Most of the time, it simply comes down to pride in the jersey, pride in the club. Gaeil Colmcille are a big club. But as 2006 dawns the Kells outfit remains an enigma, a fish out of water. By Gordon Manning. Kells is a growing town, bubbling over with endless sprawling new housing estates. The skyline of the town changes weekly - but the fortunes of the GAA club continues to border on the frustratingly static. As the whole world meanders ever onward, it seems that Gaeil Colmcille remains stuck in limbo. As a club, they are a stark reminder that size alone doesn't guarantee success. The club have been jogging on a proverbial GAA treadmill for the last few years - running on empty and not quite getting anywhere. The year just gone was another tough one for the club, back in the Intermediate ranks for the first time since 1986. Having diced with relegation from the senior grade for many seasons they finally succumbed last year and few believed they would bounce straight back up in 2005. They advanced to the quarter-finals though where they were beaten by Nobber. They also enjoyed a great run in the Feis Cup, but struggled horribly in Division 2A of the All County Leagues. Gaeil Colmcille should be a thriving senior championship club who ply their league trade in Division 1A but they‚ve slipped off the radar and getting back on won't be easy. It will take time, it will take ambition, but most of all it will take pride. The other big town clubs are all vying for the Keegan Cup on an annual basis - Navan O'Mahony's, Simonstown, Trim, Dunshaughlin and Dunboyne can now be included as well. When you scan around the other clubs competing in the Intermediate championship, it's clear to see that Gaeil Colmcille are very much the odd one out - a big fish struggling for air in a small pond. It's bite the lip time in Kells at the moment. This is a club in transition, waiting for the young players to come through and carry them back up to where they belong - mixing it with the big boys. For a club of its size though it has been a period of transition which has gone on for far too long, but the days of waiting for things to happen may finally be drawing to a close. They are now determined to make things happen both on and off the field. During the year they unveiled ambitious redevelopment and relocation plans for a new multi purpose clubhouse and pitches on the edge of the town. In 2006 the Intermediate footballers will hope to follow in the footsteps of Navan O'Mahonys who won promotion back to the senior ranks at the second attempt following relegation in 2001. Navan's story shows that there is a way out. There were a lot of positives from the year though, with new manager PJ Buckley - a former Dublin All-Star and All-Ireland winner - certainly making an impact. Tactically, they were far superior this season than they have been in a long time while they were physically more assured. Those two elements alone could have saved them from relegation 12 months earlier. The Intermediate grade does have its advantages though, not least that the club were able to introduce a lot of younger players to championship action at a level which they could manage. Declan Smith, Brian 'Beano'‚ Hanlon, Martin Barrett, Barry Smith and Peter 'Pudsey'‚ Maguire are players who will form the foundation of the clubs renaissance over the coming years. Maguire played at corner-back for the club this year, but his season was hindered by injury. However, the dual-player believes that there are brighter days ahead for the north Meath outfit. "At the start of the year we all felt we had a really good chance of winning the championship because we had a very strong panel," says Maguire. "Unfortunately it didn't work out, but hopefully we will learn from some of the mistakes we made this year. It was our first year at this level so it does take a little bit of time to find your feet. "I mean we were ten points up at half-time against St Colmcilles in our first championship match and they came back to get a draw. And against Nobber in the quarter-finals I think a lot of us froze on the day, it was new territory to us and perhaps the occasion got to us. Those are things you'd hope wouldn't happen again, it was a learning process. "But things are much more organised now. PJ Buckley came in and did a great job. He placed a huge emphasis on discipline and he doesn't care who you are, he'll take no messing from anyone," continues Maguire. The 22-year-old, who is a former Meath underage hurler, was drafted into the senior Kells football set-up last year and started the first two games of this year's Intermediate Championship before a thigh injury sidelined him for a few weeks. He was back for the latter stages of the championship, including the win over Slane and the quarter-final with Nobber, but a fractured finger forced him to miss their final league and Feis Cup games. "The injuries were frustrating but all you can do is follow the advice you are given and get back as soon as possible. I've had my fair share of injuries already, but hopefully that's the end of them now." Gaeil Colmcille's first experience of intermediate football in over two decades came in early April when they threw away a commanding half-time lead to draw with St Colmcilles 1-12 to 3-6. Later that month they earned yet another draw - this time against eventual champions Duleekˆ 0-8 to 1-5. At the start of May they lost by the minimum, 0-11 to 0-10, to the other side who would go on to contest the intermediate final, Syddan. However, they had shown enough against two of the pre-championship favourites to take encouragement into the remainder of their group games. Two weeks after the Syddan defeat Gaeil Colmcille chalked up their first win in the Intermediate Championship, 0-14 to 0-6, over Na Fianna. It was the first of four successive victories. Rathkenny fell next, 0-10 to 0-9, before a narrow win over 2004 junior champions Ratoath, 0-9 to 0-8. In their last group game the Kells side made easy work of a beleaguered Slane outfit, 1-13 to 1-3, to ensure they finished second in Group A. They finished the group with a points difference of plus 18 and met Nobber - who had finished third in Group B behind Carnaross and Castletown - in the quarter-finals. However, Nobber's rising county star Brian Farrell was unstoppable on the day and inspired his side to a 0-11 to 0-6 victory over Gaeil Colmcille. "It just didn't happen for us on the day. Brian Farrell was brilliant for Nobber and as I said I think we just froze really and that was the most disappointing thing." Their league campaign was less encouraging and they were battling against relegation in Division 2 from early on. They beat local rivals Carnaross 1-8 to 1-7 in their opening league clash in February but that was to be as good as it got for the Kells side. Successive defeats followed to Ballinlough, Dunderry, Na Fianna and Cortown as they tumbled down to the basement of the table. "We started slowly in the league and that always left us a mountain to climb. Our main emphasis was on the championship so we probably took our eye off the league a bit. "The club's prime attention turns back to the Intermediate Championship for 2006 though. The settling in period is over and they realise now that the time has arrived for Gaeil Colmcille to stage a serious assault on regaining their senior status. There is no doubt that the endless string of defeats which they had endured in the senior championship during previous seasons had eroded the club's soul. Players were getting too comfortable with losing. However, the four wins in this year's championship has brought belief back into the club. There's nothing quite like the feeling of winning to bring back the pride. And now Gaeil Colmcille hope success follows. "We are a very proud club with a great tradition. The last few years have been tough for all involved and in a lot of ways we are not seen as a major threat by a lot of people around the county anymore," says Maguire. "But everybody at this club is determined to win promotion and get back our senior status. Before we were relegated we probably didn't realise how important it was for us to be a senior club. We want that back, we want Gaeil Colmcille to be respected again." You see, most of the time it simply comes down to pride in the jersey and pride in the club. Maintaining a hurling tradition For a club that has been knocking on the Senior Hurling Championship door with such regularity in more recent years, it was somewhat surprising that Gaeil Colmcille diced with death in the intermediate grade in 2005 and looked for a spell as if they might well slip down to the junior ranks. However, the Kells men, who were beaten in the previous year's final by Clann na nGael, reserved their one and only win of the championship campaign until their last group match against a fancied Dunderry side on the third Sunday of September and that was enough to secure their status in the IHC, much to the obvious relief of all concerned. For a club that has been threatening to bounce back up to the senior grade consistently over more recent years, slipping into junior hurling would surely have represented something of a disaster, though when it's considered how many key players they were without for all or part of the competition it's probably understandable that they struggled. The Kells men, with Ian Callaghan, Bob Tormay and Willie Newman acting as their selectors, opened their intermediate campaign with a trip to Kildalkey for a match against near neighbours Kilskyre. The outcome of this encounter offered hope for the campaign ahead and certainly did nothing to suggest that a series of very poor results and a battle for survival in Meath hurling's middle order lay ahead. The match ended all square (1-7 each) and it was a game Gaeil Colmcille looked very likely to win until Kilskyre rattled off three points in the closing stages to secure a share of the spoils. The town side led by two points well into the first half, but a Derek Muldoon goal helped Kilskyre to hold a slender advantage at the change of ends. Tom Shine, that scoring maestro, whether it be hurling or football, restored Gaeil Colmcille's lead, but Kilskyre rallied to secure a draw. Both sides would ideally have liked to get off to a winning start, but at the end of the day they were probably happy to at least have taken something from their opening championship encounter. However, the Kells side couldn't have envisaged that they would go on to struggle so alarmingly in the competition and the signs certainly weren't particularly encouraging when they made the short journey out the road to Dunderry to meet Kilcloon/Batterstown combination Blackhall Gaels in a second round match. That game ended in a heavy 1-2 to 1-16 reversal for Gaeil Colmcille and it was a result that clearly didn't augur well for the campaign as a whole. Blackhall made their intentions clear when they rattled off eight points before the losers managed a score and they went on to hold a commanding 14-point (1-12 to 0-1) lead at the interval. Kells actually managed to draw the second period (1-1 to 0-4), but all the damage had been inflicted in the first half and there was simply no prospect of a recovery. The hope after that very comprehensive defeat was that Gaeil Colmcille would bounce back and keep their hopes of the intermediate title alive, but that's not how it worked out as they were well beaten by Na Fianna next time out at Kildalkey, going under by eight points on a 0-7 to 1-12 score line. Unfortunately, it didn't get any better in the fourth round when Gaeil Colmcille managed to notch only 1-2 for the second time in the championship and with Donaghmore/Ashbourne scoring 1-12, it represented another heavy loss. Dunboyne's second string, who were later to be relegated to junior level, provided the fifth round opposition at Dunsany and by that stage the sights of all involved with the Kells team were on avoiding a battle for survival. However, a fourth successive defeat was the outcome as Dunboyne won by six points (3-9 to 1-9) to give their prospects of avoiding the dreaded drop a significant boost. And matters worsened even further for Gaeil Colmcille in the sixth round at Athboy when Wolfe Tones inflicted a 4-13 to 2-6 beating to really plunge the Kells men deeper into a relegation battle. The result meant that Tones were out of danger in the lower reaches of the championship division, but with one draw and five defeats from their six outings it was very clear what sort of a troubled situation the losers were in. However, things looked reasonably promising for Gaeil Colmcille in the early stages of the match when they edged into the lead, but Tones gradually settled down to the task in hand and recovered very well to hold a double-scores (2-8 to 1-4) advantage at the interval. That seven-point deficit proved too great for Kells and Tones added 2-5 in the second half to run out very comfortable winners. Such a poor run of results meant that Gaeil Colmcille found themselves at the bottom of the group on just one point - a very surprising situation for a club that has been knocking hard on the door for many years in their pursuit of a return ticket to the senior ranks. It was a situation that attached considerable importance to the final round meeting with Dunderry who were making a bold bid to reclaim their recently lost premier status. They were sitting nicely at the head of the field on 10 points following five victories and one defeat. So it was a battle between the sides at either end of the championship division and one Gaeil Colmcille knew they had to win if they were to have any chance of avoiding a plunge down into the junior ranks. The game was played in Athboy and with Tom Shine top scoring with 1-3, the Kells side came out on top by four points (5-5 to 2-10) thanks to a couple of late goals. They held a slender 1-4 to 1-2 advantage at the end of a low-scoring first half, but notched four goals in the second period which made such an enormous difference in terms of securing their standing in the second highest grade. Colin Newman, Colin Tormay, Peter Flanagan and Stephen Reddy were the other goal scorers. The team which got that all-important victory for Gaeil Colmcille was - Charlie Usher; Peter O'Neill, Robert Flanagan, Keith Reilly; Michael Foley (0-1), Conor Ferguson, Eanna Ryan; Liam Newman, Denis O'Neill; Stephen Reddy (1-0), Tom Shine (1-3), Colin Tormay (1-1); Peter Flanagan (1-0), Colin Newman (1-0), Robert Burke. Sub - Richard Bradley for Keith Reilly (injured). "We just about survived," said a relieved Conor Ferguson in the aftermath of the win over Dunderry. "But we had a lot of important players missing, down the middle players who you can't afford to be without. "Barry Ferguson went to work with Concern in Temor and was a big loss. I was out for a few games as well and Tom Shine only played two matches because of injury. Robbie Flanagan was also out injured and missed three or four games. "John Smith was playing football with Drumbaragh and he wasn't available to us because they reached the quarter-finals of the Junior Championship. It's very hard to replace those type of players and it was a big relief to survive. I think we had reached three intermediate finals in five years before that." It's now a case of looking to the future for the Kells hurlers and with so much work being done at under-age level there's room for optimism. "We re depending on under-16s and minors coming up," Ferguson added. "We got to the under-13 B final this year where we lost to Kilmessan. The under-14 B team reached their semi-final but lost to Dunboyne who went on to win the final by nine points. We were disappointed to lose that semi-final." Gaeil Colmcille will have big hopes for their under-16s in 2006 as that's the team that won the National Feile na nGael Div. 5 title in 2004, so they clearly possess plenty of talented up and coming youngsters. With players gaining the undoubted benefits of being members of the Meath development squads at under-12, 13 and 14 levels the club can also be assured that they have players of a very high quality to look forward to in the future. Seamus Mattimoe, Ryan Sarnam and Conor Murray were members of the under-12 development squad in 2005, Shane Morgan, Fionn Ferguson and Danny McGovern were on the under-13 panel and Brendan Murray, who is regarded as a real talent, Cormac Keegan and Darren Tormay were on the under-14 squad. The club is very grateful to their under-age sponsor Padraig Shine of Country Interiors for his support during the year. Tweet

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