Shield not enough
November 27, 2011Glen Emmets produced a strong finish to beat Naomh Fionnbarra in the 2011 Kevin Mullen Shield final - 2-13 to 1-9 at Monasterboice on Sunday afternoon, July 17th. The result brought some welcome silverware to Tullyallen and also underlined the club's undoubted status as genuine Division Three and JFC contenders.
In the final of the subsidiary league, Brian Lynch's charges struck 1-4 without reply in the dying minutes to take the Mullen Shield in style. The winners played against the considerable breeze in the first half but managed to go in level at the break, 1-3 to 0-6, thanks largely to top scorer Mark Noone's goal.
Though the 'Barrs moved ahead upon the restart, Tullyallen reeled off six successive scores to lead by 1-9 to 0-7. Naomh Fionnbarra battled back to draw level but substitute Keith Lynch added the victors' second three-pointer and the Emmets floated over the last four points of the game to win with plenty to spare.
Glen Emmets, 2011 Kevin Mullen Shield winners: Fergus Barnett; Danny Whyte, Andrew Mooney, Colin Carolan; Aidan Monahan, Stephen Murphy, Stephen Healy; Gordon Healy, Ronan Grufferty (0-1); Danny Grimes, Eamonn Mullen (0-5), Keith Farnan; Mark Noone (1-4), Eamonn Taaffe (0-3), David Bracken. Subs: Keith Lynch (1-0) for K Farnan; Damien Grimes for E Taaffe; Keith Rooney for M Noone; Martin Morgan for D Grimes; Derrick Johnson for S Healy.
The Emmets had beaten Lannleire by 1-16 to 1-12 in the semi-final on June 28th. Prior to that, they topped Group A with five wins from five, against Wolfe Tones (3-7 to 0-3), St Kevins (1-12 to 0-7), Annaghminnon (2-16 to 0-1), Stabannon (2-9 to 2-6) and Dowdallshill (1-16 to 1-9). All in all, with seven straight wins and silverware in the clubhouse, it was a fantastic start to the year and Glen Emmets had set themselves up nicely for the remainder of 2011 - and the two competitions that really mattered.
In Division Three of the all-county league, they put together a wonderful campaign but promotion eluded them as they finished third, with 20 points from 12 games - two points behind winners Naomh Fionnbarra. In the league phase of the competition, they had suffered just one defeat. A third-place finish was enough to secure a berth in the Division Three promotion play-offs but, alas, Hunterstown prevailed by 1-11 to 1-7 on October 1st, ending Glen Emmets' interest in the 2011 league.
In the meantime, the team had mounted a fabulous JFC bid, powering through to the final only to be beaten in the biggest junior match of the year by a very strong St Fechins side.
Glen Emmets were in Group One of the JFC and they opened their account with a narrow 0-12 to 0-11 defeat of Westerns at the county grounds on July 24th. Wolfe Tones really put it up to the Emmets in the second group outing but the Tullyallen men managed to stave off a shock result by progressing to the business end of the competition as group winners by virtue of a hard-fought 0-12 to 1-7 success in mid-August. Late points from Eamonn Mullen and substitute Mark Noone swung the verdict in Glen Emmets' favour at Boice Park.
Hunterstown provided quarter-final opposition at Ardee on August 21st and Glen Emmets impressively controlled proceedings from start to finish, advancing on a 1-14 to 1-10 scoreline against highly-fancied opponents. The first six points were shared but Tullyallen knocked over four consecutive points followed by an Eamonn Taaffe goal to take a seven-point interval cushion. From there, they were never in any real danger despite a Hunterstown flurry after the restart. Eamonn Mullen struck eight points in the quarter-final.
The semi-final against Lannleire would take two matches to resolve. On September 3rd, the Dunleer men pointed in the fifth minute of injury time to claim a 0-11 to 1-8 draw; substitute Damien Grimes hit the Glen Emmets goal late in the first half. In the replay, at Monasterboice six days later, Eamonn Mullen's goal after eight minutes helped Tullyallen to a 1-3 to no score lead at the end of the first quarter and they marched into the decider on a 1-9 to 0-9 scoreline.
The 2011 Louth JFC final took place at Dunleer on Sunday, September 25th and it turned out to be a thoroughly disappointing day for Glen Emmets as they endured a third junior final defeat since they last scooped the Christy Bellew Cup in 1997. St Fechins played with wind advantage before the break and they justified their favourites' tag as they roared into a 1-10 to 0-1 interval lead. Keith Rooney's free was besieged Glen Emmets' only score of the opening half-hour but, to their credit, they kept going and produced a sterling second-half effort to finish the day with heads held high.
Glen Emmets - 2011 Louth JFC finalists: Fergus Barnett; Aidan Monahan, Tom Grimes, Colin Carolan; Daniel Whyte, Stephen Murphy (0-1), Stephen Healy (0-2); Gordon Healy, Ronan Grufferty; Ian Cusack, Eamonn Mullen (0-3), Keith Lynch; Keith Rooney (0-1), Eamonn Taaffe, David Bracken. Subs: Andrew Mooney for Grufferty (15); Damien Grimes (0-1) for Taaffe (33); Martin Morgan for Cusack (38); Keith Farnan (1-1) for S Healy (49); Keith Boylan for Whyte (53).
Thus, while they lost only three games all year, Glen Emmets finished the season with just the Kevin Mullen Shield to show for their efforts. Captain Aidan Monahan admits this wasn't quite good enough: "We had a decent enough year and when you're still playing in October it's not a bad sign, but we were very disappointed to come away without anything major.
"Apart from the promotion play-off, we only lost two games all year - one in the league and one in the championship - and we still failed to win either competition. It just shows how consistent you need to be to win silverware at that level. None of these competitions are easily won. I believe the standard of football in the junior football championship and in Division Three of the league has been incredibly high for the last few years. When you look at the Fechins this year, the Mochtas two years ago, and Naomh Fionnbarra in between, they were all very good sides and you have to be a very good side to win the JFC."
Are Glen Emmets close to becoming a very good side? "I think we are and I think we were very unlucky this year and last year not to win one of the big competitions. Last year, we didn't lose a game in the league and we were pipped by the Fechins. We've been very close for two years in a row now so hopefully next year we will be better again…
"The lads are getting older and wiser. They are more experienced now. Lads who were 18 or 19 a couple of years ago are now 20 and 21. They are maturing and we haven't lost too many players to retirement either, so we are improving all the time."
Glen Emmets had two men on the Louth minor team in 2011, Conor Grimes at full forward and Daniel Grimes at centre back. Both have a big future in the Tullyallen colours. "It was a major blow to us when both lads got injured before we got out of the group in the championship. They are already two important players for Glen Emmets and we're looking forward to having them back fully fit next year," says Aidan.
All in all, the 2011 captain was encouraged by the performances over the course of the year but disappointed that Glen Emmets didn't win either a league of championship title: "It was disappointing when the season ended, having started in January and played so well and then to come away with nothing. To get to the junior final and then lose was a big blow but we hope to learn from the experience and go one better next year.
"Brian Lynch, Derek Wogan and Ollie McShane did a great job managing the team. It was Brian's first year and he brought a lot of confidence to the club. Training was good from the second week in January right through until October. Numbers never dropped and we are looking forward to hopefully working with Brian again next year." Tweet
