Paddy Muldoon played between the sticks for Kilskyre for a lifetime. Royal County explores a career and a person-ality that are second to none. Former county hurler Paddy Muldoon is one of Kilskyre's greatest servants. He played in goal for the club for the best part of twenty years and is now heavily involved in coaching the north Meath outfit's considerable underage talent. Over the years, a lot of Paddy's hours have gone into Kilskyre hurling, but such is his passion for the ancient game - and the black and amber in particular - that he simply wouldn't have it any other way. Paddy was born and reared in Kilskyre. During his lengthy stint on the club's premier hurling team, he garnered a total of four county medals. The most recent of these was collected in 1994 when Kilskyre won the Meath Intermediate Hurling Championship. He won his first county medal in his debut year on the team - 1978. He had been substitute goalie for a few years prior to that but was promoted to the first team just in time to help them to a Junior Championship success. Dunboyne were Kilskyre's victims in that decider. In 1981, Kilskyre took intermediate honours and went senior for a few years. However, a combination of factors saw them eventually regrade to the junior ranks. In 1992, Kilskyre won the county junior crown once more. Paddy rates that side as "possibly the best junior team we ever had here in Kilskyre". By now approaching the twilight of his playing career, Muldoon had semi-retired and was substitute netminder for the intermediate success of '94. He played a couple of games in 1995 . . . a couple in '96. And that was that! Well, not quite - he played one junior game in '98. Old habits die hard! Paddy's career started at U14 level with Kilskyre. Subsequently, he played minor hurling with a Kilskyre/Kells amalgamation. He was good enough to book his place on the Meath team. Meath were in Division Two of the National Hurling League, but Paddy nevertheless got to pit his shot-stopping wits against some of the very finest hurlers in the land. He recalls: "I remember playing against Galway in a challenge. It was in 1980 and they were a very strong team. They had lost the previous year's All-Ireland final and went on to win it that year! We were out of our depth. Bernie Forde mustn't have liked the look of me because he fired eight goals past me! We also played Offaly in Athboy, not long before they won their first All-Ireland [1981]." Paddy treasures the memory of playing against these great sides. Undoubtedly, while the results of those games were never in any great doubt, he learned a lot from watching the likes of Fr. Iggy Clarke in action at first hand. "We were used to playing against teams of our own standard - like Mayo, Tyrone and Down," he notes. "We really appreciated the fact that counties like Galway and Offaly were prepared to play us. It was a nice gesture from them and they were showing us a bit of respect." Despite the great times he enjoyed in the yellow Royal County jersey, Paddy was always a clubman first and foremost. "I had two years with Meath and, while they weren't setting the world on fire, those were good times. In those days, we [Kilskyre] had myself and Frank Lynch on the county team and that was a great honour for the club. But there was nothing better than playing with Kilskyre. I always got more of a buzz from club hurling. Every Sunday, we'd get into the bus and Charlie Killion would drive us to our destination. Those are special memories. I enjoyed the club more and the club always came first with me." With Paddy in their ranks, Kilskyre attained senior status a couple of times. But the end result was invariably a swift return to the lower ranks. Why was this? "We could never cut it as a senior club," he admits. "There was always a vast difference between senior hurling and intermediate hurling in Meath. Even just after we came up in '95, Kildalkey gave us a real lesson. We were never strong enough and then with Ballinlough coming strong in the football, we suffered a little as well." There are signs that Kilskyre are shaping up quite well at present, however. Paddy is upbeat about their future prospects: "We have some exceptional players. As well as the youngsters coming through, Tommy Fox, Fergus O'Higgins and Sean Gaughran all won All-Ireland junior medals with Meath in 1998 and we also have Jody Devine on the county football team. It was a shame that Jody didn't get his due rewards this year." Returning briefly to his own days in the black and amber, Paddy rates the 1981 Intermediate Championship triumph as the highlight. "We beat Dunboyne in an overly-robust affair," he says. "Gene Tunney was badly injured in that game but we knuckled down and came out on top. It was a sweet victory and the celebrations were sweet too." I always wonder about the sanity of a man who decides to play in goal in hurling. Surely a no-win situation if ever there was one. Paddy Muldoon begs to differ. "I know they say it's the most difficult position to play, but I never minded it. In fact, if you asked anybody from Kilskyre, I'm sure they'll tell you I was never any good outfield! Anyway, I always had a very strong full back line in front of me, so that made it a lot easier." Good news for anybody thinking of following in Paddy's footsteps is that the rules have changed considerably to the goalkeeper's benefit. "When I started playing, the ball used to come in and the goalie had no protection. But in latter years, you just have to catch the ball and you'll get a free. It's certainly not as hard to play in goals as it used to be." Paddy contests that there has never been any shortage of good hurlers in Kilskyre and contends that there is still, to this day, a steady flow of young talent coming through. Through his work with the club's young players, he intends to ensure that this remains the case. He has always been involved at backroom and administrative levels and enjoyed his second spell as club Chairman last year. A selector with the Kilskyre team that reached the 1998 intermediate semi-final (wherein they were unfortunate to lose to Kilmessan by just one point), Paddy is confident that Kilskyre are finally ready for senior hurling. "There's no point going senior if you can't cope," he explains. "However, I've been watching the senior championship for the past 5/6 years and it doesn't take all that much to win it. If we got a break at all, we could go up and compete at that level. We have some good young lads coming on. We also had a junior team this year, and last year we had an U21 team for the first time, so the future's looking good." For the past five years, Paddy has been training the Kilskyre juveniles (U14s and U15s). 1998 saw then reach the U14 C Championship final for the first time in years and the schools team won their seven-a-side competition. We have eight or nine brilliant hurlers on the U14 team. They did well to make the final but unfortunately the occasion got to them. The whole parish came out to support that team and they were pleasantly surprised by the standard of the young lads' hurling. We have some tremendous talent coming through and we're also getting some from the Ballinlough end of the parish which is a first. Things are looking up!" Paddy gets great assistance from Donie Geraghty in coaching the underage players. The pair concentrate as much as possible on ballwork and the skills of the game. Their work should pay rich dividends for Kilskyre down the line. As a player, Paddy will always be best remembered for his display against Longwood in the 1992 Meath Junior Hurling Championship final. That day, he gave an exhibition in goalkeeping. It was a joy to watch. Tweet

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