Kill Shamrocks fell short of realising their potential in 2005 but club chairman Gerry Pritchard still rates the past year a qualified success Despite disappointment in the blue riband IFC, outgoing Kill Shamrocks chairman Gerry Pritchard has every reason to look back on 2005 with a sense of quiet satisfaction. The Shamrocks boasted the best record of all teams involved in the All County Football League in sweeping to a clean set of victories in '05 except for one drawn match. Reflecting on the past season in division three, Gerry credits Kill's success during the past year to "a combination of a great team spirit and a good management set-up." Of course, there are many factors which help conjure up the mix of good team spirit with one of them being the commitment given by all-concerned over the season. It seems that attendances at training at the club's picturesque ground in Rathluden in the season just past seldom dipped below the 22 mark which is commendable. Indeed given that quite a few of the Shamrocks' faithful are 'away-based', twenty-two souls is a figure that many other clubs would be more than happy to accumulate. "I think the lads were out to prove a point in 2005 after what had gone on the previous year when things didn't nearly as well as everyone at the club had hoped. "Relegation from division two in 2004 was a sore one for the players and morale wasn't that good after that, to say the least, so things had to improve for everyone's sake. "I'd say the players felt themselves that - no disrespect to the other teams - they were capable of a lot better than playing in division three of the league. "They met at the beginning of the year and agreed to work together as a team and make sure that whatever about the championship, they would get out of division three." And within ten months, that objective was duly realised - much to the satisfaction of everyone involved with the green and white brigade. Imbued with some fresh young blood in the form of Carlos Brady, Ray Magee and with Hugh Fitzpatrick back in the fold after a spell out through injury, optimism spread. And yet things could and should have gone even better in the league for Kill had the team maintained their level of consistency right to the end of the season. "It was a big disappointment to lose out in the semi-final because we fancied our chances of taking the title and I think everyone else in the county fancied us as well." Recalling the club's defeat in Bunnoe to Shercock at the penultimate hurdle, Gerry says Kill had a great opportunity to progress to the decider but failed to bite the bullet. "Shercock won it and fair play to them but we lost by just two points and that was all they got in the whole game from play which left us feeling very sorry for ourselves. "We had no excuses though because we gave away too many silly frees and then made things easier for them by adding in a bit of dissent which the referee punished. "Looking back on that game, I thought the suspension of Conor McCarey hit us hard 'cause his workrate was a big miss in particular, especially around midfield." One wonders was there any question of the team being caught in the glare of its own headlines and was complacency part of the problem on the day against Shercock? "I know the lads were confident going into the game but I wouldn't say they were too cocky although there might have been a touch of complacency. "We had beaten Shercock early in the league by a couple of points in Rathluden but the fact that they were seventh and we were top might have effected the lads' thinking. "To be honest, that semi-final display by us was the team's worst performance all year by a long shot and I don't think too many of the players would disagree with that. "Teamwork on the day was poor, there was no real cohesion about our play and the forwards weren't able to win the ball often enough to do damage. "We picked the worst day possible to play our poorest football of 2005 but we got promotion which was the priority more so than winning the title at the start of the year." Interestingly, Gerry wasn't impressed by the standard of football on show over the course of the year in division three and is relieved that his club has made the step up. He has great faith in the current Kill team to consolidate their elevation up the pecking order and commends them for their emphatic table-topping 23 points accumulation. "As far as I've managed to find out, the team made club history in 2005 by gaining promotion without losing a single game which says a lot for the players' ambition. "Our lads weren't flattered by finishing on top of the table because they showed that they were the best team by a distance in the league. "In my book Kildallan were the second best team in the league and actually finished second so it was a surprise to me when they lost out to Shercock in the quarter-final. "Munterconnacht were the dark horses from day one and they'd have been further up the table all year if they hadn't lost a few games by a single point or two." In terms of how the club might fare out in the coming year, Gerry reckons that some improvement will be needed if the progress made in 2005 is to be consolidated. "The team, as a whole, will have to improve because we struggled in different games during the year to put teams away when we had them on the rack. "There were too many times when we seemed to be cruising but then we let them back into it when it came to the crunch, "I think division two will be a fair step up and I wouldn't expect us to get too many second chances of wrapping matches up if we take our feet off the pedal." Father of erstwhile Junior B player Micheal (19) plus promising youngsters Gavin (13) and Kevin (11), Gerry says he won't be sad to see the back of Cuchullains in the championship after what happened in 2005. "We've lost out to them over the last few years so maybe it's as well for us that they'll be competing in the senior championship next year. "I thought things were going really well after the Cuchullains game when we beat Lavey and Laragh and then Ballymachugh. "We were a bit unlucky against Cuchullains but some would say we only had ourselves to blame because we missed a few frees which could have won it for us. "Last year was a bit different in that we had a better panel of maybe 22 lads and you were able to bring on subs who were able to add to the team's effort on the day. "In fairness to them (Cuchullains), they went onto show that they were the best team in the championship but we felt we had the beating of them all the same. "They were there for the taking, especially when it was level-pegging with about five minutes left to play but it wasn't to be," the former St. Finbarr's stalwart remarks. With three years as chairman under his belt, Gerry hopes that the club is perhaps that bit better positioned now to improve its ranking, on and off the field of play. He is rightly proud of the fact that the club undertook an array of improvements at its picturesque ground in Rathluden Park. An extensive drainage programme, new running track and floodlighting has augmented the club's long-time headquarters. In the coming year he would like to see further improvements made to Rathluden and a big effort made by the players to retain their hard-won division two league status. "And the championship?" "Of course you'd like to do well in the championship and winning the intermediate is a realistic target but I still think retaining our place in division two should be the priority. "The lads need to be playing a consistently higher standard of football and division two football will bring a lot of the younger fellas on." Not a bad line of thinking at all. Tweet

Most Read Stories