KVC Manufacturing Ltd are the current sponsors of Kilbeggan Shamrocks and the vehicle conversion specialists have many links with the club as Sales Manager Willie Daniels explains to the Maroon and White. The Kilbeggan based company have close links with the local football club as a few of their players are employed by Danny McGee, who is Managing Director of KVC. The company was first established in the mid-nineties and has since become Ireland's leading vehicle conversion manufacturer. All vehicles are converted to the customers' needs to help provide comfort, reliability and safety. KVC's client list includes the Health Board and the Irish Wheelchair Association, who need specially designed vans for the safe transportation of their patients. KVC currently employ 50 people, many of whom are involved with Kilbeggan Shamrocks and Willie revealed that the company is looking to expand their business over the next year. "We are hoping to expand over the next year. The business is going very well and we have many contracts ongoing. Since KVC was first established, the company has grown considerably on an annual basis," said Willie. Their sister company Esker Bus and Coach Sales Ltd operate from the same premises in Comagh Business Park and this end of the business concentrates on the distribution of UNVI touring coaches and KVC midi coaches in the U.K and Ireland. KVC specialise in complete in-house design using the latest technology; personalised coaches built to individual customer specifications; full touring spec midi coaches, purpose built range of wheelchair accessible vehicles based in all makes and models. Esker also offer a comprehensive package that includes, a modern workshop facility; full spray painting facility, on site service repair agent; body repair service throughout Ireland, all coaches are available with full COIF and large selection of new and used Mercedes Benz coaches. The company are in their third year sponsoring the Kilbeggan intermediate team, but have been sponsor of the club's ladies side for a lot longer as Esker has adorned their jerseys. "The sponsorship deal has been working fine and the fact that we have so many connections with the club means we are pleased to help them out in any way we can," added Willie. Indeed, Willie himself played with the club until recently when injury forced him to retire at a relatively young age. Having played minor and under-21 football with Westmeath in the mid-nineties, Willie was a noted footballer, but also made his mark in the handball alley. Part of his medal haul include numerous Leinster medals and an All-Ireland championship medal won in 1996 with Westmeath. "I had to give up sport because of injury. It's a bit disappointing but I had a decent enough career and can look back with some pride. Football is a young man's game these days, especially with the level of fitness that must be reached to play at a decent standard," he pointed out. "Damien McLoughlin, who is a selector with the county minors and Bobby Kelly who plays for Shamrocks are just a couple of the lads involved with the club." Kilbeggan Shamrocks begin every year with the aim of winning the intermediate football championship, but they have failed to make the grade since being relegated at the end of the 2002 campaign. A 4-10 to 2-10 win was recorded over Milltown in their first outing that got the campaign off to the perfect start and they followed this up with a 0-14 to 1-10 win over Tang. It was three wins out of three when Milltownpass were defeated by 2-12 to 2-7, which virtually guaranteed Kilbeggan a place in the quarterfinals at the very least. However, defeat in two of their remaining three group matches to Rosemount (2-12 to 0-9), Bunbrosna (2-10 to 1-5) left Kilbeggan having to defeat Maryland in their final outing to ensure a place in the knockout stages. An entertaining encounter with Maryland resulted in the maroon and whites recording a two-point with over their opponents 0-11 to 0-9 and a place in the last eight against Shandonagh. The 2005 campaign saw their interest ended at the quarterfinal stage when Shandonagh came out on top by five points (3-8 to 2-6) and once again there was a sense of underachievement within the club. Kilbeggan have in their ranks some of the most talented footballers in the county that are the product of an excellent underage structure put in place by the club over the years. "The club dedicate a lot of time to teaching youngsters the skills of the game and this has paid off as they have been very successful in recent years at underage level. Kilbeggan have some very good footballers in their ranks and the likes of Keith and Aidan Gorry, PJ Ward, Niall O'Brien and Sean Pidgeon would walk on to any club team in the county. We also have some excellent young players coming along like David Keenan and Chris Lynch to mention a few. "Remarkably the only player in the club playing for the county at the moment is PJ Ward, which is surprising. PJ is an exceptional talent and he will be a major boost to us for this year's campaign as he missed last year when he was in America," noted Willie. As the Westmeath footballers enter a new era, Willie is confident that the team can perform better that they did last year and believes that the new look squad could pick up some silverware. "It was very disappointing to see Westmeath perform so badly last year. I think their first priority must be to get back into Division One of the league. If they can achieve that it will give the young lads great confidence. "The Leinster championship is wide open and there are four or five teams capable of winning it with Westmeath being one of those sides. There is a lot of speculation about how they are going to do and hopefully they can repeat the performance of 2004," stressed Willie. Former Kinnegad footballer Joe Giles is the current manager of Kilbeggan Shamrocks and Willie believes that the team have no excuse with regards to their fitness level. "Joe has come in and you can see that the side are a lot fitter. When he was playing, he was always one of the fittest men in the county and that has rubbed off in his training methods." Once again, Kilbeggan will enter the intermediate championship with huge desires of making a return to the senior ranks. The club have eight senior titles to their credit, but the last of which was won in 1935. It has now been 26 years since the club last contested the senior final when The Downs emerged victorious on that occasion and since then Kilbeggan have been in a state of decline. However, a return to the top flight could soon be a reality as this sleeping giant looks set to adorn the senior stage in the very near future and 2006 could be their year. Tweet

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