2006 may have been a disappointing year for the Coralstown/Kinnegad senior side, but at underage level the club celebrated noteworthy successes in the under 14 and under 16 grades. Under 16 manager and new club chairman Eamonn Mooney was understandably proud of his team's achievements. In a year when Coralstown/Kinnegad found themselves in the unusual position of fighting relegation from the senior ranks, the club looked to its underage teams for encouragement and in this regard, the under 14 and under 16 sides certainly didn't disappoint. The under 16s were Coralstown/Kinnegad's big achievers in 2006, easily accounting for St. Michael's to land the Division 2 championship crown. It wasn't a bad year either for the under 14 team who, after losing narrowly to St. Loman's after extra-time in the Feile na nOg semi-final, bounced back impressively to defeat Athlone in the Feile Shield decider. "We were very pleased with the performances of our underage teams. They certainly bode well for the future," says Eamonn Mooney, manager of the successful under 16 team and the club's new chairman. "Last year's under 16s were a great bunch of lads to work with and I see huge potential in them. The great thing about them was that they weren't reliant on any one player - they were all equally as good as one another. "The under 14s also had a good year and, with a bit of luck, could have won the Feile title and qualified for the All-Ireland finals in Wicklow. They were very disappointed to lose to St. Loman's, but it was encouraging to see them come out and give such a good account of themselves in the Shield final against Athlone," he adds. Under the tutelage of Mooney and his co-selectors John Tighe and Sean Hynes, the under 16s opened their championship campaign with a win over St. Mary's and followed this up with another victory over Tubberclair. They renewed their rivalry with Tubberclair in the semi-final and once again came out on top to qualify for a final showdown with St. Michael's in Collinstown on the last Saturday in November. The north county side opened the scoring through Stephen Boylan, but that was as good as it got for them as the visitors soon took control. Points from Clive Kiernan and Paul Lewis had them ahead before Kiernan took a pass from Wayne Fox and finished to the net from close range. Coralstown/Kinnegad surged further in front when Lewis, Jason Cully and Fox added three more points. St. Michael's finished the half the stronger, but Coralstown/Kinnegad still held a commanding lead, 1-6 to 0-4, at the break. The Castletown-Finea/Ballycomoyle combination were more threatening following the resumption and shortly after Patrick Corless was forced to produce a fine save from Stephen Boylan, the same attacker scored a cracking goal to bring the contest to life. But sensing the danger, Coralstown/Kinnegad upped the tempo and were back in the driving seat when Paul Lewis crashed home their second goal from the penalty spot. Substitute Sean Kenny closed out the game when he scored 1-1 in the dying stages to leave Coralstown/Kinnegad comprehensive winners by 3-9 to 1-4. "We had beaten St. Michael's earlier in the year in the league, but we still couldn't afford to take anything for granted. They were surprise winners over The Downs in the semi-final and we treated them with the utmost respect," Eamonn recalls. "We had two tough games against Tubberclair in qualifying the final - the semi-final taking place under lights in Tubberclair - and I think they were the making of us. "The lads were mad for football, but unfortunately there were a lot of weeks when they didn't get any because of delays to the championship. It is crazy playing finals a few weeks before Christmas - they should be played much earlier in the year when the conditions are a lot better." Coralstown/Kinnegad were foiled in their bid to add the league title as Eamonn explains: "We lost to Athlone but got ourselves back on track and would have reached the final but for a draw with The Downs in our final qualifying game." This year, Coralstown/Kinnegad will make the step-up to Division 1 of the under 16 championship and with no fewer than nine of last year's starting team eligible for the grade once again, they are expected to be a force to be reckoned with. St. Loman's proved to be a real thorn in the side of the Coralstown/Kinnegad under 14 team, beating them in both the Feile na nOg and Division 1 championship semi-finals, but they could nevertheless take comfort from their Feile Shield success. Under the four-man management team of Jim Rock, Greg Cully, Fergal Delaney and Eoin Reilly, Coralstown/Kinnegad proved much too strong for Athlone in the Cusack Park decider, winning by 5-8 to 1-6. The boys in red dominated the early exchanges and led by 2-3 to 0-2 after 20 minutes with the goals coming from Conor Kenny and Barry Murtagh. However, a brilliant Cian McCormack left Athlone just three points adrift at half-time, 1-3 to 2-3. Coralstown/Kinnegad responded well to the Athlone resurgence and they never looked like losing after Kenny swooped for his second goal soon after the restart. Midfielder Jason Cully and centre forward Mark Giles added further goals before the end to seal an emphatic win. By contrast, 2006 was a disappointing year for Larry Giles' youthful senior side who only retained their senior status by virtue of a relegation play-off victory over Tubberclair. The tone for their season was set when they lost their championship opener to Athlone by 1-7 to 0-14. That defeat consigned them to the losers' group where they beat St. Mary's but lost to St. Loman's. Against St. Loman's, Coralstown/Kinnegad led by 1-4 to 0-2 at half-time, but they could only manage one further point in the second half as the Mullingar side fought back to claim a 0-10 to 1-5 victory. At the third attempt, the Meath-border club finally secured their first win when overcoming St. Mary's 1-15 to 0-7. After storming into a 0-6 to 0-1 lead at the end of the first quarter, Coralstown/Kinnegad saw their advantage reduced to the minimum before Gavin Finn scored the only goal on the stroke of half-time to give them some breathing space. The second half was never a contest with St. Mary's only adding two further points - one at each end of the half - as a hungrier, faster and most coherent Kinnegad team picked off their scores at will to run out comfortable winners by 1-15 to 0-7. Despite that victory, Coralstown/Kinnegad were now officially involved in a relegation dogfight and they needed to pull out all the stops to see off the challenge of Tubberclair by 0-10 to 1-6 and thus preserve their top-flight status. Coralstown/Kinnegad looked to be coasting to a comfortable win when leading by 0-7 to 0-2 at the break. But Tubberclair responded by relieving Gary Connaughton of his goalkeeping duties and placing him at full forward for the start of the second half. The county netminder scored two points and used his considerable frame to instigate several attacks. A fortuitous goal from Fergal Wilson brought Tubberclair back from the brink in the 47th minute, but despite subjecting the Kinnegad defence to intense pressure after that, the Reds hung on for a narrow victory. "I don't think they played as well as they could. Their biggest problem was they found it difficult to hold onto leads. They are a young team and are probably still lacking a bit of self-belief. "Hopefully they'll show improvement this year and get into the knock-out stages. Killucan reached a semi-final last year and there is no reason why we can't achieve the same," says Mooney, who served as a selector under Joe Giles (who has returned as manager this year) when Coralstown/Kinnegad last lifted the Flanagan Cup in 1996. The new Coralstown/Kinnegad chairman is fulsome in his praise of his predecessor, Joe Bracken, whose greatest achievement was overseeing the development of the club's splendid new facilities. "Joe made a huge contribution to the club down the years and it goes without saying that I have a tough act to follow. We now have three playing pitches, a new pavilion and have recently applied for planning permission to erect full floodlights. We are all indebted to Joe for work and I'm sure he will continue to support us in whatever he can." The Coralstown/Kinnegad under 14 team that claimed the Division 2 championship crown was: Patrick Corless; David Doyle, Adam Browne, Colm Dardis; John Nea, Patrick Masterson, Craig Lonegan; Cian Flynn, Wayne Fox; Clive Kiernan, Paul Lewis, Gerard Fox; Mark Giles, Daniel Coyne, Jason Cully. Sub used: Sean Kenny. The under 14 Feile Shield winning team was: Darragh Rock; Cathal O'Reilly, Paul Maxwell, Luke Corless; Garry Caffrey, David Doyle, Laurence Nea; Barry Murtagh, Jason Cully; David Whelan, Mark Giles, Ger Leech; Padraig Delaney, Conor Kenny, David Reilly. Subs used: Shane Murtagh, Ryan Caffrey, David O'Keeffe and Jonathan Cheevers. Tweet

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