Last year, Dunboyne's senior footballers were involved in one of the most memorable conclusions to an SFC witnessed for many years, and for a variety of reasons, at the end of which they emerged with the Keegan Cup. A few unexpected results in the midst of this years campaign put them under pressure to qualify. They duly did, however, were most unlucky to lose to Blackhall Gaels two hurdles out in a repeat of last year's showpiece but evidence would suggest the black and ambers could again be major players in 2007. As champions, one of a team's biggest fears is not having the hunger to go at the hard slog all over again having gained the ultimate prize. Though this was never likely to be the case with Dunboyne (a) because of the amount of varied coverage they received following their 2005 success, chances are they wanted to prove themselves, and (b) because they still had what was a very young team. The hunger was very obviously evident in the opening round against Walterstown. They raced out of the traps with goals from Sean McGarrell, Ger Robinson and Stephen Moran. Walterstown did hit back and narrow the gap to two after the break with Charles McCarthy's influence growing but once the county player was forced off through injury the champions re-asserted and Moran's second major sealed a quite impressive 4-12 to 2-10 opening defence for the holders. Next up were Ballinlough who in the first round once again defied the odds by toppling Skryne but minus Peadar Byrne against Dermot Morris' side a repeat was most unlikely to happen. It was never given the chance to as Dunboyne were quite clinical, running out winners by 3-19 to 0-04 with Robinson (twice) and Moran again netting. Now, when a team has been on the go for nearly two years, which Dunboyne had been when you consider they won the Feis Cup in December 2004, it's bound to put a stretch on resources. That'd be hard enough for any team to take, but when the kingpins had to field minus David Gallagher and Nigel Crawford, among others, against Wolfe Tones they were really up against it. They gave as good as they got for the opening period but with Darren McGrath netting and Cian Ward also on top form the Kilberry side led by 1-04 to 0-05 at the interval. Again, there wasn't a lot between the sides after the resumption but with Dunboyne's shooting extremely erratic and Ward's anything but, Tony Kearney's side held on for a 1-10 to 0-09 win and put a first dent in the champions retention ambitions. That dent grew sizably bigger after the fourth round when Trevor Giles inspired a Skryne side who had been stuttering up to that point, to an unlikely but merited win. The sides went point for point in the opening stages until Mick O'Dowd slipped in for an easy goal to leave the Tara side two up at the break. For much of the second period the sides again went point for point with only the genius of Giles separating the sides. And then the difference between taking easy chances and not doing was illustrated as the returning Ger Grehan missed a glaring goal chance and then Skryne went upfield to enable Giles point two long range frees, guaranteeing a 1-13 to 0-14 full time score. Most important in the next outing against Cortown was to win. And while the objective was duly achieved, there were still worrying signs that the champions hadn't fully come out of their mid season blip. Ger Robinson and Stephen Moran accounted for all but one of their scores in an opening half at the end of which they led by 0-05 to 0-03. Admittedly, they did pull away once Aidan O'Connor netting in the opening seconds of the second half to win by 1-16 to 0-06, but there was still a sense that the holders just weren't being clinical enough. Clinical is exactly how you'd describe Seneschalstown's performance in Dunsany shortly afterwards. Padraig Coyle's side had been struggling for most of the season, engineering only one win, against Ballinlough, before Graham Geraghty departed for America. The county's best forward was still absent in early August but it mattered little as Joe and Brian Sheridan were in awesome form as the men in blue and gold led by 0-11 to 0-03 at the break. Dunboyne did vastly improve on the resumption, outscoring Coyle's charges by nine points to six after the change of ends. Though nine was the important number of the day for another reason as Brian Sheridan's ninth point was the one which left the score 0-17 to 0-12 at full time. Now, given the nature of clashes between the two sides, going in against Trim in the last round needing to win to qualify wasn't exactly ideal for Dunboyne but that was exactly the situation. And even at that, they had to hope the Skryne lost to Walterstown and with that being a local derby breaths wouldn't by held on that result! Sometimes however you just get the feeling it's your day, Dunboyne led by three early on, Trim hit back to level but Garry Watters galloped forward to give the standard setters a lead of 0-05 to 0-04 at the break. As is the norm with clashes between these two, there was plenty of drama still to happen. Firstly, Derek Donohoe hit three massive points from frees to push Trim into a lead of 0-08 to 0-06 but then Davy Nelson's side suffered a huge setback when Darren Fay had to retire after a heavy but accidental collision with Nigel Crawford. The departure of the man who recently returned to the county set up saw Crawford assume total control around the middle as Morris' men hit the last five points without reply and emerged winners by 0-11 to 0-08. Then it was a matter of waiting to find out had the other game ended favourably and after a few very tense moments there was relief and joy in the champions dressing room until the desired news filtered through. With Blackhall Gaels having somewhat surprisingly toppled O'Mahonys in the last round of the group stages it set up a mouth watering repeat of last year's decider. By their nature, local derbies are tight affairs and this one was no different as the 2003 champions led by 0-06 to 0-05 at the break with county minor duo Paddy Brady and Alan Nestor particularly impressive. The reigning champions were a vastly improved outfit on the restart and looked to be set for a last four reunion with O'Mahonys when leading by 0-11 to 0-08 with under five minutes to go until the game was irreversibly turned on its head. That change coincided with Gordon Ward wheeling out some of his side's 'big guns', namely Mark Crampton and Nigel and Paul Nestor. And that spelt the beginning of the end for the outgoing holders. Firstly, Johnny Meyler somehow managed to get up among a cluster of Dunboyne players and fit to the net to tie the score and then came the almost inevitable sucker punch as Nigel Nestor got the resultant kickout and fed it to youngest brother Alan who curled over a magnificent score which sent the champions of 2005 crashing out. While it was a desperately disappointing way for the outgoing kingpins to bow out, particularly as they just seemed to be hitting form at the time of their demise, they would seem certain to be a force to be reckoned with for some time to come. At the time of writing, they are waiting to play Wolfe Tones or O'Mahonys in the League final, a fourth final to be contested in Dermot Morris' tenure as coach and with still a relatively young team and an amount of talent coming through in the club, it may not be long before the Keegan Cup is in black and amber ribbons again. Heartbreaking end to highly successful season It was an all too familiar feeling as Gary Cole's sensational late strike condemned Dunboyne to defeat in yet another SHC final. Though it was a heartbreaking end Brendan Boylan feels a look at the bigger picture would suggest that, given other hurling successes enjoyed by the black and ambers recently, the major breakthrough may not be far away. Louth football boss Eamonn McEneaney said in the wake of his side's annexing of the Tommy Murphy Cup that 'You have to win small things before you win big things'. Now, it may seem a little simplistic and to the likes of Dunboyne who have suffered so many heartbreaks in the showpiece decider over the years it's bound to be small consolation, but it must carry a great degree of credence. Before the season started, it was hard to know what to expect from John Gorry's side. They hadn't won an SHC game in two years, though at the back end of last year their prospects were given another boost when an U-21 HC (the 2004 version) was added to U-14 and U-16 titles already won while even though Kiltale proved too strong in the MHC Final, the mere fact that Dunboyne had contested four underage finals in the one season, and won three, gave some indication of the talent coming through in the club. And then there was the added bonus of the acquisition of the services of the vastly experienced Pauraic Coone for the 2006 season. All of the above causes for optimism seemed to be extremely well founded about twenty minutes in the opening round of the SHC when they led Trim by 2-07 to 0-03. Coone had netted with his first touch in a yellow jersey and also hit two points while teenager Michael Dunne also goaled and Neville Reilly was also scoring well. Though even before the break there were ominous signs as Joey Toole, so often Dunboyne's tormentor in the past, netted twice in a matter of minutes before Neil Hackett got a crucial point to leave it 2-08 to 2-03 at the interval. Slowly but surely, Toole, Ronan Fitzsimons and sub Alan Smith hauled the reds back into it though scores from the returning Diarmuid Byrne, Stephen Moran and two super efforts from the introduced Barry Watters appeared to have done enough for Dunboyne until Toole delivered a very late sucker punch when netting straight from a free which was made far easier after Dunboyne had disputed a decision to leave the full time score 2-13 to 3-10. In the second round, Dunboyne themselves were grateful for an extremely late point from Michael Dunne to ensure they got something against a very spirited Boardsmill side. Again, it should never have come to that. A great goal by Hackett had boosted them to a 1-07 to 0-04 interval advantage. But the 'Mill had battled back, assumed control, thanks to a Gerry Jones goal and succession of points from Thomas Reilly, and looked all over the winners until Dunne delivered at the death. There then arrived another shot in the arm to their ambitions for the rest of the season when they put U-21 HC titles back to back. The win the previous November was the club's first ever in the top grade and eight months later they had a second as Kiltale were overturned by 1-10 to 0-09 on a night when Paul Fagan starred having returned from London. Next on the SHC trail Gorry's men easily dispensed with the challenge of Drumree by 4-26 to 0-03. It really was a facile win and while it could be said that not a lot can be learned from such an exercise what it did demonstrate was that Dunboyne now had plenty of players capable of scoring and were no longer dependent on one or two. However, in the early rounds of the competitions, some cracks were visible in their makeup and in Round 4 they were clinically exposed by Rathmolyon as the eventual losers again squandered a big lead. Michael Dunne netted in the first minute and Dunboyne held commanding lead at the interval which was further embellished by a superb Neil Hackett point. Though they were never able to cope adequately with the enormous influence of Mike Cole and when they alarmingly once again fell out of the game, the army man marshaled his troops as they goaled three times in the dying minutes to leave it 1-14 to 3-11 at the end and Dunboyne up against a wall as regards qualification. While all this was going on, the Club's second string had blazed a trail through the JHC engineering wins against Ratoath, Killyon, Kilmessan, Kiltale, O'Mahonys and Trim. One of the stars of that great run was Niall Smyth and he also excelled on his full senior debut against Blackhall Gaels, notching five points as Barry Watters (two) and Neville Reilly netted en route to a 3-22 to 1-06 romp. Dunboyne's fate was now out of their own hands but they secured a knockout spot when Rathmolyon defeated Boardsmill to guarantee the black and ambers a play off against the latter. A close game was expected after the earlier meeting of the sides and in the early stages it looked that way and not too good for Dunboyne as the side in blue led by 1-05 to 0-06 at the change of ends to a David Farrell goal. Neville Reilly and Neil Hackett accounted for all but one of their team's scores and when the latter netted early in the second half to put them clear by 1-08 to 1-06 they never looked back and ran out winners by 1-18 to 1-08. Less than twenty four hours later Dunboyne were back at the same venue as their second string faced up to Kiltale in the JHC Final. Again it was felt there wouldn't be much between the sides and after a slow start Dunboyne trailed by 0-02 to 0-04 at the interval before running out comfortable winners. They outscored Kiltale by 1-9 to a point on the resumption with Brian Watters netting near the end of a 1-11 to 0-05 success as Intermediate status was secured for the second time in three seasons. Now, as well as the obvious satisfaction of garnering a county title, the conclusion of the second team's campaign meant they now had even more options for the remainder of the senior. And at the penultimate stage of the senior Dunboyne were greeted by a very familiar sight- Kilmessan! Though from very early on in the fixture there was something very unfamiliar about this one compared to the way games between these two have gone over the years as Dunboyne dictated the pace for much of the opening period with Neville Reilly and Neil Hackett doing most of the damage. That said, the aristocrats still led by 0-05 to 0-04 at the break and possibly would have been further in front had Nicky Horan not be uncharacteristically off colour with his free taking. The attritional nature of affairs, which was being compounded by the atrocious weather, continued after the break and with the normally deadly accurate Horan continuing to be profligate the anticipation of a shock result grew and it duly arrived when Hackett pointed his fifth effort of the day to leave Dunboyne winners by 0-07 to 0-06 and in the final for the third time in five years. In the decider they would face Rathmolyon who had beaten them early in the campaign and indeed remained unbeaten throughout and had demolished Kildalkey by 6-16 to 0-07 in the last four. They say a good start is half the battle and Dunboyne could hardly have hoped for a better one as great goals from Pauraic Coone and teenager Michael Dunne shot them into a lead of 2-03 to 0-06. Worryingly however, it should have been a lot more. Though even before the break there were ominous signs as Mike Cole's sixth and seventh points cut the deficit to one at the break. Those signs were even more obvious shortly after the restart as the men in green and white hit three points on the trot with those scores being matched by Neville Reilly (two) and Stephen Moran though Tommy Lynch goaled to leave it 1-13 to 2-07. Cole's tenth point seemed to have sealed the issue before a brace apiece from Reilly and Moran tied affairs and then a sensational solo effort from Coone seemed to have turned the tie full circle and ended Dunboyne's long wait before Gary Cole somehow got a stick to his brother's mishit free and that goal left Dunboyne heartbroken again. There's very little consolation that can be conjured from such a situation, particularly as it's not the first time such a thing has happened to Dunboyne, but if there is any solace available it must be in the knowledge that with the amount of titles the Dublin border outfit have gathered at other levels recently, the annexation of the big prize can't be that far away. The Dunboyne team that came so close to annexing the Jubilee Cup was: S Reilly, D Buggie, D Reilly, Sean Moran 0-4, K Fagan, S Callanan, P Gannon, N Watters, B Watters 0-1, Stephen Moran, T O'Connor, P Coone 1-1, N Reilly 0-6, N Hackett, M Dunne 1-0. Subs: L Reilly for O'Connor, D Watters for Fagan, G Watters for B Watters, D Byrne for Hackett, N Smyth for Reilly St. Peter's U12's win Div 1 FC Final St Peters won the U12 Div.1 FC on Sunday 25th June by defeating Donaghmore/Ashbourne on a scoreline of 1-08 to 1-06. The final was a tight affair with St Peters enjoying the majority of possession however Donaghmore/Ashbourne defended resolutely throughout and scores were hard to come by. St Peters only held a slender advantage at half time (0-04 to 0-03) and the sides were level with 7 minutes left. However St Peters finished strongly and in the end deserved to win the first U12 title for the club since 1989. The team on duty was 1. Josh Gough, 2. Conor McGrath, 3. Padraig Gallagher, 4. Gary Harper, 5. Seamus Lavin, 6. Shane McEntee, 7. Stephen Brown, 8. Darragh Lenihan, 9. Conor Doran, 10. Niall Carolan, 11. Ronan Dunne, 12, Gavin McCoy, 13. Sean McGrath, 14. Jason Daly, 15. Ciaran Boylan. Tweet

Most Read Stories