Having come down from intermediate football at the start of the season, 2008 was a year of consolidation for St Kevins GFC. Junior Champions in 2006, the Philipstown outfit found the step up in grade a little too much for them. Their desire, of course, is still to be up there and the past year saw them take the slow but necessary steps required in order for them to do so once more in the future. While the club may not exactly have set the world alight on the field in the past 12 months, their work off it has been nothing short of fantastic. Various successful fundraisers were held throughout the year which all reaped huge rewards, nothing to be sniffed at in a year in which economies around the world all suffered. On the field, things weren't as fruitful, however, with the club never really raising a gallop in Division Three of the league as injuries took their toll on what is a small panel at the best of times. The year had started out well with an impressive victory over St Nicholas - a side who would eventually go on to reach the junior final - in the opening round of the Kevin Mullen Shield in mid-February. That proved to be little more than a false dawn for Wayne McKeever's side, however, as they would have to wait until late May for their next win when they overcame Annaghminnon Rovers by 2-10 to 1-8. It was a disappointing league campaign as the side badly missed the likes of 2006 Junior Championship winning captain Mark Boylan, who missed virtually the whole year with a cruciate knee ligament injury. Club PRO John Grimes admitted that injuries certainly took its toll on St Kevin's from an early stage of the year. "I think it would be fair to say that we didn't have our best 15 players out on the field at any one time at any stage of the year and that's always going to be tough on any club," said the Whiteriver man. "We had players unavailable to us from an early stage of the year and injuries to some of our key players certainly didn't help us but, if we're honest about it, we probably didn't do as well as we could have." While St Kevin's league record left a lot to be desired, their fortunes in the championship were a lot better. In their opening fixture they met Annaghminnon Rovers in Stabannon and for the second time in a matter of weeks they got the better of the Stonetown outfit with Niall Treadwell's late goal proving crucial as they came out on top by the narrowest of margins on a 1-5 to 0-7 scoreline. Although the Philipstown outfit lost their second match to the Nicks by 1-8 to 0-9, their subsequent 0-9 to 0-5 victory over the Westerns in Ardee left them very much in the shake up for a place in the latter stages by the halfway stage. In round four St Kevin's came up against the John Mitchels but despite holding a five point lead at the break it took two late Andrew Campbell frees to earn them a share of the spoils on a scoreline of 1-7 apiece. Although they subsequently lost by 3-8 to 2-8 to Dowdallshill in their final group game, that point against the Mitchels was enough to take them through to the quarter-finals where they came up against local rivals Lannleire. Not for the first time this year though, the Kevin's left themselves with too much of an uphill struggle, falling seven points behind in the first half and taking 29 minutes to open their account through Andrew Hynes. In truth, the Philipstown men did well to reduce the deficit back to four points near the end but having failed to come out of the traps in the opening half, they could have little complaints about going down to a 0-13 to 0-8 defeat. PRO Grimes felt, however, that the experience of the 2008 campaign will stand to the side in the coming year. "Our championship record wasn't bad considering we came up against two of the sides who went on to contest the final and went out to one of the teams in the final," said John. "We just never really got going in the first half against Lannleire and it just didn't happen for us on the day. "Our main aim this year though was to try and get back to some kind of reasonable form after the tough year we had had the year before. "It was always going to be difficult to try and win the championship though because the junior grade now is not what it used to be. It's more competitive now thann ever and it's definitely a lot more difficult to win than when we won it under the old format in 2006. "This year was a good learning curve. Despite all the injuries we had it gave us a chance to blood some youngsters. We had five or six good young lads come through in the past year and, although we didn't do as well as we had hoped, the experience will stand to them. "Next year we're hopefully of progressing a bit more and if we can get everyone back and on the field at the same time then I'm confident we can give the championship a good go next year," said Grimes. While things on the field might not have gone totally according to plan, those off it went a lot better than expected as Grimes explained. "The undoubted highlight of the year was the success on the fundraising side of things," he said. "A lot of work was done off the pitch this year and our 'Who Wants To Be A Thousandaire?' draw in April was highly successful. "We targetted a figure and completely surpassed it which was brilliant because we probably took a bit of a risk in doing it as I think we were the first GAA club in the county to try it. "Damien Roche and his team did a wonderful job in heading it up though and we got absolutely massive support for it. "The plan is to use the money from the event to expand the facilities we have and we're now ready to start developing our second pitch. "We couldn't start it until we got our grand from the Sports Council but basically the numbers are increasing at the club all the time and this was badly needed to help us move forward." As well as the 'Who Wants To Be A Thousandaire?' event, St Kevin's all-weather pitch has also generated much needed cash for the club. "We started renting the all-weather pitch out to anyone who was interested in using it last winter and it's actually available again now. "I suppose because there are so many all-weathers around now there wasn't as big a demand for it as there might have been a few years ago but it is ticking over nicely and there are a good few clubs using it on an ongoing basis. "Between the money being taken in from that, the 'Who Wants To Be A Thousandaire?' draw and the Sports Council grant that Shane Darby and his team secured for us things are definitely looking bright and the future of the club is highly secure," said Grimes. Those around Philipstown have more reasons than the club's off the field activities to be optimistic about, however, as it was also a fruitful year for them at underage level. "Underage was a massive success for us this year right from U-7 up to U-15 level," said Grimes. "We've around 100 kids playing for us now and that's growing all the time so that's why we've decided to develop this extra pitch. "This year every team we entered at underage level made it either to a semi-final or a final so the future seems to be fairly bright and it's a credit to the like so of our underage chairman Dermot Logan and the rest of the mentors for the work they are putting in," he said. Of course, St Kevin's also run a ladies football and camogie side with the latter creating a small piece of history in 2008 when they landed the senior camogie league for the first time in their 29 year history with a 1-2 to 0-4 victory over holders Kilkerley in Stabannon. Kilkerley, aiming to land their third league title in-a-row, led by 0-4 to 1-0 at the break but a Margaret Landy goal meant that the Philipstown girls were still very much in contention. Donna King then brought St Kevin's level in a second half in which chances aplenty with amiss before adding a last minute free to secure an historic win for her side. Afterwards captain Eleanor Smyth collected the trophy from Louth County Camogie chairperson Ann Callan. The St Kevin's team that featured in the final was as follows: Vivien Weldon, Carol Mulroy, Sarah Mulroy, Philomena Matthews, Linda McCabe, Nicola Carter, Deborah Hynes, Eleanor Smyth, Susan Byrne, Ann-Marie King, Donna King, Shauna Brennan, Linda Fagan, Nicola Reddan, Margaret Landy, Kelly Hynes, Katie Hynes. Unfortunately for St Kevin's, Kilkerley went on to avenge that defeat by beating them in the Senior Championship final but Grimes declared it as a very good year for the camogie side nonetheless. "It was a very successful year for them," he said. "Winning the senior league for the first time is no mean feat. "They did well to get to the senior championship final as well and they also won a tournament in Meath so they'e done very well. "That side is strong at underage level as well and they're improving all the time so hopefully their success this year is just the start of a lot more to come," said Grimes. So while St Kevin's didn't fulfil all their goals on the field this year, everything else in the club is progressing better than they had hoped. So much so, in fact, that Grimes views an even better year in 2009. "The future of the club is safe and bright," he said. "I can't see any reason why the club can't push for promotion next season in both the league and championship providing we get a bit more luck with injuries than we had this year. "The facilities will be improving too in the next year or so. The extra pitch is first on the agenda but there is a lot more to follow," said Grimes. St Kevin's are a small, rural club but they are certainly to be admired. They've done a lot, have a lot more to do but they are certainly way ahead of schedule from where they eventually want to be. Tweet

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