Relegation heartache
November 30, 2006
For the last decade, Cortown have defied their critics and maintained their status in the senior ranks, however that all came to an end after defeat to Kilmainhamwood in this year's relegation play-off.
Cortown have been in the senior ranks since they won the intermediate championship in 1996 and made a major impact on the championship on a number of occasions, especially two years ago when they reached the quarterfinals. That is why star forward Trevor Coyne admits that relegation was a bitter pill to swallow.
At the start of the year, former Meath star Mattie McCabe was brought back in at the helm and Trevor was confident that the club could reach the knockout stages of the championship.
"All the players respect Mattie and to have him back as manager was a great boost for us. We had made the quarterfinals two years ago and I was confident that we could at least do the same this year, but unfortunately that was not to be the case," said Trevor.
The draw for the senior championship saw Cortown in the same group as Walterstown, Wolfe Tones, Trim, Dunboyne, Seneschalstown, Skyrne and Ballinlough.
However, their campaign suffered a setback early on when experienced duo John and Packie eventually decided to call time on their glittering careers.
"Both lads have been brilliant for the club, but they decided to retire and you have to respect that. We also lost Trevor Kerrigan through injury and for a small club like ours; the loss of any players can be a big setback.
"But, I have to say the lads still gave it their all from the start of the year and numbers at training were always fairly good. We still believed that even though with the retirements and injuries, we could still do well in the championship," stressed Trevor.
The opening match saw Cortown pitted against eventual champions Wolfe Tones and as expected the Tones began the campaign with a win on a scoreline of 0-13 to 0-7.
"Wolfe Tones are a very good side and it was pleasing that we stayed with them for so long during the match, but they had quality forwards who punished us in the end."
Even though there were many positives to take from the Tones game, Cortown never raised a gallop against Trim in their second out and the town team ran out convincing winners by 2-14 to 0-4.
"We never got going against Trim at all and it was definitely our worst performance of the year by far. Scoring only four points is not good enough and we knew that," he added.
The Kells border club had a chance to redeem themselves in their next outing against a Skyrne side that was struggling in the early rounds of the campaign.
However, Trevor Giles and Co. picked up their first points of the campaign in a game that Trevor believes Cortown should have won comfortably.
"We were definitely the better team on the day and started off very well. I don't really know what happened, but we just fell apart in the second half and ended up losing the match, which was a big disappointment."
With no points from three matches, Cortown were faced with the prospect of relegation, but still the confidence was high in the squad that that route could be avoided.
"There was definitely a feeling among the players that we could still pick up some points and maybe make a late charge for the knockout stages."
Walterstown provided the next test for McCabe's charges and despite there being a realistic optimism among the players that they could take something from the match, it turned out to be a one-sided affair as the all blacks ran out winners 2-12 to 0-6.
Dunboyne recorded a similar victory to set the alarm bells ringing for Cortown as their situation began to reach crisis point, although Trevor revealed that he remained confident of avoiding relegation.
"I really believed that we would win every game before we went out. Things just didn't go right for us all year and we had no luck at all, which didn't help our situation."
A local derby with Ballinlough gave Cortown the chance of registering two points and having beaten the 'Lough last year, confidence was high that Cortown could record a similar result.
Nonetheless, luck was still not on their side as Ballinlough made sure of their senior status in 2007 following a 2-8 to 0-10 win over a disappointing Cortown side.
"We were very poor against Ballinlough and this was another match that we never got going in. It turned out to be the story of our year and that is something, which is very hard to take," explained Trevor.
Kilmainhamwood condemned Cortown to the intermediate ranks following a hard-earned win in the SFC relegation decider at wind-swept Moynalty. The outcome meant that one of the county's smallest clubs drops out of the top flight a decade after winning the IFC.
The 'Wood withstood a late rally from Cortown and were relieved to survive when referee Joey Curley called time especially as Cortown's Glen Loughran was pulled up for picking the ball clean off the ground when bearing down on goal in the last action of the hour.
Despite playing against a strong wind, Cortown were quick out of the blocks and with Richie Flanagan and Glen Loughran cleaning up around midfield they led by 0-5 to 0-1 at the end of the first quarter.
Kilmainhamwood levelled matters for the only time in 26th minute as they laid siege on the Cortown rearguard. Earlier the 'Wood were denied a goal by a fine stop from Cortown 'keeper Vino Keating.
Kilmainhamwood fired over two more points before the break to hold a slender 0-8 to 0-6 interval advantage which became three shortly after the resumption.
Gary Coyne ended a long scoreless spell to bring the margin back to two points but Cortown were unable to capitalise on wind advantage but they did manage to cut the deficit to the minimum when Glen Loughran pointed from play as the game entered stoppage time.
Moments earlier substitute Declan Casserly almost goaled but his effort was turned out for a '45' which Loughran sent wide. Deep into stoppage time, Kilmainhamwood made sure of their survival with a pointed free.
"We got off to a great start, even though we were playing against the wind and were four points up, but a lack of concentration allowed the 'Wood back into the match and we never really got back into the match after that," he said.
So intermediate football beckons for a club that has spent the last decade in the top tier and although Trevor is confident that the club can bounce straight back up, he acknowledges the fact that it will be a tough campaign.
"Cortown have some very good footballers like Glen Loughran and Brian Casserly to name just a couple, who are well fit to play senior football. If we put in the effort, there is no reason why we shouldn't make a quick return to the senior ranks.
"It won't be easy especially with the fact that they are so many local clubs in the grade and there will be a lot of derby matches along the way.
"We also want to improve our league form, which wasn't great this year, although we finished in mid table of Division Two, but we certainly have to step it up a gear next year," concluded Trevor.
For the record the Cortown side that lined out against Kilmainhamwood in the relegation play-off was: V. Keating; M. Casserly, D. O'Halloran, P. Kerrigan; B. Casserly, S. Skelton, D. Coyne; G. Loughran (0-2, 1 free), R. Flanagan (0-2); J. Casserly, G. Coyne (0-4, 2 frees), M. Reilly; I. Coyne (0-1), T. Coyne, G. Codd (0-2, 1 free). Subs: D. Casserly for J. Casserly, J. Reilly for T. Coyne, S. Fitzmaurice for Skelton.
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