For a club representing a small area in the west end of Bohermeen parish, Cortown have done remarkably well since making their debut in the Meath Senior Football Championship in 1997. In eight Keegan Cup campaigns, they have reached the knockout phase four times, the quarter-finals three times and the 'semi' stage' once. Cortown have been suggested as relegation candidates more often than title contenders during their time in the top ranks of club football in the Royal County. But they gave their supporters more to shout about in the 2004 SFC than in any of the previous seven campaigns. After struggling but eventually surviving in the first year of the return to the big groups, Mattie McCabe's charges dramatically turned things around last summer. Four wins and a draw earned the men in green and white second place behind defending champions Blackhall Gaels in Group B and, as well as admirable battling spirit and a fierce will to win, Cortown also showed no small amount of skill and have players who would challenge for places on more glamorous club sides in the county. In their first year in senior football Cortown reached the semi-final stage only to lose to Trim by 0-13 to 0-17. To reach the last four they scored a brave win over neighbours Gaeil Colmcille despite having 13 players against 15 for over half of the game. Then in 1998 after losing three games in a row, they went on a scoring spree to reverse the Trim result on a 1-19 to 2-10 scoreline. Cortown have taken some notable scalps in the SFC and in 1999 they gained wins over Navan O'Mahonys, Kilmainhamwood and Simonstown Gaels. Those results put them into the last eight but Walterstown beat them by 0-16 to 1-8 in a quarter-final clash. The first year of the new century was a slow one for the Henrys and company but a win over Blackhall Gaels, who were later relegated, kept them afloat in the top pack. In 2001 wins over Dunderry and Navan O'Mahonys enabled Cortown to finish second in their group but again Walterstown ousted them at the third last hurdle, that time by the minimum margin, 0-9 to 0-8. Cortown were more preoccupied with survival in 2002 but they again found the will to stay up, that being secured with a play-off win over Summerhill. Cortown finished their involvement in the 2003 SFC in tremendous style when gaining a seventh round draw with three times champions Dunshaughlin at Pairc Tailteann. That result ensured that they would be in the main hat the following spring and in April they continued where they had left off with a sensational opening win over new county kingpins, Blackhall Gaels. That was gained at the county grounds and the Brews Hill venue became a happy hunting ground for Cortown in 2004 with two more victories being gained there. Seneschalstown and Walterstown were beaten with the narrowest of margins win over the latter atoning to some extent for a number of previous losses to the Blacks. Cortown thought they had qualified for the closing stages when out pointing Dunderry by 0-12 to 0-10 at Newman Park, Bohermeen but a surprise win by St Patrick's over Kilmainhamwood on the same afternoon meant that they weren't through just yet. But a draw with the Stamullen side at Walterstown a couple of weeks later gave them the ticket which they deserved. It was an exciting run by Cortown and while they went into the quarter-final clash against Skryne with hope, that's where the run ended. The introduction of super sub Packy Henry had worked wonders in some games earlier in the campaign but not this time. The underdogs might have had a couple of goals as well as the one Gordon Codd poked over the line in the second half but Skryne finished with the last three points to run out 1-13 to 1-8 winners. Gordon Codd left a notable mark on the 2004 Meath SFC with the corner forward scoring a total of 4-29. Three goals and six points of that total came in the third round against Seneschalstown which Cortown won by 3-7 to 1-10. Packy Henry was the winners' only other scorer that evening. The cousins John and Packy Henry have given tremendous service to Cortown down the years. While John had a regular starting role, Packy was a valuable man to have on the bench and made a spectacular impact after coming on inside the last ten minutes against Dunderry in the sixth round outing against Dunderry at Bohermeen. That day everything the veteran substitute touched seemed to turn to gold with four points in six minutes helping the side in green and gold earn a thrilling 0-12 to 0-10 win. In the quarter-final against Skryne Micheál Reilly might have had a goal just before and after half time but the side from the Tara area got their noses in front after their goal in the opening quarter. Long serving club member Pat Keane, who was the first secretary back in 1969 and held that position for many years as well as being in other positions, said that Cortown untypically ran out of stem at the end of that game as their opponents scored three unanswered points at the end. "While we may have had a very good year, the Senior Football Championship ended on a very disappointing note for us. We expected to beat Skryne and with a bit of luck we could have done so. We had a number of injuries during the year and Glen Loughran played the quarter-final despite having a problem with cracked ribs and ligaments in his ankle," said Pat Keane, who was the club's assistant secretary in 2004. Ivor O'Halloran combined the role of secretary with his playing duties and remarkably he played a match 12 days after suffering a broken jaw! Then in the first half of the game against Dunderry Darragh O'Halloran was forced to retire with a hand injury and on came brother Ivan, despite the latter having a bit of steel in an eye following a minor accident at work. They are obviously men of steel around Cortown. "There was an awful lot of football played by Cortown in 2004. Between the first and second teams we had around 60 games, championships, leagues, Feis Cup and challenge games, we had some good challenge games against strong opposition and that helped us a lot. For instance we played St Laurence's who went on to reach the Kildare SFC final," said Pat Keane, whose son Liam was a selector with Mattie McCabe. Keane was full of praise for manager McCabe, who was in his first year at the helm with Cortown. The All-Ireland winning forward was following in the footsteps of Brian Murtagh, who guided the club to JFC and IFC triumphs and returned to take charge after Ger Hanley and Donal Smyth had spells with the team. "Mattie got a great response from all the players. He definitely improved their attitude, he got them thinking more positively and the morale was high in the camp. There were better attendances at training and the new manager brought a bit of a stir around the place," said Pat Keane. As well as being a senior selector, Liam Keane was full back on the team which got to the junior B FC quarter-final stage where they lost to Blackhall Gaels on a 0-10 to 1-5 scoreline at Dunderry. As well as two teams, two referees turned up for this game. Joe Curley from Moynalty was the disappointed whistler as Gus Martyn of the host club took charge, Cortown had no shortage of experience on that side and Martin Henry grabbed the goal in their last outing while Christopher Henry, who was manager of Castletown's intermediate team, sent over three points. Goalkeeper James Costello was promoted to the senior side for their quarter-final as regular net minder David Coyne was away on his honeymoon. Cortown senior captain Brian Casserly had a very impressive campaign at full back and the team was especially strong down the middle with Glen Loughran again one of their big men and centre back Sylvie Skelton solid behind him. Codd finished up as the second top scorer in the SFC behind Ray McGee and perhaps Packy Henry was the top scoring substitute! It is a credit to a club representing such a small area to field two teams both of whom did so well. Before the formation of the club, footballers from around Cortown, Fordstown and Ballybeg played with Colmcille Gaels, Bohermeen and Martry and some of them stayed on the sideline for a year before throwing in their lot with the new club. Cortown made remarkable progress over the years and their SFC record can hold its own with any club. Although Pat Keane was disappointed that his club did not go another step or two further in the race for the Keegan Cup, he had a year to remember with his native county, Westmeath, gaining a long overdue Leinster senior football title and nephew John Keane playing a starring role in defence. After an exciting and busy 2004, Cortown will be very keen to be SFC contenders again in the coming year. They have earned a lot of admiration and respect and no team will take them lightly in 2005. Tweet

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