It wasn't Killanny's greatest-ever year, but ace attacker Peter Dooley remains convinced that the current Geraldines squad is the strongest he's been involved in. Though 2011 was arguably a step backwards for the first team, he's confident they have the quality and wherewithal to finally win a Monaghan junior football championship inside the next year or two.

The highlight of Killanny's year came when they produced their best display in a decade to beat Killeevan by 2-14 to 0-9 in the back door of the county JFC at Drumhowan on Sunday evenig, June 26th. A youthful Killanny team clicked that night and showed what they are capable of, something close to the form that had propelled them to a quarter-final in 2010 and a semi-final replay the previous year. Unfortunately, that impressive result was bookended by two narrow championship defeats…
At Inniskeen, on Saturday June 11th, they fell to a 0-9 to 0-6 defeat to Toome in the first round, despite the best efforts of captain Daryl Traynor, Peter Dooley and Eddie Markey in particular. And the Geraldines' participation in the JFC was ended by Aghabog (0-14 to 0-10) at Corduff on Saturday, June 2nd in a game where Tiernan Duffy, Cian Wakely and Gavin and Daryl Traynor performed will while an early injury to Dooley and the sending-off of Eddie Markey at the end of the third quarter scuppered the south county club's chances. As they were lying near the foot of the junior league table at the time, Killanny's season was effectively over at this early stage.
Here is the team that faced Aghabog in the club's third championship match of the year: K Quinn; C Wakely, Daryl Traynor (captain), R Duffy; P Markey, A Campbell, C Leegan; M Burns, E Markey (0-1); M Vernon, T Duffy (0-2), D McArdle; S McMahon (0-3), P Dooley (0-1), G Traynor (0-3). Subs: B Kerley for Dooley (h/t), P O'Callaghan for McArdle (46), D Byrne for Burns (57), P Dooley for Vernon (58).
Peter Dooley, who had to leave the fray at half time in that game due to injury but returned for the final two minutes as Killanny desperately strained to pull a result out of the fire, reflects on the short-lived championship run: "In hindsight, the performance against Killeevan might have been one of the worst things that could have happened in that we have a young team with about eleven U21s and perhaps they were lured into a false sense of security and just expected it to happen again against Aghabog. It was a great performance against Killeevan - one of the best since I've been involved with Killanny - but we didn't perform at all in the first half against Aghabog and it was disappointing to go out of the competition without doing ourselves justice."
Was the goal to build on the JFC runs of the previous two years and win a championship? "No, our aim was to finish in the Top Four of the league, because when you look at the final league table at the end of the year it never lies. The league gives a good indication of where a team is at. We knew that if we couldn't finish in the Top Four that realistically we couldn't compete for a championship. Still, we have a very young team with eleven U21s playing first-team football this year, and it will take a year or two for those lads to mature."
Those players got the club to an U21 Division Two decider, wherein the lost to Latton by 1-14 to 0-10 on Saturday July 23rd. "I suppose it was asking a lot to expect so many young lads to settle into the first team. But they will push on from here and the talent is definitely coming through in Killanny. The work has been done and the trophies have been won at underage level in recent seasons, so we're in a healthy position."
At 28, Peter is already one of the veterans of the team. Twenty-eleven was his thirteenth season with the first team. He played in the 2000 JFC final as well as three semi-finals, but is still awaiting the big breakthrough. However, he senses that it's closer than ever: "Adrian Campbell has 18 years' service, so it would be nice to see him getting the reward that sort of commitment deserves. I'm very hopeful that the young players we have at our disposal now can win us a championship.
"I genuinely believe this current crop is the best I've played with, but we have to go out and prove it on the field of play. Until we can get into the Top Fur, it's open to questioning."
One of the most encouraging factors working in Killanny's favour is the vast amount of juvenile success they've enjoyed in recent seasons. The club has really cranked up the pressure in underage competitions and they are now standing toe to toe with the marquee names in the county - an astonishing achievement in itself. The experience of playing against their peers from Clontibret, 'Blayney and Scotstown in underage fare will stand the players in fantastic stead when they go to play adult football and Peter Dooley believes that, ironically, even though there was no juvenile silverware in the clubhouse this year, it was arguably their most productive season to date on that front:
"Over the last few years, we have been regularly winning titles at underage level, so that means we are competing at Division One and Division Two level now, which is a much higher standard and it's where you want to be. We played Scotstown in Division One at U16 level this year and we beat them - that can only be good for the players and for the club as a whole. As far as I'm concerned, you're far better off competing in Division One - even if you don't win anything - than breezing through Division Three.
"The young lads are playing the Magheracloones, Carrickmacrosses and Scotstowns and that's invaluable experience for them before they go on to play adult football. Serious work is being done in Killanny from U10 level up. We have been lucky enough to win our fair share of juvenile trophies over the years and we are now competing with the crème de la crème."
Peter was player-manager with the Killanny first team from 2007 until 2010, but this year he stepped back and concentrated on playing, while a new management team was assembled comprising Lornie Duffy (who oversaw many underage successes lately), John McMahon and Gerry Winters (coach). The backroom crew put in a huge effort and got the response they wanted but, with youth working against them, the players came up marginally short. "It was nip and tuck in most games and no team really beat us by more than a few points, but we just couldn't get a settled team out and before we knew it we were playing catch-up."
Killanny were hopeful of beating Aghabog to advance to the next round of the JFC but, as a philosophical Peter concludes: "It just didn't go our way, but Aghabog were the better team on the night and these things happen in football." Tweet

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