Massive strides made
November 27, 2011Realistically, Oram are no Clontibret, Latton or Magheracloone. A small rural club nestling in the hinterlands between Castleblayney and the Armagh border, the Sarsfields have modest means and proportionately humble expectations. In 2011, they surpassed themselves.
Silverware may not have been forthcoming but Oram found a new belief under the guidance of manager David Lennon and pushed hard for honours on both league and championship fronts. In many ways, they were almost unrecognisable from the Oram we had witnessed in recent seasons.
One of the catalysts was the 2010 Division Three U21 success - a victory that proved there is some exciting young talent in the club. With many of those same players on board, the Sarsfields kicked on at adult level in '11 and their junior football league campaign almost bore fruit. While the likes of Cremartin, Clones and Emyvale boast vastly superior means, Oram showed great spirit and conviction to challenge for a semi-final berth.
In the end, they finished fifth on the league table, just three points off a place in the knockout phase, with a record of seven wins and four draws from 16 outings. It was a really brave effort.
In the JFC, Oram came agonisingly close to stunning Aghabog in the first round. At Ballybay on Sunday, May 29th, they were full value for a 1-12 apiece draw and indeed will feel they should have won. A fortnight later, at the same venue, luckless Oram went into the back door following a 2-9 to 2-8 replay defeat after extra time. Again, it was a game they could have won. Blackhill provided opposition in the loser's section and Sarsfields would certainly have expected to progress but they were depleted for the clash at Toome on Thursday, June 23rd and fell to a disappointing 2-5 to 1-6 loss. In a season pregnant with promise, this was arguably the lowest point.
This was the Oram Sarsfields team that drew with Aghabog in the 2011 Monaghan junior football championship: B Turker; L Keenan, J Mone (captain), S Mone; R Murphy, C Crowe (0-1), G Fox; J McGuinness, S McBride; G Mone (0-1), S Graham (1-1), P Graham (0-6, 4f); R McGuinness (0-3), C McGuinness, N Bishop. Subs: D Sheehy for G Mone (45), D Forde for Bishop (51).
Reflecting on the campaign as a whole, manager David Lennon was quietly content, although the Latton clubman is quick to point out that no season can be considered a success if there's no silverware in the clubhouse at the end of it: "I suppose it's hard not to be biased but, as manager, I try to look at it as a neutral observer. At the start of the year, I think the club knew they were a little bit behind the top six or seven junior teams in the county but we worked very hard over the season to get to a better place and I think we got there. The players put in a tremendous shift, with the small panel we had, and we just missed out by a few points in the end. If a couple of results had have went out way, we could have been challenging for honours.
"For such a small panel of players, and considering that we lost the three Mones, I was delighted with the way they performed. They gave everything and some players stepped up to the mark unexpectedly and put in performances that surprised us. The players were superb and nobody could have asked for any more from them."
Sounds like it was a successful season then? "I think some people in Oram will remember it as a successful enough season but for it to be a really special season you need to be winning something. But that would have been a very tall order. To be honest, I think I got everything out of them that they had. We were dealing with limited numbers; we were often down to the bare 15 or 16 lads and you really need 19 or 20 lads all the time. For a small club with small numbers, they were amazing. They only lost twice at home on their new field all year and Clones and Emyvale were the only teams to beat them twice - and they obviously have much greater resources than Oram."
Oram were up around the top of the junior league table all year and only missed out by a few points when the final tallies were totted up. David agrees that a semi-final place would have been worth celebrating: "It would have been a serious achievement. You have to give the players credit for getting so close. In the past, they probably didn't believe they were good enough to compete against Clones, Crematin or Emyvale - but they are good enough and they showed it. And the feedback I got from other managers was that they were delighted to see Oram out of the championship because they saw us as a real threat."
Looking to the future, David has great hopes for Oram - provided they can fend off the looming ravages of emigration: "This is a young team with an average age of 23. There is no question about the ability and quality these footballers have. However, towards the end of the season we were struggling to get 16 and that's a worry. The threat of losing more players is a big factor. While the quality is there, they simply don't have enough players. Up to ten of them are U21s and with the economy the way it is, emigration is a real fear. Oram can't afford to lose any more players; if anything, they need to get players back. There's not much coming through in the next four or five years, and some lads are close to retirement age, so it would be a major disappointment if they were to lose any more players. A lot of the good work that was done in 2011 could come undone and, long term, my fear would be that Oram might not have the numbers to compete."
Along the sideline, David had two great Oram clubmen working alongside him all year and he can't speak highly enough of the contributions of Tony Graham and Peter Finnegan. "Tony is a fabulous fella and his knowledge of football is second to none. He knows every player in the county - at junior, intermediate and senior levels. He's a shrewd operator and he really is Mr Oram for me. He's a great fella to have on your side and he certainly made my job a hell of a lot easier. His knowledge of underage football in the county is so vast that I'm convinced he should be involved in a county minor squad or something like that. Peter was a great help, too. They are both Oram men to the backbone and they do great work for the club. It was interesting that there was no animosity at all from any of the players towards them, which you often get towards management teams. Everybody just looks up to the two lads and that speaks for itself."
David himself played with Latton for 18 years, from he was 15, winning three leagues and a SFC in 2005. He retired midway through the successful SFC-winning 2008 campaign after breaking his arm for the fourth time. As well as managing Oram in 2011, he was also involved with the county Development Squads, was a selector with Donaghmoyne seniors, managed the Donaghmoyne U16s and trained the Donaghmoyne ladies. While he thoroughly enjoyed his days at the Oram helm, he was disappointed that they didn't manage to win at least one game in the JFC:
"We were nine points up against Aghabog the first day and had two men harshly sent off and ran out of steam. In the replay, we struck eight unanswered points to go three up and had a harsh penalty awarded against us. They beat us in extra time but we missed a free from in front of the posts to force another replay.
"We had five players away on holidays for the Blackhill game. That was really disappointing. It's the only negative point from the whole year. I can't understand why players go on holidays during the championship, but it's something that happens in a lot of clubs. Maybe it's something they will learn from in future: if you're serious about trying to win championships, then you should leave your holidays until after you're out of the competition.
"Having said that, the players were absolutely brilliant all year and I wouldn't have anything only praise for all of them." Tweet
