Out of the Woods
November 27, 2011A casual glance at the final junior football league table would suggest that Blackhill were one of the worst junior sides in Monaghan in 2011. But the league standings don't tell the whole story. Blackhill proved in the JFC that they can be a force to be reckoned with on their day, and the stunning elimination of high-flying Oram speaks for itself.
Blackhill actually beat Killeevan away by two points in their first league outing and they could have found themselves in a very strong position after their first three games, but unluckily fell to narrow defeats against Killanny and Toome. The club's 'B' team got to a championship semi-final before losing to eventual champions Clontibret, and topped the league all year. And the U21s captured the Division Three crown, demonstrating that there's an abundance of young talent at the club's disposal if they can somehow buck recent trends and harness it…
In the 2011 Monaghan JFC, Blackhill put in a creditable performance against Emyvale in the first round, losing eventually by just four points, 0-11 to 0-7. Most observers expected the Emeralds to exit immediately when they were paired with Oram in the back-door section, but they produced another great display - despite being forced into six late changes - and prevailed by 2-5 to 1-6.
This was the side on duty against Oram in the championship on Thursday June 30th: Dean McDermott; Shane Courtney, Hugh Byrne (1-0), Donal Courtney; Gerard McArdle, Stephen Courtney, Ryan Courtney; Anthony Courtney (0-1), Martin Griffin; Ciaran Costello (0-1), Pauric Murphy (1-0), Phillip Donnelly; Dermot Daly, Colin Woods (0-3), Paul Finnegan. Subs: Fergal Toal for Paul Finnegan, Peter Finnegan for A Courtney.
In the next round of the back door, Blackhill went on a scoring spree against lowly Fergal O'Hanlons at Tyholland. Things were even in the first quarter but Blackhill pulled away to prevail by 4-19 to 0-5, with the following personnel inflicting the damage: Dean McDermott; Gerard McArdle, Hugh Byrne, Donal Courtney; Shane Courtney (0-1), Stephen Courtney, Ryan Courtney; Martin Griffin (0-1), Anthony Courtney (0-1); Ciaran Costello (0-3) Dermot Daly (0-1), Paul Finnegan (0-2); Damien Daly, Colin Woods (0-6), Pauric Murphy (3-1). Subs: Ciaran Courtney (1-1) for D Daly, Anthony McDermott for D Courtney, Martin Cumiskey (0-1) for P Finnegan, Peter Finnegan for P Murphy.
Blackhill went into the next round against Clones full of confidence but failed to deliver an adequate performance, capitulating on a 2-12 to 0-5 scoreline. That effectively spelt the end of their championship season, and their league prospects were also poor as they lay bottom of the table, but it had been an encouraging effort and there is plenty there to work with going forward.
Colin Woods did the club proud when he made the county senior squad at the start of the year. The long-serving attacker was also one of the first team's main performers all season and was a selector with the successful U21s. Did he think the championship performance against Oram was the best of the season? "It would have been one of the best. Oram were expected to beat us and we were struggling to get our full team out all year. But any time we did get all the lads on board, we would have played well enough.
"After the championship, against Killeevan in Blackhill, we also played very well in a league game and beat them by two points. If we could get our full team out, we would be grand. We could make a good stab at it, then. But the problem in Blackhill is getting them all to show up. It's the same every year; lads just don't want to come out and train. You could have eight or nine lads at training. And it's the same group of lads nearly all the time - mostly Courtneys holding things together - but the younger lads wouldn't be overly committed."
Speaking of the younger lads, one of the highlights of Blackhill's year came on Monday night, July 25th, when they beat Oram by 1-13 to 0-13 to land the county U21 Division Three crown. Colin formed the management team alongside fellow first-team players Stephen Courtney and Martin Cumiskey. "It was a 13-a-side final and nine of our team would start regularly with the seniors, while two more would be pushing for a place, so the young talent is there.
"We have a young junior team and we could go far if we kept them all at it, with the seven or eight Courtneys - you can rely on them country boys! All the Courtneys are good young footballers, especially Ryan and Ciaran. They'll play a big part in our future."
Colin himself enjoyed a great start to the year when Eamonn McEneaney called him in to the county senior squad and he went on to make his debut in the McKenna Cup. He is honest in his assessment of how that went, reflecting: "It was good enough. I was dropped after the McKenna Cup but it was still a good experience. I learned a lot from it. It's a completely different ball game that junior football. You could say I had my eyes opened. It's a completely different way of playing football and I wasn't used to that.
"When I was dropped, it was no surprise. I could see it coming. My performances weren't great. But I wasn't too upset. It's a hell of a commitment and I don't know if I had it to give, so I didn't mind. I wouldn't have been used to that at all. Having said that, it would have been nice to have been still involved because I was learning all the time and I'd love to give it another shot if I was asked in again. That was my first time ever to be called in by a county team at any level, and I'd be better prepared and would know what to expect if I was invited back in. But, at 27, maybe I'm getting a bit old for that.
"They gave me a fair crack at it and I can't complain. Blackhill also had Dean McDermott and Ryan Courtney on the Monaghan U21 team this year, so we were well represented on the county front and that experience should stand to the club."
Looking to 2012, what are Colin's hopes for Blackhill? "Jesus, you would be hoping to go a bit better. There were a couple of games at the start of this year, where we lost to Killanny by a point and to Toome by a goal, after beating Killeevan in our first match. It was the first time we'd beaten Killeevan in ten or eleven years since I started on the team and there was a great buzz.
"We had a new manager in [Noel Marry, who worked alongside selector Tony Cumiskey] and it was taking a while to get a settled team and to get everyone in their best positions. Only for that, we could have had six points from six and that would have really set us up. As it was, Cremartin gave us a real hiding in our fourth league game and that set us back a lot.
"The league was very poor in the end. But we have decent players, as good as what's in any junior club; it's just a matter of getting it out of the lads. The league table doesn't show that we have good players, though, and we need to address that. We have to settle in quicker next year and if we get a good start we will be grand. I thought this year when we beat Killeevan we'd go on from there, but we lost our way. Next year, we need to make a good start and maintain it and keep everybody interested in playing football. That will mean more commitment from the boys.
"In the junior championship, everybody expected us to lose heavily to Emyvale, but we were a point up with ten minutes to go. And we beat Oram. Our target at the start of the year was to try and get up into the Top Four of the league. We weren't really talking about the championship. But we managed to get the lads out for the championship and they gave it their all for one game. However, we couldn't get that effort week in, week out. It's been the same this years and that attitude needs to change.
"I'm confident that if we got the right commitment we'd be good enough to go up intermediate. If we could get 20 lads to give it a go for the whole year, we'd be flying. With the talent we have, if everybody got on board, we could be pushing at the top of the table." Tweet
