It was a year that was full of hope for Drumhowan, but the Geraldines endured a bitterly disappointing campaign in both the intermediate league and championship. Having been relegated at the end of 2010, they were amongst the favourites to clinch promotion straight back to senior ranks, but alas they didn't even come close. One of the club's biggest achievements during the calendar year came when Darren Duffy made his senior intercounty debut during the McKenna Cup in January. Here, the exciting young defender reflects on a busy but ultimately unsuccessful season.

Drumhowan's season was effectively ended when they fell to a 0-10 to 0-5 back-door intermediate football championship defeat to Rockcorry at Aughnamullen on Sunday, July 17th. While there were still 14 league points left to fight for at that stage, they has simply left themselves with too much to do to force their way into promotion contention.
And they were too good to go down to junior (even though they lay perilously close to the trapdoor). So they found themselves in limbo. A big year had been anticipated and Drumhowan hoped to continue their trend of yo-yoing between the top two grades, but this time it just wasn't to be for some reason.
Considering that their league form was so unreliable, the IFC offered the Geraldines' best chance of salvaging their season. But the fact that they scored an aggregate of just 0-10 in their championship outings against Aughnamullen and Rock' speaks for itself, really.
Things didn't go their way at all. The first-round performance against neighbours Aughnamullen was inadequate and the late dismissal and suspension of centre forward Kieran McElroy was a decided blow. He would miss the back-door game… Full forward Colm Lambe was also suspended after getting red-carded in a league game against the Seans. Drumhowan sat second from bottom of the league table going in against Rockcorry and had suffered six successive defeats, so elimination came as no major surprise.
They had lost the experienced James McElroy to retirement and county U21 star David Millar was out with a knee injury for the Rockcorry game. It was just one of those years!
Apart from team captain Dermot McDermott and Darren Duffy, Drumhowan didn't really show up against Rock'. In a poor match, the teams managed just four points between them after the interval. The losers were totally out of sorts, notching just five points and hitting ten wides as they exited tamely on a 0-10 to 0-5 scoreline, with the following personnel on call: E Duffy; Darren Duffy (0-1), P Duffy, M O'Neill; Damien Mooney, N Mooney, Dermot Mooney; A Mulligan, D McDermott (captain, 0-1); Kevin Mooney (0-1), L McGuirk (0-1), Damian Duffy; P Mulligan, C McGinnity, Kieran Mooney (0-1). Sub: JP O'Neill for Dermot Mooney (48).
The first-round game against Aughnamullen was a hard-hitting tussle at Inniskeen on Saturday, June 11th and neither side covered themselves in glory as the 2009 finalists headed for the back door, while Aughnamullen booked a second-round tie with Currin. This was the Drumhowan team for the first round of the IFC: E McElroy; M O'Neill, P Duffy, L McGuirk; Kevin Mooney, Darren Duffy, Dermot Mooney; A Mulligan, D McDermott; P Mulligan, K McElroy, N Mooney; D Millar (0-1), C Lambe (0-3), Kieran Mooney (0-1). Subs: C Deery for Kieran Mooney (38), C McGinnity for P Mulligan (42), Damian Duffy for A Mulligan (51).
Darren Duffy, who had another exceptional year for the club and also made his senior intercounty debut against Queens in Ulster's subsidiary league competition on January 16th, is at a loss to make sense of it all: "We're very disappointed and it's hard to pinpoint where things are going wrong. Having played senior last year, we were hoping to build on all the hard work that had been done, and we honestly thought we were in a strong position to do much better.
"I can't see where the problem lies. We are putting in the effort; the work is definitely being done. We're even putting in the performances most of the time, but the end product just wasn't there this year. We did have a lot of injuries. From last year's starting championship team, we were missing five forwards for the Rockcorry game, but that's no excuse because the fellas coming in are capable of doing a job too, but for some reason it didn't happen for us."
With Ciaran Conlon, Matthew Lambe and Neil McAdam in charge of first-team affairs this year, a huge effort was invested by the backroom team, players and all concerned. The players conditioned themselves well pre-season and they hit the ground running, as Darren notes: "We started the league well, winning our first game, but things just turned into a struggle from there in. We were playing well enough but were losing close games by one or two points. We couldn't seem to get across the finishing line. Numbers were good all year and there was nothing wrong with the attitude."
Winning games became a problem, proving the old saying that losing is a difficult habit to break. Try as they may, they couldn't get out of the rut.
Looking to next year, Darren Duffy is confident that Drumhowan can get themselves back on track: "I see no reason in the world why we can't get back on course and push on at intermediate level again in 2012. We still have a strong team here and what happened in 2011 will have hurt the players. We can challenge for intermediate honours next year and I'm sure we're more than capable of taking some silverware. We haven't become a bad team inside a few months."
Darren himself has already been on the Drumhowan first team for six seasons and he has enjoyed more than his fair share of success during this time. To date, in the colours of Drumhowan, he has won two county junior football championships, a junior league, an intermediate league, an Ulster junior championship and two county U21 league titles. He is part of a crop much more accustomed to success than failure and - for this reason alone- Drumhowan look likely candidates to turn the corner in the coming season. The hope in the clubhouse is that 2011 can be consigned to memory … no more than a blip … and that the current squad of talented players at the Geraldines' disposal can go on to secure and maintain their status as a senior club.
On the intercounty stage, Darren lined out for Monaghan at minor and U21 levels before deservedly making his senior intercounty debut in 2011. While he didn't quite nail down a place for the national football league or championship, the Drumhowan clubman felt at home in the county fold and is hoping to taste some more of the same in the not-too-distant future:
"I enjoyed it. It was a whole new experience and I'd like to get back in and give it another shot. My clubmate Stephen McGinnity was involved in the management, and I knew some of the lads going in, so it was a good experience and a very good start to the year. I'm hoping to be invited in again next year and hopefully to stay in a bit longer."
Indeed, the way Monaghan played in the 2011 SFC, there's every chance that a player like Darren Duffy could push hard for a place on the county team. Judging by his club form in 2011, the Drumhowan defender has a very good chance. Tweet

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