2008 can be looked on in a few different ways. I would hope that a club which retains its senior status and wins a minor league final, (in a year when we are playing as one club for the first time in many years), as well as having a county star in Brian Meade, a County Chairman in Barney Allen, and a senior championship winner in David Donegan (with McAnespies in Boston he won the North American Championship), can be regarded as a good year indeed. By club PRO Gerry Gavagan. We congratulate Barney Allen on becoming Chairman since our last AGM. He has had an eventful year as Chairman of the Meath County Board to say the least. Brian Meade did very well for the Meath Senior team this year against Carlow and also against Wexford before going off with an injury. It could be said it changed the game in Wexford's favour. We all know how far Wexford subsequently got in the All-Ireland series while Meath went out in the backdoor qualifiers with a terrible display against Limerick. We hope to have Rathkenny men back with the Meath set up next year. David Donegan left us in the summer to try out life in Boston and ended up winning the North American Championship having also won the Boston Championship. So to the club championship - having been drawn to play in the so called 'Group of Death' in Group A of the Senior Championship, we were being touted as having to face Kilmainhamwood in the Relegation Final. This before a ball was kicked at all! Well the doom-mongerers got their way and after losing out in all our group games (by the narrowest of margins in all but one). Opening round defeat to Summerhill in a game where we hit crossbar and post when in control early on was disappointing as we went down 1-10 to 1-6. Equally so was our early second half display against reigning champs Seneschalstown, but after being six points down we got the last four scores of the game until the clock beat us. Near neighbours Wolfe Tones were up next and a valiant display had us well in contention with a couple of minutes to go, but again we went down to late scores 0-13 to 0-9. We seemed dead and buried at halftime in our next game against Skryne when trailing by seven points, but our second half display should have yielded at least a point, but we finished up the wrong side of a 1-11 to 0-13 scoreline. Needing to beat Navan O'Mahonys to avoid the relegation final was our task in the final group game but the eventual champions were too good on the day when we held our own in the first half but scoring a solitary point in the second said it all as we went down 1-14 to 0-6. So we were indeed facing Kilmainhamwood on Sunday September 14th to try and retain our senior status. After a nervy first half, we finally were able to produce the football we knew we had in us, to totally dominate the second half, and run out convincing 15 point winners, (2-12 to 0-3) in doing so, moving Kilmainhamwood into the Intermediate grade. Our senior team on the day was: John Martin; Michael Macken, Donal Curtis, Matthew Brien; David Donegan, Paul Courtney, Tommy McKeever; Brian Meade, Ronan Curtis; Owen Elliott, Richie Timmons (0-5), Ivan Lenehan; Darren Barron (0-1), John Donegan (2-2), Thomas Martin (0-3). Subs - Michael Reid (0-1) for Barron (54), Derick Smith for T. Martin (56), Ronan Martin for Lenehan (57), Cody Reilly for Elliott (58), Daniel Timmons for McKeever (58). Remainder of Panel: Brian Lenehan, Paul Mullery, Ross Smith, Tom Fleming, Alex Blake, Colin Curtis. Our Minor team under the astute leadership of Vincent Lenehan and Johnny Gore took to a windy and rain soaked Pairc Tailteann on Wednesday September 10th to face a Ballinabrackey side that had beat us convincingly in the league stages of the competition in the Division 4 Minor League Final. Few outside of Rathkenny would have given us a chance. What transpired was a scintillating game of football, played in a very sporting manner. It took a Stephen McCabe goal deep in injury time to level matters, but Rathkenny's superior fitness levels ensured a six point victory with heroes all over the pitch. The team was - Declan Crosbie; Richard Lynn, Steven Lynn; Seamus Crosbie, Donal Keogan, Jason Gore; Jonathan Fox (1-0), Stephen McCabe (1-1); Ross Gore, Colm Gore (0-3), Brian Lenehan (1-2); Cathal McCabe (1-1), Donal Drew. Subs - Patrick McGuirke (1-0) for Drew (H/T), Luke Reilly for S. Crosbie (52). Andrew Finney, Robert Price, Ian Hickey, Gearoid Crosbie, Darren Goodwin, Sean Brien, Peter Farrell. Congratulations to everyone involved in our first year back as Rathkenny Minors after years involved as part of the Rathkenny-Castletown amalgamation, Parnell's. Our Adult second team held their own in the B League, which was encouraging considering we had moved up two divisions in quick succession. A lot of players gained some Adult football experience, which augurs well for the future. We also held our own in the Junior C championship and with a bit of luck could have gone on to the quarterfinal stages. We have plenty of talent to give it a good go next year at this grade. Our Under 21's were disappointing on a very wet day in Kilberry, losing out 1-13 to 0-9 against St. Michaels on Saturday, 4th October. Our first team would be slightly disappointed with our league form. We started well, before a dip in form produced too many defeats on the trot to be able to be at the business end when it mattered. However we should be well positioned to make promotion to Division One a main priority for 2009. We played some good football in the Senior Championship, but were lacking the killer edge at times in games that we could have gone on to win. However when it really, really mattered against Kilmainhamwood, we were not found wanting. Special thanks to Eamon O'Brien, whose commitment has helped continue to improve our first team players again this year. Thanks also to Donal Curtis and Glenn Carpenter for all the nights they took training. It really is a team effort, so well done to all concerned. A big thank you also goes to our physio, Deirdre Maguire, for all her hard work ensuring we were as fit as possible this year. Thanks also to Paddy Timmons, Raymond Connolly and Sean McElearney for their hard work this year with the first team, and to Larry Murray, Paul Smith and Edmund Curtis who were over the juniors. A special word of thanks to all players who have played adult football for our club this year, you are a great bunch and without your hard work during training and games, the year would and could not have been as positive as it was. We also thank the hard working committee for all their efforts this year. We thank everyone who has contributed to keeping our small rural club going year after year especially our main sponsor LAGAN GROUP. On the non playing side of things, we acquired some fantastic gym equipment, which should give us a good platform to start next year fitter than ever. We also bought land on the far side of the top goals. Hopefully, long term, this will provide us with a playing pitch for our juveniles. A lot of work will have to be done on this and as ever funding the project will be extremely important especially in these harsh economic times. We also look forward to the 25th Anniversary Dinner Dance celebrating the jubilant Rathkenny Junior Champions of 1984, which will hopefully take place in late January. Tweet

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