Turning the corner
November 29, 2002
Aughnamullen were all out of good fortune in 2002. Within a four-week period in October/November, the Sarsfields contested the junior championship final and the penultimate stage of the junior league, only to be pipped in both. Their end-of-season reward was much less than the overall effort invested had deserved.
The good news is that Aughnamullen appear to be back in business, gradually returning to something resembling their old selves. Under the management of Clontibret stalwart Mick O'Dowd, the club has turned its flagging fortunes around and the first team is on the verge of an escape from junior ranks.
With a bit of luck, they could have made the step-up in '02. Fact is, they came tantalisingly close to recording a famous junior double (reaching a championship final and league 'semi') but the width of a crossbar deprived them at crucial stages in each of their two most important fixtures of the season.
Reflecting on the season as a whole, the team manager insists that it could have been much better for his players had they enjoyed the rub of the green: "I think the results speak for themselves. We played a total of 28 games over the season and won 23. We were unfortunate to narrowly lose the two most important ones, but that's the way football goes sometimes.
"And it's no coincidence that the two teams that beat us in those games - Corduff and Oram - both went up to intermediate. We played each of them four times during the year . . . the three of us finished level at the top of the league on 26 points apiece. The race for promotion was between the three of us and Cremartin all year; it was just a pity we missed out."
The 2002 Grove Farm Junior Football Championship final was played in Carrickmacross on Sunday October 6th and six unanswered points in the closing 16 minutes gave neighbours and arch rivals Corduff a 0-11 to 0-6 victory over Aughnamullen.
The first half was a scrappy, low-scoring affair in which neither side managed to seize the initiative. Aughnamullen gave as good as they got but still trailed at the break, 0-4 to 0-3.
The eventual losers passed over a glorious goalscoring opportunity early in the second half and the writing was already on the wall that it wasn't going to be their day.
Wing back Gary Holland brought the Sarsfields level within two minutes of the resumption and midfielder Derek O'Neill landed another point eight minutes later to make it five points apiece.
Despite creating a number of chances, Aughnamullen failed to score again in the last 20 minutes' play - plus five minutes of stoppage time. It was a thoroughly disappointing end to a promising campaign that had seen Mick O'Dowd's team dig deep on several occasions to book a place in the final.
Their failings in the final are probably best identified by the fact that the full forward line failed to score and Alan Duffy - with two points - was their only scoring forward on the day.
En route to the final, Aughnamullen lost only one game in their series of matches - against none other than Corduff way back on May 26th. But they bounced back with superb victories over Oram - after a replay - in the quarter-final and Killeevan in the semi-final.
Four weeks later - on Sunday November 3rd - Aughnamullen missed the boat again when they were pipped by Oram (1-5 to 0-6) in a junior league semi-final played in inclement conditions. Oram went on to beat Cremartin in the final the following weekend.
It was the same old story for Aughnamullen who again left their shooting boots at home on the big occasion. Alan Duffy lined out in the corner and scored all six of their points, four from frees.
Indeed, they managed only a solitary point in the first half and will surely look back on this game as another missed opportunity, where they failed to do themselves justice on the day.
Even though silverware ultimately eluded them, Mick O'Dowd (who was in his second year in charge) agrees that there was a marked improvement from 2001: "The effort and commitment definitely improved," he says. "We had up to eighty training sessions during the year and most of the lads turned up most of the time. But I think the year just became a bit too long. It dragged on a bit and it was asking a lot off the players to expect them to sustain that effort.
"We probably peaked for the Cremartin game. They had beaten Aughnamullen in every game they played them in in 2001 and that was a real big one for the lads. They struggled through against Oram after a replay and then accounted for Killeevan, but were probably on their way down by the time of the junior final."
If Aughnamullen were going to do it, then they were going to have to do it the hard way. Their championship opponents in 2002 were Killeevan, Cremartin, Oram and Corduff . . . the four strongest teams in the grade apart from themselves.
What was their objective at the start of the year? Mick replies: "To go up, although I must admit that I was hoping to do it through the championship. I felt that Aughnamullen could win a junior championship if I could get some kind of system in place and get them playing football."
The team was in freefall when Mick assumed the reins in 2001. "They thought they would bounce back up again and they played well for the first four months of the year, but then faded away. They beat Doohamlet in the championship but Doohamlet then went on to win it after coming through the back door."
Assisted by selector Paddy Smith, Mick managed and trained the team. How did his appointment come about? "I had just quit playing and they approached me. Everybody has their own ideas and I wanted to see what I could do. I accepted the job and I've really enjoyed my time up there. They're a great bunch of lads to work with," notes the man who also takes charge of the Clontibret U10s, a team he is hoping to bring through.
Having seen them at first hand for the past two seasons, Mick is perhaps better placed than anyone to assess the potential of the current Aughnamullen crop. He gives them an excellent chance of success: "They just need to get a few breaks. They hit the crossbar at crucial stages in both big games last year and that cost them the league and the championship. They were definitely unfortunate.
"There's a good core of experienced players at the club with a few good young lads coming through as well. Unfortunately, a lot of the younger players are away in England and Cork, Dublin or Galway and that makes it very difficult to get everyone out training. Ideally, what you really want is to have all your players home-based, which will never happen in a rural area like Aughnamullen. It seems to be the teams that have a good base of home players that are consistently doing well."
Mick believes that some fine-tuning of the competition structures might be beneficial to all concerned. "The season is too long," he points out, "Teams start training in January and February and the junior league only finished in November! This is an awful lot to ask from lads who are working and who are only amateur sportsmen. Even for people over the clubs and running teams, the demands are massive. Maybe too much is being asked of people and that's affecting overall performances.
"The Aughnamullen lads did 80 training sessions last year. They played 28 matches, winning 23, yet came away with nothing. There should be some kind of rewards for the players.
"I also believe it's time the County Board looked at bringing in outside referees to take charge of semi-finals and finals in the county. The players put so much effort into their year and there's so much at stake, that the least everybody deserves is a referee who is completely neutral."
Words of wisdom indeed from a man who enjoyed an illustrious playing career with Clontibret and Monaghan and has played a key role in getting Aughnamullen Sarsfields back on track.
Expect the Sarsfields to challenge hard for promotion in 2003...
Aughnamullen, 2002 Monaghan junior football championship finalists: Alan Gilliland; Aidan Duffy, Mark Meegan, Michael Murtagh; Gary Holland (0-1), Ciaran Ward, Martin McGinn (0-1); Thomas Hughes, Derek O'Neill (0-1); Paddy Duffy, Francis Ward, Alan Duffy (0-2); Paul Mulligan, Seamus Deery, Aidan Flanagan. Sub: Seamus McCabe.
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