2001 intermediate winners St. Malachy's bucked a recent trend by consolidating their senior status last season. Former county midfielder Christy McDonagh reveals that they will be setting their sights higher in the coming year. St. Malachy's achieved what recent intermediate championship winners Ballymore and Kilbeggan Shamrocks failed to do by consolidating their position in the senior ranks last season. Given the recent trend of intermediate champions failing to survive more than one year in the top flight, 2002 has to go down as a satisfactory year for the Castletown-Geoghegan men. Despite losing to Mullingar Shamrocks, Coralstown/Kinnegad, St. Mary's and Garrycastle, St. Malachy's 5-13 to 2-7 win over Ballynacargy on June 30 was what effectively assured them of senior football for the coming year. "Even though we lost four of our fives games, we'd have to be happy with our lot," says former county midfielder Christy McDonagh. "A lot of people had made us favourites to be relegated and I suppose that was to be expected when you see the record of the teams that had won the intermediate championship in the two or three years before us. Senior football is a big step-up for teams coming up from intermediate so to have held our senior status was a good achievement," he adds. St. Malachy's got an instant taste of life at the higher level when they lost their opening game to Mullingar Shamrocks by 2-6 to 2-13. Early goals from Brian Morley and Barry Maguire left them with a mountain to climb and at half-time, the game was effectively over as a contest with Shamrocks ahead by 2-8 to 0-2. In fairness to St. Malachy's, they didn't throw in the towel with second half goals from Joe Clarke and Paddy Corcoran helping to put a better complexion on the scoresheet. The red and blacks suffered their second defeat on June 10 when they succumbed to Coralstown/Kinnegad by 1-5 to 0-14. Coralstown/Kinnegad dominated the first half, at the end of which they led by 0-8 to 0-3. Paddy Corcoran pulled back a goal for St. Malachy's on the restart, but they were a well beaten side at the final whistle. St. Malachy's secured their only win when they overwhelmed Ballynacargy at Rochfortbridge. Noel Geraghty's side never looked back after Ronan Whelan scored their opening goal in the ninth minute. Joe Clarke and Derek Gallagher added two more to leave St. Malachy's perched nicely on a 3-6 to 0-3 lead at the break. On the resumption, Alan Mangan and Tommy Carey hit points before Whelan tagged on a fourth goal. Dwayne Maher and Declan Farrell replied with goals for Ballynacargy before substitute Kieran Favier completed the rout with a fifth St. Malachy's goal. Bombarded with early scores, St. Malachy's crashed to their third defeat against Garrycastle. The reigning champions had built up a 1-6 to 0-3 half-time lead and finished up as 1-11 to 0-6 winners. All of St. Malachy's scores came from the boot of freetaker Alan Mangan. St. Malachy's campaign ended with a 0-12 to 1-11 defeat to St. Mary's, Rochfortbridge on July 20. St. Mary's led by the minimum at the interval, but points from Mangan (two) and Paddy Corcoran on the restart had the Castletown men in front. As St. Malachy's pushed for the goal that would surely have given them victory, they were hit with a sucker punch in the guise of a Declan Gavin goal. Despite dominating the closing stages, St. Malachy's could only manage one further point from Mangan which wasn't enough to save them from defeat. "We were very unlucky against St. Mary's," recalls McDonagh, who transferred to St. Malachy's from St. Loman's three years ago. "We had enough possession to win that game comfortably, but didn't capitalize on it. I thought we also gave a good account of ourselves against Garrycastle who were by far and away the best team in the championship. When you consider that hardly any of the lads had played senior football before, they did quite well." If championship wins had been hard to come by, the league proved far from more profitable for St. Malachy's. They had one hand on the All-County League Division 2 title until Coralstown/Kinnegad beat them in their final game to force a play-off. In the play-off on November 17, the Meath-border side repeated their earlier victory to shatter St. Malachy's promotion hopes. The first quarter was lively enough, at the end of which Corlastown/Kinnegad led by 0-3 to 0-2. But an Alan Mangan goal had St. Malachy's 1-4 to 0-4 in front at the break. Joe Giles' charges began to exert dominance in the second half, however, so much so that St. Malachy's could only add one further score to their tally. In response, Jamie Wilson, Gordon McDonnell, Eamonn Fleming and substitute John Fleming all found the target for a Coralstown/Kinnegad side that just about deserved its victory. "It was disappointing to end the year on that note. We only needed a draw against Coralstown/Kinnegad in our final game to win the title, but we couldn't manage that and they beat us again in the play-off. The only other point we had dropped in the whole campaign was when we drew with Kilbeggan early in the year," McDonagh explains. It was another successful year for the St. Malachy's/Ballinagore underage club with the Feile Shield (under 14) being captured at the expense of Mullingar Shamrocks on the last day of November. The combination side's penchant for notching goals proved decisive as they claimed a 3-8 to 1-13 victory. James Durkin, Kenneth Rigney and Daniel Maloney all found the net in the first half to give St. Malachy's/Ballinagore a 3-6 to 0-6 interval lead. Although Shamrocks staged a determined fightback in the second period, St. Malachy's/Ballinagore held on for the win. It must be noted that a penalty save by goalkeeper Gerry Clarke 13 minutes from the end had a huge bearing on the final result. The highlight of the year for many supporters was the celebratory rematch between the 1981 senior championship winning St. Malachy's team and The Downs team of 1983. On a glorious evening on August 24, The Downs ran out 2-11 to 1-9 winners. The St. Malachy's players later retired to the Lake County Hotel, Mullingar where a lavish function was held. The celebratory match raised close on EUR3,000 for Westmeath Hospice. Looking ahead to this year's championship, McDonagh will be disappointed if St. Malachy's don't improve on last season's effort. "Last year was all about consolidating our position and we achieved that target," he says. "But we'll need to raise the bar this year and that means improving by another 30 or 40 per cent. As a team, we have come on an awful lot in three years and it is important that we take it another step further this year. "We are fortunate to have a number of excellent young players coming through and I'd expect to see the likes of Brian Garvin, Eddie O'Neill and Liam Corcoran being blooded this year. The draw has been reasonably kind to us and I think qualification for the knock-out stages is well within our capabilities," he concludes. The St. Malachy's/Ballinagore team which captured the Feile Shield title was: Gerry Clarke; Johnny Murphy, Padraig Durkin, Paul Robinson; Kieran Deegan, Shane Gunning, Alan Bouabbse; David Lynam, James Durkin; Kenneth Rigney, Robbie Jackson, Daniel Maloney; Rory Tynan, David Deegan, Thomas McDaniel. Sub used: Brendan Fallon. Tweet

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