A dozen years after the club's 'day of all days' Kilmainhamwood slipped out of the senior ranks when they lost the relegation final to Rathkenny in mid-September, but while they were in the top flight of Meath football the Wood certainly enjoyed numerous occasions of significance. In more recent years those occasions were all about survival as they went to the edge of the cliff many times and hung on just as it seemed they were about to slip over the edge. But they finally ran out of lives in 2008 and now it's a case of regrouping in the intermediate ranks, from where they emerged in 1994. It will be recalled that Kilmainhamwood contested the SFC final in their first year back at that level in 1995, losing to Dunderry, but a year later the Keegan Cup headed out the Kingscourt Road from Navan after they had beaten Seneschalstown in the decider. Four years later they were back in the final again, only to come face to face with a Dunshaughlin team that was about to become the latest to enjoy a period of supremacy at senior level in the county. Naturally, the loss of influential players over the years didn't aid their cause (names like Brian Stafford, Larry McCormack and Martin Crosbie spring to mind), but boy did Kilmainhamwood battle when they were confronted with the threat of losing their senior status. The danger signs were very visible in 2003 when they headed for Kells to face the previous year's intermediate champions Ballivor in the relegation final, but survived. They were back in the same precarious position two years later when they sent Dunderry crashing out of the senior ranks, again at Kells, and it didn't get any less dramatic after that. Cortown were next to suffer the drop when losing the 2006 relegation play-off to Kilmainhamwood at Moynalty and it was back to Kells last autumn where they made it three last gasp escapes in succession when getting the better of Ballinlough. On the law of averages, they had to run out of luck sooner or later and it happened on the second Sunday of September this year when the 'Great Survivors' survived no more. John Donnellan, the former Bailieboro and Cavan player, was the latest man to be entrusted with the task of attempting to keep Kilmainhamwood in the Senior Championship and when the draws were made earlier in the year all connected with the club must have been looking at group C and wondering where the points were going to come from that would protect them from yet another relegation dogfight. Also in the section were last year's impressive intermediate winners Donaghmore/Ashbourne, Dunshaughlin, Trim and Duleek/Bellewstown. It wasn't the strongest division by any means, but it was still always going to represent a huge challenge for the 'Wood. Seneschalstown provided Kilmainhamwood with their first port of call in the 2008 championship and the first of four group defeats was the result as Donaghmore/Ashbourne announced their arrival in the senior ranks with a very comfortable 2-15 to 1-5 victory which suggested they were good enough to emerge from the section. Kilmainhamwood battled with great conviction, but they made the worst possible start when they conceded goals after 90 seconds to David Morgan and in the eighth minute to his brother Tony. It appeared to be all over bar the shouting at that stage as Donaghmore/Ashbourne led by 2-2 to 0-0, but Paddy Carolan had a chance to give the 'Wood a boost when he missed a goal opportunity. However, the same player did find the net at the start of the second quarter to reduce the deficit to four points, before the intermediate kingpins pushed away again to lead by nine points (2-8 to 1-2) at the interval. There was no way back from that sort of deficit and the sending off of Ray Magee at the end of the third quarter merely added to the misery. Donaghmore/Ashbourne had Sean Harmon dismissed two minutes later, but it made absolutely no difference as they cruised to a 13 point victory. It wasn't the sort of opening to the championship that Kilmainhamwood wanted, but there was still plenty of passion in their performance when they met Trim in the second round at Kilberry. Trim won by 1-14 to 0-12, but few people were talking about the result in the aftermath of this encounter. A melee broke out four minutes from the end and referee John Farrelly from Syddan got busy with his cards. Brothers Darren and Aaron Fay from Trim and Kilmainhamwood's Philip Moran and Liam Shankey saw straight reds and Trim's Ronan Fitzsimons was dismissed on receipt of a second yellow. The town side were down to 11 players when Stephen Farrell was sent off in injury time, but by that stage they had the points wrapped up. Even in the absence of the suspended Magee, Kilmainhamwood improved on their performance against Donaghmore/Ashbourne six days earlier, but it just wasn't good enough. They opened up a wind-assisted 0-9 to 0-5 advantage at the break following a first half in which Ken Russell played a starring role. He contributed four points from play in that period, two of them superb scores, and Carolan was also on the mark with a couple of fabulous points as the 'Wood suggested that they might be about to pull off a win that would boost their survival prospects enormously. However, a goal for Trim by Alan Douglas six minutes into the second half proved to be the most significant score of the match and with Kilmainhamwood's only points in this period coming from three Stephen Kiernan frees, the door was open for the team in red to secure the win. Trim moved ahead by 1-7 to 0-9, Kiernan equalised with the first of those frees, but the team in red went on to win the remainder by 0-7 to 0-2. The reality for Kilmainhamwood was that they were pointless after two outings and things were beginning to take on a very familiar pattern to more recent years. A third round meeting with Dunshaughlin at Walterstown didn't appear to offer much hope of an improvement and that's how it turned out as they suffered a 0-11 to 1-16 defeat. The 'Wood created plenty of chances, but they didn't take enough of them, and they were in serious trouble at the break when Dunshaughlin led by 1-8 to 0-4. It could have been different because Magee had a shot cleared off the line in the first half and in the second Ray Madden's effort was well saved by Ronan Gogan and David Russell fisted wide when in a good position. Dunshaughlin extended their lead to 1-10 to 0-4 early in the second half, but the 'Wood battled away to the finish despite the hopelessness of the situation. The weather was atrocious for Kilmainhamwood's last group assignment against Duleek/Bellewstown at Simonstown, with thunder, lightning and heavy rain forming a nasty cocktail. This was an evening all connected with the club would probably rather forget as the new amalgamation won by 5-16 to 1-4. Two goals from Kieran Collins enabled Duleek/Bellewstown to lead by 2-10 to 0-0 at the interval and Kilmainhamwood didn't open their scoring account until Colm Gilcreest netted at the start of the second half. They managed four points in this period also, courtesy of Kiernan (two), Carolan and substitute Cunningham, but were 24 points adrift at the end. Walterstown defeated Kilmainhamwood in a preliminary relegation play-off at Kilberry in 2007 and when the sides met in the same circumstances at Castletown a year later the same happened as the blacks came out on top by 0-12 to 0-9 to guarantee their survival in the top flight for another year. Magee (four), Cunningham and Carolan were on the mark with points for a hard working Kilmainhamwood team in the first half, but Walterstown shaded the verdict at the interval when they led by 0-7 to 0-6. Five wides didn't help the 'Wood cause in the opening period and three more in the second hindered them as well. They did find their range with decent consistency in the third quarter when the vastly experienced Cunningham pointed twice and Magee also split the uprights to earn them a 0-9 to 0-8 lead, but they didn't score again as Walterstown notched the last four points of the contest. However, they almost forced extra-time when the ball bounced in the square and hit the angle of post and crossbar. The result meant Kilmainhamwood were about to pay another visit to that familiar establishment - the 'Last Chance Saloon' - and waiting for them were Rathkenny who had finished bottom of the ultra competitive group A which also included champions Seneschalstown, Navan O'Mahonys, Wolfe Tones, Summerhill and Skryne. The latest venue to host a Kilmainhamwood survival attempt was Drumconrath and this time there was no escape as Eamonn O'Brien's Rathkenny side won comprehensively by 2-12 to 0-3 to end the 'Wood's stay in the senior ranks. There wasn't a great deal between the teams in the first half, with Rathkenny leading by just two points (0-4 to 0-2) at the interval after Kiernan and Magee had accounted for the Kilmainhamwood scores. It wasn't exactly inspiring stuff, but then matches of this nature rarely are. It's a case of trying to win, irrespective of the standard of the performance. And it was Rathkenny's standard of performance in the second period which carried them to a comfortable victory and survival. Kilmainhamwood's only point in this half came from Kiernan and they were adrift by 0-2 to 1-7 seven minutes after the restart, with John Donegan scoring the winners' goal. He added a second goal six minutes later and with a 2-8 to 0-3 advantage Rathkenny were home and as good as hosed. It was a case of going through the motions after that, with Kilmainhamwood failing to add to their tally and Rathkenny tagging on an additional four points. Kilmainhamwood's time in the senior ranks has been eventful, to say the least, and was highlighted by that wonderful day in the sun back in 1996. It's now a case of looking to the future with a view to rebuilding. Their progress with that assignment will be watched with interest. The Kilmainhamwood team that played the club's last SFC game (for now) was - M Kiernan; S Mulligan, S Smith, E Clarke; P Moran, L Shankey, P Barber; P Carolan, R Madden; K Russell, F Owens, H Corbally; R Magee (0-1), C Gilcreest, S Kiernan (0-2). Subs - A Farrell for Moran, P Owens for Russell, R Cunningham for Corbally, D Russell for Shankey. Tweet

Most Read Stories