It was yet another successful year for Meath schools as Dunshaughlin CC landed an All-Ireland title, Dunboyne girls were crowned champions of Leinster while a strong Meath contingent helped Scoil Dara Kilcock to lift the Leinster Colleges cup. By Brendan Cummins. Dunshaughlin Community College win All-Ireland VS Senior 'B' Dunshaughlin's reputation in the world of football has acquired a certain status in recent years largely due to the exploits of the senior footballers in the early part of the current decade. Three successive county S.F.C titles and a Leinster club championship provide ample testimony to the effort invested by the club over a long number of years. The good news is that football continues to thrive in the area and the success of the club seniors provides significant inspiration for under age and school teams. In February the local community college won the Leinster Vocational Schools senior 'B' title with a hard-earned victory over Colaiste of Hacketstown and followed that up a few weeks later with an historic All-Ireland win over McHale College Achill at Kiltoom. The provincial win was the stepping stone to national glory and in the Leinster decider Dunshaughlin had first use of the strong breeze and wasted no time in taking advantage. Conor Staunton was the key man in the attack and his goal provided a major boost as the Meath students established a decent half-time lead of 1-7 to 0-2. Killian Finn, playing at centrefield was also in fine form and his accuracy from long range frees was equally important. It was always going to be a case of brave defending against the elements in the second half and Dunshaughlin rose to the occasion superbly. The full back line of Emmet Callaghan, Brian Coughlan and Gavin Moore was superb as the Hacketstown boys threw everything into attack. The gap between the teams gradually narrowed but Dunshaughlin managed to grab four points against the wind and in the end, that ability was the difference between the teams... Hacketstown managed only two points when they had the backing of the breeze. It was a noticeable success for Dunshaughlin and there was more to follow. Buoyed by that performance, Dunshaughlin won through to the national decider in early March where they faced up to a Mayo school. McHale College came into the game with a big reputation but the Meath side dominated from the start at won out by 2-7 to 1-3. The Westerners opened the scoring early on but failed to add to their tally until the fourth quarter as Dunshaughlin's defence held firm and they started to find their range in attack. Four quick fire points from Ciaran Farrelly, David Keating and captain Conor Staunton set the tone before Diarmuid O'Donoghue blasted to the net for the opening goal to put his side in control, 1-4 to 0-1 at the break. Some bad wides looked like they might haunt the Meath School, especially when Achill landed 1-1 to narrow the gap to just two points. The sides swapped scores before Dunshaughlin's chances appeared to nosedive when Staunton was issued with a second yellow card but it was at this time of need that the side stood up and rose to the challenge. Points from O'Keeffe and Aodhan McKeown stretched the lead to four points and when McKeown fired home a late penalty, the joy was evident on the face of the Dunshaughlin camp and their supporters.. The Dunshaughlin CC side that clinched All-Ireland glory was: D. Jordan; E. O'Callaghan, B. Coughlan, G. Moore; A. McKeown (1-1), J. Gaughan, T. Hetherton; C. Finn, D. Keating (0-1); C. Farrelly (0-1), C. Staunton (0-2), M. Caldwell; J. Coleman, A. O'Keeffe (0-2), D. O'Donoghue (1-0). Subs - P. Durnin for Keating, Keating for Durnin, M. Aherne for Coleman. Dunboyne girls are Leinster champions They say that success and the young footballers of Dunboyne, male and female, continue to prove the point. When the senior footballers made the Keegan cup breakthrough in 1998, they provided substantial inspiration for the various schools and under-age teams from the village. And there was no way the girls were going to be left behind. In February the students of St. Peter's college became Leinster Schools senior football champions with an emphatic win over their counterparts from St. Mary's of Edenderry. It was little more than they deserved after a number of heartbreaking 'close calls' in recent years. In particular the victory was sweet revenge for Dunboyne's defeat by the Edenderry girls in the previous years championship and the final turned out to be a personal triumph for inspirational captain Laura Dunne. Lining out at corner-forward she contributed four goals and a point to Dunboyne's total and was a constant thorn in the side of the Edenderry defence throughout. The final was played in Carbury which was virtually a home venue for Edenderry whose catchment area extends well into north Kildare and the Carbury area in particular. And it was the locals who looked the sharper outfit in the early stages. The Dunboyne girls eventually settled and a goal from Aoife Thompson was a huge psychological boost. Playing at full-forward, Aoife repeatedly tormented the opposing defence and when she added three further points, Dunboyne were already in control. Laura Dunne followed up with two goals and at the end of the opening quarter; it looked like the task was going to be a great deal easier than anticipated. Dunboyne were leading by eight points and the alarm signals were clear emerging from the Edenderry camp. But the Offaly/Kildare girls got back into contention as the Meath girls, buoyed by their substantial lead appeared to lose concentration. The defence conceded two goals and there was only a point separating the teams with the first half drawing to a close. 'Cometh the hour, Cometh the girls' and the girls in question were centrefield star Aisling McGowan and captain Laura Dunne. Aisling won possession for Dunboyne and drew the Edenderry defence before laying off to Laura. With two goals already in the bag Laura's confidence was high and she completed the hat-trick after out-pacing the opposing defence. It was 4-3 to 2-5 in Dunboyne's favour at the interval.} The goal came at the important time and the Edenderry girls went to the dressing room in despondent mood. The early stages of the second half were always going to have huge bearing on the outcome and it was important for Dunboyne to underline their authority. This they achieved in impressive fashion. Laura Dunne netted her fourth goal while Kirsty Gough added another as the Edenderry girls struggled. Aoife Thompson, Kirsty Gough and Aisling McGowan added points and the provincial title was well on its way to St. Peters. Edenderry managed to exert some pressure in the final quarter but Orla O'Connor, Paula Doherty and Aisling Brennan were in no mood to allow the opposition back into the game. The final score was St. Peters Dunboyne 6-8, St. Mary's Edenderry 3-9. The winning team and scorers were; L. Buggle, A. Brennan, O. O'Connor, C. McGowan, L. Brown, P. Doherty, F. Mernagh, A. McGowan (0-1), C. Hayes, K. Gough (1-2), J. Reid, D. Blaney, L. Dunne (4-1), A. Thompson (1-4), and J. Kavanagh. Substitute: A O'Connor Leinster colleges 'B' title for Scoil Dara William Carr, Ciaran McElwaine and Pat Brennan are not among the most recognisable names in the world of Gaelic football coaching but they certainly acquitted themselves superbly when guiding Scoil Dara of Kilcock to success in the Leinster colleges senior 'B' football championship in early March. Through the exploits of St. Patrick's of Navan, Meath schools have enjoyed a new found status in schools football. St. Pats recent record is quite remarkable especially when considered against a bleak background of years of failure. Similarly, there had been a significant lack of success for Kildare schools. But the times are a changing and the combination of Kildare and Meath footballers that make up Scoil Dara Kilcock team has turned out to be a lethal cocktail. The Meath club represented on the Kilcock panel were Summerhill, Blackhall Gaels and Na Fianna. Pairc Tailteann was the venue for the Leinster final where the opposition was provided by Portmarnock community school. The north Dublin students looked the better team for most of the first half and were full value for their two point interval lead, 1-3 to 0-4. The goal was a real body-blow for Kilcock, arriving as it did on the run-in to the break. But it could have been worse for the Kildare/Meath students...Goalie Shane Geraghty from Na Fianna brought off a superb save and was similarly brilliant in the second half. Two minutes after the resumption Kilcock struck for their all important first goal. Ciaran Fitzpatrick was the scorer after a brilliant sweeping movement involving Darren Maguire, Stephen Husband, Michael Wynne, and Paul Larkin. It was still nip and tuck throughout the 2nd half and with less than 10 minutes remaining there was just two points separating the teams. The decisive score came from substitute Austin Tighe....and he added a second goal in the closing minutes to kill off any prospect of a late Portmarnock rally. Michael Wynne added a brilliant point just before the final whistle to give Scoil Dara students an emphatic nine point win, 3-8 to 1-5. It was the start of a great year for Summerhill contingent....among them young David Dalton son of the former Kilcock and Kildare legend of the same name. They went on to win the minor championship medals with the 'Hill'. The foundations for success were laid in the half back line where David Wynne, Darren Maguire and Stephen Husband were superb throughout while captain Ciaran Fitzgerald and his colleague Michael Gorman were never less competitive at centre-field. The team, and scorers were; S. Geraghty, G. O'Neill, P. Beirne, A. O'Cinneide, D. Wynne, D. Maguire(0-1), S. Husband, C. Fitzpatrick(1-2), M. Gorman(0-1), D. Dalton(0-1), P. Larkin(0-1), T. Murphy, D. Browne, B. Hatton and M. Wynne(0-2). Substitutes: A. Tighe (2-0), P. Bambury and A. Magee. Tweet

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