2006 was another disappointing year for the Wicklow footballers, who managed just one win between league and championship. It's not something goalkeeper Ray Daniels is proud of, but he remains confident that the Garden County will show a big improvement in the coming year. When a team loses three of its National League games by a point and two of its other fixtures in the same competition by a goal, it's quite clear that something is badly lacking. "We don't seem to have a killer instinct," concedes Wicklow goalkeeper Ray Daniels, who saw the Garden County lose more close games that he cares to remember in 2006. "There's an awful difference between winning and losing tight matches, and unfortunately for us, we came out on the wrong side most of the time this year. When you're losing games like that, the confidence drains from you. "Our aim for the coming year must be to turn those one-point defeats into one-point victories. And the only way we can achieve that is by believing more in ourselves. We need to build up a winning mentality and we need to learn how to put teams away when we have them on the ropes," he adds. Wicklow's run of narrow defeats in the National League set the tone for a bitterly disappointing year. Their eagerly-awaited Leinster championship showdown with neighbours Carlow ended in a humiliating defeat which prompted the resignation of manager Hugh Kenny. Selector Jimmy Callaghan and coach Gerry Grehan were appointed caretaker managers, but they couldn't turn the team's fortunes around as they suffered another heavy defeat to Monaghan in the All-Ireland qualifiers and were then dumped out of the Tommy Murphy Cup by their Leinster championship conquerors Carlow. "After the year we had, there is only one way we can go and that's up," says Daniels, who made his championship debut in the 0-12 to 4-9 championship loss to Carlow. "We're a lot better than what we showed, but we just didn't have the belief that was needed to beat teams. The Carlow defeat was a horrible experience and we were never going to recover fully from that. "Wicklow still has this problem where some of the best club players won't play for the county team. There are some fabulous players out there who don't seem interested in playing for Wicklow. It's a pity really because if the best players in Wicklow were playing for us, we'd be a match for most." Wicklow's first two outings in Division 2B of the National League ended in one-point losses to Antrim and Cavan respectively. The Garden County side led Antrim for 71 minutes of their clash at Casement Park, but still lost by 2-14 to 3-10. With Tommy Gill in fine scoring form, the visitors led by 2-4 to 0-5 at the interval and they kept their noses in front until a minute into injury-time when Antrim drew level before scoring the winning point. It was a similar story against Cavan with Wicklow going down by 1-13 to 1-12 after surrendering a five-point lead. The Breffni boys stormed into a 0-7 to 0-1 advantage after 25 minutes before Wicklow hit back to lead by 1-6 to 0-8 at half-time. Hugh Kenny's side surged into a 1-10 to 0-8 lead after the restart, but allowed their Ulster opponents to come back and snatch an unlikely win courtesy of a late Jason Reilly goal. Westmeath inflicted a third straight defeat on Wicklow (0-15 to 1-9), but again the Garden County contributed to their own downfall by having a player sent off when they were in control of the game in the third quarter. Wicklow secured their only competitive win of the year when they overcame 14-man Waterford at Arklow. They laid the foundations for their 3-7 to 0-6 victory in the first half when goals from Jonathan Daniels - Ray's younger brother - and dual star Leighton Glynn helped them to a 2-5 to 0-2 interval lead. A third goal from Wayne O'Gorman in the second half put the result beyond doubt. Successive defeats to Louth (0-18 to 1-12), Tipperary (1-10 to 0-7) and Sligo (0-12 to 0-11) made for a frustrating end to their National League campaign. But according to Blessington clubman Daniels, they still went into the championship with a positive outlook. "We took encouragement from the league, despite losing six of our seven matches. We knew we weren't that far off the mark and we fully expected to beat Carlow. But nothing went right for us and we were well beaten," he recalls. The local derby clash was played in wet conditions at Wexford Park and Wicklow could never come to terms with the weather or their opponents. Carlow sprinted out of the starting blocks to assume an early 0-5 to 0-1 lead and a superb goal from Leinster player Thomas Walsh had them perched on a 1-6 to 0-2 lead at the break. After Alan Kelly punched Simon Rea's '45' to the net, there was no back for Wicklow, although a run of points from Jonathan Daniels and Patrick Hickey cut the gap to 2-8 to 0-6. But despite being reduced to 14 men, Carlow added further goals from Rea and Brian Carberry to leave Wicklow completely demoralised. The Garden County registered six late points before Patrick Walsh completed the scoring for the runaway winners. After such an insipid Wicklow display, Hugh Kenny's resignation didn't come as a surprise to anyone. "Hugh was absolutely devastated and we all felt bad for him because he had put in such an effort over the previous three years. It shouldn't have ended like that for him. He gave me my championship debut and I will be always grateful to him for that. "But he hinted beforehand that he would step down if we didn't beat Carlow. It was an all or nothing game for him, and he obviously felt afterwards that he had brought us as far as he could," the 27-year-old netminder says. It didn't get any better for Wicklow who were knocked out of the All-Ireland qualifiers by Monaghan at Clones. A dominant first half display by the home side paved the way for an emphatic 2-19 to 3-6 victory. Monaghan were 0-4 to 0-0 in front after 10 minutes, with Wicklow's best chance during the same period falling to Paul Cronin whose shot was easily saved by Shane Duffy. Monaghan continued to pile on the scores and by half-time the game was over as a contest with the home team leading by 2-9 to 0-0. Dick Clerkin extended Monaghan's advantage on the resumption before Jonathan Daniels belatedly opened the visitors' account. Ray Daniels then came to Wicklow's rescue when he saved a penalty from Paul Finlay and two quick goals from Gareth Doyle and Leighton Glynn gave them something to play for. But the Garden County's comeback hopes suffered a crippling blow in the 44th minute when Wesley Callaghan was dismissed for a high tackle on Brendan McKenna. Monaghan went 2-14 to 2-4 ahead before Wicklow scored a late consolation goal. Daniels argues that Wicklow should have been given home advantage for the game, especially as Monaghan had operated in Division 1 of the National League last season. "I think it was very unfair that we had to travel to Monaghan. They were a Division 1 team and we should have been entitled to home advantage. "On top of that, our county board fixed a club championship match between Kiltegan and Bray for the same weekend even though they had four or five players involved with the county panel. How can you expect to win when a decision like that is taken?" In their only outing in the Tommy Murphy Cup, Wicklow fell to a late Carlow goal, losing 1-10 to 0-11. The Garden County looked the better side for much of the game, but a failure to take crucial goal chances that came their way proved their undoing. At the time of writing, Wicklow officials were in the process of appointing a new manager and, not surprisingly, Daniels is hoping Hugh Kenny's successor will instill greater belief in the players. "Hopefully the new man will give us confidence. If we can get the confidence going, I think you'll see a big improvement," he concludes. Tweet

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