Curraha GFC was justifiably proud of the major role their own Pat Coyle played in the success of the Meath minor football team in 2008, while Mark Battersby, who plays at under-age level for St Vincent's/Curraha, was a key forward on the side which enjoyed a summer to remember. Coyle proved himself a very astute coach with the county under-18s as they won the Leinster title and reached the All-Ireland semi-finals, while young Battersby, who played senior football with Skryne this year, demonstrated immense promise as a skilled and accurate attacker. His scoring contributions during the successful campaign included a vital 2-2 in the provincial semi-final against Longford at Pairc Tailteann when Meath looked to be in serious danger of defeat. "Obviously, we are delighted with Pat's involvement with the Meath minors this year," Curraha's Frankie O'Connor said. "He has been a really great clubman down the years. Pat is originally from Twomilehouse in County Kildare and he came to work here as a young man. His aunt and uncle were in charge of the Ward Union Hunt. "He started playing with us and was a super player and a great clubman. When he took to coaching our lads he was successful from the word go. Pat is a very good motivator and is able to build up tremendous camaraderie among the players which is so important. He is also a very good communicator and has surrounded himself with very good people in the Meath set-up. "Mark Battersby still plays at minor level with Curraha/St Vincent's. We are very proud of him and what he has achieved. He has been one of the main young men in our minor set-up. We have a great under-age set-up here in Curraha and we are trying to make it more attractive for players to stay with us rather than move away. "We wish Mark the very best and, hopefully, he will go on to make his mark at senior level in the future." Pat Coyle would also have taken a very keen interest in the fortunes of the Curraha junior team this year, but unfortunately a very bright and encouraging start to the JFC campaign, which yielded back to back victories, faded and they failed to make it through to the knockout stages, which was the goal at the start of the year. They were coached by Pat Flynn who was assisted by club chairman Sean Joyce. Curraha were drawn in group C of the championship and it looked like a very tough section as it also included four teams which had made it to the quarter-finals the pervious year - St Brigid's, Moylagh, Meath Hill and Moynalvey - as well as the second string side from senior club Summerhill. Indeed, St Brigid's, Moylagh and Moynalvey reached the penultimate stage in 2007 and Moynalvey were beaten by Clann na nGael in the final. All considered, it was clearly going to take a huge effort to qualify from a Curraha side which had finished second from bottom of their division last year on three points from six outings following one win, one draw and four defeats. However, few could have predicted the manner in which Curraha would commence the championship as they scored a shock victory over a St Brigid's team which was fancied to go a long way in the competition in their second year back in the junior grade. The match was played in Athboy and Curraha looked to have a chance at the break when they trailed by only 0-4 to 0-6 after playing against the strong wind. But they were rocked when Stephen Skelly scored a goal for the Ballinacree men on the restart to stretch their advantage to five points. Curraha's response to a potentially disastrous situation was very positive as they outscored St Brigid's by 1-6 to 0-3 subsequently, with David Coyle getting the goal. Another important contribution came from his brother Gavin who notched six points, but it took some heroic defending in the closing stages to keep the lead intact as they won by 1-10 to 1-9. Confidents and spirits had to be extremely high after that win and as the Curraha players and management travelled to Kilmessan for a second round meeting with Summerhill they had to be very hopeful that they could double their points tally. And that's how it turned out as Simon McDermott, Declan Hanley, Gavin Coyle and the Mallon brothers proved particularly impressive in a 1-11 to 1-8 victory. It was all to play for at the interval when the teams were level on 1-5 each, but Curraha conceded just three further points in the second period and that was important in the end. Brian Cosgrave contributed 1-2 and Gavin Coyle rowed in with a very significant tally of seven points. With a maximum haul of four points in the bag after two rounds, Curraha must have been tempted to start thinking in terms of knockout football, but the reality was that they still had very testing assignments to come against Moylagh, Meath Hill and Moynalvey. Moylagh were next up at Bohermeen and a first defeat of the group stages was the outcome for Curraha as they missed too many scoring chances and the team from the north west of the county won by 1-10 to 0-9 to maintain their push for a quarter-final place. Curraha missed a first half penalty which was ultimately to prove very costly and the teams were locked together on 0-6 each at the change of ends. Michael Corrigan scored the only goal of the game in the second period and that boosted Moylagh to a victory which enable them to join Curraha at the top of the section. It didn't get any better for Curraha after that as defeats followed against Meath Hill and Moynalvey which derailed their bid for a slot in the knockout stages. The Hill beat them by 2-11 to 2-8 in the fourth round at Castletown and when Moynalvey scored a comfortable 1-15 to 0-7 success at Dunganny, Curraha's championship was over for another year. The victory enabled last year's runners-up Moynalvey to move to the top of the group on eight points from five outings, with Moylagh also advancing to the last eight with a tally of seven points. The unlucky team in the section was undoubtedly Meath Hill who were also on seven, but with an inferior score difference to Moylagh. Curraha were out of the hunt on the four points they gained from their first two games. "We made a great start to the championship by beating St Brigid's and Summerhill," said Frankie O'Connor as he reflected on the campaign. "We felt we were unlucky to lose to Moylagh and Meath Hill. We felt we could have got something out of those games, but we missed too many chances. "We are working off a small panel of 21 or 22 players and in that situation you can't afford to have injuries. Our goalkeeper Anthony Dowling got injured and we had other injuries too which didn't help. "Curraha have a lot of young players. Gavin Coyle is 19 and David Coyle is only 17. They are sons of Pat. Kevin Mallon is also 17. He is a great addition to the team, but this was his first year playing junior football. These are all lads who have come up through the under-age ranks in the club and are making their mark. "It was disappointing not to make it to the quarter-finals of the championship, especially after making such a good start with those two wins. Pat Flynn set a target at the start of the year of reaching the knockout stages." Curraha may be a small rural club surrounded by much bigger clubs, but they certainly have big ambitions and are looking very much to the future with tremendous enthusiasm and drive. Work was set to commence on the clubhouse and dressing rooms development at the start of September this year and when completed this should prove to be an invaluable asset. "We got the go ahead for the work," a clearly delighted O'Connor added. "It's all marked out as we speak. We have plans to renovate the existing dressing rooms and build new ones as well. We are also on the look out for a bit of land which would enable us to have a second pitch. We are working on the hurling end of things too at under-age level, so there is a very big demand on the pitch. We really need more room to meet the growing demand. "We are very grateful to Philip Foster of the Snail Box pub who helps us out with a bit of land. That's a great help to us and we really appreciate it." Seven years have passed since Curraha's memorable JFC success in 2001. They didn't get into the shake-up for honours this year, but with the strength of their under-age set-up and the quality of the young players they are producing, they are very likely to make significant progress in the near future. Minor football Curraha /St Vincent's opened the 2008 campaign under the stewardship of Tony Dowling and Jim Tallon against Trim in Dunganny with a tough encounter, but eventually overcame them by a margin of four points with a score of 1-13 to 2-6. Our second outing was against Wolfe Tones at home in a game we were in control of from the start. There was great work from Mark Battersby with a score of five points and Neill Macken and Phelim Dowling also on the score board. Five minutes from the final whistle our keeper Anthony Dowling received a serious injury to his knee, and with a late rally from Wolfe Tones they scored 1-3 to draw the game. Dunsany at their home venue was our third outing, and with a substitute keeper we ran out winners by three points. Clann Na Gael were our next opponents, who we defeat at home. Round 6 which was our fifth game due to a bye in the first round meant travelling to Nobber. Curraha/St Vincent's, despite the loss of a few key players through injury defeated Nobber by nine points. Curraha/St Vincent's dominated the first half and led 2-7 to 0-3 at the break. A much more determined Nobber team turned out for the second half and scored 2-5 to Curraha / StVincent's 1-7 but were unable to overtake the visitors. The goal scorers for Curraha / St. Vincent's were Mark Battersby, Neil Macken and Rourie McEntee. A number of young players made a good impression on the night, notably Patrick Coyle and Rourie McEntee. Having beaten Nobber we now qualified for the semi-finals which brought us to Ashbourne on a wet and windy night to meet Seneschalstown. Seneschalstown played with the wind for the first half and knocked over four points. Curraha /St Vincent's found it hard to get out of their own half for this period, but when they did Bob Tallon scored a top class goal to leave his side trailing by only one point at the break. With the wind in their backs Curraha / St Vincent's forged ahead against a determined Seneschalstown side to score 1-7 to their 0-2 points and reach their third final in a row. Best for Curraha / St Vincent's on the night were Mark Battersby, Niall Macken, Bob Tallon and Kevin Mallon. The final was played on the 19th September in Pairc Tailteann under lights. It was a definite game of two halves where Curraha/ St Vincent's raced into an eight point lead in the first half with fluent play from centre field and the forwards and great determination in the back line. The second half started with Dunsany dominating the play to rattle in 1-5 on the trot to draw level and had the game at their mercy but for an unfortunate injury to one of the Curraha/ St Vincent's players Stephen McNulty. McNulty collided with two other players in a determined attempt to collect the ball and ended up in hospital for his troubles with facial injuries. When play resumed after the long delay Curraha/ St. Vincent's got back in control and went on to score three further points in the remaining fifteen minutes to claim their three in a row minor titles. While all the players and substitutes gave of their best, some score taking by Niall McKenna and Declan O'Sullivan from play stood out and two saves from the keeper who returned for the semi-final and final prior to a knee operation kept them in the game. Great defending from Kevin Mallon and some surging runs from David Coyle also stood out. Curraha/ St Vincent's wish to thank Richie Cahill for the excellent attention he gave the injured player on the ground prior to his removal to hospital. Curraha/ St Vincent's - Anthony Dowling, Stephen Carey (c), Vinny Brown, Kevin Mallon, Neil Macken, Donal McCarty, Phelim Dowling 0-1, Bob Tallon 0-1, Niall McKenna 0-2, Colm Hand, David Coyle 0-3, Declan O'Sullivan 0-2, Mark Battersby 0-5. Subs - Sean Laffey for Colm Hand, Stephen McNulty for Niall Macken, Neill Shorthall for Stephen McNulty (injured), Shane Ryan for Sean Laffey. Under 17's 2008 is no different from the previous years for the under 17's competition. Fixed for Sunday mornings at the time of the year where soccer and rugby seem to rule and the under 15's playing on the Saturday, Curraha / St Vincent's tried to rearrange some of the matches to get them played. Our first outing was against Killary Emmetts away as we had to forfeit home advantage due the change of time. A cracking game of football was played in Castletown where Killary Emmets put it up to Curraha/St Vincent's and led them nearly all the way, before the game finished level 0-10 to 1-7. The home team are a amalgamation of Syddan and Castletown and proved a strong force on the day. Curraha/St Vincent's with a good number of the minor medallist panel and some new faces from the under 16 panel gave a good account for themselves with David Coyle scoring 1-5 on the day and a brilliant save from Liam Hogan. The only goal followed by a point in the last five minutes gave Curraha/St Vincents their only lead in the match, but an equalising point with the last kick of the ball from Killary Emmets seemed a fair result on the day. Our next outing was against Na Fianna and again with a depleted side we battled to the final whistle, but were outdone by a stronger side. One of the sides withdrew from the competition which left us out of the semi-final's. Curraha/St. Vincent's - Liam Hogan, Patrick Coyle, Stephen McNulty, David Tallon, Vinny Brown, Kevin Mallon, Niall Macken, Bob Tallon, Phelim Dowling, Collie Hand, Declan O'Sullivan, David Coyle, Rourie McEntee, Niall Shorthall, Danny Dwyer. U 16's Division 1 status again this year proved a heavy burden for our relatively small panel. Early defeats against the likes of St. Martins, Ratoath and Na Fianna proved a hill to far to climb, although we defeated O'Mahonys by two points and Duleek by 21 points at the end of the campaign. Thanks to Tony McEntee and Frank McNulty for looking after this competition and hopefully they will have more success next year. U 15's Under the management of John Hogan our under 15's are progressing well to date and hope to get into the quarter finals. This is a very tough Division 2 with the likes of Moynalvey, Skryne, Trim, Killary Emmets and Na Fianna in the mix. We hope to have the full report in next year's edition. Under 13 Division 2A Super Valu League The U13 division 2A league followed a similar pattern to the u12 for Curraha. Moynalvey again getting the upper hand and knocking us out at the quarterfinal stage by a single point. Report by Pat Moriarty. Our first outing of the league was an unsuccessful one away to Wolfe Tones. However, Evan McGovern and Risteard O Connor Brennan gave excellent displays in defence while up front Niall Moriarty and Eoin McGovern were in fine form. Round 2 was at home against Duleek/ Bellewstown. Here we secured our first 2 points of the league with a comprehensive win over near neighbours. Some excellent first half work by David Toner, Evan McGovern and Ailish Moriarty helped Curraha to a half time lead of 1-8 to 1-1. Curraha's dominance continued after the break where James McEntee, Conor Joyce and Neil O Dowd were in sparkling form. Round 3 was played away to Dunsany. Dunsany hit two late goals (one a penalty) to snatch victory in this match. Curraha dominated the third quarter of this match and pulled 5 points clear heading into the final quarter and looked comfortable enough. However, disaster struck when a couple handling errors by our lads lead to the two goals from which we never recovered. Curraha had excellent performers in Brian Joyce, Niall and Ailish Moriarty, Evan McGovern, Brian Murphy and Andrew Coyle. In round 4 Curraha overturned a half time deficit of 1-5 to 0-3 to claim a narrow win in their match against near neighbours Skryne. The situation could be a lot worse but for some heroic defending by Luke McCarthy, Conor Joyce and Robert Reid. In the second half Skryne began well and had a great goal chance brilliantly saved by goalkeeper Brian Joyce. Curraha seemed to rally after this with Ailish Moriarty, Neil O Dowd and Donal McDermott to the fore, while up front Conor Moriarty was a constant threat and finished with a total of 1-5. Round 5 was the penultimate one, as a victory would see us through to the semi final. Moynalvey again stood in our path. The match played in a wet and windy Kiltale saw Moynalvey hit 2-1 in the first period. James McEntee contributed 4 points during that period. Unfortunately for us the referee missed or forgot to record one of those points, which was to cost the match in the end and ultimately a semi-final spot. However, Curraha played excellently on the day and restricted Moynalvey to one score in that second period. James McEntee, Luke McCarthy, Conor Moriarty and David Toner played their parts. The final score was Curraha 1-6 Moynalvey 3 -1. Panel: James McEntee, Ailish Moriarty, Conor Joyce, Donal McDermott, David Toner, Risteard O Connor Brennan, John Gough, Niall Moriarty, Séan O Hanrahan, Robert Reid, Neil O'Dowd, Oisín Carey, Jimmy Kelly, Andrew Coyle, Craig Doyle, Brian Murphy, Luke McCarthy, Eoin McGovern, Graham McDermott, Kevin Laffey, Donal McLarnon, Conor Moriarty, Brian Joyce, Conor Moriarty. Under 12 Division 3A Overall, Division 3A league was very competitive with Curraha perhaps unlucky not to have reached the final at least. Curraha lost at the semi-final stage by a single point to Moynalvey, the eventual winners. Report by Pat Moriarty Although, we made a slow start to the campaign, beaten in the first two outings by Moynalty and Na Fianna, we then went on to beat Dunsany and Clann na nGael got a walk over from Longwood and drew with Moynalvey, thus qualifying for the semi final. Our first outing against Moynalty saw goalkeeper Donal McLarnon pulled off some excellent saves while Ristéard O Connor- Brennan, Craig Doyle and Neil O Dowd were excellent in defence while up front Andrew Coyle and Brian Murphy lead the way for Curraha. Our second match against Na Fianna was played in torrential rain. Ciaran Phelan opened the scoring with a well-taken goal. Conor Moriarty hit two more majors in the second half, which also saw some excellent work by Eoin McGovern and Robert Reid. Next up was Blackhall Gaels. Here Curraha overturned a 2 -3 half-time deficit to gain our first league points. Goalkeeper Brian Joyce was in fine form while Sean O Hanrahan and Niall Moriarty were to the fore at midfield. Up front James Gibney and Kevin Laffey caused the Blackhall defence lots of problems. Round 4 was against Dunsany. In this match Conor Moriarty hit three first half goals after some excellent work by Oisín Carey. At the back Graham McDermott deputising for Risteard at full back on the day had an excellent game. He was ably assisted by Jimmy Kelly on the wing. Curraha winning comfortably. Round 5 was played on perhaps the only summers' evening of 2008. In sunny Athboy Curraha played some exhibition football to move into contention in this Division 3 league. Luke McCarthy and Craig Doyle were excellent at the back while up front Séan O Hanrahan Stephen Mooney, John Gough and Kevin Laffey were always to the fore. Our final group match was against Moynalvey where it ended all square leaving our semi-final meeting all the more interesting. The semi-final was played on Friday the 13th June, which proved unlucky for Curraha who let a six-point half time lead turn into a one-point full time deficit against host Moynalvey. Moynalvey got the perfect start scoring 1-1 in the first five minutes. Curraha's then hit a purple patch with Risteard O Connor Brennan dominating proceedings at full back, James Gibney was put through and he found the net. Quick points by Conor Moriarty and Brian Murphy followed. Graham McDermott got Curraha's second major and we lead 2-5 to 1-2 at half time. As in the first half Moynalvey started the second period very well wiping out their 6-point deficit with two quick goals. From then on the game ebbed and flowed to produce a nail biting finish. Our lads dug deep and were rewarded when Ciaran Phelan found the net midway through the half. However, some sloppy defending by Curraha resulted in a conceded goal. Moynalvey added 3 points to leave them 3 ahead entering the last five minutes. Curraha rose to the challenge with Andrew Coyle and Conor Moriarty pointing to leave the minimum between the sides with minutes to go. Curraha got several opportunities to level matters in the final few minutes and had efforts scrambled off the line, off the crossbar and off the side netting. Alas it wasn't to be and Moynalvey progressed to the final. Curraha Panel: Risteard O Connor Brennan, John Gough, Niall Moriarty, Séan O Hanrahan, Robert Reid, Neil O Dowd, Oisín Carey, Jimmy Kelly, Andrew Coyle, Craig Doyle, Brian Murphy, Ciaran Phelan, Luke McCarthy, James Gibney, Eoin McGovern, Graham McDermott, Stephen Mooney, Kevin Laffey, Donal McLarnon, Conor Moriarty, Brian Joyce, Conor Moriarty. U/10 football for 2008 The U/1Os played matches from March to October and trained every Saturday morning, ten to eleven. They played in the east Meath league, Blitz in Ardcath on June 28, Duleek July 26 which were run by the county board. They also played plenty of matches against local sides including our neighbours Ratoath, Donaghmore/Ashbourne, Ardcath and Kilbride. The squad was as follows. Brandon MacMahon, Conor Moriarty, Mark Nolan, Niall Murphy, Gavin McKane, Stephen Mooney, Adam White, Brian Joyce, Donal McLarnan, Sam McSweeney, Mark Phealan, Andrew Battersby, Ian Battersby, Jamie Cleary, Sean Keogh, Niall McLarnon, Andrew Moriarty, Shane Kelly, Alanah Webb and Ciara Keogh. Team Manager - Tomas Keogh with Eddie Murphy and Anthony Battersby as assistant mangers. U8 At Curraha, U8s means U8s, U7s, U6s, and U5s. Each Saturday morning, up to 22 children would turn up for loads of fun and a bit of football thrown in. This routine was broken every few weeks with a match or matches, Go Games style, against another club. We had some excellent games against the likes of Simonstown, Walterstown, Skryne, and Ratoath to name a few. Already, we can see the talent emerging form this age group and we must take advantage of our being such a small club, by continuing to concentrate on skills while bigger clubs must concentrate on managing large groups of children, sometimes up to 100 kids. It was noticeable in our meetings with the other clubs that our children made up for their lack of physical stature by their superior ability to pick the ball properly, handpass properly and footpass to a team mate. The group are the future of our club, and the future looks bright! This year, we must also thank Mary Morrissey of Don/Ash GAA who organized the series of fixtures through the year. Curraha Juvenile Hurling Having started at the beginning of 2007, the hurling section is still not two years old. I am delighted to report, that 2008 was another excellent year, with loads of matches and blitzes for the children and attendances at coaching sessions still growing. We intend to create another milestone in 2009, by fielding the club's first ever u13 hurling team. This will be a challenge for our mentors, club committee, and facilities, but a challenge that our vibrant and forward looking club will embrace wholeheartedly. Looking back over 2008, we must start with our u11 and u12 hurlers who won their first titles in the North Dublin Indoor Leagues back in February. Who could forget the final day excitement, when against all the odds, the Curraha kids finished in the Gold position in both Leagues. During this time, our u8 and u10 hurlers, were also in action in a series of indoor blitzes organized by Declan Power of the Meath/Kildare Hurling Partnership. This initiative provided indoor and outdoor astro facilities freely available to clubs. As a result of this, this group of kids will have taken part in a staggering 14 different blitzes. In my opinion this is the best way to promote our national game at this age level. More of the same in 2009, please! The first Meath County competition is the u11 hurling competition which runs initially as 3 8-team regional leagues, and then splits into a graded championship, with the top two teams in each leaguer qualifying for the Division 1 championship. Amazingly, for the second year, out of only two, Curraha made it to the Division 1 championship. The line up was, Kiltale, Trim, Kildalkey, Dunboyne, Wolfe Tones and Curraha. Although, we didn't make the semi finals, we were by no means out of our depth in our two games. The u12 championship in Co Meath, is run during the month of July. We found this extremely difficult, indeed for half of the matches, all of our u12 children were unavailable due to holidays. Despite this, Curraha still played all their matches at the appointed times and were unlucky to go down to both Kilmessan and Wolfe Tones by the minimum margins. Well done to all our children, parents and mentors who made sure that Curraha never threw in the towel. We are lucky to have a committed group of coaches within the club, in particular, thank you to Annette O'Hanrahan, Tomas Keogh, Padraig O'Dowd, Ciaran McLarnon and Joe Phelan, who have been there for the children all year. At different times, during the year, these coaches have been assisted by our hurlers who play for Ratoath. It is particularly heartening to see Sean Laffey, Siobhan Laffey, Ciaran O'Hanrahan, Padraig O'Hanarahan, Aaron McDonnell and Conleth McLarnon all coming back to help out at coaching sessions. The children who play hurling come from three schools in the area, Cushinstown NS, Curragha NS, and Rathfeigh NS. The contributions by these schools to our games must be recognized as being key to the successful startup of the hurling section in our club. 2008 was to be a special year for Curraha NS as they won their first ever Cumann na mBunscoil hurling competition, defeating perennial winners, Dunsany, in the final. The publishing of the Meath yearbook means that its time for indoor hurling to start, and our 2008 winter hurling programme has just commenced, based in the excellent facilities at Cushinstown AC. To all you beginners out there, why not come along, all of our children were beginners last year. Full details of training times, previous match reports, upcoming fixtures, photos, and much more are available on our website at www.currahagaa.com Tweet

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