Unquestionably the unluckiest team in last year's senior football championship was Kilbeggan Shamrocks. The evergreen Philip Kiernan takes the view that there is no point in crying over spilt milk. After winning the intermediate championship in such impressive style in 2000, Kilbeggan Shamrocks were expected to make their presence felt in the senior championship last season. But lady luck certainly didn't smile on them and they now find themselves back in the intermediate grade once again. There is a very thin line between success and failure and no one knows this better than Kilbeggan. In four of their five outings in the group stages of last year's championship, they were desperately close to achieving victories. Only Tyrrellspass can claim to have beaten them decisively. "With a bit of luck, we could have won four games," claims team veteran Philip Kiernan. "Instead, we didn't win any which was a huge disappointment to us. We felt we were good enough to stay up but now we must focus on trying to win the intermediate championship again. The sooner we get back up into senior, the better," he adds. A regular on the Longford senior side between 1977 and '88, Kiernan puts Kilbeggan's demotion down to a lack of experience. He also bemoans the lack of a killer instinct in the team. "We were probably too inexperienced," he says. "By and large, it's a very young team and hardly any of them had ever played senior football before. We also lacked the ability to put teams away. But that should come in time. Also, I don't think fellas were as committed as they were the previous year. If a team is not totally committed, they won't survive in senior football for very long." Under the management of Pat Flanagan, the maroon and whites opened their senior championship campaign against neighbours Tyrrellspass on May 12 at Castletown-Geoghegan. The first half was keenly contested but Tyrrellspass got on top following the resumption to run out 3-10 to 1-8 winners. The Downs were next up for Kilbeggan. The first half proved to be a struggle for Kilbeggan who trailed by 0-5 to 0-11 at the interval. The Downs continued to hold the whip hand in the third quarter but Kilbeggan refused to throw in the towel and an Emmet Dalton goal brought them back into contention. When Mattie McCormack had a penalty saved late on, it seemed that Kilbeggan were destined for a one-point defeat. But midfielder Michael Ennis earned a 1-12 to 0-15 draw with virtually the last kick of the game. On July 8 at Cusack Park, Kilbeggan secured their second draw against Coralstown/Kinnegad. As the 1-14 to 2-11 scoreline suggests, this was a tremendous contest, illuminated by the brilliance of PJ Ward in the Kilbeggan attack. The teenage star produced a scoring display that had few equals in last year's championship. While the draws with The Downs and Coralstown/Kinnegad were considered as surprise results, Kilbeggan were expected to overcome a struggling Moate All-Whites on August 18 in Athlone. But the men in maroon never got motoring and were beaten by 2-5 to 2-7. Pat Flanagan's charges needed to beat reigning county champions Mullingar Shamrocks in their final group game to avoid a relegation play-off. In a brilliant game, however, Kilbeggan were edged out on a 1-12 to 2-10 scoreline. The underdogs made a blistering start and with Keith Gorry, Bobby Kelly, Mattie McCormack and PJ Ward all impressing, raced into a 1-7 to 0-3 lead. The Mullingar side rallied in the closing 10 minutes of the first half to trail by just two points at the interval. Points from Ward, Gorry and Emmet Dalton gave Kilbeggan a 1-10 to 1-5 advantage early in the second half but an opportunist goal by Mickey Reilly brought Mullingar back into contention. The green and whites eventually took the lead but a superb free from Aidan Gorry restored parity for Kilbeggan. Then, with time almost up, Westmeath star Brian Morley raced upfield before fisting over the winning point for Mullingar. Coralstown /Kinnegad's subsequent victory over Tyrrellspass meant that Kilbeggan would face St. Mary's in a relegation play-off. Despite their failure to win a game, the formguide pointed to a Kilbeggan victory. But St. Mary's, who were no strangers to relegation dogfights, had other ideas and emerged as winners on a 1-6 to 0-6 scoreline. Kilbeggan bombarded the Rochfortbridge defence in a tension-filled finish but failed to score the goal they so desperately required. "I don't think we were up for the game to the same extent as St. Mary's were," Kiernan opines. "St. Mary's had been in those situations before and they were really fired up. You would have to say that they deserved to win but the bottom line is that we should never have been in that position in the first place. Of all the games were played, the defeat to Moate is the one that haunts us most," the 43-year-old adds. Surprisingly, Kiernan - who won Longford senior championship medals with Ardagh, St. Patrick's in 1978 and '87 - doesn't regard Kilbeggan's relegation from the senior ranks as the year's biggest disappointment. The failure of the club's highly-rated minor team to win a county championship was a far greater setback in his opinion. "The minor team was the biggest disappointment of all. They had won all before them at under 14 and under 16 level and big things were expected of them. When you consider that seven or eight of the team played senior last year, they should have been good enough to win a minor championship." Having beaten neighbours St. Malachy's/Ballinagore in the quarter-final, the Kilbeggan minors were demolished by Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall in the semi-final at Shandonagh. When the same two teams met in the under 16 championship decider two years earlier, Kilbeggan had emerged victorious. It wasn't all doom and gloom for Kilbeggan in 2001, however. Both the All-County League Division 3 and Division 5 titles were annexed, thus proving that there is considerable strength in depth at the club. In the Division 3 final, Kilbeggan defeated junior championships finalists Caulry by 3-9 to 0-9. The Division 5 title was captured by virtue of a 1-5 to 1-4 victory over Coralstown/Kinnegad with none other than Philip Kiernan scoring the Kilbeggan goal. "It was nice to be able to pick up two league titles. I thought the Division 3 title was a very important one for us to win. As a senior club last year, we were at a huge disadvantage playing in Division 3. At least now we'll be playing our league football against a mixture of senior and intermediate teams," he says. Kiernan, who acted as player/manager a few years ago, reveals that Kilbeggan Shamrocks have two main objectives this season - success in the intermediate championship and promotion from Division 2. "Our aim is to win both the intermediate championship and Division 2 of the league if at all possible," he explains. "We've spent the whole winter licking our wounds and now we must concentrate on trying to win the intermediate championship again. We have the ability but fellas are going to have to put in the same effort as they did two years ago. Nothing will be handed to them." What about Kiernan's future? "I love playing football and I'll probably play with the second team this year. I'm not so sure if I'll be playing with the intermediates, though. It's a young man's game," he jokingly concludes. The Kilbeggan Shamrocks team which defeated Caulry in the All-County League Division 3 final was: Adrian Carroll; David Conroy, Alan Fennell, Richie McMahon; Paul Maloney, Keith Gorry, Bobby Kelly; Michael Ennis, Emmet Dalton; Mattie McCormack, Niall O'Brien, Aidan Gorry; PJ Ward, Philip Kiernan, Leon Carberry. Subs used: James Brennan, Robbie Dalton, Stephen Conroy and Gary Doonan. The Kilbeggan Shamrocks team which defeated Coralstown/Kinnegad to win the All-County League Division 5 title was: Damien McLoughlin; Liam Ganner, Leon Carberry, Tony Collins; David Conroy, Alan Fennell, Bobby Kelly; Emmet Dalton, James Brennan; Stephen Conroy, Robbie Dalton, Kevin Smith; Adrian Carroll, Philip Kiernan, Gary Doonan. Subs: James Murphy, Mark Murphy, Liam Brady, Sean Pidgeon, Mel Kiernan, Aidan Reid. Tweet

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