Multy turn the corner
April 30, 2010It has been a long road, but St. Fintan's/Multyfarnham are now finally starting to reap the benefits of many years of hard work at underage level.
Last year, the Longford-border combination enjoyed arguably their best championship run since reaching the 1997 junior final and, while they failed to do themselves justice against St. Paul's in the quarter-final, they can still look back on a season when considerable progress was made.
After playing together for 15 years, St. Fintan's and Multyfarnham decided to go their separate ways at underage level last year. Out of the split, a new club was formed in Multyfarnham while St. Fintan's, whose numbers are much smaller, are expected to follow suit in the near future.
The split hasn't affected Multyfarnham in the slightest as they enjoyed another fine year, particularly from under 14 downwards. Multy underage secretary Sean Kelly explains: "We were very pleased with how our first year went. It was something we had been working towards for a long time. This was going to happen sooner rather than later because Multyfarnham has been producing 90 per cent of the players over the past number of years.
"The big problem we had with the amalgamation was the distance between the two clubs. We're 11 miles apart and that made it unworkable in my opinion. We had very little in common. The children didn't go to school together or anything like that. We always wanted our own identity and we're delighted to have that now.
"And it helped that there was no animosity between the clubs over our decision to break away. There is talk of St. Fintan's fielding their own underage teams soon, and I wish them the best of luck with that."
Multyfarnham have put a huge emphasis on their underage structures in recent years and made history in 2007 when they won the under 12 'A' league for the first time. That same team recorded some great wins in the under 14 championship last year against the likes of Tyrrellspass, Castledaly, Moate All-Whites and St. Mary's, Rochfortbridge before losing at the quarter-final stage to Kilbeggan/St. Joseph's. The team was managed by Gary Loughrey and Peter Murtagh.
The Multy under 12s, who were coached by Frank Conway and David Kelly, qualified for the second phase of Division 2, while the under 10s shared the North Westmeath League title for the second year-in-a-row, this time with Killucan who they drew with in the final. This team was managed by Joe Kelly and Gary Guilfoyle.
In May, Multy hosted an under 8 Go Games Blitz as part of the AIB 'Play & Stay with the GAA' Go Games Blitz Initiative. This initiative is designed to promote the use of the Go Games model to increase participation and improve playing standards in young players.
Multy also co-hosted 'Cluster Coaching' sessions which were given by Westmeath GAA coaches Garry Sammon and Eddie Bouabbse. Enda Finnerty, Paddy Wallace and Brendan Coughlan were the under 8 team's mentors. Of course, Multy's underage revival has been greatly aided by the success of the Frank Mullaniff Cup which is an annual internal competition involving both boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 14.
Another highlight was the appearance of Multy's under 16 team in the championship quarter-final which they lost to Delvin on a 2-6 to 3-7 scoreline. Both the under 16 and minor teams were managed by John Nugent, Sean Kelly and Ollie Kidd. Anthony McGivney, who was midfield on that under 16 team, also had the honour of representing his county last year.
Ballynacargy man John Mulligan is entering his third year as manager of the St. Fintan's/Multyfarnham junior side and, after guiding them to the knockout stages of the junior championship for the only the second time since their last appearance in a junior final 13 years ago, he is pleased with their progress.
"It was a good achievement to reach the quarter-finals - a big improvement on the previous year. But we were still very disappointed with our performance against St. Paul's," says the former referee, who has achieved championship success with Ballynacargy, Bunbrosna and the St. Patrick's minor and under 21 teams in the past.
"The younger lads are starting to filter through from the underage system and that has been a big help. But it could be another couple of years before the underage work bears fruit. We have a very small pick and we need more of the youngsters to come through and bolster the thing further."
The Streete/Multy combination's stunning first round victory over 2007 intermediate champions Ballinagore in last year's Division 3 league provided them with a massive boost going into the championship. Drawn in a group comprising mainly of senior clubs' second strings, they opened their campaign with an emphatic 6-9 to 1-2 victory over Delvin at Kinnegad on April 30. This was followed by a second win at Garrycastle's expense (3-7 to 1-7) and a 1-7 each draw with Athlone in Rosemount.
They chalked up their third win when edging out Bunbrosna by 0-11 to 0-10 in Milltown before Coralstown/Kinnegad ended their unbeaten record with a 0-17 to 1-10 victory in Rochfortbridge.
But John Mulligan's charges bounced back to beat Castledaly by 0-12 to 1-4 in their final group game at Tang which earned them a quarter-final meeting with St. Paul's at Cusack Park on August 17.
As it turned out, the occasion proved too much for the young St. Fintan's/Multy side who trailed by a whopping 0-0 to 3-4 after just 14 minutes. Their Clonmellon opponents ran riot in the early stages and already had three points on the board before county dual star Philip Gilsenan blasted home the opening goal in the fifth minute. After Lenny Mulvaney saw his shot saved at the other end, St. Paul's struck for their second goal through David Dolan in the 12th minute. And before Multy could get their bearings, Jimmy McGuinness ran through to score a third goal.
The losers finally got off the mark in the 18th minute when Max Brady fisted a David Kelly free to the net and this sparked some life into them. Within a minute, Kelly set up Emmett Feerick for a point and then full forward Brady was unlucky to see his effort rebound off the post.
Johnny Fitzpatrick replied with a point for St. Paul's, but Multy continued to press and were rewarded with further scores from Feerick and Mulvaney. But their comeback hopes were ruthlessly ended when Philip and Paul Gilsenan goaled in quick succession to leave St. Paul's perched on a 5-7 to 1-3 lead at half-time.
To their credit, Multy got the first two points of the second half from Max Brady and Emmett Feerick, but their Meath-border opponents hit back with scores from Philip Gilsenan, Dara Brady and Jimmy McGuinness. Conor Murtagh grabbed a late consolation goal for Multy, but the game had long ended as a contest by then.
Proving that last year's victory was no fluke, St. Fintan's/Multy defeated Ballinagore again in their opening Division 3 game in February and their manager is hoping it will provide the catalyst for another progressive year.
"We beat Ballinagore in our first league match for the second year in-a-row, so that's an encouraging sign," says Mulligan, who has added Colin Murtagh to his backroom team (John Moran and Pat Denning are continuing as selectors).
"We're back in with the exclusive junior clubs this year and are hoping to build on last year's progress. We're aiming to reach the knockout stages once again but, having said that, we're not looking beyond Loughnavalley in the first round. The outcome of that game could shape our whole season."
He continued: "We did well to retain our Division 3 league status last year and if we could manage that again, it would be a good achievement."
The St. Fintan's/Multyfarnham team which faced St. Paul's in the JFC quarter-final was: Patrick Boyce; Stephen Reilly, Henry Reilly, Tommy Denning; James Carey, Martin Connell, Gerald Ferrick; Enda Carter, Conor Murtagh; Robbie Gilligan, Leo Blake, David Kelly; Emmett Feerick, Max Brady, Lenny Mulvaney. Subs used: Cian Cooney, Leroy Casserly, David Nolan, Michael McDonnell and Paul Smyth.
The Multyfarnham team which lost the under 16 championship quarter-final to Delvin was: Ciaran McCabe, Stewart Doyle, Paul Brannigan, Jamie McEnroe, Shane Kelleher, Jamie Tarleton, James Power, Adam O'Keeffe, Dylan Maxwell, Anthony McGivney, Anthony Kelly, Danny Newman, Darren Aughey, Andrew Clarke, Paul Kelly and James Pearce.
The under 10 squad which did duty against Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall in the North Westmeath tournament was: Laurence Monaghan, Rian Kelleher, Noel Bardon, Christopher Feerick, Aaron Whelehan, Jamie Coffey, Ciaran Bawle, Cathal Bawle, Paul Mulligan, Lee Mulligan, Leon Fulham, Shane Fulham, Kyle Fulham, Bernard Cox, Jack Moran, Mark Ledwith, Andrew Hogan, Paddy Wallace, Cian Lee, Josh Lee, Lorcan O'Meara, Gary Greville, Michael Kelly, Megan Kelly, Niall McGovern, Emmett Hope, Brendan McCarthy and Eoin Kelly. Tweet
