The success of the Kilbeggan/St. Joseph's minor team proved the highlight of an otherwise disappointing year for Kilbeggan Shamrocks, a fact acknowledged by club secretary Jim Daly. An otherwise disappointing year for Kilbeggan Shamrocks was illuminated on January 26 last when the Kilbeggan/St. Joseph's minor football team captured the 'A' championship crown following a thrilling victory over Killucan. In one of the most dramatic games seen for some time, Kilbeggan/St. Joseph's recovered from a four-point deficit with five minutes remaining to win by 4-9 to 4-6. Kilbeggan supporters will hope it sets the tone for the season to come, after what was a thoroughly miserable 2002 for the club's intermediate team. "I don't think the minor success could have come at a better time," says club secretary Jim Daly. "Last year was a disaster as far as the intermediate team was concerned and the sooner we get it out of our memories the better. But we've made a good start to 2003 and hopefully what the minors have achieved will be an inspiration to intermediates," he adds. Desperately unlucky to be relegated from the senior ranks at the end of 2001, Kilbeggan Shamrocks were many people's favourites to win the intermediate championship last year. But, after comfortably qualifying from their group, they came a cropper against Tang in the quarter-final. To compound matters, they also lost their All-County League Division 2 status after just one season. Daly cites the championship defeat to Milltownpass on July 2 as the turning point in Kilbeggan's season. "We had been going reasonably well up until then, but things started to go downhill after that," he explains. "Milltownpass gave us a bad hiding that evening in Shandonagh, something I don't think the players ever recovered from. They did beat Shandonagh and Bunbrosna after that, but the same sparkle wasn't there. "We would still have expected to beat Tang in the quarter-final but, as it turned out, we collapsed when the pressure came on us. Our spirit was so low that we couldn't even lift ourselves for the last few league games and we were duly relegated." Daly attributes Kilbeggan's demise to a lack of confidence in the team. He also believes the unavailablity of top scorer PJ Ward had a huge bearing on their results. "I don't think the confidence was there, even though we had played some good football in the early part of the year. Maybe it was a case of the players not being able to motivate themselves after playing in the senior championship the previous year, I'm not quite sure. "There is no doubt that PJ Ward - who spent the summer in America - was a huge loss to us. He was our best forward in 2001 and was a player we couldn't afford to be without. Having said that, we still had a lot of scoring potential in our forward line and it's a mystery to me why we were only averaging nine or 10 points in a lot of our games." Kilbeggan opened their championship campaign with a 2-9 to 0-4 victory over Killucan at St. Loman's on April 29. Ironically, Killucan would later get their revenge for the defeat by knocking Kilbeggan out of the Intermediate Cup. In their second outing against Rosemount, Kilbeggan came from five points down at half-time to earn a share of the spoils, the sides finishing on 1-12 apiece. A 2-15 to 1-10 win at Mullingar Shamrocks' expense kept Kilbeggan firmly on track, but then disaster struck when they lost to Milltownpass by 1-5 to 1-13, after managing just one point in the opening half. The maroon and whites recovered to beat Shandonagh, 1-9 to 0-8, and Bunbrosna, 1-5 to 0-7, but they were in for a second rude awakening when Tang ended their interests at the quarter-final stage on a 1-6 to 1-11 scoreline. Following an evenly contested first half, Kilbeggan looked to have taken a giant step towards victory when Michael Ennis fisted a goal in the 36th minute. But Tang hadn't read the script and within six minutes, they had turned a three-point deficit into a two-point advantage. Aidan Gorry replied with a point, but Tang finished the stronger to run out clear winners. If that wasn't bad enough, Kilbeggan were dealt a second crushing blow when they lost their Division 2 status. They entered their final game against neighbours Ballinagore knowing that a draw would be enough to keep them up. But not even that could be achieved, meaning that a three-way play-off involving Kilbeggan, Maryland and Ballinagore was required to determine which team would be relegated. Following a heavy defeat to Maryland, Kilbeggan's fate was eventually sealed when they lost to Ballinagore for a second time, this time by 1-8 to 1-11. "We didn't have the hunger to match either Ballinagore or Maryland," admits Daly, who has been secretary for the past two years. "All we needed was a draw against Ballinagore in our final league game and a relegation play-off would have been avoided. It's frustrating to think that we didn't pick up another league point after beating Maryland and Ballynacargy and drawing with St. Malachy's in our first three games," he adds. The gloom around Kilbeggan was soon lifted thanks to the feats of the Kilbeggan/St. Joseph's minor side. A great campaign culminated in a rousing 4-9 to 4-6 victory over Killucan at Robinstown in January. Amazingly, with five minutes left to play, Killucan were four points to the good, 4-6 to 2-8, and looked set to add the minor title to the under 16 crown which they won before Christmas. But in a blistering finish, the combination side notched 2-1 without reply to claim a dramatic win. Killucan made the brighter start, racing into a 2-0 to 0-3 lead after 13 minutes. But a brace of goals from Declan Nannery, allied to points from Shane Fennell and Michael Fox, had Kilbeggan perched nicely on a 2-7 to 2-1 lead at the break. On the restart, Stephen Conroy extended Kilbeggan/St. Joseph's advantage. Killucan, however, then enjoyed a period of dominance which looked like giving them victory until late goals from Shane Fennell and Adrian Carroll snatched it for the maroon and whites. "The fighting spirit the players showed won the championship for them," Daly claims. "They were down and out in both the semi-final (against St. Malachy's/Ballinagore) and final, yet came back to win each time. The amalgamation with St. Joseph's worked very well, with us having nine players on the team that started the final. "Aidan Reid, Willie Daniels, Eugene Nannery, Pat Keegan and Nicky McCormack deserve great credit for the work they did with this particular bunch of players." With Pat Flanagan having stepped down as manager at the end of last year, Kilbeggan have turned to Edenderry-based bank manager Noel Brady to transform their fortunes this year. And, according to Daly, the early vibes have been positive. "There's a definite feeling among the players that they want to turn over a new leaf this year. Noel Brady has taken over from Pat Flanagan and I'm sure he'll make his presence felt before very long. "Noel seems to be big on the discipline and fitness side of things which can only be to Kilbeggan's benefit. Our target for the year must be to win the intermediate championship and get promotion from Division 3. But, in order to build morale, it's vital that we put a winning run together from the very start," he concludes. The Kilbeggan/St. Joseph's team which captured the minor 'A' championship crown was: Sean Lynam; Sean Pidgeon, Jason Maguire, Michael Larrigy; Michael Bohan, Brendan Nannery, Richard Meares; Stephen Conroy, Declan Nannery; Shane Fennell, Michael Fox, Mark Murphy; Liam Ganner, James Barry, Adrian Carroll. Subs used: Gareth Dolan and Graham Arthurs. Tweet

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