All blue and white
November 30, 2006
Many rural GAA clubs have struggled to keep up with their urban neighbours in recent years when it comes to success, but although Kildalkey have a small catchment area to choose from, titles were secured at underage level in 2006.
With towns increasing in population considerably since the start of the Celtic Tiger, it has become more difficult for rural clubs to compete. Kildalkey underage supremo Seamus Harmon revealed how the club has worked intensely with the kids in recent years, which has paid dividends this year.
For the first time in 43 years, Kildalkey fielded an underage football team and this proved to be a wise decision as the club won the under-14 summer league.
"A lot of the young lads here wanted to play football and before this they had to travel to Ballivor in order to do so. We decided to give it a go and it has proven to be very successful," said Seamus.
"It has been a long time since there was underage football in the parish and to see it return after such a long absence was great. Hopefully we can go on from this and win more championships in the near future."
Kildalkey are fortunate in that they have a number of people willing to help out with their underage structure and Seamus believe this is very important in order to promote gaelic games amongst children.
"We are lucky enough that there are many people willing to lend their time to look after the various underage teams, but we would always welcome more help," he stressed.
Further success was obtained by the club when they annexed the Under-14 HC‚ and under-16 HC‚ championships. The former came about on the June Bank Holiday weekend when Blackhall Gaels were defeated in the final. More recently, the under-16 side had a comfortable win over Longwood in their respective decider.
In the modern era, the GAA is competing against other sports like soccer in rugby and unlike years ago when hurling and football were the number one sports in the country, other activities are very much to the fore.
Seamus admitted that it is essential to work with these sports instead of against them as the GAA could lose out big time with many kids choosing soccer or rugby as their first love.
"Most of the young lads play soccer, which is usually on a Saturday, so if we have a match fixed for the same time, we do our best to have it changed so to make sure the games don‚t clash. It's just a case of give and take, otherwise you are forcing the kids to choose, which for one is not fair and two, most of them would opt to go to the soccer anyway."
Kildalkey fielded at every grade except minor at underage hurling, while in football, they had teams at under-12, 13, 14, and 16. Not bad for their first year.
Last year, the North Meath club won the under-11 and under-12 B championships and this year they were moved into the premier grade, a switch that Seamus felt was too much for their young sides.
"We got a few hammerings at these levels and I felt it wise to withdraw the teams from the grades, because it was doing them no good. Their confidence was damaged and that is the last thing you would for kids that age.
"It is all about competing at underage level and making sure the kids get games, but to be beaten by so much is certainly no advantage to any team."
Despite the Celtic Tiger hitting the village in a big way, Seamus revealed that the club have not really benefited from the additional numbers in the area.
"Most of the people that have moved into the area have very young families and although I expect a boost in numbers, it may not happen for a few years yet.
"So the fact that we are producing these teams now is very encouraging indeed and it just goes to show what can be done when the effort is put in."
Coaching in the club begins at a very young age and Seamus admitted that there could be up to 25 under-8's training on a weekly basis at the hurling pitch, while their underage structure us now concentrated on for 52 weeks of the year.
"We will probably train one night a week over the winter, the kids still enjoy it as it gets them out of the house during the dark evenings."
Seamus is now in his fourth year involved with the underage section of the club and is currently underage secretary, which he revealed can be a time consuming role.
"It certainly does take up a lot of your time, but it is very enjoyable and as long as the kids are getting games then that's our main priority achieved," he said.
At the start of the year, Kildalkey had high hopes that they could eventually end the long wait for another senior hurling title. In 2005, they reached the final only to be denied by near neighbours Killyon in the decider.
This year saw a change in management as Pat O'Halloran left the club and was replaced by former Brownstown hurler Jim Davis, whose brother John trained Meath during the 90's.
With the core of last year's team still playing there was a belief that the SHC title could be annexed. However, Kildalkey were placed in a tough group along with defending champions Killyon, Clann na nGael, Kiltale, Kilmessan and Navan O'Mahony's.
The opening match was a repeat of last year's county final and a chance for Kildalkey to gain some degree of revenge, which they duly did on a scoreline of 4-5 to 3-3.
This was followed by a clash with neighbours and old rivals Clann na nGael. The Athboy side had come up from the intermediate grade the previous year and Kildalkey would enter the match as strong favourites, having obtained the better of their opponents in recent meetings.
However, a close match ensued and the village‚ side were fortunate enough to come away with their second brace of points in the championship when Eddie Priest's charges ran them to two points, 1-10 to 2-5.
Their best performance of the year by far came against Navan O'Mahony‚s in what turned out to be one of the best matches of the 2006 SHC campaign. O'Mahony's needed a win to keep their hopes of qualification alive.
Nonetheless, some excellent point taking by both sides ensured that a terrific game of hurling was produced and it was Kildalkey's ability to take their points that saw them through by 1-18 to 2-11.
A 1-14 to 2-11 draw with Kiltale guaranteed Kildalkey their place in the semi-final and although they suffered a heavy final round defeat (2-16 to 0-7) to championship favourites Kilmessan, they could focus on preparing for the last four.
Amazingly that last match against Kilmessan was played in late August, but the semi-finalists would have to wait until the first week of October for their next championship outing.
The long break did not suit Davis side and indeed having the semi-final so late in the year meant that weather conditions were poor, but no one could envisage what was to happen.
Rathmolyon were the opponents and they had looked impressive throughout the campaign. However, Kildalkey's experience made them slight favourites, but a dreadful start to the match left the blue and whites with a mountain to climb and one that they never looked like conquering. Rathmolyon ran out comfortable winners and it will be a day that all Kildalkey Gaels will want to forget quickly.
Fortunately, Kildalkey have a young squad that is sure to bounce back even stronger next year and who knows that long wait may come to an end.
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