Dalton's eager to take next step
April 30, 2011Despite losing the intermediate championship final to Delvin in heartbreaking circumstances, Fr Dalton's can still look back on 2010 with much satisfaction.
Since reforming as an adult club in 2008, the Ballymore outfit have been a revelation, winning the junior 'B' championship in their first year back in competition and qualifying for the semi-finals of the intermediate championship in 2009. They made further progress last year by reaching the intermediate final and winning Division 3 of the All-League County League.
"We've been improving each year since we reformed and hopefully that trend will continue this year," enthuses Pat Connaughton, who is entering his fourth year as Fr Dalton's manager.
"It was a big thing for us to reach the intermediate final last year, and even though we were beaten, it was still a great experience, especially for the younger lads who have come through our underage system. The lads now know what's required to win an intermediate championship and are eager to take the next step this year."
Connaughton, who hurled for Westmeath for 14 years and finished his club career with Fr Dalton's last year after a lengthy spell with Castletown-Geoghegan, takes huge encouragement from the club's capture of the Division 3 title, the final of which carried over into January of this year.
"It was nice to win it and to make amends for our defeat in the championship final. The big positive I took from it was the performance of Colm Mackey who scored 0-9 from frees. We were lacking a reliable free-taker after Enda Kincaid did his cruciate, but Colm's decision to transfer back to us from Thomastown in Kilkenny looks to have solved that problem."
Under the management of Connaughton and his selectors Donie Glynn, Kevin McLoughlin, Brian McCabe and Denis O'Roarke, Fr Dalton's showed indifferent form in the group stage of last year's championship, but still managed to progress to the semi-finals along with Delvin, Crookedwood and Turin.
The signs didn't look good when they lost their opening game to Crookedwood by 2-6 to 1-14 and drew their second against Clonkill's second string (1-7 to 0-10). But a resounding 2-13 to 1-6 victory over Cullion got them up and running, and despite suffering a second defeat to Delvin (1-17 to 2-17), they finished third in the group thanks to a 0-12 to 0-8 win over Turin.
In the semi-final, the Ballymore men renewed their rivalry with Crookedwood, who had soundly beaten them in the first round. It looked as if it was going to be the 'Wood's day once again when they led by 0-6 to 0-4 at the break, but Fr Dalton's produced a five-star display in the second half which saw them outscore their opponents by 0-9 to 0-0 and ease to a 0-13 to 0-6 victory.
Within five minutes of the restart, Pat Connaughton's underdogs had taken the lead thanks to a trio of points from Enda Kincaid (two) and county footballer Kieran Martin. Fr Dalton's were never headed thereafter and with Kincaid and Martin in fine scoring form, they powered into the decider.
Appearing in their first intermediate final since 1990, Fr Dalton's had high hopes of reversing their earlier defeat to a Delvin team that had gone through the championship unbeaten. Played before an attendance of 1,580 at Cusack Park, the final was a thrilling affair which saw Delvin emerge victorious by 2-8 to 1-10 after withstanding a late onslaught from the green and golds.
Fr Dalton's made a dream start when Trevor English first-timed Brian Finerty's sideline delivery to the net in the eighth minute. But some wasteful finishing from both frees and play unnerved Fr Dalton's and Delvin took advantage with goals from goalkeeper John O'Shaughnessy (penalty) and Niall Williams to take a 2-3 to 1-4 lead into the break.
The Valleymen stretched their advantage on the restart thanks to scores from Pat Farrington and Killian Murphy, and looked to be out of sight when they led by seven points midway through the second half. Delvin continued to hold a four-point advantage until the switch of corner back Fergus Shaw out the field began to pay dividends for Fr Dalton's who hit the last three points to reduce the deficit to the minimum.
However, Delvin survived eight nerve-wracking minutes of injury-time to secure their ticket to the senior ranks in 2011.
Fr Dalton's put that disappointment behind them on January 30 last when they defeated Crookedwood by 1-11 to 0-9 to land the Division 3 crown. Star of the show was new recruit Colum Mackey, a former Castletown-Geoghegan underage player, whose haul of 0-9 from frees went a long way towards deciding the outcome.
Although the 'Wood opened the scoring through Barry O'Meara, it didn't take Mackey long to stamp his mark on proceedings. The wing forward had posted three points before setting up Brian Finerty for the Ballymore side's fourth. Mackey and Brian McLoughlin continued to keep the scoreboard ticking over as Fr Dalton's led by 0-7 to 0-2 at half-time.
Playing in front of their home supporters, Crookedwood resumed with points from Barry O'Meara and Noel Yourell to reduce the margin. But their comeback hopes were killed off when their defence failed to deal with Pat Hickey's long delivery into the goalmouth and Donal Glynn was on hand to fire the loose ball to the net.
The introduction of Johnny Orme breathed new life into the home side, but they couldn't get any closer than four points and it was left to man of the match Mackey to close out the game with a late '65.
Looking to the season ahead, Pat says: "We have four or five young players who are ready to make the step-up and put pressure on the lads who are already there. It's a big boost also to have Johnny Gilligan on the county panel. We know we could have won an intermediate championship last year and the aim has to be to make amends this year."
Connaughton, who won a senior hurling championship medal with Castletown-Geoghegan in 2004 and three intermediate football championship medals with Ballymore (1984, '98 and 2003), is confident that Fr Dalton's will remain a competitive force at underage level, despite their recent split from Southern Gaels.
"The underage amalgamation with Southern Gaels was very successful, but they wanted to go out on their own and we have to respect that. We will continue to push our underage really hard and keep the young players coming through," he concludes.
The Fr Dalton's team which captured the All-County League Division 3 title was: Brian McCabe; Fergus Shaw, Pat Hickey, Christy Maloney; Ciaran Finerty, John Gilligan, Michael Maloney; Andrew Slevin, Brian Finerty; Colum Mackey, Sam Whooley, Trevor English; Donal Glynn, Kieran Martin, Pete Murray. Sub used: Kenneth Kincaid. Tweet
