Historic under 14 success
April 30, 2011In a year when Ballynacargy suffered the heartbreak of losing their third intermediate football championship final in-a-row and their fourth since 2005, the club's brilliant under 14 team gave supporters something to cheer about when they brought the Division 1 championship title back to Moynihan Park for the first time.
It was a fairytale success for the Bal' youngsters who bounced back from a heavy defeat to Athlone in their opening game of the season to become the first underage team from the Longford-border village to win a Division 1 or 'premier' championship. The historic triumph was overseen by well known local referee and journalist Damien Maher, who was assisted by selectors Tom Kearney, Pat Byrne and Padraig Price.
"It was a big breakthrough for the club," remembers Damien, who refereed last year's senior football final between Garrycastle and Mullingar Shamrocks.
"We had won 'B' and 'C' championships down the years, but never a 'premier' championship before last year. It was a huge thing for the club. No one would have given us a prayer after we were hammered by Athlone in the Feile, but we learned from that defeat and to end up as Division 1 champions was a fantastic achievement," he adds.
The Ballynacargy team which swept to championship glory was unrecognisable from that which bowed out of the Feile in the tamest of circumstances.
"In fairness to the lads, it was their first get-together of the year and therefore had no preparation work done. We improved immeasurably for the championship and it was great to beat the so-called big guns of Westmeath underage football," Damien enthuses.
Bal' signalled their intentions by recording victories over Mullingar Shamrocks and Caulry before losing to Athlone for a second time. However, the contest was much closer than their earlier meeting with the Shannonsiders just about holding on for a 0-15 to 1-9 win after the blue and golds spurned two late goal-scoring opportunities. They also lost to Coralstown/Kinnegad (2-4 to 2-10), but beat Shandonagh (5-13 to 4-11) and The Downs (4-9 to 4-5) to finish third in the group behind much-fancied Athlone and Coralstown/Kinnegad teams, and therefore qualified for the semi-finals.
Ballynacargy renewed their rivalry with Coralstown/Kinnegad in the last four clash and looked down and out when they trailed by 0-0 to 0-9 at half-time. But they hit their opponents for an unanswered 2-4 immediately after the restart and went on to record a memorable victory.
With St. Malachy's/Ballinagore also springing a surprise in the other semi-final against Feile champions Athlone, the stage was set for a novel final at Lakepoint Park on November 6. At half-time, the game was finely poised with St. Malachy's/Ballinagore holding a slender 1-2 to 0-4 lead. Bal' had been the better team for much of the opening half, but were rocked by Cormac Deegan's sucker punch goal for St. Malachy's/Ballinagore four minutes before the break.
But just as they had done against Coralstown/Kinnegad, Bal' turned in a storming second half performance. They had opened up a 0-8 to 1-2 lead within 10 minutes of the restart thanks to unanswered points from Christopher Loran (two), Troy Maher and Regan Maher. Further scores from Wayne Kelly, Loran and Edward Nally extended their advantage before Deegan replied for St. Malachy's/Ballinagore. It proved to be their only score of the second half, leaving Ballynacargy to celebrate a famous success.
"The final was fraught with danger for us because there was always the chance the lads would take St. Malachy's/Ballinagore for granted," the winning Ballynacargy manager recalls.
"Once Athlone were out of the equation, people were saying we would walk the final and that could easily have gotten through to the players. St. Malachy's/Ballinagore were physically stronger than us, but we compensated for this with skill and pulled away from them in the second half.
"This success proves that the strong emphasis we have placed on underage coaching in recent years is paying off. It has given everyone in the club a great lift, and hopefully there will be more to come from this team in the years ahead."
The under 14 success went some way towards atoning for the disappointment of losing another intermediate final. Under the management of Danny Sammon, Bal' recovered from a first round defeat to Bunbrosna (1-8 to 1-14) to register wins over Moate All-Whites (3-9 to 1-4), Kilbeggan Shamrocks (2-13 to 1-8) and Shandonagh (1-20 to 0-6). A 0-14 to 2-8 draw with Caulry saw them set up a quarter-final showdown with Rosemount, who they edged out on a 2-9 to 2-8 scoreline.
They demonstrated their survival instincts once again when accounting for Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall to qualify for their third final on the trot. Finea led by 0-7 to 0-6 at the break, but favoured by the wind in the second half, Bal' outscored their north county opponents by 0-4 to 0-1 in the second half to prevail by 0-10 to 0-8 with late points from Daniel Keena and Sean Fagan proving decisive.
Ballynacargy's final opponents on October 10 were local rivals Bunbrosna, who were aiming to make an instant return to the senior ranks following their relegation in 2009.
With Fintan Finnan in fine form from placed balls, Bun' dominated the early exchanges and a wasteful Bal' had to wait until the 23rd minute for their first score from a Liam O'Reilly free. The losers' task became even more difficult when Bun' centre forward Andrew Whitney scored the opening goal in the 27th minute, and while Bal' responded immediately with a similar score from Dwayne Maher, they still trailed by 1-1 to 1-7 at the break.
Ballynacargy improved after the restart and got themselves back into contention when Willie Murtagh blasted their second goal after fielding brilliantly on the edge of the square. Dwayne Maher reduced the deficit to two points soon afterwards, but that was as close as they came to Bun', who held on for a 1-12 to 2-6 victory.
"It's heartbreaking to think that we have played in six county finals in five years if you include the drawn finals of 2005 and '08, and have failed to win any of them. But the players are a resilient lot and I'm sure they'll be in the shake-up again this year," Damien says.
"Danny Sammon got a good response from the players throughout the year, but Bun's experience of having won the championship in the recent past stood to them. They were probably a better balanced team and won't look out of place in this year's senior championship."
With Sammon returning to take charge of his native Tubberclair, Ballynacargy have appointed 1995 All-Ireland minor winner Ger Heduan as their new manager for the coming season.
"If anyone can get us up to the next level, I think Ger can. He won junior and intermediate championships as a player and has always been a great clubman. A lot of people will be looking at Kinnegad for the championship, but we hope to have something to say about that."
Ballynacargy's under 21 team reached the 13-a-side semi-final where they lost to Coralstown/Kinnegad. And at the time of writing, the club's first and second teams were preparing to face Shandonagh and Garrycastle respectively in the delayed Intermediate Cup and junior 'B' finals.
Ballynacargy's history-making under 14 team was: Daryl Connolly; Eoin Nally, Gary Fagan (captain), Tom Gavin; Ben Wilson, Padraig Molloy, Jack Penrose; Wayne Kelly (0-3), Jack Kearney (0-1); Adam Kelly, Edward Nally (0-1), Senan Lynam; Philip Price, Christopher Loran (0-5), Regan Maher (0-1). Subs used: Troy Maher (0-1), Luke Price. Rest of panel: Rhys Keena, Eoin Connell, Paul Byrne, Ciaran Boynce and Jake O'Meara.
The Ballynacargy team that lost the IFC final to Bunbrosna was: Richard Price; Aidan Scally, Kieran Sheridan, John Keena; Owen Burke, Brian Slevin, Timmy Mescall; Andrew Heduvan, Willie Murtagh; Danny Scally, Declan McGuinness (captain), Liam O'Reilly; Daniel Keena, Michael Loran, Dwayne Maher. Subs used: Mark Wallace, Mark Murphy and Sean Fagan. Tweet
