Blues heading in right direction
April 01, 2010Current team manager Eugene Dolan is confident that it will not be too much longer before the Blues are once again the top team in the county and having won ten championships with the club, Eugene certainly knows what he's talking about.
For this year's edition of the Maroon & White, we speak to the former county dual star about last year's campaign, which saw Brownstown gain some respect from their fellow senior teams following a string of fine performances, while he also gives his thoughts on the 2010 championship.
Having won the intermediate title in 2008, the Archerstown blues made the step up to the top flight once again and straight away were installed as one of the favourites to be relegated. It was hard to argue with that tag as the club has bounced up and down between the grades on a regular basis throughout this decade.
However, the club possess some of the finest hurlers in the county and there was a belief from the outset that remaining in the senior grade was not beyond their capabilities, although instilling a confidence to do so was the key to success.
Former Meath hurler Benny Murray was appointed team manager at the start of last year and he had the arduous task of getting the players to believe in themselves. To be fair to Benny, it was not an easy task and following a lot of consideration, he stepped down before the campaign even began.
The club then turned to former player Eugene and his selector Tommy Smith to oversee the senior team's fortunes for the remainder of the year and he admits that preparations for the opening match against one of the championship favourites, Lough Lene Gaels, were far from ideal.
"There was only about five weeks before the first game when we took over, which was not a lot of time to work with in fairness. To make matters worse most of the lads play football as well and the junior championship had started, so that was taking priority," said Eugene.
"In the end, we managed only three full training sessions before the Gaels match. It was far from perfect, but I still believed that we could match them on any given day."
It was amazing how 60 minutes of hurling can change somebody's perspective of a team as beforehand Brownstown would have been given little or no chance against the Gaels, although by the end of the match, a lot of attitudes had changed.
"In the first half we were exceptional, we really got stuck in and as the half wore on, the lads started to believe in one another and I have to say they played exceptionally. To be fair the Gaels came back strong and got two early goals in the second half, which knocked us off our stride and although we battled hard for the remainder of the match, we just lost out by four points."
Despite losing the game, the talk in the county was all about how well Brownstown played and how they looked to be on the way back up. For far too long, club members and players have been listening to the exact opposite, so it was a welcome relief to be on the other side for a change.
"The players probably didn't believe in themselves enough and that is something we will be looking to change this year. The talent is certainly there and there's no way we should fear any team in the county."
Following the defeat to the Gaels in the first round, Brownstown were placed in the losers' group along with Clonkill, Ringtown and Castletown-Geoghegan. A meeting with the Loughegar outfit in the first match looked like a daunting task as they have become the standard bearers within in the county over the past few years.
Nonetheless, the performance against Lough Lene Gaels was to stand Brownstown in good stead and once again they raced out of the traps to stun their opponents early on.
"We got off to a great start and raced into a five or six point lead, but Clonkill slowly clawed their way back into the game. However, with ten minutes remaining there was only a couple of points in it and Clonkill tagged on a few late scores to flatter the scoreline, which didn't do us justice at all.
"A problem that we had throughout the year was our inability to maintain our level of performance for the full hour. We will be looking to set a structure in place whereby we can keep going for the whole game."
The next game saw Brownstown pitted against a Ringtown side that was also battling to avoid relegation. In Eugene's absence for this game, Eamon Murphy took over the managerial duties. For the first time in the campaign, Brownstown were installed as favourites, a situation that they were not used too and it showed in the performance as they started nervously. There wasn't much between the sides all through the match, but the blues held firm and a couple of vital late scores by Johnny McGuinness earned them their first win of the year.
"It was so important to beat Ringtown. Having played so well in the previous two matches, it would have been a travesty if we lost to Ringtown; we needed to get something from that game going into the last match against Castletown.
"We knew the situation before our last match. A win would see us into the quarterfinal, while a defeat would mean relegation as at the time we understood that two teams were being relegated, although that has since changed."
The game against Castletown was one to forget for the north Westmeath side as they failed to produce their early season form, as the black and ambers ran out convincing winners.
"That was certainly the most disappointing part of the campaign. We just never got going that day, which was a shame because a win would have seen us in the knockout stages for the first time since the late nineties.
"You have to look at the bigger picture and the fact that we are senior again means an awful lot to this club. We have a number of young lads coming through from minor and under-16, while we have a lot of experienced lads in the side, despite being a relatively young team.
"Our aim this year is to consolidate our place in the senior ranks and hopefully reach the knockout stages. We have plenty to work on this year, and I'm confident that with the right preparation, we can cause a surprise or two."
One of the highlights of the year for the club was that star forward John McGuinness topped the scoring charts in the championship beating the likes of county stalwarts Brendan Murtagh and Derek McNicholas.
"The fact that Johnny done that shows that we have the talent in the club. Hopefully this year, more of the lads can emerge on the scoring front and take the burden off him a bit.
"We are working with a relatively small panel and that is always a problem, but the players we have are a determined bunch. As I said we will fear no one this year and hopefully with a slice of luck, we can progress more." Tweet
