Worth waiting for
November 30, 2006
Thirty-one years is a long time to wait and Moylagh GAA Club was justifiably thrilled at Pairc Tailteann on an overcast Saturday in September. The club from the north-west of the county headed
to Navan that day in the knowledge that it wasn't since their memorable IFC triumph back in 1975 that they had managed to win an adult championship title.
But at approximately 5.20 on that autumn evening team captain Dara Flood got his two hands on the Richard Dunne Cup after Moylagh had beaten Walterstown decisively in the Junior D Championship final and well over a quarter of a century of waiting was over. And wasn't it worth waiting for!
Among the smiling faces in the Pairc Tailteann stand after the final whistle was that of Paddy Traynor, a brilliant former Moylagh player who was a key figure when Meath defeated Dublin in the final to win the 1975 National League title. A few months later he was a big player when his club produced a dramatic finish to beat Dunshaughlin in the intermediate final and put a string of near misses behind them.
There were many other smiling faces in Navan 31 years later and why wouldn't they be happy.
This might be the lowest grade of championship football in the county, but the Junior D success was achieved by Moylagh's second string soon after the first team had been eliminated from the Junior Championship with a quarter-final defeat to Dunsany. It was one of those occasions that demonstrated just how important the parish is to the GAA - that club unit which is the grass roots of the association.
It was time to celebrate, time to be proud of Moylagh, just as so many people were happy and proud back in '75 when the club put several final disappointments behind it by climbing up to the senior ranks with that IFC final victory over shell shocked Dunshaughlin.
Many things will stand out for Moylagh from this year's Junior D final victory, but for this writer it's the memory of selector Ollie Melia, who was there in the club's colours back in '75, living every minute of the match with his players as he patrolled the sideline in front of the stand.
Eamon Gillic was the Moylagh trainer and Melia and Gerry Grall were selectors as they bridged the lengthening gap back to that day, also at Pairc Tailteann, over three decades earlier.
Moylagh had chewed on life's grizzle in their bid for championship glory on a number of occasions before that '75 triumph as they experienced repeated final defeats - the 1968 JFC decider to Flathouse after a replay, the 1971 intermediate final to Ballivor, also after a replay, and the 1973 final in the same grade to Bohermeen.
It was as if the whole of Moylagh was walking under ladders on a regular basis as lady luck deserted them completely. But she paid them a timely visit at Pairc Tailteann on 5th October, 1975 when they turned in a dramatic last 10 minutes to come from a seemingly impossible position and beat Dunshaughlin by 2-5 to 0-9.
Perhaps it was significant that earlier in the year Moylagh had successfully applied at a meeting of the County Board to have the words 'Saint Oliver Plunkett' included as part of their title.
"Oliver Plunkett probably kicked football in Moylagh when he was alive and we want to pay tribute to a great man from the area," said Moylagh delegate John McDonnell at the meeting.
Incredibly, on the Sunday after Moylagh's intermediate final victory Ireland's new saint was canonised. One can only wonder what saintly role the great man had played in the success just a few days short of his canonisation.
Dunshaughlin, who were to achievement the IFC breakthrough themselves two years later, led by 0-9 to 0-2 with little more than 10 minutes of the '75 final to play. They had dominated the majority of the contest and Moylagh looked set for another day of final misery. But they took off like men possessed and points from substitute Kevin Hanlon, Traynor and captain Mick Smith brought the arrears back to four points.
And when Richie Colgan found the net from close range there was the minimum between the sides and Moylagh sensed that this might just be their day. They were right, because in the last minute Hanlon notched the second goal and the scenes of joy that followed have rarely been witnessed at Pairc Tailteann since.
For loyal servants to the Moylagh cause like Paddy Traynor, Joe Brady, John Joe Farrelly, Kit Shaw, Mick Smith, Frank Govern, Phil Hand, Barney Mahon and Kevin Hanlon it was fitting reward for so much dedicated effort down the years. Hanlon was certainly a busy man around that time because he also acted as club secretary, while Alo Donoghue was the team trainer and what a great job he did.
Thirty-one years later Moylagh were back in Pairc Tailteann contesting a county final after coming through the group stages of the Junior D FC and getting the better of Meath Hill by 1-11 to 2-6 in a quarter-final at Moynalty and Dunsany by 0-13 to 1-5 in a semi-final at Martry when they played well enough to suggest that they were capable of finishing the job in the decider against Walterstown's third string.
Walterstown looked more likely to taste success when they pushed into a five-point lead during the first half, but Moylagh demonstrated tremendous self-belief throughout the contest and they closed the period with points from Enda Mulvaney and Damien Smith to trail by only 0-5 to 1-5 at the interval.
They battled tremendously all over the field in the second half and such was the tenacious and disciplined nature of their defending that they restricted Walterstown to a single point in that period. Smith and top scorer Ciaran Fox (two frees) had them level within nine minutes of the restart, before the blacks' only point of the half edged them back in front briefly at 1-6 to 0-8 with 11 minutes of normal time to play.
Then came the goal from Mulvaney that pointed Moylagh towards the title when he toe-poked the ball home. Moylagh were in front for the first time and pushed for home with points from Fox ( a free that was as good as any seen at the venue during 2006), Eanna Brody and Fox again.
Walterstown had no response and when substitute Kevin Brody scored the second goal four minutes into injury time Moylagh could start to celebrate something they had been waiting for over the previous 31 years.
When Dara Flood got his hands on the Richard Dunne Cup those present truly realised what this success meant to all associated with the Moylagh club.
"Winning it meant an awful lot to us all, it was just great," said Moylagh's long-serving full-back Declan Flood who also acts as club secretary. "It was a long time since we won an adult title before, so there was plenty of celebrating. You have to make the most of these things because you don't know when they might happen again.
"I never won a championship medal before, so it was a great thrill. I have been playing adult football with the club since 1983. That's a lot of years and it might just be time to think about hanging up the boots. I'll have to see. I'm not that far short of 40."
Flood is obviously a busy man, combining his playing side of the club with the role of secretary.
"You are on top of your head, especially with the secretary work, and I was also a selector with the first team this year," he added. "There's a lot to it, but we have a great assistant-secretary in Paddy Kenny. He does a lot of work. If you want something done, you only have to ask him once."
The Moylagh team in the final was - O. Melia; Dara Flood, Declan Flood, Q. O'Reilly; S. Agnew, E. Grall, K. O'Reilly; D. Smith (0-2), R. O'Reilly; C. Fox (0-6), R. Kenny (0-1), N. Farrelly; E. Mulvaney (1-1), B. Grall, D. Muldoon. Subs - C. O'Reilly for K. O'Reilly, E. Brody (0-1) for Farrelly, S. Nolan for Muldoon, K. Brody (1-0) for B. Grall, E. Fanning, P. Grall, K. Muldoon, B. Farrelly, R. O'Reilly.
While the Moylagh Junior D combination progressed to the knockout stages en route to outright success, the club's first team also made progress in the Junior Championship before eventually bowing out at the quarter-final stage to Dunsany who, in turn, were eliminated by Kilmainham in the semi-finals.
Moylagh were drawn in Group C of the JFC, along with Meath Hill, Ballinabrackey, Kilbride, Drumree, Bective, Simonstown Gaels and Skryne, and they took the competition by storm, winning their first five matches in the section to set sail for a place in the last eight.
They opened up with a comfortable 0-13 to 0-7 victory over Kilbride and defeated the previous year's IFC relegated side Drumree by 1-8 to 0-7 in the second round. Simonstown's second string was then overcome by 0-10 to 1-6 and another narrow win followed when they edged out Bective by 1-9 to 1-7.
Moylagh's biggest win of the group campaign came in the fifth round when they had 11 points (2-15 to 0-10) to spare over Skryne, but their first defeat was around the corner as Meath Hill, who went on to top the section, triumphed by 1-6 to 1-4 in a low-scoring encounter.
A draw (0-10 each) followed in the seventh round against Ballinabrackey and the significance of that outcome was that the Offaly-border side were out of the title race and Moylagh were safely through to the quarter finals in second position in the section and would meet Dunsany.
That match took place at Martry where Moylagh's hopes of JFC glory ended when Dunsany won convincingly by nine points on a 2-11 to 0-8 score line. Goals were decisive in the win and Dunsany got two of them in the first half to move into a 2-3 to 0-6 interval lead. They added eight points in the second period to Moylagh's two and won with ease.
Bowing out of the race for the Matthew Ginnity Cup was a big disappointment for Moylagh after a promising group campaign that brought five wins, a draw and a defeat, but joy lay just around the corner with that memorable Junior D final win over Walterstown.
It was worth waiting for.
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