For the second year running Drumbaragh exited the Junior Football Championship at the quarter-final stage, but departing player-manager Christy Carry believes the club has what it takes to lift the Matthew Ginnity Cup in the not to distant future. After losing narrowly to fellow parishioners, Kilmainham, at the quarter-final stage of the 2005 JFC, Drumbaragh had high hopes of improving on that showing this time round but came a cropper again at the last eight stage. This time they lost out to eventual winners St Ultan's on a 2-19 to 2-6 scoreline having managed just a single point in the opening half and were 0-1 to 0-10 in arrears at the break. "We never fielded a full team this year in any game due to a number of factors, fellas doing exams, injuries and holidays. We just couldn't get a team out the whole year between one thing and another," Christy remarked. Drumbaragh opened their campaign with a 0-11 to 1-12 defeat by Longwood at Boardsmill on the evening of Tuesday, April 18. With John and Mark Smith doing well at midfield and goalkeeper Willie Arkins earning his keep with a couple of fine saves, they were 0-7 to 0-5 ahead at the break. The concession of a goal midway through the second-half proved to be their undoing and not even an eight points contribution from John Smith could prevent them losing to last year's beaten semi-finalists by four points. After that disappointing start, Drumbaragh managed to remain unbeaten for the remainder of the group stages and were back in action the following Sunday against Gaeil Colmcille's second string at Martry. John Smith again took scoring honours sending over seven points for the Drums, who led by 0-6 to 0-3 at half-time. They had to endure a tense finale after their neighbours pulled a goal back from a penalty kick and won by 0-13 to 1-7 In Round 3, Drumbaragh were held to a draw when their 0-10 was matched by Curraha's 1-7 and in the following round they got a walkover from Dunderry's second string who withdrew from the competition. A double scores win over Navan O'Mahonys at Martry on Saturday, July 22nd kept Drumbaragh on course for the business end of the JFC. After trailing by the minimum margin, 0-5 to 1-3, at the break Christy Carry's charges put on an impressive second-half showing to outscore their opponents by 2-9 to 0-4. The player manager made an appearance and put one point to his name while another replacement, the long serving Adrian Corcoran chalked up a goal and a point. Gary McCormack registered the other goal while eight players in all got off the mark for Drumbaragh that evening. In the penultimate group game Drumbaragh had to settle for a draw with fellow parishioners Kilmainham finishing with 0-14 to match their opponents' - who finished strongly to get a sharing of the spoils - 1-11 Drumbaragh's place in the knockout stages was assured by victory over Summerhill in their final group game at Trim on the evening of the first Saturday in September. With Peter Carry, Paddy Boggan, Enda Nulty and John Smith to the fore, Drumbaragh made the running from the off and led by 0-5 to 0-3 at the interval. The latter player finished with five points to his name while substitute Damien Carry made an impression by getting off the mark on two occasions as Drumbaragh eased to a 0-12 to 0-7. Eight days latter, Drumbaragh were back in action for a preliminary quarter-final clash Kilbride on Sunday, September 10 at Kilmessan. The early exchanges were close and an Enda Nulty goal gave the Drums a slender interval advantage, 1-3 to 1-2. It was a different story from the restart as Drumbaragh stepped up a gear to outscore the Dublin-border side by 0-8 to 0-2 in the second period. John Smith finished with an impressive tally of eight points while Seanie Bennett was also prominent for the winners who finished with a double scores advantage, 1-11 to 1-4. A quarter-final tilt at pre-championship favourites St Ultan's was Drumbaragh's next outing at Kilberry on Saturday, September 16, the eve of the All-Ireland senior football final. Like Mayo, the following day, the wearers of green and red got off to a bad start and by half-time had only one point on the board. Enda Nulty put his name to Drumbaragh's sole first-half score and it left them trailing by 0-1 to 0-10 and with a steep climb if they were to get back into contention on the resumption. Matters improved for Drumbaragh in the second-half with goals from John Smith and substitute Dara McNamara but they still exited the competition on a 2-6 to 2-19 scoreline. In the Division 4 FL, Drumbaragh finished seventh of the 12 teams, winning three, drawing three and losing five of their 12 matches. Club secretary Barry Monaghan believes that dropping points against Curraha and Kilmainham cost the Drumbaragh a more favourable draw in the knockout stages and a possible easier route to the final. "Looking back only managing to draw with Curraha when we were short a few lads. We still should have beaten them. Against Kilmainham, they got a couple of late frees to draw with us. If we had topped the group we would have had an easier draw. "After watching St Ultan's play against us, I couldn't see them not winning the junior championship. Overall, it wasn't too bad of a year. The league form was up and down. We lost three games by a point and drew three. If we could have turned all that into wins we would have been promoted. It was just one of those years. In October 2005, Drumbaragh suffered a tragic loss when young Colm Cooper was killed in a road accident. A month later the club won the under 21 C football competition beating their neighbours Kilmainham in the final. Christy Carry was also in charge of that successful under 21 side and recalls the impact Colm Cooper had on the side. "We went out in the first game against Clann na nGael and we had a very poor team, a good few fellas missing. Colm and Sean Bennett was brilliant that day. Colm scored sevens point playing on the '40'. He was a great character and his death really affected the younger lads. It was credit to them what they achieved afterwards. It was very hard on them at the time but fair play to them they done it". Seanie Bennett captained the side that beat Kilmainham by 1-10 to 1-6 in the decider at Kells. He also contributed 1-5 while Colm Carry (0-4) and Dara McNamara (0-1) completed their total. "Colm would have enjoyed that game, particularly as it was among friends", Christy adds. The defeat by St Ultan's in this year's JFC marked the end of Christy Carry's playing career at that level though he intends to make himself available for the second team. After taking charge of the team for a few years he has also decided to dispense with the 'bainisteoir' bib. "It was a very disappointing end to the year. We never played at all on the night against St Ultan's. I don't know what happened. Much the same happened last year against Kilmainham in the quarter final. In the first half we never played and it was the same story this year. We just never played at all," he recalls ruefully. Like Barry Monaghan, he regrets the loss of points earlier in the competition. "Against Kilmainham we were winning well at half-time. While we weren't expecting to have a game the weekend the Curraha game was played. So, a few fellas booked holidays. I wasn't even at it myself. We were missing five fellas that night. But again we were winning by a four points with a few minutes left and they got a goal and a point to draw". Looking back over two decades Christy Carry has some fond memories of playing in the green and red. "I played with my father when I was starting out (Christy senior). I started playing when I was 14 or 15, so I started playing with my uncle as well. Then I started playing with my brothers and finished up playing with my nephews. Another member of the clan Colm Carry - a second cousin of Christy's - made a big impression with Meath minors scoring the dramatic late winning goal in the Leinster semi-final against Laois. "He's a good little footballer and can score with either foot. For a young fella like Colm, it's great to play in big games. You don't' get much bigger than running out in Croke Park with so many people there. That sort of experience should stand to him. Training and playing at that level of football should help him." Despite the disappointing end to the campaign, Christy is optimistic for the future of Drumbaragh. "The lads are a lot better than what they showed against St Ultan's. I've no doubt that if they keep it up and train hard that they will win a junior championship. I've no doubt about that. All the lads know that there is very little between ourselves and Kilmainham. We should have beat them the night we played them in the championship. We beat them in the league. A junior championship is there to be won especially with the younger lads we have there coming up." Tweet

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