Relegation rocks Kinnegad
April 30, 2011August 29 2010 was a dark day in the history of Coralstown/Kinnegad whose shock relegation playoff defeat to St. Malachy's brought an end to a 21-year stay in the senior championship.
The result means that the Reds, who came within a whisker of contesting the 2009 county final, will ply their trade at intermediate level this year. After parting company with former Meath manager Colm Coyle following a poor start to last year's championship, local hero Jack Cooney took up the managerial reins, but was unable to save them from relegation.
The irony of Joe Giles - one of Coralstown/Kinnegad's greatest servants - masterminding their relegation wasn't lost on anyone. The St. Malachy's manager, who combined the roles of team captain, trainer and secretary when the Reds last lifted the Flanagan Cup in 1996, won't have taken much satisfaction from condemning his home club to the dreaded drop. He was even involved with the Coralstown/Kinnegad under 21s last year, guiding them to an appearance in the 13-a-side championship final.
The challenge facing Coralstown/Kinnegad now is to regain their top-flight status as quickly as possible and to prove that they are much better than they showed last year.
"We'll be leaving no stone unturned in our attempt to go straight back up," club secretary Alan Plunkett explains.
"Last year was a massive shock to the system and it hasn't been easy to come to terms with. After coming so close to reaching the county final the previous year (they lost the semi-final to St. Loman's after a replay), getting relegated was the last thing we expected to happen. Our aim was to push on and maybe challenge for the county title. But it didn't turn out that way, unfortunately.
"We never built up any momentum last year. We got off to a poor start in the league and had to go down to Garrycastle needing a result in our last game to stay in Division 1. Thankfully, we won by a point, but didn't get the same breaks in the championship. Nothing went right for us and it was a similar story for our underage teams who lost a number of finals. Having said that, it's great to see us contesting underage finals. It bodes well for the future."
Coralstown/Kinnegad were given a boost at the start of last season when Colm Coyle confirmed that he would continuing as manager for a second year. It was widely expected that they would build on the progress made under Coyle in 2009, but after two rounds of the championship, the Meath legend had resigned and Coralstown/Kinnegad were already staring at an early exit.
The tone for a disastrous championship was set when they lost their opening game to Maryland by 0-10 to 2-9 in Moate. The Reds finished the game with just 13 players after full back Joe Kenny was sent off on a straight red card in the 21st minute and centre back Eamonn Fleming was also dismissed late in the second half. With Callum McCormack to the fore, Maryland led by 1-5 to 0-4 at the interval and there was no way back for Coralstown/Kinnegad after John Reilly added Maryland's second goal six minutes after the restart.
A 0-7 to 2-8 defeat to neighbours Killucan at Cusack Park left Coralstown/Kinnegad on the brink of championship elimination and without a manager heading into the eight-week break. Killucan got off to a flying start and led by 1-1 to 0-0 after four minutes with James Nugent accounting for their goal. A second goal from Paul Greville helped propel the Saffrons into a 2-5 to 0-3 interval lead. The losers couldn't close the gap in the second half and their margin of defeat would have been greater had Killucan not shot 11 wides.
Jack Cooney's first game in charge of Coralstown/Kinnegad resulted in another defeat, this time to Tubberclair. After the sides went into the break level on 0-6 each, Kinnegad opened up a three-point lead on the restart. But they were outscored by 0-8 to 0-1 in the final 22 minutes as Tubberclair took the spoils.
Now threatened by relegation, the Meath-border club raised their game to register their only championship win of the campaign against a high-flying Athlone side. Coralstown/Kinnegad dominated the early exchanges, but a Tom Stuart-Trainor goal on the stroke of half-time left Athlone just a point adrift, 0-5 to 1-1, at half-time. However, a Stephen Bracken goal fives minutes after the resumption handed the initiative back to Kinnegad and they held on for a crucial 1-6 to 1-4 victory.
Jack Cooney's charges only needed a draw from their last group game against St. Loman's to avoid a relegation playoff. But after going into the break on level terms, they conceded six unanswered points on the restart to trail by 0-4 to 0-10 with 12 minutes remaining. Kinnegad then rallied with scores from Jason Lynch, Niall Kilmartin, Clive Kiernan and Stephen Cole, but they left themselves with too much to do as Loman's hung on for a precious 0-11 to 0-8 victory to preserve their senior status.
Despite their poor form, Coralstown/Kinnegad were still expected to have too much for a St. Malachy's team who had lost all of their group games and had a -34 scoring difference. But in a stunning upset, St. Malachy's pulled off a dramatic 2-11 to 1-13 victory
Coralstown/Kinnegad looked set to survive when they led by five points 10 minutes into the second half, but despite having a player sent off, the Castletown-Geoghegan men rallied with a 48th minute goal from Sean Whelan and a succession of Alan Mangan frees to condemn the Reds to relegation.
Undeterred by last year's experience, Jack Cooney has decided to stay on as manager and will be assisted by selectors Niall Leydon, Joe O'Keeffe and Gerry Foley in the coming season.
"Jack did all he could last year to keep us up, but it wasn't to be," Alan Plunkett ruefully reflects.
"That would have hurt him a lot, but he is determined to put it right this year. We'll be favourites for the intermediate championship in most people's eyes, but the policy will be to take it one game at a time and to take nothing for granted. It is important that we build up momentum early in the year and take it from there."
As already mentioned, Joe Giles guided Coralstown/Kinnegad to the final of the under 21 13-a-side championship which they lost to Maryland by 4-4 to 3-10. Played on a freezing January's night in Athlone, the final ebbed and flowed with Maryland taking a 1-6 to 2-2 lead into the interval.
The winners made a blistering start to the second half and a Callum McCormack goal had them six points ahead 12 minutes in. However, goals from Adam Browne and Gary Caffrey, either side of a point from Wayne Fox, gave Coralstown/Kinnegad the lead with three minutes remaining. But after Darren Malynn levelled for Maryland, county centre back Kieran Martin scored a breathtaking goal to give the Drumraney men the win.
Coralstown/Kinnegad's current well-being at underage level was reflected in their appearances in last year's minor club championship Division 1 and Feile na nOg finals, while the under 16s won out the new Midlands League competition which included teams from Westmeath, Offaly and Laois.
The minors, who were managed by Jim Rock and Keith Mooney, lost their final to St. Loman's at Lakepoint Park by 0-7 to 3-6 in late October. Coralstown/Kinnegad led by 0-4 to 0-3 at half-time, but were undone by a hat-trick of goals from Ben Kilmurray in the third quarter.
Earlier in the year, the under 14s were relieved of their Feile na nOg title following an exciting final against Athlone, who they had easily defeated in the 2009 decider.
The Shannonsiders were first to find the net through Stephen Ward after just three minutes before Dylan Cooney responded in kind for Coralstown/Kinnegad. There was little to separate the teams until points from Sam Omokoro and Peter Ryan gave Athlone a 1-6 to 1-3 cushion at the interval.
Kinnegad restarted with an unanswered 1-2 to take the lead before Jack Quinn replied with Athlone's second goal. Chris Reid tagged on a point before a penalty from the same player made it 3-8 to 2-6 in favour of the sky blues. But Dylan Cooney's second goal for Kinnegad set up a grandstand finish and Athlone needed a late point from Reid to copperfasten a 3-10 to 3-8 win.
Tom McDonnell's charges had high hopes of going one better in the championship and looked to have one foot in the Division 1 final when they led Ballynacargy by 0-9 to 0-0 at half-time. But Ballynacargy scored an unanswered 2-4 after the restart to record an unlikely victory.
As well as winning the intermediate championship, Coralstown/Kinnegad will also be hoping to do well at under 16 level this year.
"The same team won the under 14 championship and Feile titles under Alan Woods' tutelage two years ago, and a lot will be expected of them in the coming year," the Coralstown/Kinnegad secretary concludes.
The Coralstown/Kinnegad under 21 team which lost the 13-a-side final to Maryland was: Patrick Corless; David Reilly, Cathal O'Reilly; Mark Giles, Ronan Doyle, Paul Maxwell; Wayne Fox, Killian Foley; Daniel Coyne, Jason Cully, Clive Kiernan; Gary Caffrey, Adam Browne. Sub used: Cian Flynn.
The Coralstown/Kinnegad team that faced St. Loman's in the minor club championship final was: John Cheevers; Cathal Reilly, David Reilly, Kaymann Power; Mark Giles, Paul Maxwell, Fergus Murtagh; Adam Boardman, Shane Murtagh; Maurice Kiernan, Darrgh Rock, Ger Leech; Mark Kiernan, Gary Caffrey, Jason Cully. Subs used: Luke Corless, Barry Murtagh, Michael Cole and Ryan Caffrey.
Coralstown/Kinnegad's under 14 team which contested the Feile na nOg final was: Conor Briscoe; Matthew Darcy, Tadhg Flynn, Sean Sweeney; Shane Giles, Darren Leech, Kyle Fox; Darren Giles, Darren Darcy; Brendan Keaveney, Dylan Cooney, Shay Murphy; Dylan Powell, Jamie Greville, Ryan Fox. Subs used: David Etcheri, Sean Sweeney and Dylan Evans.
Ladies football revival
Coralstown/Kinnegad have enjoyed a revival in ladies football in recent years. In 2009, the club contested the senior championship final, only to lose to Garrycastle, while Garrycastle once again ended their interests at the semi-final last year and also defeated them in the senior league final.
"We're coming back strongly," says underage coach Mary Walsh, who was a member of the last team to bring a senior ladies football championship to the parish in 1988.
"We've been working hard with the youngsters and have established ourselves as a 'top three' team. Jack Cooney made great strides with the seniors over the past couple of years and has handed over the reins to Emmett McDonnell for the coming year after taking over the men's team.
"Hopefully, Emmett will be able to build on the progress Jack made and get us over the line. There's a good buzz in the club and we haven't lost any player to emigration yet, which is obviously a good thing."
Last year, Coralstown/Kinnegad collected championship titles at under 14, under 16 and minor level, and Mary is hoping this success will manifest itself at senior level.
"We're very close to a breakthrough," the Coralstown National School teacher asserts.
"When we last won in '88, the championship was a two-horse race between ourselves and Rochfortbridge, but you now have eight senior clubs battling it now. We'll keep working away with the young players and hopefully it will pay off for us in the not too distant future." Tweet
