With a strong local management team in place, 2006 represents a new beginning for Killeshandra. At the start of the current calendar year, Pat McGearty was elected club chairman and the new man in the chair believes the Saffrons have what it takes to revisit former glories in the months ahead. There were wholesale changes when Killeshandra Leaguers GFC held their annual general meeting early in 2006. Ollie Sheridan and John Burns stepped down from their positions on the committee after many years' service, while Pat McGearty was appointed new chairman and Tom McKiernan new joint-treasurer. The club also welcomed Ted Sweeney and Justin Hayes as Irish officer and youth officer respectively. The club's grounds and building remain in pristine condition, mainly due to the tremendous efforts and dedication over the years of caretaker Raymond Murphy, who has also stepped down after many years' work with the club. Former club player and well-known inter-county referee Thomas McDermott is senior team manager with Stephen King, Junior McKiernan and Ollie Sheridan as selectors. With most clubs these days, 'outside' management has become the norm - Killeshandra can count themselves lucky to have the services of men of such high calibre who freely give of their time and expertise. While Killeshandra Leaguers certainly couldn't be accused of setting the world alight in recent times, they do appear to be on the verge of some exciting times at present. They've enjoyed success at U16 and minor grades in recent seasons, including an U16 Division Two league title and have a veritable plethora of emerging young talent at their disposal. Powered by a purposeful, visionary and hardworking committee, the club has put in place a management quarter for the coming season that can only be described as a 'Dream Team'. The really incredible thing is that new manager Tommy McDermott and his selectors Stephen King, Junior McKiernan and Ollie Sheridan are all local men, all of whom played for the club with distinction over the years. Now their task is to unearth more talent. With such good men at the helm, newly-appointed chairman Pat McGearty is understandably optimistic that the Leaguers could make quite an impression in the summer of '06. 'Breffni Blue 2006' caught up with Pat shortly after he had assumed the chair and quickly learned that the chairman isn't at all apprehensive about the challenges that lie ahead. To the contrary, he's upbeat and raring to go: "I'm really looking forward to it," he confirms. "It's certainly a new challenge for me but I think we can have a decent year. I played with the club for a long number of years and this will be something different. I can really see Killeshandra going places in the next couple of years, with the amount of talent coming through, and that's what prompted me to get involved again after a few years…" From Pat's perspective, there's plenty of reason for confidence: "Our minors and U16s have been doing well these last few years and we should have quality coming through from those sides. So the club is quite strong. We have a strong committee all working towards a common goal - to get our senior team back to winning ways." Times have been lean, though. Killeshandra have lost the winning touch and are no longer accustomed to outgunning the big boys. Does the chairman accept that trying to win a junior championship represents a big challenge? "It is. We have lads who have done well at underage, but we know that when these lads leave college and get jobs, they'll go to different parts of the country and even different parts of the world and it's going to be hard to keep the team together. "Some could be unavailable this year and that would put strain on a club like ours that only has about 24 fellas capable of playing senior football, so hopefully they'll stay on. A lot of them seem to have the right attitude and if we keep most of our players, with the new management team that's taking over, we could be onto a winning combination." New manager Tommy McDermott is a well-regarded former intercounty referee, and a man who wouldn't take a job like this lightly. Tommy will field a well-prepared and disciplined side, with the assistance of his impressive backroom team. Stephen King and Junior McKiernan have done great work with these players at various grades down through the years, while Ollie Sheridan has acted as a selector in the recent past and also knows the players well. "It's great to have men of that calibre in the club," says Pat. "A lot of clubs are paying big money to outside managers and we're very lucky to have four men like that who believe in Killeshandra and want to put us back on the map. It's a huge gesture from them and also a big sacrifice because I'm sure all four of them could command big money if they went elsewhere. But thankfully they want to work for the benefit of our club. "As players, Junior, Tommy and Stephen put in great effort for the club when we were successful in the 'eighties and Ollie was also a very committed player more recently, even if the team wasn't as successful when he was playing. "Their commitment to the cause cannot be questioned. I've seen their plans for Killeshandra and they're ambitious. We can do it." The immediate objective is to reach a JFC final and gain promotion to Division Two of the all-county football league. In 2005, Killeshandra defeated Templeport and Arva in the knockout competition before coming a cropper against Redhills at the quarter-final stage in late August. Even though they haven't contested a championship final since the 1991 intermediate decider, Pat is convinced that they currently have the wherewithal to make an impact. "We started to decline in 1995 and things went from bad to worse. We've been down in the lower reaches of Division Three but we finished last year strongly, fielding a team with eleven lads under 19 for the last few league games, which is encouraging. With those lads and a few more in the 23-24 age bracket, we should have the basis of a championship-winning side. Our full back Colon Duffy is going travelling for a year and he will be a huge loss, but I feel we still have the material to make a strong bid this year." The chairman is delighted to report that the club is also going strong off the field. They are in the process of developing a small training pitch at the bottom of their existing field and hope to install a better floodlighting system in the not-too-distant future. "We also have strong, hardworking lotto and fundraising committees," he adds. The club is doing its part for the local community by helping with the provision of a new playground for the kids of the town. To this end, the club has donated some of its land to the town council to enable the construction of the new playground, which will be a vital asset to young families in the area. Regarding underage activities in the club, Pat comments: "We're strong and there's a lot of important work being done. The juvenile chairman Peter Brady has done tremendous work over the past seven or eight years. There's great activity on the pitch on a Saturday morning, when a lot of young people are out training. "We also have a strong ladies section under the chairmanship of Siobhan Sweeney, with Blaithin O'Reilly as secretary. They are fielding teams from underage right up to senior and are doing extremely well. They have two good men at the helm this year too - John Mulligan is senior manager, while Sean Feeney is looking after the underage." All in all, Killeshandra have a very positive outlook. They currently have Declan McKiernan and Thomas O'Reilly on the county minor squad, while Killian O'Reilly is with the Cavan U21s not to mention six others lining out with St Pat's, so most of the team have experience of playing at a high level. Tyrone full back Joe McMahon visited the club to present medals to the jubilant U16s during the year gone by, which was a big occasion for all concerned. Pat McGearty notes: "We're amalgamated with Cornafean at underage and the amalgamation is proving very beneficial to both clubs. The young lads are playing at a higher level and it's rubbing off on them. They come back better equipped for a higher grade of football. Junior McKiernan and Liam Young have done great work with the amalgamation. "We didn't do great in Scor this year but we always do well in both junior and senior Scor, which is very vibrant in the club. "Our secretary Donagh O'Reilly has done an amazing amount of work over the past five or six years. He is always available to anybody who needs his help, from the U8 manager up, and is a brilliant asset to Killeshandra. "Finally, I'd like to thank Raymond Murphy who spent many years looking after our facilities. He's a great clubman and his input over the years is much appreciated." The spirit in Killeshandra is as strong as it's ever been. Two-thousand-and-six is a year of much promise. The following committee has been elected for duty in 2006: Presidents: Mrs Rose McGearty, Mr Jimmy Farrelly, Mr Philip O'Reilly (snr), Mr Micheal Fay, Mr Stephen King (snr.) Fr. Colm Hurley, Canon Carroll: Vice- Presidents: Mr. Tom Devine, Mr. Paddy Smith, Mr. Phil Sheridan, Mr. Jim Brady, Mr. Joe Hayes, Mr. Micheal O'Reilly. Chairman, Pat McGearty; Vice-Chairman, Charlie Shanley; Secretary, Donagh O'Reilly; Asst. Secretary, Patricia O'Reilly; Joint Treasurer, Cathal O'Rourke, Joint Treasurer, Tom McKiernan; Insurance Officer, Declan O'Hanlon. Irish Officer, Ted Sweeney, Youth/Coaching Officer; Justin Hayes. PRO; Sean Feeney; Delegates to Convention - Pat McGearty, Donagh O'Reilly, Peter Brady, Seamus Gormley. County Board representatives: Peter Brady, Seamus Gormley; Finance Committee Chairman, Gerard Sherdian. Team Managers - Minor: Justin Hayes, Donagh O'Reilly, Micheal Murphy; U16 - Daniel Lubey; U12 - Patricia O'Reilly, Declan O'Hanlon; U10 - Declan O'Hanlon (coordinator); Senior and U21 management for the year was also elected with Tommy McDermott to manage the senior team for the year along with selectors Stephen King, Junior McKiernan and Ollie Sheridan. Tweet

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