Drumhowan shed their junior skin in 2008 with a bang. Here's how they showed the country the talent that's propelling the team up the rankings. Pearse Park, Ballybay. November 11th 2007. The preamble to Drumhowan's historic 2008 season was about to pan out. It was the day Drumhowan entertained Cremartin in the JFL. The 'hosts' secured a gritty 1-12 to 1-8 win. Sadly it was a pyrrhic victory. Drumhowan finished their season on a positive note but, alas, the victory failed to prevent the club from dropping down to junior ranks. The Gods seemed not best pleased with them for results elsewhere conspired to catapult the Tullycorbet parishioners through the relegation trapdoor. Ironically, defeat for Cremartin damaged their chances of a semi final spot. Drumhowan led by 1-6 to 1-4 at the interval with a goal - the last score of the half - by Michael Mooney giving Drumhowan just the impetus they needed to go and bag the spoils. Winding the tape fast forward illicits an altogether different vista. A year on and it was provincial joy and not relegation which was on the tips of the tongues of all belonging to the mid-county crew. Talk about redemption! Brewster Park, Enniskillen. November 30th 2008. The team had come full circle with victory over Lissan in the Ulster JFC club final. Drumhowan began the year with just nothing less than the Monaghan JFC title in their sights. There were always going to be sticky patches along the way. The re-arranged second round tie with Killeevan in late August fitted the bill in that regard. Played in Scotstown, Drumhowan shaded it by 2-10 to 1-12. The spectre of a draw loomed large over proceedings from the very opening whistle and, in truth, it was a game that could have gone either way. Two first half goals by Stephen McGinnity and James McElroy did much to edge their team home after they had been pegged back to level terms at the interval, 2-5 to 1-8. Drumhowan had to really roll up their sleeves at the death to edge their way home as the Sarsfields led by a point with less than three minutes of normal time remaining. Drumhowan threw everything bar the kitchen sink at their opponents in the run-in and got their rewards with Kieran Mooney striking the equaliser one minute into stoppage time and Gerard Duffy later popping up with the winner at the end of a powerful run by Dermot McDermott. If the Kileevan affair tested the nerves and the fingernails of even the most composed and laid-back Drumhowan gael, then, amazingly, the county championship final victory over Clones was the polar opposite. Drumhowan romped to a 2-14 to 0-4 victory. "We didn't take anything for granted, all year, and the county championship was no different although we didn't expect it to be as easy when we got to the final as it turned out," club Chairman Gerry Finnegan explained. "Clones are a funny team because one day they could beat you well and the next they aren't at the races. "It was a good performance in the final but nothing less than we expected, to be honest, because we knew the football was in them and it was nice, after the (county title) wins by Ballybay and Latton to bring a third county title to this part of Monaghan." Thankfully it's not a done thing at GAA matches for supporters to sing the refrain 'easy, easy . . . .' but the funereral atmosphere that pertained for most of the tie at St. Mellan's Park, Truagh on October 20th did its best to inveigle a rendering of a verse or ten. It was an extraordinarily facile win for Drumhowan. Adverse weather conditions, including a swirling wind, made good quality football difficult but there was simply no stopping Drumhowan's march onto easy street. A 16th minute goal by James McElroy propelled Drumhowan into a six point lead and things just simply got better and better from there on for McElroy and co. as they sashayed their way into a 1-7 to 0-0 lead by half-time. From the 36th to the 43rd minutes, Drumhowan saw fit to wrap up the spoils with a 1-4 blitz of their opponents without conceding anything at the other end of the field. In the 37th minute the coup de gras arrived when Niall Mooney, Dermot McDermott, Martin McElroy and James McElroy combined to tear the Clones rearguard apart and Gerard Duffy did the rest to net with aplomb. Duffy's deadly finish left 14 points between the sides. 'Crioch' could have been emblazoned on the scoreboard just then. As things panned out, the lead was actually extended to a massive 17 points before mercifully for the town team, the long whistle was sounded. Drumhowan lined out against Clones in the 2008 JFC final as follows; Enda Duffy; Darren Duffy, Liam McGuirk, Martin McElroy; Damien Duffy (0-1), Niall Mooney, Kevin Mooney (0-2); Enda McElroy (0-1), Dermot McDermott; James McElroy (1-3), Stephen McGinnity, Gerard Duffy (1-1); Kieran Mooney (0-1), Christopher McGinnity, Colm Lambe (0-4). Subs used; Rodney Mooney; Gavin Sheridan; Paddy Duffy; Paddy Mulligan; Damien Mooney. The Ulster club arena now beckoned. In their opening round tie with Carndonagh (Donegal), Drumhowan made a signifcant statement of intent by carving out a comfortable 0-11 to 0-6 win in Clones at the end of October. "I have to admit I was a bit worried at the start of the game because they started off really well and looked the part," Drumhowan team captain Colm Lambe reflected. "We were very slow out of the blocks. It's hard to know what was going on at that stage. Maybe it was a combination of nerves and the fact that we were missing Christopher McGinnity. "To be honest it was unknown territory to a large extent even though we had played in the provincial club competition a couple of years ago. "But we didn't know anything at all about Carndonagh." Drumhowan's sluggish start to the match was par for the course, in reality, as turbo-charged opening bursts were not part of their armoury all year in fact. The early sparring did see Carndonagh at their best but it was Drumhowan who proved to be the greater stayer of the two despite the Donegal's team impressive sprint at the outset. Drumhowan's route-one football into James McElroy experienced teething problems early on and with Carndonagh employing a sweeper, Lambe admits that the north-westerners had their tactics spot-on. One point down at half-time, 0-4 to 0-5, Drumhowan set about eating into their deficit with great vim and vigour at the start of the second half with the word sluggish not in their lexicon. The Monaghan champions proceeded to dominate the third quarter with points without reply from Colm Lambe (two) and James McElroy converting a one point deficit into a two points lead. Drumhowan continued to engineer more and more clear water between themselves and their opponents with Carndonagh only managing to score a single point in the second half. It was all too easy next time out for Drumhowan as they booked their place in the provincial decider by brushing aside (3-12 to 0-5) the challenge of Belfast side McDermotts at Brewster Park, Enniskillen. Although they were on top for the vast majority of the game, it was a real purple patch in the third quarter during which time they scored 2-5 and conceded only one point which eased Drumhowan onto easy street. Incredibly just three points separated the sides at half-time due, in the main, to wastefulness on the part of Drumhowan rather than any great quality play by the Antrim champions. However two goals in the 34th and 39th minutes by Paddy Mulligan changed the entire landscape and the subsequent dismissal of two McDermotts' players left Drumhowan coasting all the way to the finish. Incredibly, Drumhowan's winning margin over McDermotts paled in comparison to the ease with which they subsequently demolished Lissan (Derry) in the Ulster final at Brewster Park on November 30th last. And for once, the final scoreline of 5-10 to 0-5 fairly reflected the gulf in class between the two sides. Reflecting on Drumhowan's odyssey to the summit of Ulster, club Chairman Gerry Finnegan fingered his club's performance in the provincial decider as the players' best to date. "The display in the final was the best performance of the lot so far; the scoreboard at the end didn't lie and the lads played some great football. "We were worried going into the match because Dermot McDermott and Enda McElroy were only able to play with the help of pain killers but we hoped that we would get at least a good first half out of them and hope that that would help get us through." Drumhowan were masters of all they surveyed in the final with a goal in the 5th minute by Stephen McGinnity setting them on their way to a facile win. Drumhowan notched a second goal through Gerard Duffy which hoisted them into an eleven points lead before a great save from Enda Duffy kept his goal in tact at the other end. By half-time Monaghan's ambassadors were 2-7 to 0-1 in front and coasting but, like true champions, they never took their feet off the gas. Two further goals approaching the end of the third quarter finished the game as a contest with Ciaran Mooney and James McElroy on target. Later Colm Lambe capped his comeback by scoring Drumhowan's fifth goal. The Paul Kerr Memorial Cup would winter in Monaghan. The players who did duty against Lissan in the 2008 Ulster club decider were as follows: Enda Duffy; Darren Duffy, Liam McGuirk, Martin McElroy; Damien Duffy, Niall Mooney, Kevin Mooney; Enda McElroy, Dermot McDermott; Rodney Mooney, Stephen McGinnity (1-0), Gerard Duffy (1-3); Kieran Mooney (1-1), James McElroy (1-5), Paddy Mulligan. Subs used; Christopher McGinnity (0-1); Colm Lambe (1-0); Paddy Duffy; Gavin Sheridan; David Miller. Tweet

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