Kilkerley Emmets made light of the step-up to senior grade in 2003 by storming to the knock-out stages of the SFC. It was a year when Shane Lennon clearly marked himself out as a big star for the future, making a massive impact at both club and county level (with the minors and U21s!). Gerry Robinson caught up with the brilliant young Kilkerley attacker, whose contribution to Louth GAA in 2003 went way above and beyond the call of duty... In 2003, Kilkerley Emmets prodigy Shane Lennon enjoyed the kind of year most of us can only dream about. He captained the Louth minors to within an ace of a first Leinster final appearance in 32 years, leading the team superbly from the edge of the square, scoring heavily in virtually every game and terrorising defenders from the six counties unlucky enough to try to get in his way! Simply said, he was supreme. Shane was also full forward on the Louth U21 team that beat Kildare and was narrowly beaten by Dublin. At club level, Lennon also caught the eye. Kilkerley had returned to senior level after a solitary season in intermediate grade and Shane was undoubtedly the star of the show as they made a bold push for senior championship honours. He scored an unbelievable 3-4 in the Group D play-off victory over Glyde that sent the north Louth club through to the senior quarter-finals and also chipped in with seven points in the narrow defeat to Cooley in the last eight. This was typical of the season Louth's most exciting young star enjoyed. He virtually exploded onto the scene and took us all by storm. And while he'd be the very first to - quite rightly! - point out that neither the Louth minors nor Kilkerley were one man teams, nobody could argue with the enormity of Shane Lennon's incredible contribution to Louth GAA in '03. Shane's modesty and quiet-spoken nature belie his prodigious talent on the football field. Reflecting on the events of 2003, he admits that it was a year to remember: "It went well for us all year, at both club and county level." Playing in a Leinster minor championship semi-final (and only losing therein to Dublin after a replay) and a Louth SFC quarter final, did the '03 season exceed Shane's wildest expectations? Remember, Kilkerley were intermediate the previous year and Louth's U18s failed to get out of the round-robin stage of the provincial championship. "We hoped the Louth minors would get as far as they did, and maybe even further," the team captain points out. "We knew going into the year that we had a decent team and that we were in with a good shout in the Leinster championship, even though not a lot of people were giving us a chance." Louth's minors finished their 2002 campaign with three straight wins and they started the '03 tilt pretty much where they'd left off. First up, defending Leinster champions Longford were seen off by 0-12 to 0-9 in Drogheda on April 12th. That result set the tone and victories over Kilkenny (5-18 to 0-3, Shane Lennon scoring 2-6), Carlow (2-12 to 0-1) and Wicklow (3-13 to 1-8) followed to send the Wee County through to the knock-out stage of the Leinster championship proper. Paddy Oliver's men came up against a highly-rated Offaly side in the provincial quarter-final at Ardee on May 17th but powered to a stunning 4-7 to 0-12 win. They were now one game away from a place in the Leinster final for the first time since 1971. Dublin (who would go on to contest the All-Ireland final only to lose to Laois after a replay) provided the semi-final opposition and it was a clash Louth might well have won with a bit of luck. However, the Dubs eventually came out on top with a 1-12 to 1-7 victory at Navan on Wednesday July 9th, after the sides had played out a draw at the same venue seven days earlier. It could all have been different had not the captain's fierce drive come back off the crossbar at a crucial juncture in the drawn game... Meanwhile, Kilkerley Emmets also did exceptionally well during the '03 season. They had just returned from intermediate grade following a dramatic play-off defeat of Dreadnots and not a great deal was expected from them going into the new season. However, they certainly made all football followers in Louth sit up and take notice, capturing the imagination with some super displays. The team was managed by Terry Lennon (Shane's dad) with Adrian Conlon and Aidan Cremin as selectors and Padraig O'Neill from Cooley as trainer. They were pitted in Group D of the SFC, alongside Naomh Mairtin, Glyde Rangers and Roche Emmets. Kilkerley got off to a flier with a one-point win over Tallanstown at Haggardstown on June 15th, 2-7 to 1-9, a goal in each half from their full forward proving the basis of Glyde's downfall. On June 22nd at the same venue, however, Naomh Mairtin came out on top by 1-10 to 0-9. Kilkerley now had to win their last game against Roche to force a three-way play-off and they duly obliged with a 1-9 to 0-8 success at Rassan on July 12th. They met Glyde in a quarter-final play-off at Knockbridge on July 27th and carved out a wonderful 3-8 to 1-12 victory. It was a day they'll talk about in Kilkerley for a long time - Shane Lennon gave a virtuoso performance, supplying all but four points of the winning tally!!! That result meant Kilkerley went through to the last eight as Group D runners-up. They faced hotly-fancied Cooley Kickhams in their quarter-final at Haggardstown on Sunday August 10th and pushed the peninsula men all the way before eventually succumbing to a narrow defeat, 1-11 to 0-9. Cooley marched on, but they knew they'd been in a game! Over the course of five championship games, Kilkerley proved their mettle during the year and their league form was also extremely impressive, as they held onto their senior status without much difficulty. All in all, the signs are encouraging for the future: "With the exception of a couple of players - the likes of Barry Clarke and Paul Litchfield - we're a very young team and there's no reason why we shouldn't continue to improve and build upon the progress we made this year," notes Shane. "Actually, speaking of Paul Litchfield, he has been a great servant to the team and it was a huge blow when he broke his leg before the Cooley match. If we'd had Paul for the Cooley game, who knows what might have happened? "If you leave out the more experienced players, the average age of the team is around 21, so we're definitely a team for the future. Hopefully, anyway! For each of the past four years, we've got to the semi-final at least of the county U21 championship [amalgamated with Naomh Malachi but with a strong core of Kilkerley players], and we actually reached the final in 2001 before losing to Valley Rangers after a replay. There's an abundance of young talent in the club and we have plenty of grounds for optimism." A young team it may be, but already quite an accomplished one too if their 2003 exploits are anything to go by! What was the target as set out at the start of the year? "Our aim was a respectable run in the championship and to win as many games in the league as possible, pushing for a place in Division 1A where we'd be playing regularly against the top teams in the county." Shane has been playing with the Kilkerley first team since he was 15. Incredibly, 2003 was already his third year playing adult football even though he was still minor! He missed the ill-fated 2001 relegation play-off against the Mairtins through injury, but was a key player as the Emmets bounced straight back up via a strong late league run in '02. He was Kilkerley's outstanding player in 2003 but modestly points out: "In football, it doesn't matter who gets the scores. It's a team game and everybody has to do their part. I take most of the frees and 45s and a lot of my scores come from those. I rate Kilkerley as a very strong team all-round. "Our back line was magnificent all year but they didn't get the credit they deserved. People tend to notice who puts the ball over the bar or in the net, but we have great defenders. John Mulholland had a super season at the back and Brian Gernon, Barry Clarke and Alan McGeough were all exceptional too. In fact, all our defenders are top class and that's what gives us the basis to go on and win games. "Against Cooley, we were sound at the back but our big problem was with the forwards. We played a two-man full forward line all year, with Colm McGuinness and myself, but Cooley decided to leave their third full back in their against the two of us and we had no answer. "But we'll learn from that. We're very young and we're getting huge numbers out at training. There are a lot of 15- and 16-year-olds coming out and they all want to be part of Kilkerley's future, so things are looking good. Hopefully we'll win a senior championship in a few years." Of course, Kilkerley reached the county decider in 1999 but were overwhelmed by Stabannon. Shane was only 13, and was an interested observer on county final day, but no doubt he'd love to have been out there terrorising the Reillys, Butterlys and co "Stabannon were very experienced but Kilkerley had never been that far before and it showed. But we're definitely hoping that inside the next few years, when the current crop of players matures more, things will go well. A senior championship is the ultimate target." Shane says it was a surprise as well as a huge honour to be asked to captain the county minor team in 2003. "There was unbelievable spirit in that team and everyone encouraged each other all the way. There was great competition for places and we didn't field the same team two games in a row. It was brilliant to be involved with such a great team and to be captain was a tremendous honour." And what a success story Louth's minors were! Shane muses: "We set out at the start aiming to get out of the round-robin and to get a chance of playing summer football. Once we got that far, we re-set our sights on Croke Park and a Leinster final. We were unlucky not to get the breaks the first day against Dublin. I keep thinking about the one that came back off the crossbar - a few inches lower or higher and we'd probably have been through to the Leinster final..." Shane was also with the county U21s in 2003. And barring injury probably will be for three more seasons! The Wee County U21s had an excellent win over Kildare before losing to eventual All-Ireland champions Dublin in a Leinster quarter-final. Again there were encouraging signs in the team's overall displays. What is Kilkerley's objective for 2004? "We hope to keep going. We'll be looking for a good run in the championship again, to get as many games as possible against the top teams in the county and to continue improving. We showed in the quarter-final against Cooley that we're not too far off so if we keep learning we should be pushing for senior success in the next two or three years." Without doubt, Kilkerley will be a force to be reckoned with for the foreseeable future. And Shane Lennon is destined to spearhead their genuine bid for senior silverware. * Louth's 2003 MFC odyssey - and Shane Lennon's involvement in it - is reviewed in much greater detail is a separate article contained in Wee County 2003. We also have an exclusive report on the county U21s. Tweet

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