2008 may well be a year that Ballymachugh will wish to leave behind them as they concentrate on the New Year and a way out of the basement in Division Three, but former underage chairman John Coyle sees some light at the end of the tunnel for the club. After just one win to their name in Division Two last season, Ballymachugh will be looking to put things right in '09 so as they can get back to being a club with complete intermediate status. Over 40 years since their last tour in the junior ranks, the club have been on a slippery slope in regards to league safety for the past couple of years and John Coyle, for one, believes, that long with the exodus of some key players, that the drop down to the third tier was something waiting to happen. "In reality, we had been struggling to stay up for the past few years, and this will be our first time playing in the junior ranks since 1967," said Coyle. "A few lads went travelling abroad and a couple of nasty injuries were picked before and during the course of the season. The likes of Barry Kiernan, Shane Kelly and Darren Lynch all headed off in the middle of the league, and our full-back Liam Donohoe went to Australia. Those are players a small club like Ballymachugh just can't afford to lose," he added. Coyle's department in the club these days delves more into the underage scene, but he has been a keen follower of all aspects and attended many of the senior team's outings this past season. In 2006, he took over as chairman of the underage committee when the club badly needed some structure in its youth ranks. This year he has stepped down and left things in much better shape then when he had first arrived. With the likes of renowned coach Brendan Sweeney and young up and coming selector Ronan Baxter, the club's future looks at underage level looks to be intact, according Coyle, but sadly it's hard to say the same at adult level. Coyle was in attendance for many of Ballymachugh's league games in Division Two last season, and they were games where he watching the team falter by the odd score, which made it all the more unbearable to watch. "To be honest, we didn't take many hammerings during the league," explains Coyle. "We were losing games by a couple of points but it still has the same affect. Maybe if we'd of had a few more players available to us we could have avoided relegation, but we're there now and we'll have to look to get out of it." Ballymachugh opened their league campaign in early March at home to a young and eager Killeshandra Leaguers side fresh from collecting a junior double the previous season, and lost out on a score-line of 3-5 to 2-4. A narrow defeat away to Bailieborough followed before Ballymachugh's first and only win of the league came at the end of the month when they saw off Killinkere convincingly by 1-14 to 2-9 with a spirited performance at Sheelin Park. However, from there things took a turn for the worst defeats to Ramor, Shercock, Knockbride, Cavan Gaels and Redhills left Ballymachugh sitting rock bottom of the division, and although James Kiernan and Co. found the goal scoring touch to rescue a draw against Cootehill (0-11 to 2-5) at Hugh O'Reilly Park the following week, slender blips against Drung and Drumgoon meant that Ballymachugh would be heading into the intermediate championship with just three league points registered and the likely prospect of relegation awaiting them once their championship campaign had concluded. Come July, team manager Malachy Flanagan and his selectors Eugene Duffy and Eamonn Flood had asked the players to put any ill thoughts of the league behind and to focus firmly on what was sure to be a testing championship opener with Drumlane at Cornafean. Still hindered by the injuries and absentees, Ballymachugh went into the game with the players well tuned up but started sluggish against the west Cavan side, who would build up a seven-point lead at the interval. The second-half would tell a different tale tough as Ballymachugh rocked the favourites with goals from Niall Baxter and Adrian Daly to it down to a point right at the death. After being awarded a late free, the trailers looked like snatching a draw but after a tussle broke out between both sets of players the referee took the ball out of James Kiernan's hands and awarded a free out, and the chance was lost. "The Drumlane game was a game we should have won," explains Coyle. "We sorely missed a player like Barry Kiernan in that game because he would have been worth three or four point to us alone." Drumlane advanced to a quarter-final meeting with Drumgoon, while Ballymachugh were sent into the backdoor to face another daunting task against 2006 champions Drumalee. If Flanagan's men were to slip up here, then they would as good as have one foot in the door of relegation. With league relegation almost a given, the Mayo man instilled belief in his players that they could upset the odds, just as they had almost done against Drumlane the previous week. Flanagan's charges went with the direct approach and raced into a four-point lead after the opening quarter thanks to points from Philip Donohoe, Richard Fitzsimmons and James Kiernan (2). As expected, Drumalee fought back to take the lead in the second-half with marksman Darragh Gaffney to the forefront and heading towards the added minutes it looked as tough the Hughs were heading for a relegation play-off. However, a flowing move which saw Alan Shiels deliver a ball into the path Kiernan who majestically flicked the ball across the face of the Drumalee goal, where right half-back Brendan McIlarney fisted to the net to grasp a vital win for Ballymachugh on a score of 1-7 to 1-6. Ballymachugh (IFC Qualifiers v Drumalee): Brendan Sweeney; John Fox, Gavin Smith, Micheal Halton; Brendan McIlarney, Finbar Sheridan, James McIlarney; Padraig Sheridan, Philip Donohoe; Alan Sheils, Richard Fitzsimmons, Padraig Galligan; Niall Baxter, James Kiernan, Stephen Baxter. Subs: Cathal Smith for P Galligan, Michael Hill for S. Baxter. "We were always in it against Drumalee and ended up popping up with a late goal from Brendan McIlarney to snatch a win," says Coyle. "The mood after that was vey good. Before that game we knew that we were relegated in the league, but to know afterwards that we were safe in the championship kind of underlined a good moment in what was a bad year from the seniors' prospective." The Hughs went on the semi-final stage of the qualifiers, where they would lose out to Killeshandra Leaguers by 1-10 to 0-8 in another game where they demonstrated that they are well capable of competing with the best of the intermediate division. After the championship's conclusion, Ballymachugh returned to league action where defeats to Kingscourt and Drumlane consigned them to relegation down to Division Three for 2009, where they will be starting the year with a new, local management team of Dan O'Reilly, Brendan Sweeney, Michael Tynan and Eoin Smith. "The aim will be to try and get straight back up again," explains Coyle. "We have a new management and have started back training early in the New Year, so hopefully we can do it. "Number one objective is to try and get out of Division Three. There are some tricky teams though, with the likes of our near neighbours Mountnugent, who I'm sure, will be looking forward to playing against us and it will be very tough. There are certainly a lot of teams in Division Three that would be better than Ballymachugh on paper," he added. Under 14's impress in Roinn B Championship Ballymachugh's Under 14 footballers were the true jewel of the club this year, capturing the Roinn C league title as well as reaching the final of the Roinn B Championship on the club's first tour of the section in living memory. Managed by John Coyle and his young, enthusiastic assistant Ronan Baxter, the Hughs got off to a flying start to their league campaign in April with convincing wins over Killygarry, Knockbride and Cuchullains. A trip to our Lady of Lourdes Park proved difficult for Coyle's youngsters as they trailed by 2-4 to 0-1 late in the first-half, but they remarkably turned it around to triumph to a 4-9 to 3-8 victory, which saw them book their place in the last four against Killygarry, where a five-point win over the Crubany-based side saw them take their place in the competition's decider against Arva. In an enthralling encounter at Kingspan Breffni Park, the Hughs clinched the title thanks to the midfield dominance of Adon McFarlane and Liam Buchanan, the scoring power of Stephen Hartin and Micheal Coyle up front and the solidness of John Daly and Darragh Kiernan at the back the as they went onto lift the cup in a performance that will live in many people in the club's minds forever, with the final score reading Ballymachugh 2-18 Arva 2-09. From there, it was into the unknown territory of the Roinn B Championship for Coyle, and his youngsters, who recalls the quarter-final clash with Bailieborough in September as being a classic. "We went into Roinn B of the championship, which is somewhere I don't think the club have ever been before and it turned out to be an entertaining spell," admits Coyle. "We played Bailieborough in the quarter-finals and drew against them twice, and the third time we meet them we were eight points down after half-time. Some how we came back and won the game and it was Stephen Hartin who got the winner with a brilliant kick - 13 metres from goal along the sideline." A semi-final meeting with Lacken turned out to be a stroll for Coyle's charges to the surprise of many, and they enter into Roinn B Championship decider against Killeshandra. A Darren McGrath goal got Killeshandra off to the ideal start early on in the match but they would rue their missed chances when Liam Buchanan hit the net for the Hughs before the points of Michael Coyle and Stephen Harten sent Ballymachugh in front. Conor Higgins will have felt unlucky not to have restored the lead for the Leaguers after his stinging shot was brilliantly saved by Daragh Goldrick in the Ballymachugh goal, but is was another Conor (McGearty) who made sure that a 2-5 to 1-4 advantage would lie in Killeshandra's favour at the break. Ballymachugh had hit two quick scores from the restart, but a well struck Higgins free along with the points of Aaron Brady and McGearty saw Killeshandra maintain their lead before Stephen Harten had the gap down to just one with minutes remaining in the game. While the two Conors, Smith and Higgins, were both strong at centre-field for the Leaguers, Ballymachugh still mounted a last attempt at a comeback with Aaron McFarlane pointing to level the game. However Higgins, who was at the heart of everything good about Killeshandra's play on the day, fired over two late frees which proved the difference as the young Leaguers finally sealed the Under 14 title for the year on a score-line of 2-9 to 2-7. "There was nothing in it in the end," recalls Coyle. "We ended up kicking our last four or five chances wide. But you can't focus on that in the end we finished with some silverware and great entertainment. Those players had brought supporters out that wouldn't have been out for the club in nearly 10 years," explains Coyle. Hurling Hurling in the club has come in great leaps and bounds in recent season at both senior and underage level. While Brendan Sweeney's side were handed a lesson by the mighty Mullahoran St Joseph's this season in the county senior final, the Hughs hurlers can look back on another year where they recorded some great victories to get to the decider, and where the likes of Eugene Hill, Paddy Baxter and Padraic Sheridan have truly shown their worth. On the underage scene, the club's Under 14's can have no shame in finishing second best to Mullahoran in the Division One final, while the Under 12's were the ones to collect the silverware as they triumphed to the Division Three league title over Woodford Gaels. It's a sure sign of good things top come for one of the few clubs that can boast a decent hurling outfit in the county. A special mention needs to go to enthusiastic clubman Brendan Sweeney as well, who travelled to London at the start of the year to referee the All-Ireland intermediate hurling club quarter-final between Robert Emmet's of London and Sean Tracy's of Galway. Ladies In August, Ballymachugh's Ladies romped to the Junior B Championship title with an emphatic 5-20 to 2-6 victory over Swanlinbar in Killygarry's home grounds of Crubany. Starring for the Hughs ladies that day was their captain Regina Rooney, who struck an outstanding 3-10 against the west Cavan women, which would inevitably lead side to glory. Right from the throw-in Ballymachugh dominated proceedings, with their county midfielder Sheana Kiernan and wing-back Deirdre Kelly storming forward on their opponents. It was Kelly who rocketed in the first goal for the winners after five minutes before Rooney got her first just past the quarter hour mark, and on 29 minutes she had her second with a fine finish past Ciara McGoldrick in the Swad goal for a 3-12 to 0-3 lead at the interval. In the second-half the trailers hit a pair of goals to take some of the blemish off the score-line, but Rooney's devastating 1-3 during the opening 10 minutes of the restart sunk any outside chance of a come back for the St Mary's club. A goal from Coran Earlly put the icing on the cake for the Hughs as they collected a valued piece of silverware to conclude a successful season. Ballymachugh (Junior B Championship final v Swanlinbar): Eileen Baxter; Helena Baxter, Aoife Galligan, Denise Kiernan; Laura Galligan, Rooney Kiernan, Deirdre Kelly; Sheana Kiernan, Rachel O'Reilly; Cora Early, Nicole Smith, Charlene Harten; Regina Rooney, Michelle Kiernan, Orna Cassels. Subs: Pauline McEnerney, Ciara Lynch. Tweet

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