maiden Feis Cup victory the following year. In '74, they reached the SFC final for the first time and claimed the county crown with a superb 0-9 to 0-7 win over Bohermeen at Pairc Tailteann on October 13. Austin Lyons became the first Summerhill man to accept the Keegan Cup. Captained by Donie Mooney, Summerhill retained the senior championship the following year with a thrilling 0-10 to 0-9 defeat of Navan O'Mahonys in the final. Mattie Kerrigan captained the side that gave a devastating display against Walterstown in the 1976 final, completing the three-in-a-row with an unbelievable 3-9 to 0-2 success. A year later, Padraig Gray became the fourth Summerhill captain to receive the Keegan Cup, after Seneschalstown were beaten in the county decider. Summerhill had become the first ever Meath team to win a match in the Leinster club championship following their maiden SFC triumph in 1974. In '77, they went a few steps further, actually winning the provincial competition out with wins over Eire Og (Carlow), Cooley Kickhams (Louth) and the defending All-Ireland champions St Vincent's (Dublin). The 5-4 to 0-6 annihilation of the great Vincents team in the 1977 Leinster club final was nothing short of astonishing. The holders were reigning All-Ireland champions (having won the 1976 All-Ireland club final by 17 points), and Dublin had won Sam in 1976, as they would again in '77. The Vincents team was decorated with intercounty talent - boasting no fewer than ten Dublin panellists including legendary names such as Gay O'Driscoll, Brian Mullins, Tony Hanahoe, Fran Ryder, Bobby Doyle and Jimmy Keaveney. Lining out at left corner back, Colm marked Bobby Doyle that memorable day at Newbridge. He had captained Summerhill to a junior double in 1975 and broke into the first team for the third and fourth legs of the senior four-in-a-row. Colm reflects on the ill-fated trek to Belfast for the 1977 All-Ireland club semi-final against St John's: "It was very intimidating and none of us was looking forward to travelling to Belfast. We tried to get the game switched to Clones but the powers that be wouldn't budge. We left Summerhill at eight that morning and got lost in Belfast. We drove down the Falls Road looking for the pitch! We arrived just in time and ended up running straight out onto the pitch. It was a game we thought we could have won but the preparations were far from ideal and we never got going at all." Two years earlier, Colm became the first ever recipient of the Matthew Ginnity Cup following Summerhill's county JFC final defeat of Drumbaragh. As treasurer of the County Board he had the distinction of presenting the very same trophy to Colm Travers of St Ultan's and St Michael's captain Sean Gaffney on the 25th and 30th anniversaries of that '75 win. Colm is reluctant to talk up the achievements of past Summerhill teams. He prefers to live in the present and is excited by the side they have at their disposal at present. The good times are here and now, with the villagers achieving a level of success at underage level previously unheard of in Summerhill. Comparing past and present, the County Board officer notes: "It's probably a stigma that the current group of lads shouldn't have to be measured up against. Some good players came into the area and we had an exceptional team, but it was a one-off. A lot of the current team weren't even born at the time and it's very unfair to measure them against that side. "We're blessed with exceptional talent at the moment and the present players are already making their own distinct mark. We never won anything at underage level in the past but have won two minors and two under 21s in the past five years. That was never achieved in our time. These lads have done their own thing and are capable of bringing greater success to the club. These are all home grown players and they're not too far off the pace. The future is theirs. This is their era right now." Summerhill were in Division A of the 2005 Meath SFC. They narrowly lost their opening two games to Trim and Blackhall Gaels in Longwood but beat Dunderry by 3-12 to 0-7 in Boardsmill on May 17. Dunboyne came out on top at Dunsany on June 24 before facile victories over Ballinlough and Cortown at Athboy. This set up a do-or-die clash with Navan O'Mahonys at Dunsany on August 27. It was 0-10 apiece going into the closing stages but O'Mahonys finished strongest to advance to the knockout stages on a 1-14 to 0-10 scoreline. Summerhill finished fifth in the group and missed out on a place in the last eight. Close but not quite close enough. Colm reflects: "They were there or thereabouts. They could have won any of their games. Mark O'Reilly missed a couple of matches through injury, which wasn't a help, but the four teams that went forward from the group ended up in the shake-up for the senior championship and Summerhill could have beaten any of them. "There's very little in it and I'm confident that this team will come through," Colm continues. "I'm convinced Summerhill will reach a final within the next three years, and they'll probably win it. We have a serious bunch of lads coming through. They won back-to-back minor championships as well as the two U21 titles and a very good senior team should come out of that. "These are exciting times for Summerhill and I think we're on the verge of a new era." Seems it's time to let go of the past and look to the future with optimism anew. After a couple of years spent successfully dodging the relegation trap door, Summerhill are showing signs of improvement and this year narrowly missed out of the quarter-finals of the senior football championship and retained the minor football championship. The south county club survived the relegation deciders in 2001, 2002 and 2004 but ended last year on a positive note by winning the Division 1 FL with an impressive recovery against Simonstown. In addition the club claimed the MFC for the first time in 42 years. At the start of the year there were good grounds for optimism that the club could make it to the knockout stages. Summerhill were drawn in Group A along with Blackhall Gaels, Dunboyne, Navan O'Mahonys, Dunderry, Ballinlough, Cortown and neighbours Trim who were their first opponents on a bitterly cold Friday night at Longwood in early April. Even though Trim had two players dismissed in the final quarter, Paddy Carr's charges lacked the scoring prowess to capitalise. Cathal Sheridan was limited to just one score from play by Darren Fay while Paul Comey and Paul Rispin went close to finding the net in an 0-7 to 0-8 defeat. Four weeks later it was back to Longwood on a wet Friday night to take on Blackhall Gaels, which evoked memories of a stirring fifth round contest in July 2004, when the Batterstown/Kilcloon won by 0-13 to 0-12 after posting four points in as many minutes of stoppage time. This time round it wasn't quite so dramatic but scores were plentiful in an entertaining opening half in which the lead changed hands on a couple of occasions before Blackhall lead by 0-9 to 0-8 at the break. Summerhill regained the initiative with points from Paul Rispin and a magnificent effort from Cathal Sheridan but his sixth flag proved to be their last score while their opponents added four points in the remaining 28 minutes to win by 0-13 to 0-10. Next up was a tilt at Dunderry - who defeated Summerhill in a preliminary relegation play-off the previous autumn - at Boardsmill on Tuesday, May 17, less than convenient timing given the number of third level students on both sides who were in the middle of exams. From the off Summerhill superiority was evident in a tough encounter and they should have led by more than 0-6 to 0-3 at the break. Dunderry whittled the deficit down to the minimum within minutes of the restart before Bob Doherty spurned an excellent opportunity to level matters. Summerhill broke downfield and the hard-working Adrian Kenny placed Paul Comey who netted to make it 1-6 to 0-5 and the men in blue and gold went on to win by 3-12 to 0-7 with Cathal Sheridan contributing 2-8 while Dunderry had Kevin Dowd and Barry Callaghan sent-off. When SFC action resumed following Meath's championship exit, Summerhill faced Dunboyne without the services of the free-scoring Sheridan. In his absence, Stephen Kennedy took scoring honours with 1-3 after posting the first two scores of the hour. Dunboyne led by 1-4 to 0-3 at the break and had the points in the bag when leading by 2-6 to 0-4 seven minutes after the restart. Kennedy's goal offered a sliver of hope but a 1-6 to 2-10 defeat meant that with just one win from four starts Summerhill were looking over their shoulders again at the relegation trap door. A lot hinged on the outcome of their clash with fellow strugglers Ballinlough at Athboy on Saturday, August 6 and apart from virtually banishing the spectre of relegation with an emphatic 2-12 to 1-5 success, Summerhill considerably boosted their chances of making the quarter-finals, with fixtures against Cortown and Navan O'Mahonys still to come. Sheridan again took scoring honours with 1-8, but it was the performance of young Maurice Kennedy that was central to their second success of the campaign. The young midfielder made many fine fetches, linked well with his forwards, made the opening goal for Sheridan and scored his side's second. He's a great young talent , enthused PRO Donie Mooney who is delighted with the progress the club is making with other promising underage players his optimism is not misplaced. Summerhill posted 1-5 without reply in the latter stages of that win over Ballinlough and eight days late exceeded that when registering 1-8 in the final 22 minutes of their sixth round joust with struggling Cortown at Boardsmill. Goalkeeper Tony McDonnell saved an early penalty kick from Cortown's Gary Coyne but the outcome was still in the balance at half-time with the sides deadlocked at 0-4 apiece. Cortown hit the front on the restart before Maurice Kennedy and Damien Byrne got a grip on proceedings at midfield. McDonnell denied Cortown's Gary Coyne again, this time from open play, before Gary Thompson got the only goal of the hour to leave it 1-7 to 0-6. Summerhill ran out winners by 1-14 to 0-6 to set up an intriguing final round clash with O'Mahonys on Saturday, August 27 at Dunsany, in what would be their first championship meeting since they sent the Brews Hill side crashing to the intermediate ranks with a 0-6 to 1-2 success at the same venue in the relegation decider in October 2001. After trailing 0-1 to 0-5 after 13 minutes, Summerhill outscored the town side by 0-9 to 0-5 over the next 40 minutes. They trailed 0-4 to 0-6 at half-time and though Willie Milner was denied goals either side of half-time by the agility of O'Mahonys netminder Marcus Brennan. Mark O'Reilly was in fine form at full-back while Maurice Kennedy and Damien Byrne shaded the midfield exchanges but Cathal Sheridan was kept scoreless from play by Neville Dunne. Paul Rispin leveled matters with just under ten minutes remaining but county man Stephen Bray, who proved to be Summerhill's nemesis all evening, led the charge as O'Mahonys finished with 1-4 without reply to win by 1-14 to 0-10 and to compound their disappointment the Hill had goalkeeper Tony McDonnell sent off near the end.  Three wins from seven starts and a fifth place finish was a marked improvement on recent years and with promising underage talent filtering through the future looks bright. "With just one win from our first four games we were in a bit of trouble and wins over Ballinlough and Cortown meant we didn't have to worry about relegation and after what the club has been through in recent years, that was a relief. "We gave O'Mahonys a good game for about 50 minutes after a bad start and were still level with about ten minutes to go before they got a run on us. Overall, we are happy with the year and with many great players coming through, the future looks bright," the affable PRO remarked. One of those talented youngsters, Willie Milner played a central role in the retention of the minor football championship by scoring 1-7 in the 2-16 to 2-9 win over St Martin's in the final at Pairc Tailteann on Friday, August 19. Full-back Michael Gorman captained the side while to his left was Alan Lyons, son of Mick. It was 1-10 to 1-3 at the break and by the end of the hour eight different Summerhill players had got on the scoresheet. Summerhill team and scorers in the MFC final were  - Paul Carton; Ger O'Neill, Michael Gorman, Alan Lyons; Brian Hatton (0-1), Stephen Husband, Christopher Malone; Cathal Byrne (0-1), T. Walshe; Caolan Young (1-2), Raymond Comey (0-1), Kevin Fagan (0-1); Paul Larkin (0-2), Willie Milner (1-7), David Dalton (0-1). Subs - Bobby Lyons for Hatton, Micheal Byrne for Comey. Summerhill totaled sevens wins and four defeats from their league campaign in which a poor finish to their 11 match campaign ended their hopes of retaining the Mooney Cup. They opened with a win at then senior champions Skryne, before recording narrow wins over Blackhall Gaels and O'Mahonys. They suffered their first league setback with a 1-11 to 2-10 loss to Simonstown. Wins over St Patrick's and Castletown got their league campaign back on track before a minimum margin defeat, 0-14 to 2-9, by Kilmainhamwood. Further wins over Wolfe Tones and Dunboyne the first league defeat for the eventual senior champions left Summerhill in a strong position with two rounds remaining. However, defeats by Trim and Dunshaughlin ended their interest in the competition.  Summerhill's second string opened their JFC campaign with a narrow win over eventual semi-finalists Longwood. Mark Gannon got the vital goal in a 1-13 to 1-10 success. However, defeats by Navan O'Mahonys, Moynalvey, Moylagh and Meath Hill ended their hopes of advancing to the knockout stages. They recorded a 2-10 to 0-7 win over Gaeil Colmcille before losing their final outing to eventual beaten semi-finalists, Kilmainham. The third string side fared better reaching the semi-final only to lose to Dunsany and their the under 21s just lost out in a semi-final clash with Wolfe Tones. Overall, there is considerable evidence to suggest that Summerhill will be a force to reckoned with at senior level in 2006. Tweet

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