Since making a return to the senior football championship in 2002, St Malachy's have defied the odds and held their own among the big boys. Now with three years experience at the top level behind them, the Castletown-Geoghegan club are ready to take the next step in progression. Club chairman Dermot Garvin admits that last year's performances in the championship were disappointing, especially having made the quarterfinals in 2002. However, Dermot does admit that following the draw for this year's campaign, the saints have been left with a tough task of reaching the knockout stages. "Yeah we were definitely disappointed with last year's performances, although we did get off to a great start in the championship. St Malachy's now have to look at improving their results this year, even though we have been handed a fairly tough group," said Dermot. The group Dermot speaks of includes defending champions Garrycastle, last year's beaten finalists Castledaly, annual favourites Mullingar Shamrocks along with Ballymore and St Mary's. The red and blacks could not have asked for a tougher opening match to the campaign as Garrycastle will begin the defence of their title against St Malachy's. Last year's campaign saw St Malachy's get off to a winning start as they defeated Tubberclair way back in the first week of May. Tubberclair had reached the quarterfinal stage the previous year and were tipped to make an impact on the campaign in 2004. St Malachy's didn't read the script as they inflicted a ten-point defeat on their opponents. County star Alan Mangan opened the scoring from a 45 metre free. The talented Mangan was then involved in the saint's second point when he fed the ball to midfielder Christy McDonagh who tapped over. Mangan then added a third after he availed of a good pass from Paddy Corcoran and the same player scored his third point and his side's fourth of the match from a 20-metre free. Mangan's influence on the game was a fair reflection of his contribution to St Malachy's. He has improved as a player over the past few years and was once again involved in Malachy's opening goal when he fed the ball to the inrushing Ronan Whelan, who fired low into the right hand corner of the net. Tubberclair responded with a point as they came more and more into the match. And they added a third shortly after only for Mangan, who was running riot at this stage, to slot over a reply. Further points by Mangan and Corcoran came either side of a Tubberclair score, but St Malachy's finished the stronger when right half back Alo Geoghegan gave an accurate pass to Joe Clarke and the corner forward remained calm to lob Gary Connaughton in the Tubberclair goals, to leave the scores at half time 2-7 to 0-4. The sides exchanged points at the start of the second half and it was that man again, Mangan who supplied the score and the same player followed that up with another three points. Tubberclair tried hard to come back into the match, but Whelan added a point midway through the second half to put the result of the game beyond any doubt. Although the South Westmeath side did notch the last two scores of the match, it was Malachy's who came away with the win on a scoreline of 2-12 to 0-8. "The win over Tubberclair was a great start to the championship, but following that we didn't play a game for a few months due to Westmeath's run in the All-Ireland championship. Although that was great to see, it didn't help the club as we hardly trained during that time and the hurling took over as games were played in the senior championship," added Dermot. Amazingly it would be almost four months before the next round of the championship was played, something that the fixtures committee will have to take a look at when scheduling this year's matches. St Malachy's next opponents were a Moate side that had been struggling in the senior ranks for some time. However, the match finished in a draw after Moate scored a late point to tie the match, but this championship fixture will be more remembered for the sensational sending off of Ronan Whelan for a nothing tackle on the Moate goalkeeper. As things transpired Whelan was to miss out on helping Castletown-Geoghegan to win the senior hurling championship. "It was a terrible blow for Ronan to miss out on the hurling final, but you can't dwell on that situation too much," stressed Dermot. "We probably should have won that game but the long lay off took its toll and you could see the players were off form." Despite the minor setback, St Malachy's remained unbeaten in the championship after two rounds, but they would then face a Mullingar Shamrocks' side that are always contenders for the title. The loss of wing back Alo Geoghegan after ten minutes was a huge blow to the Black and Ambers. The unfortunate Geoghegan broke his ankle and would be ruled out of the rest of the campaign. St Malachy's never recovered from the loss of a defender so early on and Shamrocks ran out convincing winners on a scoreline of 3-9 to 0-7. The defeat was a huge blow to moral as a win would have virtually guaranteed the side a place in the knockout stages of the championship. The games were coming thick and fast at this stage and next up was Garrycastle. Even though the match was played only a week after their sister club Castletown-Geoghegan won the SHC, St Malachy's displayed a great spirit against the eventual champions for the majority of the match. However, with only ten minutes remaining, the previous week's celebrations seemed to catch up as Garrycastle began to pull away and ran out winners by eleven points, 4-14 to 1-12. "The scoreline was not a fair reflection of how the lads played against Garrycastle. They were with them for most of the game and looked as if they could have caused a big surprise. But in fairness, the lads had been celebrating most of that week and it was a bit much to ask them play such an important game so soon," pointed out Dermot. With a place in the knockout stages gone and there being no threat of relegation, their last match against Tyrrellspass did not matter and a seven point defeat to the light blues had little bearing on the outcome of the 2004 championship. All in all, the club were a little disappointed with their campaign, but Dermot believes that they can do much better this year. "We definitely have the players to make an impact on the championship. Malachy's are a young side and if we can keep the lads coming through we have a great chance of doing very well. There is no guarantee who will win the senior championship because the majority of teams are evenly matched," he added. The club did not finish the year entirely without silverware as their minor side who were amalgamated with Ballinagore won their respective championship. And for the first time in a number of years, the club entered the Under-21 championship, so the future looks bright for St Malachy's. Tweet

Most Read Stories