Crookedwood contested their first intermediate hurling final this year against Ringtown, only to lose after a replay. Captain Enda Murray is confident that it will not be too long before the club is battling for senior honours. Having been beaten in the semi-final for the past two years and not being in an adult championship final since the 1986 junior decider, Crookedwood's aim this year was to go out and prove to people that they have what it takes to make the senior grade. Although beaten in the final, the 'wood showed they have the skill and determination to do so and captain Enda Murray admits that if they put in the same effort next season - nobody will stop them. "At the start of the year we said that we wanted to do better than other years and when Tommy Kelly took over as trainer things were heading in the right direction. The training improved straight away and there was great crowds turning out. "You couldn't fault Tommy at all, he definitely made a difference and he gave everyone a chance, reputations counted for nothing. Down through the years some lads just walked on to the team even if they didn't train, but that all changed when Tommy took over. "We started training in March and with the big turn outs it was very enjoyable. We played Banagher of Offaly in a challenge and we beat them by a point, which was a great boost to us and everybody started to belief that we could do well. Kelly's method's and the early training paid off when in their first championship match the comprehensively beat Southern Gaels by eight points, 2-12 to 1-07. A week later they faced St Brigid's, who were relegated from the senior ranks the previous year and once again two points were secured as the 'wood won 0-12 to 1-07. Next up was a young Delvin team who had shocked favourites Ringtown in their opening match by beating them easily and as expected it was tight affair, but despite relentless pressure from the Delvin forwards in the final minutes, Crookedwood held on to win 2-10 to 0-14 in an entertaining contest. The highlight of the match being the prolific scoring of the 'wood forwards. "It was a tough game against Delvin and I suppose they were unfortunate because it was the best performance we put in all year. Our forwards were really on song that day. I think five or six of them scored which was very unusual (he laughs) and everything just went right for us but they did have us backs under pressure near the end," said the corner-back. A win in their next match against Lough Lene Gaels assured Crookedwood of a semi-final place and the fact that a place in the last four was guaranteed was evident when they suffered their first defeat against Ringtown in August. Even though they were missing Finian Newman and Colin Murray went off injured in the first few minutes, Crookedwood could not have expected to be ten points down at half time, but a rollicking by Tommy Kelly during the interval saw his charges put in a gutsy display in the second half and close the gap to four points at the final whistle 2-08 to 0-10, which showed the team had the bottle to put up a fight. "We were a bit complacent against Ringtown alright," acknowledged Murray. "They ran us ragged in the first half and we were lucky not to be losing by more at half time. Tommy gave us an awful eating when he got us together at half time and we knew we had to do something in the second half. We showed a great spirit in the second half but the lead they got in the first half was too much." In their last group game the 'wood suffered their second defeat in the championship when neighbours Turin beat them on a score line of 1-13 to 1-11. Turin needed the win to secure a semi-final spot and it showed as they were the far hungrier team on the day. Crookedwood never looked like winning and were behind from very early on but points from the prolific Johnny Orme kept them within touching distance of Turin before further scores from Christy Doyle and Jerome Cully sealed the victory. Crookedwood had two weeks to prepare for their semi-final with Southern Gaels and a chance to rectify the previous year's losses at the same stage. Having been beaten in their last two group games had no bearing on their display in the semi-final win and a Aidan Bardon goal settled any early nerves as they went on to win by five points, 1-10 to 0-08. "Losing the semi-final for the last two years didn't bother us at all. We knew we wouldn't have it as handy against Southern Gaels as we did when we met them earlier in the year, but we were determined to win and all of us wanted to play in a county final. Aidan's goal really gave us confidence at a stage when the Gaels were on top and we defended well that day and deserved to win." Preparations for the final in October began in earnest following the semi-final win and the determination of the panel was realised when Kelly had his squad out training Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, two weeks before the final. Attendance at training reached a new level for the Crookedwood club as competition for a place in the starting fifteen intensified. The final itself was played in Cusack Park and the 'wood were to get an early reality check when they found themselves in arrears after only fifteen minutes. Ringtown midfielder Vincent Bateman was dominating affairs in the middle of the park and Crookedwood's defence were under severe pressure before man-of-the-match Tommy Casserly got the first of three goals and settled any early nerves. This year's senior final between Lough Lene Gaels and Castletown Geoghegan was a very entertaining contest, but the so-called lesser grade intermediate final produced a true classic as both side's were determined not to lose. A draw was the fairest result on the day. Points from Aidan and Frank Bardon and the goal taking of Casserly ensured that Crookedwood would get a second chance. "We were really rattled by Ringtown in the first fifteen minutes and you could tell we were all nervous. I thought we didn't get the breaks on the day and with a bit of luck we could have won it, but we were still delighted to get a second chance. It was a great honour to captain the team and a experience I'll never forget." Bad weather meant the replay was not played for a few weeks and as expected the next game did not reach the standard the first had produced. Ringtown had the better of the early exchanges but the conditions were to take it's toll as only one point was scored from play in the opening thirty minutes. Two frees from Johnny Orme was all the 'wood could manage as Ringtown scorers were Vincent Bateman (2) and Martin Burke to leave it 0-3 to 0-2 at the interval. The standard of hurling did improve in the second half and once again Ringtown started brighter and points from Tommy Cunningham, Bateman and Burke gave them a three point lead. Johnny Orme was wide of the mark for Crookedwood as was Colm Murphy for Ringtown. At this stage the 'Wood defence were under severe pressure and a Ger McGoldrick point extended Ringtown's lead to four points and then man-of-the-match Vincent Bateman had a glorious chance to make it seven points but surprisingly he drove his penalty wide. Johnny Orme kept their faint hopes alive when he pointed a sixty-five, but Bateman restored parity almost immediately when scoring an excellent point on the run. Crookedwood went all out for a goal but found Ringtown 'keeper Pat Burke to be on top of his game and he saved well from sub Ollie Connell. Ringtown substitute Adrian Moran got the last score of the game when he pointed to leave the final score: Ringtown 0-09 Crookedwood 0-03. Murray feels that the break between the drawn game and the replay did contribute to their failure to produce the standard both teams produced in the drawn game but he is confident Crookedwood will be back better and stronger next year. "After the drawn game we went straight back into training and everything seemed grand, but when it was called off the second day because of the weather, lads seemed to just get down hearted. "The confidence was down and there wasn't the same hype at training as before, but we will give it a fair old try this year again and I have no doubt that with the players we have coming through we would have no problems playing senior. If we can start next season where we left off last year, hopefully we will win the championship next year." The Crookedwood team that the replay of the intermediate hurling final were: James Doyne, Damien Gifferty, Colin Murray, Enda Murray, Gerard Brennan, Feichin Brennan, Kevin Tormey, Stephen Leavy, Conor Duffy, Noel Yourell, Finian Newman, Aidan Bardon, Tommy Cassidy, John Orme (0-3), Frank Brennan. Subs used: Conor Geehan for Finian Newman; Ollie Connell for Aidan Bardon; Darren Fulham for Kevin Tormey. Tweet

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