Despite having one of the game's most high-profile managers guiding their fortunes last year, Kilbeggan Shamrocks were eliminated from the intermediate championship at the group stage. Corner back Niall O'Brien believes the team never recovered from their surprise fourth round defeat to Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall. When Kilbeggan Shamrocks unveiled Mattie Kerri-gan as their new manager last spring, it was taken that they would be serious contenders for intermediate championship success. But despite the presence of the former Westmeath and Cavan boss on the sideline, Kilbeggan failed abysmally to live up to expectations with their championship interests not extending beyond the group stages. They fared better in the All-County League, finishing third in Division 2 but their failure to perform in the championship made for a disappointing year. "We really thought we could make an impact with Mattie in charge," says reliable corner back Niall O'Brien. "We made an encouraging start to the year but then came the long break due to county team's extended champ-ionship run and we weren't the same team after that. We were flying in training but when it came to the crunch matches, we didn't play up to scratch and an early championship exit was the inevitable outcome." O'Brien, who was a key member of the Kilbeggan team which won the intermediate championship in 2000, cites the fourth round defeat to Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall as the turning point in the club's year. "We had five points from a possible six going into that game and looked to be well on our way to reaching the knock-out stages. But Castletown-Finea beat us by five points and I don't think we ever recovered from that setback. We weren't the same team after that. "We were eventually knocked out of the championship by Killucan, a team we had beaten by 10 points in a league game in the middle of the summer. It's difficult to put your finger on why the year went so pear-shaped for us. Some lads may not have been fully committed, but all that I know is that the long break didn't do us any favours." The Brosnasiders opened their champ-ionship campaign with a 3-5 to 2-6 victory over Ballynacargy. Kilbeggan scored two goals in the opening eight minutes but Bal' battled back to trail by four points, 1-2 to 2-3, at the interval. Ballynacargy began the second half in whirlwind fashion and had edged into a 2-5 to 2-3 lead by the end of the third quarter. But despite being reduced to 14 players, Kilbeggan finished strongly to run out 3-5 to 2-6 winners. A second win looked to be on the cards when Kilbeggan led Caulry by 1-8 to 0-6 at half-time in their clash on July 14, but amazingly they were not to score in the second half as the Mount Temple men fought back to snatch a draw. A much better performance against Maryland in their third outing yielded a 2-14 to 1-11 victory. Kilbeggan led by just a point, 1-7 to 1-6, at the break but pulled away in the second half with some great scores and in the process, made amends for their controversial championship defeat to the same opposition in 2003. Kilbeggan were expected to garner another two points from their game against Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall at Springfield on August 30 and everything appeared to be going according to plan when they led by five points coming up to half-time. But Castletown-Finea finished the half with an unanswered 1-1 to reduce Kilbeggan's advantage to the minimum. The north county outfit rocked Kilbeggan with a second goal shortly after the resumption and while Mattie Kerrigan's charges were quick to recover, they failed to take the initiative and were made to pay when Castletown-Finea scored a late goal to seal a 3-10 to 1-11 victory. Kilbeggan put that disappointment behind them to defeat Tang by 1-15 to 0-10 in Moate on September 25. An Aidan Gorry goal ensured Kilbeggan of parity at half-time and with the wind to their backs in the second half, they played some excellent football to run out comfortable winners. With two games remaining, a place in the knock-out stages appeared to be well within Kilbeggan's grasp but defeats to Shandonagh and Killucan on successive weekends in early October saw them bow out of the championship with a whimper. Against Shandonagh, Kilbeggan were always chasing the game and while a spirited second half fight back brought them to within striking distance, an unfortunate slip by a Kilbeggan defender presented the Kilpatrick side with their second goal and they emerged victorious on a 2-11 to 0-11 scoreline. That defeat left Kilbeggan needing a win against Killucan in their final group match to be certain of qualification for the quarter-final. Played at Shandonagh on October, the game developed into an exciting contest after Killucan had led by 0-7 to 0-3 at the interval. Kilbeggan got back onto level terms early in the second half but as was the case against Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall, failed to push on from there and it was Killucan who finished the stronger to secure a 0-14 to 1-7 victory. While Mattie Kerrigan's reign as Kilbeggan manager may not have had the desired result (he resigned after the Killucan defeat), O'Brien believes his involvement will have long term benefits for the club. "Mattie was as disappointed as anyone with how the year panned out and we were all sorry to see him go. Some people will look back on his reign as a failure but I wouldn't agree with that. "Even though we had a bad year, Mattie brought a professional attitude to the club and showed us how we should prepare for championship matches. A lot of players benefited from his coaching - I would say that Michael Ennis, Keith Gorry and Mattie McCormack had their best ever years. "At the start of the year, we would have been happy to consolidate our Division 2 status but we ended up finishing third. But for a poor start to the campaign when we lost to Milltownpass and Maryland, we would have won the Division 2 title." Kerrigan has been replaced as manager by Joe Giles, who famously combined the roles of captain, trainer and secretary when Coralstown/Kinnegad won the senior championship in 1996. He later acted as a selector to Luke Dempsey when Westmeath captured the All-Ireland under 21 title in 1999. "I think Joe will prove to be a very good appointment," predicts O'Brien, whose father John has served as club chairman since the mid-1980s. "Joe is a Kinnegad man through and through, but he has pledged to give 100 per cent commitment to Kilbeggan this year and we are delighted to have him. "A big factor in his decision to come to Kilbeggan was that he felt we had been underachieving over the last few years. He saw the potential that was in us when we played in the senior championship in 2001 and we were only a young team then. "His targets for the year are to win the intermediate championship and to get promotion from Division 2. If everyone is available to us, I think we can achieve both of those goals. Playing with the county will bring John Brennan on a lot while there is also talk of PJ Ward returning from America. "PJ's scoring ability was badly missed last year and in fact he scored 1-7 for New York against Sligo in the Connacht League final around the same time as we were knocked out of the champi onship. If he was playing with us, our year could have turned out a lot differently," Niall adds. In this year's championship, Kilbeggan will have to get the better of Milltownpass, Rosemount, Maryland, Tang, Milltown and Bunbrosna to make the knock-out stages. And while O'Brien believes it's a tough draw, he feels it could have been a lot worse. "You could have had a draw where Kilbeggan would have been in the same section as neighbouring clubs Moate, St. Joseph's and Rosemount. The supporters would have loved it, but I don't think the four clubs would have been impressed. Too many local derbies can make things very unpredictable," he concludes. Tweet

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