'Magical win for Rathkenny ends barren 72 years' was the heading over one report of the 2006 Meath Intermediate Football Championship final after a team which was totally unconsidered early in the year went away with the Mattie McDonnell Cup. By Noel Coogan. Those who did not mention Rathkenny in April previews looked to have got it spot on when the side in red and black only picked up one point from their first three games. But then somehow there was the transformation from ugly ducklings to beautiful white swans as a sequence of six wins in a row was chalked up. Had there been a competition to name the two IFC finalists with a spring closing date it is doubtful if anyone would have picked Rathkenny and Drumconrath. The latter were also unlikely contenders when dropping five points in their first four games but the teams combined to serve up a compelling decider which the side captained by Donal Curtis won by 1-10 to 2-6. Rathkenny's only previous IFC success was in 1934 when Bohermeen were defeated by 1-2 to 0-4 in the final. The club has a proud football tradition dating backs to the years when the were county kingpins. They were SFC winners for 1917, '18, '19, '22 and '23 and were the first recipients of the Feis Cup in 1920. The last surviving member of the previous IFC title, Tommy Timmons, passed away a few months before the second annexation of the title. There are two links between that team and the 2006 side. Tommy Curtis was a grandfather of Donal and John and Jack Timmons was father of selector Paddy. Long-serving players like Donal Curtis, Michael Reid and Thomas Rowan blended well with the younger lads (eight of the 15 who started in the final were 22 or younger) and team manager Eamon O'Brien, who had been along the sidelines for Meath's last two All-Ireland triumphs, got more out of his charges as the campaign went on. It was the first time for O'Brien to be in charge of a team and things picked up after a very slow start. There were defeats by Ratoath (1-7 to 1-10) and Oldcastle (0-11 to 1-12) in the first and third rounds and in between a 2-6 to 1-9 draw with Nobber when a late goal from a penalty netted by Richie Timmons gave them their first point. Michael Reid, the oldest player on the team at the age of 37, was playing intermediate football with Rathkenny since 1989 when he and Donal Curtis, who is four years younger, made their debut against Dunderry in Kells. Reid recalled that his side just scraped a win over St Michael's (0-7 to 0-6) and then there were vital victories over 2005 beaten finalists Syddan (1-7 to 0-9) and St Colmcille's (2-8 to 0-2). "The game against Syddan was a big one for us and the wins over them and St Colmcille's gave us a big lift. We were growing in confidence and there was more interest in training," said the veteran defender. "It's hard to know where the improvement came from but after a couple of wins it just kept going." Outpointing Slane by 0-16 to 0-6 put Rathkenny through to the last eight in third place in their group. It was the first time to reach the knockout phase since 1995 when Simonstown Gaels ended their hopes at the semi-final stage. Although not many outside the club thought they would, the modern day wearers of the red and black were determined to maintain the winning run. "Going into the quarter-final against Donaghmore/Ashbourne, we were confident enough as we had beaten them in the league," said Michael Reid. With Thomas Martin sending over five points and Brian Meade netting the goal, they won by 1-8 to 1-4. Reid also said he was confident going into the semi-final against neighbours Castletown as his side was younger and fresher. Although Castletown went into the Saturday Pairc Tailteann tussle as favourites, Rathkenny never let them lead with early points from Owen Elliott, Thomas Rowan and Darren Barron setting the tone for the rest of the game. It was 0-4 to 0-2 at the break and Meade and Ivan Lenehan increased the lead on the restart. A goal from Rowan following a delivery from Ronan Curtis and a knock-down by Thomas Martin on 43 minutes left it 1-6 to 0-3 and it was 1-9 to 0-8 at the finish. Rathkenny celebrated as if they had won a title but their joy was only small compared to two weeks later. While remarking that it was a great achievement to get to the final after so long, Michael added that they had to win it. Speaking in a pre-final interview, the corner back said: "while some of the younger lads may feel there will be other opportunities if we lose, we have to thinking of winning and nothing else. "If Rathkenny don't win this one it could be 72 years before they get back to the final," he added. His words were obviously heeded for Eamon O'Brien's men lit up the final with a scintillating display in the opening 20 minutes to sprint into a 0-9 to 0-0 lead. Owen Elliott raised the first white flag, Thomas Martin put over two frees and Darren Barron and Brian Meade got on target in between. Ivan Lenehan hit a mighty score before Barron (twice) and Martin brought the total to nine. Rathkenny appeared to have one hand on the cup but then they conceded two bizarre goals. It was 0-9 to 2-0 at the break and then Thomas Rowan, who was the only Rathkenny forward not to score in the first half, rectified that by completing the winning total in around one minute after the restart. Right from the throw-in Rowan collected a ball in from Elliott to point and the cheering for that score had hardly died down when the number 15 split open the Drumconrath defence and taking a return pass from Thomas Martin, palmed the ball to the net. After completing their total, Rathkenny had a lot of defending to do as their opponents came much more into the game. With the experienced trio of Curtis, Reid and Tommy McKeever leading by example at the back, they held out for a narrow victory. While the Drums could have earned another day out, the better team over the hour won out. Two young members of the IFC winning side had earlier been part of Meath Leinster winning sides with David Donegan and Brian Meade sharing in provincial minor and junior successes. Other under 21 players like John Donegan, Owen Elliott, Ivan Lenehan and James Macken have raised hopes that further successes could be in store. Donal Curtis received the Mattie McDonnell Cup from County Board secretary Barney Allen, who was a proud Rathkenny man that day. While Curtis had been part of All-Ireland triumphs twice in the '90s, he remarked: "to win a championship with your club is just fabulous." Eamon O'Brien is assisted by selectors Gerry Gavagan, Tommy Martin and Paddy Timmons and trainer Glenn Carpenter. Gavagan, who was also the reserve goalkeeper, is hopeful that they can hold their own in the senior grade next year. "We will be using Duleek's progress as a yardstick. They moved up the league divisions like us and we will be using the Division 2 League as a build-up to the championship. I don't think any of the older players will be retiring as they will anxious to sample senior football while some of the younger lads are well used to winning, having tasted success at minor and colleges levels," he said. The team brought Rathkenny the IFC title was: John Martin; James Macken, Donal Curtis, Michael Reid; Michael Macken, Tommy McKeever, David Donegan; John Donegan, Ronan Curtis; Ivan Lenehan, Brian Meade, Owen Elliott; Thomas Martin, Darren Barron, Thomas Rowan. Subs - John Curtis for Barron, Richie Timmons for Rowan, Gerry Gavagan, Derek Smith, Ronan Martin, Emmet Martin, Larry Murray, Dermot Curtis, Matthew O'Brien, Peter Downey. It is sometimes said that when it never rains but it pours and seven days after the IFC triumph Rathkenny lifted the B FL Division 5 title with a 0-12 to 0-8 final win over St Patrick's at Donore. A number of the stars of October 15 were back in action and Darren Barron sent over eight points. Pat's led by 0-7 to 0-4 at the break but then Barron sent over five points in a row and John Donegan closed the scoring from a sideline kick. The B FL Division 5 winning team was : Gerry Gavagan; Dermot Curtis, Matthew O'Brien, Dermot Downey; Michael Downey, Michael Macken, Emmet Martin; John Donegan, Daniel Timmons; Darren Barron, Thomas Martin, Thomas Rowan; Peter Downey, Larry Murray, John Curtis. Subs - Ross Smith for Timmons, David Donegan for Dermot Curtis. There was more 'rain' when Rathkenny scooped the A FL Division 3 title with another final victory over Drumconrath, again by the minimum margin (0-12 to 0-11) after extra time at Pairc Tailteann. In contrast to the IFC decider, in this game it was the Drums who made the early running, getting the first four scores Thomas Martin got them on the board from a free. It was 0-6 to 0-4 at the first break. With John Donegan, who was in outstanding form at midfield, sending over three points to add to one in the first period, Rathkenny edged ahead. John Martin made a crucial save from Wayne Reilly and Drumconrath's Alan Byrne left it 0-9 each at the end of normal time. It was 0-11 apiece at half time in extra time and three minutes into the second ten-minute period David Donegan, who did not start because of an injury, shot the winning point. The Rathkenny team in the A FL Division 2 final was: J. Martin; M. Macken, D. Curtis, M. Reid; R. Martin, T. McKeever, O. Elliott; J. Donegan, D. Smith; D. Barron, B. Meade, I. Lenehan; T. Martin, R. Timmons, T. Rowan. Subs - J. Curtis for Macken, P. Farrelly for Lenehan, D. Donegan for Barron, E. Martin for Rowan. Donegan's delight Those who let Rathkenny slip from their thoughts when contemplating the frontrunners in this year's IFC may not have been familiar with the wealth of young talent at hand in the East Meath outfit and John Donegan is one of this brigade who played a key role in bringing unprecedented success to the club. Although Rathkenny had failed to make a major impact in the recent runnings of the chase for the IFC, Donegan believed that a the fresh approach adopted by manager Eammon O'Brien at the beginning of the year gave his side that extra spurt needed to get to the finishing line in front. "When Eammon O'Brien came in at the start of the year he set our stall out to aim for the IFC title and that he would do everything he could to try and help us achieve that. He believed that if we got a run together that anything would be possible and so it proved," Donegan stated. While 2006 will go down as one of the glory years in the clubs history books, it didn't look as if the year would even take up a short paragraph in any chapter when O'Brien's charges only managed to secure one point from the opening three games. But after such a tardy start, Donegan believed that the break when incurred from the Meath minor's participation in the championship gave his side time to regroup and refocus on the rest of the games in the group. "There was a big break between the first three games and the one's after it and we only got one point from our first three games and the distractions of the Meath minors and senior side helped us regroup and get our heads together." "We stayed positive and after we started so badly we just took one game at a time so we just prepared for the St. Michael's game and didn't really look any further than that," Donegan added. With only one point on the board, Rathkenny's outing with St. Michael's in the fourth round of group matches was a do or die clash for the men in red and black and Donegan was of the opinion that the narrow victory gave his side a platform to build from. "We went all out to win the St. Michael's game and we did really well to get the better of them and that win gave us a base to build from as we had three points on the board," he remarked. It's often said that the first win is the most important for any team and this proved to be the case for Rathkenny as after seeing off St. Michael's, O'Brien's troops managed to churn out an unlikely victory over one of the favourites for outright honours, Syddan. "After beating St. Michael's it was very tight around the middle of the group so we knew we were still in with a shot of reaching the knockout stages and from then on the games came thick and fast and we managed to beat Syddan by a point and that put us in a great position," the midfielder said. "After the Syddan game we went on to play St. Colmcille's and we bet them well so at that point we began getting that bit more confident and began thinking that we could beat any side and it began to show in our play as we improved steadily as the championship worn on," he added. After negotiating the group stages of the competition in a less than straightforward manner, Rathkenny had in fact taken full points from their final four group games and as a consequence the club had adopted newfound buoyancy with a calsh in the last eight approaching. "We entered the quarter-final clash with Donaghamore/Ashbourne with our confidence sky high as we had won our last four games in the group and we knew that if we played in the same way as we had been doing towards the latter stages of the group games that we would be very hard to beat," Donegan remarked. A hard fought win over Donaghamore/Ashbourne handed Rathkenny a semi-final meeting with neighbours Castletown, who themselves had struck a rich vein of form, but O'Brien's charges were in no mood to be defeated and Donegan recalls the victory over their rivals as one of the highlights of the campaign. "We have always struggled to beat Castletown all through the years and it had been a very long time since we had beaten them in the championship so it was a huge game locally and with the games coming so tight together we didn't have too much time to think about any one particular game, which may have helped us in the long run," Donegan said. After disposing of two of the renowned forces of the intermediate ranks in Donaghmore/Ashbourne and Castletown, Rathkenny found themselves in the unusual situation of meeting relative unknowns in the shape of Drumconrath but Donegan stressed that the favourites tag didn't burden them. "It was strange in some ways that we were playing Drumconrath in the final as most people would have been expecting Oldcastle and Castletown to get to the final but even though we weren't playing one of the so called powers of the IFC we still had to stay focused on the job in hand." "Although we were favourites going into the final, an awful lot of people were tipping Drumconrath to win it as well so there wasn't too much pressure put on us and we just kept our heads down and didn't let external things get to us and interfere with our preparations," he added. It's often the case that teams leave it behind them in finals but Rathkenny didn't fall into that trap as they shot into an early lead and established a 0-9 to 0-0 lead before Drumconrath got going and Donegan believes the football his side played in achieving lead was the best they had played during the campaign. "It was a very unusual game to play in and it went nearly too well in the early stages as we were nine points to nothing ahead and when you get that big of a lead you're always wondering can we keep this going." "We played without doubt our best football of the entire championship in the first half of the final. I was playing midfield and usually I would be trying to burst forward to help the forwards but anytime we gave them the ball they were popping it over the bar'. "The second half was very nerve wracking. The wind was a big factor and we were against it in the second half so we knew they would come at us all guns blazing but the goal and the point we got after half time was absolutely crucial." "It was a fantastic feeling when the final whistle blew because I personally have won very little as a footballer, even at under age we struggled for many years so to actually win an intermediate championship is a great achievement,", a delighted Donegan recalled. Although Rathkenny had many impressive youngsters on show throughout the year, Donegan admitted that the influence of the more experienced members of the side such as Donal Curtis helped to progress the younger panellists. "Its great to have experience there and with us having a lot of young lads, it was great to have the likes of Donal Curtis there to help them along and there is no substitute for the type of experience that Donal brings to the side," he remarked. Following the remarkable triumph at Pairc Tailteann, the celebrations in the small parish of Rathkenny shot into life and Donegan declared that he was privileged to be a part of the side that brought the parish to a standstill. 'It was fantastic in the parish for days and even weeks after the final. It was something unique and I had never witnessed anything like it before. Even all the colours that were out around the parish were great to see and to be a part of it was very special for me," he added. While the main aim was achieved with the slender success over Drumconrath there were two added bonuses in store for the Rathkenny following as their side added two more pieces of silverware to their trophy cabinet with Donegan playing an integral role in both the B FL final victory and the Division 3 FL win. "A lot of us were eligible for the B FL final the week after we won the intermediate and we bet St. Patrick's by four points and that was really an added bonus for those involved." "Then the week after that we had the Division 3 FL final and we were playing on adrenalin as we just wanted to keep our winning run going. We seem to have a mental strength throughout the year and that stood to us in the league final against Drumconrath. Even though we were four points down at one stage we still had the character to come back and carve out a victory to cap off a memorable season," Donegan concluded. Tweet

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