Mixing the good with the bad
November 30, 2007
Although St Colmcille's qualified from their five-team section of the Lagan Group IFC, they finished that campaign on a low note when going down surprisingly to an 11 points defeat to St Ultan's in a preliminary quarter-final played under lights at Pairc Tailteann.
With former Galway county player and Louth manager of a few years ago, Declan Smyth, at the helm, the seasiders got off to a promising start in the latest bid to do well in the race for the Mattie McDonnell Cup with a win over last year's beaten finalists Drumconrath.
'Cille's joy' was the heading on the front page of the Drogheda Independent's sports section but there was not much more cheer as they only won one more game. Although their two defeats in the group games were by narrow margins, the display against St Ultan's was poor by their standards.
It had started so well with the 1-9 to 0-10 beating of the Drums at Slane as the result of a 2006 quarter-final clash was turned around. St Colmcille's took their scoring chances much better than the north county side with just four wides compared to a total of ten for the losers.
Also Drumconrath missed a few goal opportunities while the Cille's netted one of their two chances. The men in blue got off to a bright start with Ciaran Kelly slotting over two frees before midfielder Robert McCloskey and lively corner forward Damien O'Brien added points to leave it 0-4 to 0-1.
Although Drumconrath began to make the exchanges a bit closer, St Colmcille's led by 0-6 to 0-5 at the break after veteran Caimin Hall got on target from long range and Kelly converted another free. McCloskey was in outstanding form and finished up with three points.
The decisive goal arrived 23 minutes into the second half with Sligo-native corner forward Keith Farragher netting at the second attempt. At the other end 'keeper Ciaran Rohan made a crucial save from Wayne Reilly at the expense of a '45. Hall completed the winning total when fisting over the bar at the end.
While 1-9 was sufficient to earn a brace of points that day, its equivalent of 0-12 was not enough in the second round Saturday evening tussle at Pairc Tailteann as Dunderry finished up with 0-13. In an open contest 22 of the 25 scores were put over from play and St Colmcille's led by 0-7 to 0-6 at the break.
In the second period Dunderry turned matters around to go into a four points advantage before the seasiders replied with Ciaran Kelly (twice) and Graham Reilly getting on target. However, they were unable to get their noses in front again.
There was another narrow loss when Syddan defeated St Colmcille's by 1-12 to 1-10 in the third round clash at Slane in which both sides enjoyed spells of superiority. There was also two points in it at the break when the men in the green and yellow hoops were ahead by 1-5 to 0-6.
St Colmcille's got on level terms in the third quarter before a goal from Gary Black left them three points to the good. However, Syddan had the better of the final ten minutes with five points in a row giving the north county outfit the spoils.
After that loss the odds looked long against the seasiders getting out of the group but then they stole a win over Ratoath and with their four games played, the two results went the right way for them in round five.
There were some late drama in the clash at Skryne as St Colmcille's went from potential relegation candidates to knockout stages hopeful in a matter of seconds. Earlier a goal from Sean Collier after 21 minutes had boosted the 'Cille's to 1-4 to 0-6 interval lead.
The exchanges remained close right up to the end and a goal from substitute Mark Whearty near the hour mark left Colmcille's two points up. Then Ratoath struck for a similar score and their opponents looked set for a third consecutive loss before Damien Beakey proved a hero when punching to the net during added time to leave the final score 3-8 to 1-12.
While St Colmcille's were idle in round five, the results of the two games in their group went on their favour. Dunderry's win over Syddan gave them the top spot and although losing to Ratoath, who were eventually relegated to junior ranks, Drumconrath took second place with Syddan losing out.
However, such was the heavy hammering suffered by St Colmcille's in their next outing that they might have been better not to qualify. It is difficult to understand how they managed to beat Drumconrath in the opening round and eventually bow out with an 11 points loss to St Ultan's.
But then in the Thursday night tussle at the county ground. St Colmcille's never got into the game against St Ultan's, who ran out facile 3-8 to 0-6 winners. It was 1-3 to 0-0 after only six minutes and the East Meath side were well beaten when behind by 0-0 to 2-4 after 17 minutes.
They eventually got on the board when midfielder Enda Grogan pointed on 18 minutes and Gary Black doubled their total with a good score before the break when it was 3-5 to 0-2. There was obviously no way back but St Colmcille's actually 'won' the second half by 0-4 to 0-3.
Three of their scores in the second period were from frees, put over by John McKenna and Graham Reilly (two) and it was a disappointing exit after getting further in each of the previous two years and getting off to such a promising start last April.
St Colmcille's were in Division 2 of the All County A Leagues and they managed to retain that status by finishing third from the bottom, just above the relegated pair of Kilmainhamwood and Oldcastle.
Their most impressive league display was served up in the 3-20 to 3-9 trouncing of seniors Kilmainhamwood and they also had points to spare over Ratoath in the secondary competition as well as drawing with Carnaross.
There were Division 2A defeats at the hands of Syddan, Castletown, Dunderry, Simonstown Gaels, Cortown and Drumconrath. They lost by 16 points to eventual outright winners Simonstown but a few of them were by narrow margins and staying in that section should be a boost as they look ahead to 2008.
Another boost was the winning of the B League Division 6 by the young side managed by former Cavan county player Paddy Magill, the success being gained with a 3-9 to 2-11 victory over Blackhall Gaels in the final at Ratoath.
It was 1-5 to 0-5 at the break with the first of Graham Boyle's two goals dividing the sides at that stage. The close exchanges continued after the switching of ends and as well as Boyle's second goal, Jason Collier also found the net.
The winning team was : P. Madden; C. Reilly, M. Metcalf, R. Madden; S. Cassidy, B. Mullen, C. Costello; M. Magill, J. Tuffy; P. Lynch, J. Collier, R. O'Donoghue; G. Boyle, B. Coyle, M. Gallagher. Sub - M. Fitzsimons for Reilly.
After an up and down type of year on the playing pitches, there was a boost for the St. Colmcille's club in November when they along with two other local clubs, Duleek and St Mary's, they were awarded generous sponsorship from Irish Cement.
The three clubs will each receive 50,000 euro from the sponsoring firm over the next five years and plant manager Barry Leonard handed over the initial 10,000 euro to the three clubs at a function.
"Over the years we have received a lot from the community and we felt that it was time for us to give something back. We know that each club will benefit enormously from the money and we hope that it will enable them to further develop underage structures and facilities,'' said Leonard.
Among those present was one of the St Colmcille's great players of the past, Robbie O'Malley, and after it was suggested that Duleek had been the most successful of the three benefiting clubs as regards titles won, St Colmcille's chairman Oliver 'Jackser' Kavanagh remarked that his club had gained more All Star awards.
The club has five All Stars with polished corner back Robbie O'Malley gaining three and ace corner forward Bernard Flynn having picked up two. The duo were part of the last IFC outright triumph by St Colmcille's back in 1988.
Now coming up to the 20th anniversary of that success, the seaside club will be keen to put in a stronger bid in their efforts to regain the title in the coming years. They will take some encouragement from their better displays over the last few months and could reach the closing stages of the race for the Mattie McDonnell Cup again.
In 2007 there were a number of surprise winners of championships in Meath and St Colmcille's would like to get in that act in the coming year. Who knows but they might!
The heart of the club
The committee of St. Colmcille's would like to take this opportunity to write about a very special person in the club. This person is Brendan 'Brasso' Beakey. Brendan has been involved since Shallon amalgamated with Star of the Sea to become St. Colmcille's in 1972. The Cooperhill native has been involved with the club at various levels and in different roles for as long as anyone can remember. Brendan was a member of the Meath panel from 1974 to 1978 and won a national football league medal in 1975. He was an important part of the team that made history in winning the Meath JFC in 1983 and the intermediate championship five years later, playing alongside Bernard Flynn and Robbie O'Malley on those teams, before he retired in 1990.
Brendan was St. Colmcille's secretary from 1992 to 1997 and also during this time he was involved in underage teams which won the U12 and U14 championships.
He took up the position of intermediate team manager in 2002 and finished with the side this year. During his spell in charge the club reached an intermediate semi-final and two quarter-finals.
Brendan's contribution to the club has been fantastic and the committee of St. Colmcille's would like to thank him for all the hard work he has put in over the years.
St. Colmcilles GFC
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