This year marks the 60th anniversary of Meath's 1948 All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championship success and it is only fitting to chronicle the considerable contribution that players from Kilskyre made to that significant triumph. The junior competition was highly competitive in those days and Meath played no fewer than eight matches on the way to their second national title in the grade, culminating with a dramatic victory over London in a replayed final that attracted a massive attendance of approximately 6,000 people to Pairc Tailteann in Navan. Meath surrendered a seven point interval lead as London battled back well to move ahead by a point near the finish, but then came a big Kilskyre influence as substitute Tommy Gerrard, who had replaced Boardsmill's Larry Wright, ran onto a breaking ball and finished to the net to secure the title for the Royal County. But it wasn't just Gerrard's dramatic winning score that was being talked about afterwards. The performance of another Kilskyre man, goalkeeper Rick Grogan, garnered rich praise as well and his string of impressive saves were hugely important to the triumph which ended Meath's 21 year wait for a second All-Ireland junior success in the small ball code after their breakthrough win in 1927. Another Kilskyre link with the 1948 victory was John Looney, who was a selector, so the club certainly played a very important role in that particular title annexation. Of course, three years earlier Gerrard had helped Kilskyre to their historic first county Junior Hurling Championship success when the team which defeated Kilmessan in the decider on 9th December also included one Jim Kearney of 1949 football fame at left corner back. Big struggle for depleted team Kilskyre have to go back to 1994 for their last outright success in the Intermediate Hurling Championship and there was further disappointment in their pursuit of the middle grade honours this year when a seriously depleted panel failed to emerge from the qualification process to experience knockout action. In 2007 Kilskyre were somewhat unlucky not to emerge from the seven-team qualification division when Gaeil Colmcille just edged them out on score difference after the men in black and amber had drawn their final group assignment against Dunderry. So attempting to get back to the final has been something of a frustrating exercise for Kilskyre since they lost out to Wolfe Tones back in 2002. The following year they were beaten by Drumree at the penultimate hurdle, with the winners going on to claim the title, while in 2004 they failed to reach the business end of the championship. Then in 2005 they knocked six goals past Na Fianna in the group campaign, with four of them being scored by Ronan McGuinness, but when the action intensified later in the year they lost to the Baconstown/Enfield combination at the semi-final stage on a day when the injured Peadar Byrne proved a considerable loss to them. There was disappointment in 2006 when they didn't get out of the group and last year was particularly frustrating when that inferior score difference deprived them of a place in the semi-finals behind the Kells men who, in turn, lost out to Clann na nGael in the decider. This year's competition included just six teams - Kilskyre, Longwood, Gaeil Colmcille, Blackhall Gaels, Dunderry and Donaghmore/Ashbourne - which meant that only two sides would be eliminated from the title race once the group action had concluded. Regretably for Kilskyre, who were managed by Michael Geraghty, assisted by his brother Donie, they ended up being one of them, along with Donaghmore/Ashbourne. Goals were certainly the order of the day when Kilskyre opened their Intermediate Championship campaign with an assignment against Blackhall Gaels at Athboy and this match brought the first of three successive group losses which seriously undermined their chances of filling one of the four qualification positions. The Batterstown/Kilcloon combination accounted for five of the game's nine goals and they were five points ahead at the end, winning by 5-7 to 4-5. It was a very disappointing way to start the championship - Kilskyre had notched the equivalent of 17 points and still found themselves on the wrong end of the result. Next up was a very tricky looking assignment against Longwood, who won comprehensively by 2-18 to 1-8, and that was followed by a very poor showing in the third round against their neighbours and great rivals Gaeil Colmcille, with the Kells team winning with a dozen points to spare (2-8 to 0-2). Kilskyre's response to that big disappointment was positive as they travelled to Kiltale with their strongest team of the campaign up to that stage and defeated Donaghmore/Ashbourne by 3-6 to 0-9. But unfortunately the losing trend resumed in the last round of group matches. Athboy certainly wasn't a happy hunting ground for Kilskyre in this year's championship and there was yet another defeat at the venue when Dunderry beat them by 0-16 to 0-10 after the sides had been level at the interval. With four defeats and just that one victory over Donaghmore/Ashbourne to their credit, Kilskyre were well out of the hunt for a semi-final place, with Gaeil Colmcille defeating Blackhall Gaels and Dunderry getting the better of Longwood when the knockout action finally arrived. As team captain Keith McGuinness explained, it was a very difficult campaign for Kilskyre and given the troubles they endured it was no real surprise that they struggled to such an extent and failed to reach the knockout stages of the championship. "We were fighting to stay in the intermediate grade this year," he said. "We were only getting the bare amount of players out and we were short eight or nine lads. Alan Smyth, Terence Fagan, Philip Davis and Tommy Fox went to Australia and we also had a number of lads who retired, including Donie Geraghty and Fergus Higgins. "Losing that amount of players was a big blow, especially to a small club, and as a result we were struggling all the time." If somebody had told the Kilskyre players ahead of their championship opener against Blackhall Gaels that they would score 4-5 they would surely have expected it to be a winning tally. The unfortunate reality was so very different. "We didn't think we would have a team for the first championship game against Blackhall Gaels, but we managed to get one out," McGuinness added. "We scored 4-5 in that game and we still lost it. It was a blow. "After that we lost to Longwood and then Gaeil Colmcille beat us. That was a local derby and losing it was very disappointing. We beat Donaghmore/Ashbourne in our next game. That was the only time we had a good turnout. "It was the only game that we hurled well in all year. We played really well that day. Peadar Byrne was very good in that match. He is a really good hurler. If he hadn't made it at football he would have made it as a hurler. He's a very good all rounder." Unfortunately, Kilskyre didn't manage to continue their winning ways and Dunderry got the better of them in the concluding round of group matches as they went through to the semi-finals. The only consolation for the Kilskyre men after a championship campaign that was blighted by emigration and retirements was that they had survived in the intermediate grade. It's now a case of hoping that 2009 will bring something better, but for that to happen Kilskyre will undoubtedly have to hope that many of the players who have departed these shores will return home. However, with the current economic situation here, it's by no means certain that that will happen. "We might get one or two lads turning up again in May or June," McGuinness said. "It's hard to know really. With the way the economy is going at the moment and with lads earning good money elsewhere you couldn't be sure. Why would they come home?" Kilskyre's situation is similar to so many small, rural clubs all over the country who are struggling to field teams. It's in stark contrast to many of the clubs in the more urban areas, some of whom can field as many as three adult teams in hurling or football. This is a really serious situation for the GAA. After all, the rural club is very much at the heart of the organisation and always has been. Tweet

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