Senior status beckons
November 29, 2002
An incredible year for Sean McDermotts culminated in the club's first ever Intermediate Championship success. By John P. Graham.
Two-thousand-and-two was to be a landmark, the Sean McDermott's club ultimately realising their ambition of promotion to senior ranks via the intermediate championship route. They had won the junior championship back in 1990 to gain promotion to the middle grade in Monaghan but despite the best efforts of successive groups of players and team managements had failed to negotiate the next barrier to senior status.
An intermediate championship had been won under the name of Threemilehouse back in the fifties but that was of little consolation to the current crop of players, club members and committee who wanted to see some prestigious silverware on the sideboard.
With Nudie Hughes in charge of team affairs, plans were made that this was going to be Sean McDermotts year and right from the start they set out their stall that they were going to be the team to beat. It was a long championship campaign fought out over about five months from their first outing on May 26th to their replayed final on October 20th and in between some memorable performances were produced.
They got over their opening round local derby against Aghabog with just two points to spare and weren't in action again until August 11th when they took on Drumhowan in a game that produced one of the memorable matches in what was again a most entertaining intermediate series.
As fate would have it the pairings for the semi-finals kept the Seans and Carrickmacross apart, two teams that had been setting the pace all season in the league and when both negotiated their semi-finals successfully (Sean McDermott's with a comprehensive 25 points victory over Clones) the scene was set for a great climax to the intermediate championship.
It eventually ended when Sean McDermotts were crowned intermediate football champions for the first time in their history with a one-point victory over Carrickmacross at the end of an epic replay in Clontibret to bring about the realization of a dream. When the dream became reality the somewhat controversial circumstances surrounding the finish to the replay mattered not a jot to the club faithful who had turned out in their hundreds over the two days to urge on the boys.
James Coyle, one of the mainstays of the successful run at full back, however, felt that the whole thing would not have happened without one man - their manager, Nudie Hughes: "He has brought a tremendous spirit to the team, his training and preparation for matches is out of this world. He's meticulous in everything, he keeps the boys focused and is always able to see little things that are happening during games that keeps us all right. His preparation, his coaching, his tactics are second to none and he deserves every credit for this great success."
Success at the second attempt then but it could also have turned out differently on day one with a late point by Derek McMahon securing the draw on that occasion.
Overall, a draw was a fair enough result given the nature of the game but there was more than a hint of relief in the Sean McDermotts dressing room that they had lived to fight another day. A pressure kick by Derek McMahon some two minutes into stoppage time resulted in the point that left the game finishing in stalemate after Sean McDermotts had seen themselves outplayed for most of the second half. That was in contrast to the trend of the game in the opening half, and particularly in the second quarter, when the Seans were dominating the exchanges with a goal in the 22nd minute by Damien Larkin helping them gain a firm foothold at that stage.
"That wasn't capitalised on and we had it all to do again. We knew that we didn't concentrate fully at the right times. When we came in after that game we knew we had to get re-focused as we didn't have a good record in replays. We got together for training on the Tuesday night after the drawn game and everyone was of one mind that we were not going to lose the replay."
The replay itself had something of a lottery about it with conditions far from ideal and after a titanic struggle it ended up all square again at the end of normal time.
"Conditions were not good but there were no sliding tackles or anything like that, it was good hard stuff with both teams putting in a great effort. The players had prepared well although we were struggling for scores a bit in the first half. At the end, we were unaware of the whiff of controversy about what extra time should be played as we were concentrating on keeping the momentum going. We were determined that we were not going to lose. We were level at one goal and eleven points each at the end of the second period of extra time and that situation still pertained after two minutes plus of injury time as tension built to an unbelievable level. We missed a free and Carrickmacross were also off target before we broke into attack and got a free about twenty metres out from the Carrickmacross goals and the rest as they say is history."
Forget about the controversy, the players put in a tremendous effort and deserve great credit. James Coyle, who had a great championship, again worked hard at full back, Emmet McElvaney, Paul Acheson and Eamonn Coyle all worked extremely hard throughout the drawn game and the replay while the three Larkins all finished up on the scoreboard. Damien finished with five points to his credit and also picked up the Man of the Match award for his overall contribution to what was an historic victory.
Derek McMahon at centre half forward had another good day in the yellow jersey, finishing with a goal and two points, his goal in the early minutes of the second half firing the Seans into the lead for the first time and kickstarting a great second half performance. "I suppose the essential difference between us in the first half was that we were probably not making the best use of the limited opportunities that came our way and we missed too many chances as our tally of wides for the first half rose to six before we scored. By that stage Carrickmacross were three points in front although the scores only came sporadically and the story could have been different but for those missed chances by Sean McDermotts. Despite all that we were still doing enough and the game was still there for the taking as we went in two points down at half time, 0-4 to 0-2. Gary McEntee came on at the start of the second half and within two minutes we had dramatically taken the lead," added James Coyle.
Damien Larkin with a point after just fifteen seconds and then Derek McMahon crashed in a great goal to put the winners in the lead for the first time. Conor McElvaney was denied by the woodwork and a number of other opportunities were not put away and it was sixteen minutes before they scored again for a three points lead. James goes on. "The tension was terrible in the final minutes, we missed another couple of chances and might well have lost by a point but in a replica finish to the drawn game Damien Larkin popped over the equaliser to send the game into extra time.
"We dominated the first period of extra time as the three Larkins put together a series of brilliant moves. We went in front after just twenty seconds through Gary and he added another two minutes later but we were lucky enough not to have conceded a goal as well. That was a wake-up call and we scored two points inside a minute and a half after that. We extended our lead to five points before the break with further scores from Gary Larkin and Derek McMahon and things looked good at that stage, 1-11 to 0-9 in front and we probably should have been further in front.
"Our ball control was good and we were buzzing in the first period of extra time and went five points up. We should have gone six up but we didn't when we had the chance. There are no sure things in football and that's one thing the boys will have learned; an experienced senior team would have come strong at that stage and with the experience Carrickmacross got at senior level they came back as I knew they would. We were coasting for a while in extra time and then we made a few silly mistakes and you can't afford to do that because we knew that Carrickmacross would not give up.
"We were under pressure at the start of the second period and our lead was down to three points fairly quickly. We did have a couple of chances but the conditions were taking their toll on the players and we suffered a big blow when we conceded a goal to bring Carrickmacross level at 1-11 each. However we had a sting in the tail and some people thought that there was a bit of justice in it when we got a free for what was the last kick of the game. Damien Larkin sent our supporters into ecstasy when he tapped the ball over the bar. Controversy raged around us but we celebrated and it was a very enjoyable journey back to Threemilehouse."
It was a victory that meant everything to the club and the manager was in ebullient mood afterwards. The great 'Nudie' Hughes stated "I've been involved in football a long time but I don't think I have ever seen a more dedicated bunch of players, they come from all over the country every Tuesday and Friday evening for training and I have yet to meet their equal. When I took over I talked about what it takes to win and they have put in a tremendous effort. The club is lucky to have a panel of players like this but the players must take the credit as it was down to them and while we didn't do all that well the last day we came good at the right time and history will show that the 2002 intermediate football championship was won by Sean McDermott's.
"The double was the talk of the parish and indeed further afield but we had two more games to play and win if that was to be a reality. The intermediate double hadn't been done since the mid seventies and we knew it wasn't going to be easy. Just how difficult it was going to be was brought home to us in the semi-final of the league against Rockcorry when we were lucky enough to get a second chance. We looked good early on but then did not push home our advantage and even in extra time we allowed them back to get scores that saw us having to go to another replay.
"Maybe we needed that little jolt as on day two there was no hesitancy and we took control early in the game."
That said though there was only a point in it at the break but Sean McDermotts staged a strong second-half performance to pull away for a comfortable victory in St. Mellan's Park, Truagh as the intermediate champions stamped their authority on the game to have the issue wrapped up well before the finish and a final scoreline of 3-13 to 1-10 to set up another mouth-watering meeting with Carrickmacross in the League decider.
"They had got some consolation when they defeated us in the final of the Brady Cup and we knew we would be meeting a really fired-up outfit so we had to fight fire with fire," added Nudie.
There was never going to be much between the teams and again there was some brilliant football although the standard dropped off a bit in the second half it was understandable given what was at stake. At the end of the first half, which had seen both sides produce some brilliant play, the sides went in level leaving it all down to the second period and the game building to a great climax. The second half didn't work out all that well for Sean McDermotts who will look back on a period in the game where they tended to lose sight of the ball on a number of occasions and quite quickly they found themselves six points adrift and time ticking away. It could have been closer but again missed chances proved costly but they got their game back on track in the final quarter.
The concession of the second goal was a bad blow but Sean McDermotts made a real fight of it and had Carrickmacross hanging on by their fingertips. "We did have a free when there was only two points in it and had we scored that it might have been different but no fault to the lads they had a magnificent season and it would be wrong to single out any incident as the one that saw us miss out on the double," concluded the former All Star. Sean McDermotts have savoured the sweet taste of success and come next season they will be out looking for more, but one thing is certain there will be huge interest in their meetings with Carrickmacross in league and championship. And who knows, with the resurgent spirit in both camps, who is to say that they will not be contesting the big prize come September 2003.
TEAM AND SCORERS V CARRICKMACROSS: IFC FINAL (Replay): Eddie Masterson, Michael McGuinness, James Coyle, Paul Acheson, Paddy Tierney, Eamonn Coyle Emmet McElvaney, Mark McEntee, Niall McGuirk, Conor McElvaney, Derek McMahon 1-2, Damien Larkin 0-5, Adrian Larkin 0-1, Gary Larkin 0-3, Paddy Kieran. Subs: Gary McEntee 0-1 for M. McEntee, Stephen McElvaney for P. Tierney, Stephen Coyle for P. Acheson.
TEAM AND SCORERS V CARRICKMACROSS: I.F. League Final: Eddie Masterson, Emmet McElvaney, James Coyle, Paddy Tierney, Stephen Coyle, Eamonn Coyle, Paul Acheson, Michael McGuinness, Niall McGuirk 0-1, Gary McEntee, Conor McElvaney, Derek McMahon 0-4, Adrian Larkin, Damien Larkin 0-6, Paddy Kieran. Subs: Nigel Lynch for S Coyle, Barry McGuinness for E Coyle.
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