Two years after being relegated from Meath football's premier ranks, Cortown were knocking at the senior door last autumn but they were refused re-entry as parish neighbours St Ultan's found the right key in the Lagan Group IFC final. The last three seasons have been really topsy-turvy for Cortown, who having slipped down from the top grade after giving their supporters some great days during the 10 years in the SFC, finished bottom of their intermediate group and had to defeat Ratoath in order to be sure of not taking another drop. But John Henry's charges did much better in their second year back in the IFC and after dropping three points in their second and third group games, they built up a nice little winning run with victories over Syddan and Ballinlough (after extra-time) getting them back into the Mattie McDonnell Cup decider in which they were clearly second best on the day. Cortown began their Group A schedule with a 0-16 to 1-11 win over St Michael's at Kilberry with Glen Loughran showing very good form for them at midfield. In the corresponding clash the previous year Michael's had snatched the win with a late goal. But the men in yellow and white were determined not to be caught out again with Gordon Codd (five), Michael Reilly (four) and Colm Kerrigan (three) showing fine point-taking form. Ballinlough was the venue for Cortown's second outing as they gained a 2-8 to 1-11 draw with Oldcastle who shot a late leveller. Most of the scores came in the first half at the end of which the team in blue and white led by 1-9 to 1-7. Colm Kerrigan and Gordon Codd netted the Cortown goals. Despite leading by four points after 10 minutes, Cortown went down to a defeat at the hands of St Colmcille's, who won by 0-10 to 1-6 in the round three encounter at Seneschalstown. A goal netted by Gary Coyne helped his side go into an advantage of 1-2 to 0-1 but Cortown did not manage another score for the rest of the first half at the end of which the seasiders had six points on the board. Coyne finished up with 1-2 and despite the efforts of netminder John McFadden, Paddy Kerrigan and John Casserly, they finished up on the losing team. Cortown got their title challenge back on track when just getting the better of Na Fianna by 3-4 to 1-8 in Dunderry in a match in which the Henry brothers, John and Kit, were in opposition. Although getting less scores than their opponents, goals proved crucial on the night. Despite goals from Gordon Codd and Colm Kerrigan, Cortown were just in arrears (2-1 to 1-5) at the break but they did better in the second period when Codd netted his second goal as his side moved up to second place, one point below Nobber and one more than the trio of Na Fianna, St Michael's and St Colmcille's. It was very much a case of all to play for in the last round of Group A with all of the six teams except Oldcastle going into those games with a chance of reaching the quarter-final stage. Cortown appeared to have a difficult task when facing championship favourites Nobber but they rose to the occasion in splendid style with a 1-13 to 0-12 victory in the Wednesday evening clash at Meath Hill. Gary Coyne and Gordon Codd accounted for all bar two points of the winning total with 1-5 and 0-6 respectively while Paddy Kerrigan and Glen Loughran also showed up to good effect as Cortown finish on top. The good work was continued in the quarter-final against Syddan in Moynalty when Cortown stormed back from a deficit of five points at the halfway stage to book a place in the last four on a scoreline of 2-11 to 0-15. John Henry's men were clearly second best in the opening period and were 0-4 to 0-9 adrift at the interval. However, games can turn quickly and seven minutes after the restart the board read 2-5 to 0-10. When a penalty kick taken by Gordon Codd hit an upright, Gary Coyne reacted quickest to boot the ball to the net. Soon after that Syddan netminder failed to gather a delivery from Codd and Ivor O'Halloran. Three points from Codd and one by Coyne pushed Cortown clear before Syddan rallied to reduced the gap to the minimum with eight minutes to go. Syddan had two players dismissed in the closing stages and Codd's seventh point closed the scoring and the door on Syddan's title hopes. As their local rivals St Ultan's advanced to the final, Cortown had to wait a further six days before playing their postponed 'semi' against Ballinlough which was transferred from Pairc Tailteann to Moynalty and it took extra-time to decide the outcome with the board reading 3-14 to 1-12 after 80 minutes, the last 20 under lights. It was 1-9 each at the end of regulation time and Cortown trailed by 0-6 to 1-5 at the first break. A Brian Casserly goal at the end of the third quarter edged them into the lead and after losing the advantage it took a point from Gordon Codd in the second minute of added time to detain the crowd for another half hour or so. Glen Loughran played a big part in getting Cortown to the final with a contribution of five points, four from play and a 45, while Gordon Codd contributed 2-4 with the goals being netted in extra-time. It was 1-11 each at the break in extra-time but then streaked clear in the final 10 times. Seconds after the resumption Codd grabbed his first goal of the night following a delivery from Loughran and three minutes later he finished a cross from Gary Coyne to the net for his fifth 'major' score of the campaign. Ballinlough had their countyman Peadar Byrne sent off in between Codd's goals. However, Cortown were a big disappointment to their supporters on final day as they played catch up for the rest of he game after being on level terms at 0-1 each in the opening five minutes. After being outplayed for most of the first half, they were in arrears by 0-4 to 1-9 at the break after Gordon Codd put over three points and Sylvie Skelton kicked one. By the three-quarter stage, Cortown had used their full quota of five substitutions and, although not looking like winning, they battled back to reduce the deficit to three points with a punched goal by Skelton during the six added minutes at the end as it finished 1-12 to 1-9. Despite the final disappointment, long-serving Cortown official Pat Keane, who was the club PRO for 2008, said, "it was a good year for us, especially as we did not expect to get their far in the intermediate championship." "It was much better than last year when our only in the group stages was against St Ultan's in the first round. We were short a few lads because of injuries in 2007 and we had beat Ratoath in a play-off in order to stay up,'' he added. "This we dropped three points in the second and third round games in our group and losing by a point to St Colmcille's was probably a wake-up call for us. Na Fianna and our narrow win over them gave us a bit more confidence. "The win over Nobber, who were he favourites to win out, was a big result for Cortown. That was a do or die match for us and one we had to win to be sure of going through. After Nobber had held the lead, we came back well and won by four points with Gary Coyne and Gordon Codd scoring well on the night. "Again it a strong display in the second half which got us through in the quarter-final against Syddan in Moynalty. We looked to be in trouble when five points behind at half-time but two goals soon after the restart were vital scores as we went on to win by two points," the PRO recalled. The postponed semi-final against Ballinlough was a similar type contest with both sides looking like winning as Keane remembered. "We had to depend on a late equaliser to earn extra-time but Gordon (Codd) held his nerve to put the free from around 40 metres over the bar. After that Ballinlough could have snatched a winning score but a post saved us." he added. "The teams were still on level terms at half-time in extra-time but then we showed fitness which we did not show in the final by outscoring them by 2-3 to 0-1 in the last 10 minutes," remarked Pat Keane. "Looking back on the final, he said : "We never got into the game and after getting ahead by a few points, St Ultan's grew in confidence. Even though we were eight points down at half-time, we didn't consider it a lost cause. Even though we did not look like winning on the day, the lads fought to the very end and did well to reduce the margin to three points." Pat has been involved with the Cortown club since year one in 1969 and has seen bad days and great days with the JFC success in 1993 and the IFC triumph in '96 being among the high points. He is hopeful that the intermediate side can recover from the disappointment of losing the 2008 final, saying "they are all young enough to put a strong bid again, Brian Casserly was recovering from a knee injury and should be able to contribute more while there are a few good young players on the way up." "Younger lads like Colm Kerrigan, Richie Flanagan and Breen Smith came on in the final and there others like Declan Clarke and David Flanagan who have been showing promise. So, I'm hopeful for the future," concluded the veteran PRO. The Cortown team in the 2008 IFC final : John McFadden; Mark Casserly, Paddy Kerrigan, David Coyne; John Casserly, Darragh O'Halloran, John McGearty; Glen Loughra\n, John Fagan; Ivor O'Halloran, Brian Casserly, Michael Reilly; Gary Coyne. Sylvie Skelton, Gordon Codd. Subs - Colm Kerrigan for D. Coyne, Breen Smith for McGearty, Richie Flanagan for Fagan. Justin Reilly for B. Casserly, B. Casserly for G. Coyne. Tweet

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