After spending the past 12 months in the limelight with the backing of a much beneficial Powerade campaign, Munterconnaught head into 2009 looking to capture that coveted junior championship crown that has managed to elude them in recent years. Club PRO Eugene Sheridan looks back on a year that could have been for an ever-maturing side. It was around October '07 when Munterconnaught won the prestigious prize for Powerade's search for the GAA team that best represents 'The Heart of Irish Sport' award from an entry of over 200 clubs from every corner of the country. The purpose of this search was to find a team that would be starring in the energy drink's 'Never Give Up' advertising and marketing campaigns throughout 2008, but for Munterconnaught it turned out to have a much deeper meaning. "The first I heard of Powerade was around Christmas last year," recalls enthusiastic club PRO Eugene Sheridan. "They were down in late December and everyone was at the club grounds for a meeting with them and from there on the ball really got rolling." While some people within the east Cavan club had their doubts over the company's involvement in their season ambitions, Sheridan believed that the campaign was of great benefit to the Munchies in regards to their preparations towards the county junior football championship. "Some people in the club thought it didn't help us at all, but I thought it created a great buzz," said Sheridan. "We had a great first round in the championship and were left sitting around for five weeks for the quarter-final where we drew the favourites (Drung)." Towards the close of the '07 year, Powerade's representatives made the track up the N3 to meet with the Munterconnaught players and management and asked them what their objectives were on the field for the coming year. Their answer was simple: to win the junior championship. In 2006, Munterconnaught had reached the junior decider and lost out to west Cavan opposition in Swanlinbar after a replay. The following year saw them ousted by eventual champions Killeshandra Leaguers, but now they would have the backing of a real professional outfit in Powerade, who pointed such top sporting figures as Paul O'Connell, Mickey Harte and Paul Caffrey in the Virginia direction to help out in the team's bid to secure a Seamus Leddy Cup for the first time in 14 years. Celebrity guest speakers and trainers, advertisements for national television and top sports scientists were all very new, but welcome, aspects for a small club within the Castlerahan parish as they waited to embark on a new season, which promised to be very interesting. Under strength throughout most of their league trail, the Munchies kicked-off their season with a draw at home to Mountnugent in early March before scoring a convincing win away to Cornafean at the end of the month. Another draw against demoted side Laragh United lead to losses against Templeport, Kill and Swanlinbar which brought the side into June where they overcame Arva at Michael Cully Park. A defeat away to July championship opponents Kildallan would prove an invaluable lesson for team mentors Seamus Kiernan and Jim Gilsenan. Three more points were won from their side's two remaining games against Maghera and Butlersbridge before the JFC throw-in securing their status in Division Three for another year. "During the league we were never at full strength," admitted Sheridan. "We would have three lads over in Scotland at College and a few lads in Dublin too who sometimes wouldn't be able to make it, but more often than not they were there." However, the staunch clubman still concedes that the third tier has become a much more competitive place to be ever since the element of relegation was introduced to the equation, and he knew that Munterconnaught would not be going to be taking the same chance did Templeport did in 2007. "It surely has (become more competitive). Everyone's been watching their back and the games just have to be won," he stressed. "In the end Templeport didn't get relegated last year, but you see how they've turned it around by getting early points and it stood to them in the championship this year after getting to the semi-final of the championship. "Thankfully, this year we've gotten the points early on and we're safe, but certainly everybody's been taking stock this year with regards to the league." Despite having two games left to play, it was safe to say that the Munchies league campaign was firmly behind them as the closing days of July approached and their junior championship opener against Kildallan became ever so near. The team's preparations had been ideal, with Irish rugby star Paul O'Connell having come down to take a training session weeks beforehand the players were well tuned for the challenge of the First Ulsters. In the two sides' league meeting the previous month, Sheridan recalls one Ronan O'Reilly as being the Munchies' chief tormentor at First Ulsters' Park that day. This time the management would have their homework done on the big full-forward and would hold an ace of their own going into the clash that hadn't been in the deck for much of the past spring-summer period. "When we played them (Kildallan) earlier on in the league Ronan O'Reilly had a big day below in Ballyconnell but we were without one of our best players in Terry McCabe for that game and he was injured throughout most of the league. "We meet them again in the championship in July knowing that he (O'Reilly) was going to be the threat again and Terry done a great job of marking him through the whole game." However, despite the team's resolute showing in the opening half, Munterconnaught still trailed at the break and the benefits of some top class preparation shone when they retook the playing field for the second-half to oversee the deficit and book their place in the last eight of the county JFC. "We came out for the second-half and put in as good a half-hour as we had all year to win the game, and I suppose a lot of that would have come down to the training we had been putting in." Kildallan went crashing into the qualifiers, while the triumphant Munterconnaught men advanced to the quarter-finals where they picked competition favourites Drung out of the hat. With various qualifying rounds being played throughout the county's three championships, both sides were left five weeks in the wait until they'd meet each other at the New Inns grounds in Lavey. With challenge games hard to come by at that time of year, the squad could do nothing but train away until their meeting with the Bunnoe side on August 31. They would, however, receive a very surprising boost when Powerade came good once more and sent up another rousing special guest speaker to the club. No less than 24 hours after confirming his resignation as Dublin manager, Paul Caffrey showed up at the club grounds of Munterconnaught to talk to the players ahead of the Drung clash, after his side had suffered heavy defeat to the hands of Tyrone in the quarter-finals of the All-Ireland SFC. "The team had met with Paul O'Connell and Paul Caffrey a few weeks before the quarter-final and in fairness to Paul Caffrey he had come up to us the day after Dublin lost to Tyrone," confirmed Sheridan. "He (Caffrey) just told us to do the things we were good at and I mean Dublin had missed an awful lot of chances in the first-half and I suppose you can compare that performance to ours against Drung." Indeed, the Munchies saw plenty of chances go a begging in the opening half-hour against their favoured opponents, which would eventually spell out the reasons for a 0-18 to 0-10 defeat against a more clinical Drung outfit. "Being honest they were just superior to us in a lot of ways," the PRO admitted. "They were much more physical and their three county men really stood to them. (Ciaran) Galligan was strong at centre-field and we were handling (Barry) Watters with two men, and I think that tells its own story. Their goalkeepers' (James Reilly's) kick-outs were very good to and he pulled off a fine save from one of our forwards too." With that eight-point defeat in Lavey, the team's season came to a crashing end. Out of the championship with two irrelevant league games left to play and the help of Powerade was now gone for good. "We are very thankful to them," said Sheridan "but once we had gone out of the championship that was it for the year, really. Powerade went out this year looking for a junior club in Ireland to work with, but once we were out that was it. "A lot of the players were disappointed after the Drung game," he admitted. "There has kind of been an attitude that we're a young team and that it (the junior championship title) will come sooner or later, but we would want to be doing it fairly soon." There's no doubting that like Killeshandra down the previous years, Munterconnaught are a side who have blended youth, through the likes of John McCabe, with experience, in the likes of Val Yore, to knock on the door of junior success. However, Sheridan is hoping that this scrapbook year the Munchies have endured, where some severe training sessions as well as team performances went in over the space of eight months will lay the ultimate foundations for a season of expectancy in 2009. "As for next year, getting promoted from Division Three is always an objective and we will also be hopeful that our maturing senior team can go on to win the junior championship," Sheridan enthused. Underage The underage scene in the club hasn't exactly been booming, but Munterconnaught GAA can still offer young players the chance to compete with the club at all levels. Both the Under 13 and 14's have been coping reasonably well in their respective Roinn D groups, while the Under 16 and minors have each joined forces with near neighbours Maghera to make up Black Water Gaels. In '07, the Munchies minors had been amalgamated with Ramor United to make up Lurgan and reached the Division One Championship semi-final where they lost out to Cavan Gaels. With many new houses going up in the area, and young families moving in, the hopes are that with a range of underage football and attractive new facilities to offer that the underage structure in the club can prosper once again. Ground developments Plans for new dressing rooms, handball courts and an all-weather running track have been laid down, and with acceptance, will hopefully be getting underway in the New Year. Lottery funding as well as many members within the parish agreeing to a five-year payment deal are the two main sources of financing the new facilities at Munterconnaught's home grounds. Tweet

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