While the intermediate football championship was the title they sought most, Ballymore were content to finish the year as Division 2 champions. Freetaker Louis Meares looks back on what was a satisfactory year for the green and golds. Ballymore's bid to make amends for their intermediate championship final defeat to Kilbeggan Shamrocks in 2000 ended in disappointment when they succumbed to Rosemount in a thrilling semi-final replay last October. The green and golds let a two-point lead slip in the closing stages of the drawn encounter and paid the price in the replay with Rosemount coming out on top by 0-11 to 0-9 after extra-time. Further disappointment followed in November when Ballymore relinquished their grip on the Intermediate Cup, losing to St. Malachy's in the final. But it was by no means a bad year for Ballymore. They were ultra-consistent in the league and finished the year as Division 2 champions. "Most supporters will remember the defeats in the championship and the Intermediate Cup but our success in winning Division 2 made up for those disappointments," says half forward Louis Meares. "We were bitterly disappointed to lose those games to Rosemount and St. Malachy's but at least we didn't end the year empty-handed. There are a lot of good teams in Division 2 and to finish on top was a great achievement. "It's a long time since Ballymore played in Division 1 and we're really looking forward to playing against the top senior clubs on a regular basis this year," he adds. In winning Division 2, Ballymore suffered just one defeat and that was to Milltownpass early in the season. They drew with Coralstown/Kinnegad and Tang while their victories were achieved at the expense of Maryland, Tubberclair, Ballynacargy, Ballinagore and St. Malachy's. Under the management of John McNeill and his co-selectors Seamus McDermott and Brian Glynn, Ballymore also proved difficult to beat in the intermediate championship. They opened their campaign against Tubberclair on May 13 at Tang and emerged winners by the minimum margin, 2-10 to 2-9. Five weeks later, they dropped their only point in the group stages, drawing with Tang on a 1-8 to 0-11 scoreline. Ballymore's most impressive performance came against Shandonagh on July 8. The green and golds were in rampant form, running out comfortable 4-10 to 0-9 winners. Qualification for the knock-outs stages was secured when Ballymore edged out neighbours Maryland by 1-10 to 1-9 in their next outing. They subsequently defeated Mullingar Shamrocks by 2-12 to 1-6 and received a walkover from St. Loman's to finish four points clear at the top of their section. Top place guaranteed a semi-final spot for John McNeill's men. Despite their almost flawless showing in the group stages, Ballymore found themselves as underdogs for the joust with Rosemount. "Very few people were prepared to give us a chance against Rosemount," Meares recalls. "They had just come down from senior and were hot favourites to go straight back up. They had a lot of big names in their side and we knew that we would have our work cut out to beat them." The first meeting of Ballymore and Rosemount took place on September 29 at Moate. The black and ambers made the better start with scores from David Mullen, Damien Kelly and Cathal Keane propelling them into a 0-3 to 0-0 lead after 10 minutes. Points from Meares and Derek Molloy reduced the deficit to the minimum before Rosemount re-established a three-point advantage. In the 28th minute, Anthony Kearney restored parity for Ballymore when he scored a great goal. But two unanswered points from Jockie Healy gave Rosemount a 0-7 to 1-2 cushion at the interval. Ballymore made a dream start to the second half, scoring two goals inside the opening three minutes. Dermot Farrell scored the first with Kearney adding his second moments later. Cathal Keane responded with a goal for Rosemount but when Kearney pointed Ballymore into a two-point lead with three minutes of normal time remaining, it looked as though the green and golds were heading for the final. However, Rosemount kept their cool and two late points from David Keane and Jockie Healy brought the tie to a replay. The replay, on October 7, was played in a downpour but this didn't prevent the teams from serving up a tremendous contest. Scores were difficult to come by with Rosemount taking a slender 0-3 to 0-2 lead into the break. Rosemount led by 0-7 to 0-5 with seven minutes left to play but Ballymore weren't finished and a late brace of points from the outstanding Derek Molloy forced extra-time. The scores were tied at 0-9 each at the start of the second period of extra-time but Rosemount found a higher gear in the time remaining and secured a 0-11 to 0-9 victory with points from Damien Kealy and Martin Loddick. "Over the two games, it could have gone either way but I think Rosemount's greater fitness was the difference in the end," opines Louis. "We were very disappointed to lose the replay because we felt we should have completed the job the first day. We were two points clear going into the last few minutes but sat back and let them come back to get a draw." Following their championship elimination, Ballymore turned their attention to the task of retaining the Intermediate Cup. They qualified for the final where the challenge of newly-crowned intermediate champions St. Malachy's awaited them. Ballymore made the brighter start, leading by 0-4 to 0-2 after 15 minutes. But St. Malachy's finished the half strongly and a goal from half forward Derek Gallagher gave them a 1-5 to 0-5 lead at the interval. Despite being reduced to 14 players in the third quarter, the green and golds had reduced the deficit to two points with less than 10 minutes remaining. But that man Gallagher had the final say for St. Malachy's who emerged triumphant on a 1-9 to 0-9 scoreline. A member of the side that won the minor 'B' championship in 1992, Meares believes that Ballymore have what it takes to win back the Peter Geraghty Memorial Cup in the coming season. Former Offaly All-Ireland winner Jody Gunning has taken over the training duties and is expected to make his presence felt. "To bring in a man of Jody Gunning's experience shows just how serious we are about winning the intermediate championship. We'd love to be able to go back up senior and consolidate our position in Division 1 as well. "We have a number of young players who will be pushing for starting places this year, including Stephen Rooney, Francis Eivers and Enda Keena. Damien Scally joined us from Rhode last year and he has proven to be a useful addition. Louis concludes: "This will be David Hughes' last year with us as he's transferring to Cooley Kickhams in Louth next year. He has been one of our best players over the past 10 years and it would be nice for him to go out on a high." Under 14 title the target The Fr. Dalton's/Southern Gaels underage amalgamation have set their sights on winning this year's under 14 'premier' hurling championship as Fr. Dalton's chairman Donie Glynn explains. No longer able to field at adult level due to a lack of playing numbers, Fr. Dalton's interests are concentrated solely on promoting its underage section these days. Last year, the Ballymore club combined with Southern Gaels at under 12 level and fared extremely well, reaching the semi-final stage of the 'premier' championship with victories over Raharney, Castletown-Geoghegan, Brownstown and Delvin. Their performances pleased club chairman Donie Glynn no end. "It was very encouraging to see them do so well," he says. "The team was split evenly between players from Fr. Dalton's and Southern Gaels and they did better than most people had expected. Castlepollard eventually beat them in the championship semi-final by two points but the result could have been a lot different had the Castlepollard goalkeeper not broken our hearts with some excellent saves." The Fr. Dalton's players did, however, take something from the year when they won the Southern Gaels under 12 tournament for the fourth year in succession. After drawing with Roscommon side St. Dominic's in their first game, they defeated the host club to set up a rematch with St. Dominic's in the final. Following a thrilling contest, Fr. Dalton's successfully retained their title. The Ballymore club had hoped to field an under 14 team along with Southern Gaels last year but, unfortunately, the latter couldn't provide the numbers. "We were very disappointed about that. We had 10 or 11 under 14s but Southern Gaels didn't have any. As a result, those lads didn't get any hurling last year which was frustrating to say the least," Donie explains. Fr. Dalton's/Southern Gaels will be fielding an under 14 team, as well as an under 12 side, this season. In each of the past two years, the amalgamation has made quite an impression in the under 12 grade so, not surprisingly, hopes are high of success in this year's under 14 'premier' championship. "Realistically, I think we have a very good chance of winning the under 14 championship. We have competed very well in the under 12 championship over the past two years so I'm hopeful that we will be there or thereabouts." While it could be some time before Fr. Dalton's are capable of fielding an adult team again, they are clearly making great strides at underage level. "We have a fine crop of young players coming along. We had indoor hurling in the Ballymore Community Centre in the early part of this year and we had roughly 28 players between the ages of 10 and 14 down each night. Things are definitely looking up," Glynn concludes. Tweet

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