The almost unthinkable must have been going through the minds of everybody associated with the Cortown club as they made their way to Bective on the fourth Saturday of September this year - one more defeat and they had lost another life in their struggle to avoid a second championship relegation in the space of a year. Last autumn, a decade of very honest endeavour in the SFC came to an end when they lost the relegation play-off to Kilmainhamwood and there were times during the 2007 IFC when it looked quite possible that they would be playing in the JFC in 2008. How sore would that have been? Thankfully for Cortown, it didn't happen, as they defeated Ratoath comfortably in a relegation play-off to avoid a dreaded do or die confrontation with Ballivor to decide who would make the drop to the junior ranks. "A huge relief," was how Cortown player and secretary Ivor O'Halloran described the feeling coming away from Bective that evening. Of course, Ballivor themselves were playing in the SFC as recently as 2003 when they too were sent crashing back to the intermediate grade by Kilmainhamwood after only one year in the top flight. It was always going to be a big ask for Cortown to jump straight back up to senior football at the first attempt, but few could have predicted how they would struggle in the IFC after they made a very encouraging start with a battling first round victory over parish rivals St. Ultan's. Also in group C were St. Michael's, Carnaross and an ever-improving Donaghmore/Ashbourne team, but it was that opening meeting with junior champions and neighbours St. Ultan's at Athboy in mid-April that really stood out from the first round pairings. Cortown had former influential player John Henry at the helm as coach, assisted by Eugene McGillick from Kells who, it will be recalled, was 'man of the match' in the 1991 SFC final when Gaeil Colmcille got the better of Walterstown. They looked to be in serious trouble in that opener as St. Ultan's played with tremendous flair in the first half and opened up a 0-6 to 0-1 lead at the break. It wasn't until Brian Casserly pointed in the 29th minute that they opened their scoring account and they were fortunate that St. Ultan's also missed several good chances in that period, though they had five wides themselves late in the half. However, Cortown have always been spirited and never afraid of a challenge and there was a fierce determination about their play in the second half as the brilliant Glen Loughran spurred them on from midfield. The sending off of St. Ultan's player Tommy Coyne 11 minutes after the restart represented a defining moment, particularly as Cortown had eaten into the deficit with points from Gordon Codd (two frees) and Sylvie Skelton. Codd, who proved to be a very effective target man in attack, finished with a personal tally of 1-4 and it was his goal after a superb piece of play by Loughran that enabled Cortown to be level (1-4 to 0-7) at the three-quarter stage. A Codd point had them ahead for the first time and while St. Ultan's drew level, Cortown finished best with scores from Codd and a Loughran '45' to earn a 1-7 to 0-8 victory. That looked to be the ideal, morale-boosting start for Cortown and they were expected to build on it as the group campaign progressed. However, the very opposite happened as they lost three straight games and ended up at the bottom of the section on just two points and facing the dreaded fight for survival. St. Michael's, junior champions in 2005, provided the second round opposition at Kells and after winning their first game by two points Cortown suffered a loss by the minimum margin on this occasion as the Carlanstown/Kilbeg combination won by 2-8 to 1-10 after leading by 1-3 to 0-4 at the change of ends. The most alarming statistic to emerge from Cortown's other two group matches is the fact that they managed only nine points overall and such poor scoring was always going to get them into trouble, rather than boost their prospects of reaching the knockout stages. Carnaross are blessed with quality forwards in the shape of Ollie Murphy and John L. McGee and it was McGee who did most damage when Cortown returned to Kells on the second weekend of June for a third round clash. Two first half goals from McGee, who had made a good recovery from injury, set Carnaross firmly on the road to a victory that played a significant role in their march to the quarter-finals where they lost to town neighbours Gaeil Colmcille. Gary Coyne had given Cortown the lead with an early point, but that was about as good as it got and once Murphy equalised Carnaross never looked back. McGee's goals helped them to lead by seven points (2-3 to 0-2) at the interval and there was no way back for Cortown after that. The second period was a low-scoring affair, with Carnaross adding only four points and Cortown managing a very disappointing three in reply. The situation going into the final round of group games was that Cortown could still qualify from a very tight section, but they could also end up in relegation trouble. Carnaross had completed their four-game programme and were on top with five points. The other teams in the group had played three times and Donaghmore/Ashbourne were in second position on four points, with St. Michael's on three and Cortown and St. Ultan's on just two. St. Ultan's secured the preliminary quarter-final position when they got the better of St. Michael's in their last divisional match at Kells on the same evening that Cortown capitulated completely against Donaghmore/Ashbourne who won by a whopping 18 points at Simonstown to secure top place in the division. It finished 4-10 to 0-4 on an evening of great disappointment for Cortown who were rarely in contention. Donaghmore/Ashbourne led by 2-3 to 0-2 at the interval, but really stamped their authority on the game in the second period which they won by 2-7 to 0-2. Just two points in each half was a dreadfully poor return and didn't exactly augur well as Cortown prepared for what they hoped wouldn't be the first of two relegation play-offs. Ballivor had finished bottom of group A and had only one chance of securing their intermediate status. Cortown had two, starting with a meeting with group B bottom side Ratoath. And apart from the battling second half performance against St. Ultan's more than five months earlier, this was the only time they played really well in the championship. Ratoath must have fancied their chances at Bective because they had won their final group game against last year's runners-up Drumconrath, while Cortown had suffered that very heavy defeat to Donaghmore/Ashbourne. But it was Henry's side which stood up to the challenge and the pressure best to win by all of nine points (2-10 to 0-7). Ratoath scored the first point, but with the highly influential Gordon Codd contributing 2-3 from play over the hour, Cortown were the superior team. Codd's first goal helped them to hold a 1-5 to 0-4 lead at the break and his second enabled them to copper-fasten their position of supremacy in the second period. It was a fine team performance from Cortown, with their younger players showing up to good effect, and that augurs well for 2008 and beyond when they will hope for more rewarding campaigns. The fact that they scored all bar a point of their tally from play must have left the players in particular wondering what might have been if they had displayed such accuracy during the group stages. Still, it was a highly positive way to end a difficult campaign that had started so promisingly with that win over parish rivals St. Ultan's and then went steadily downhill from there. "We basically fell apart after that victory over St. Ultan's," was how Ivor O'Halloran described the campaign. "It's difficult to put a finger on it, but maybe there was an over-focus on that particular game." Three successive defeats followed the St. Ultan's match, including that very heavy loss against Donaghmore/Ashbourne in the fourth round which had the potential to be a disastrous outcome and must have had the alarm bells ringing in Cortown. "Yes, it was a disaster," O'Halloran added. "I suppose there is no other way of putting it. We didn't play well and were comprehensively beaten by Donaghmore/Ashbourne." But when the pressure was really on in the play-off against Ratoath the response from the players was very positive and that was important with the future in mind. "It was a huge relief to win that game," he said. "We had a lot of young players involved in that match and they played well and we won it comfortably. It was a promising performance with the futute in mind. "Next year we will aim to reach the quarter-finals of the championship and work on it from there." Tweet

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