The 2011 road to Croker - The memories of Team Manager, Fran Mulhall
(April 26th, 2011)
Looking back on a glorious odyssey to ultimate All Ireland victory, i wondered where to start , my first thoughts were ; which bookie had us at 1000-1 to win the All Ireland? Any lucky punter out there?It all started rather ingloriously with a trimming in the North Leinster league by Colaiste Choilm Tullamore yet minds began to focus on our first outing in the championship where a tough test awaited us against Ashbourne CS, going on last years successful annexation of the Leinster junior title i knew these guys had bagfuls of talent , committment and a never say die spirit and sure enough on a gale force day on november 10 in Donaghmore Ashbourne we forged out a 0-9 to 0-6 win , we led 0-6 to 0-2 playing with the wind but battened down the hatches to grit our teeth helped by our 1-12-2 formation! memories from that match include our mass defence, Joe Mahers second half point , James Nallys goal saving block and Darren Digans customary save which became a coincidental feature of the campaign.Next up was a quarter final against old foes Kells and i fully expected a close game here based on the junior semi final in 2010 when Joe Mahers point saw us win by one but on the day in Kells[ Nov 18]we got out of the traps quickly and courtesy of 1-04 from Aaron mc Donagh and a commanding performance by Daragh Corbett at centre back we won easily by 1-13 to 1-04. Next up would be formidable foes Granard in the semi final this was due to be played on the 8th of December but due to the inclement weather incredibly it wouldnt be played until Tuesday 8 th February 2011. We the management team wondered what could we do with playing pitches impossible to use so a lot of our campaign flow was disrupted, then a new year dawned and we felt that to get ourselves ready for Granard that we needed to play colleges A teams or high ranked B colleges teams, we duly did this and despite losses to St Marys Edenderry and Scoil Mhuire Clane [ who would reach the All Ireland Colleges B final only to lose to Roscommon CBS] a lot of the ring rustiness was dispelled. I also felt at this time that with a lot of our lads playing on the Offaly Minor and Vocational teams that it was a chance for them to get in quality inter county matches and build up a fitness base by playing against quality opposition and so it proved with the minors getting to a league semi final [ losing to a strong Dublin team] and the vocational team beating Longford[ with 5 Granard lads present] and Wicklow before going down to a strong Meath team. I think these factors helped to ready us for the stiff test that Granard would provide and so it came to pass as we beat Granard by 2-08 to 2-04 in extra time in the most physically demanding and stiffest test we had all year [ no disrespect intended to any other team we beat] memories of this match include, a bust up by a Granard player on an unnamed linesman!Joe Mahers goal , Leons Switch to full forward and his goal , Conor Lowry dispossessing James Mc Givney on our endline when it had danger written all over it , Brian Grehans man marking of James mc Givney in the second half and Darren Digans vital first half save from Enda Reilly early in the first half after we had got off to a slow start.It was great to finally lay the Granard bogey as they had beaten us at junior, juvenile , senior and some of them with the Longford minors in the 2010Leinster Final.Im sure our rivalry will be resumed in 2011-12.
We had mentally prepared to face Dunshaughlin in the final something which would have been a re run of the 2009 junior final but we had to re adjust our sights as Carnew won, yet we wouldnt be complacent as in 2009 we only bt Carnew in the junior championship after extra time . We played the Offaly minors in a challenge in mid term and it was a good workout but on the day against Carnew we were ruthlessly focused and won comfortably by 4-12 to 1-05 , my memories of that day in Portlaoise on Tuesday March 8 were four excellent goals , two from Leon , one from Shane Costello and one from man of match Eoghan Lowry , credit to Blaine Rigney for a gutsy performance that day.
We were now in new territory and it proved highly beneficial for the team management to watch the Markey Cup final in Derry on March 28, we analysed Cookstown and enlisted the vast experience of Tony Mc Tague , there also was, i suppose the Peter Canavan factor but all players performed heroically to forge out a two point win with Daragh Keenaghans " Messi" style soccer goal a highlight as well as Conor Lowry taking man and ball in a 47th minute challenge! I fondly remember the jubilation in Ballyconnell that day! In my opinion beating Cookstown who had a good few of their All Ireland Junior winning team present was a massive confidence boost to us.Yet we had only a week to get ready for the blue riband v Clonakilty, again going in as underdogs against the reigning champions, we kept the hype to a minimum yet everyone in the community were very gracious and enthusiastic with their support in many different ways, leaving players and management to focus exclusively on the match. On the day before the match we had a team meeting in the school , we did our stats [ thanks Kevin Egan!] tactics and everyone spoke from the heart, i got a good vibe and next day we kept to our routine stopping in Apple Green service station in Enfield , we arrived in Croke Park at 1030 looked round for a while and got into the zone an hour before throw in , funnily enough we were only supposed to get out onto the pitch and kickaround from 1140 but we kicked ball from 11 to 1120 and it helped us get the feel of the pitch, everyone was composed and then we went out on the pitch , the sea of dark and light blue flags gave us a great boost, unfortunately for us Clon got off to a flying start , Darren again keeping us in it but by one journalists estimation we missed 3-07 in the first half , their keeper Aidan Collins was unbeatable, yet at half time we praised our lads courage and told them what was saved or went wide in the first half would go in or over in the second half, putting RyanDelaney as a sweeper , bringing Brian out to the middle and putting Joe inside worked and the rest has been well chronicled , 2-1 between 54 minutes 30 seconds and 56 mins 10 seconds , Aarons super late point , Eoghans insurance free , final whistle , bedlam ,explosion of joy , Conor raises the cup , i met Mam and sister Anne, happy dressing room , reception back in Apple Green , wonderful homecoming to Ferbane, including that burning tyre Bonfire by persons unknown! the speeches in the school , the introduction of the team , the joy on peoples faces , the buzz in the town, a great and proud day!
FACTS FROM THE YEAR ;1- TOTAL SCORED 12-68[104] AVERAGE PER MATCH 0-17 ;2- TOTAL CONCEDED 6-41[58] 9.9 POINTS PER GAME ; 3 AARON MC DONAGH 4-13[ 2-09 BETWEEN ALL IRELAND SEMI AND FINAL] , EOGHAN LOWRY 2-18 [ 2-14 BETWEEN LEINSTER FINAL AND ALL IRELAND SEMI FINAL AND FINAL] JOE MAHER 1-20 , LEON FOX 3-0[ NO POINTS] BRIAN GREHAN 0-7 SHANE COSTELLO 1-2 [ ONLY BACK TO SCORE]RYAN DELANEY 0-4 DARAGH KEENAGHAN 1-0 AND BLAINE RIGNEY 0-1.
| Friday, November 26th - Gallen CS 2010 Sports Awards | |
|---|---|
| |
|
| The victorious Leinster Vocational Junior A Champions with special guest Michael Meehan (Galway Captain), Sponsor Ann-Marie Sorahan and Team mentors: Ciaran Doyle, Fran Mulhall & Adrian Gaffey | Team captain Leon Fox proudly holds the Leinster Vocational Schools Trophy and Ferbane/Belmont's captain Brian Grehan brought along the Offaly U16 A Football C'ship Trophy. |
November 18th, 2010
LEINSTER VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS A FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP QUARTER FINAL
GALLEN CS DEFEAT KELLS CS TO QUALIFY FOR SEMI FINAL CLASH WITH GRANARD
GALLEN CS 1-13 KELLS CS1-04[ BY FRAN MULHALL]
Gallen CS qualified for a semi final tilt with last years beaten finalists Granard by virtue of a surprisingly facile victory over old foes Kells CS in this quarter final clash played in Kells on Thursday last. Judging by last years closely contested Leinster Junior semi final when Gallen emerged winners by one point, this tie was expected to be another tight affair but the pre match punditry was thrown out the window as Gallen raced off the starting blocks and effectively killed off the tie with a compact display which saw them lead 0-9 to no score at the interval. Kells temporarily rallied and a goal by P Murray gave a gloss to the scoreline before one of the men of the match Aaron mc Donagh got on the end of a flowing move to finish to the net 5 minutes from time to give Gallen a 9 point win.Gallen despite kicking five wides before getting off the mark with a Joe Maher point on 7 mins , then proceeded to get a grip on the game from the outset,with Leon Fox and the excellent Ciaran Cahill establishing a foothold in midfield ,the Gallen forwards had an ample supply of possession to convert into scores and with the Gallen defence backboned by captain Conor Lowry, looking more secure than the Irish Economy, Kells found themselves outplayed in all sectors.Brian Grehan added a second point on 10 mins and Joe Maher whose incisive and pacy running caused problems for Kells all day , then pointed a free to make it 0-3 to 0-0 after 12 minutes before it was time for the Aaron mc Donagh show with the pacy Offaly minor rattling off three points in succession in the 14th , 16 th and 17th minutes [ the last which could have been a goal , bouncing up and over off the crossbar] leaving the Brosnasiders 0-6 to 0-0 to the good with ten minutes left in the half. Gallen could have eased off at this juncture but they kept the pressure on and points by Ryan Delaney, Eoghan Lowry [ free] and Maher again in the 22nd , 25th and 29 th minutes rounded off the scoring at the end of this one sided first moiety.Half time Gallen CS 0-9 Kells CS 0-0.
SECOND HALF; Kells came out to restore pride if nothing else but it was Ferbane who stretched the lead to 10 points with another Mc Donagh point but finally Kells got off the mark when Seamus Mattimoe with a pointed free gave them a foothold on the scoreboard. It was inevitable that Kells would rally at some stage and this they did.Kells moved full forward C Murray to midfield and his height and physical power gave them something to build on.Mattimoe [free] , and M Cullen with two excellent points from centre back gave Kells brief respite but Ferbane matched this with points from Joe Maher and an excellently converted free from an acute angle from Eoghan Lowry to leave the score with ten minutes to go, Gallen CS 0-13 Kells CS 0-4. Kells then got a great tonic when wing back Paddy Murray goaled to leave six points between the sides[ Gallen 0-13 Kells 1-04] but the reprieve was short lived as , fittingly one of the men of the match Aaron mc Donagh got on the end of a flowing move to crash the ball to the Kells net , the game over and Gallens semi final place done and dusted with Gallen CS emerging victorious on a scoreline of 1-13 to 1-04.Granard now await and as they have beaten Ferbane at u 16 and u 18 in recent years and are backboned by some Longford minors they will present as stern test for the Gallen CS lads , yet Gallen CS come the semi final, wont be found lacking in ability ,committment or motivation, a humdinger of a semi final awaits!
SCORERS GALLEN CS, A Mc Donagh 1-05, J Maher 0-4[2f] E Lowry 0-2[2f] and BGrehan and R Delaney 0-1 each.
KELLS CS , P Murray1-0, S Mattimoe0-2[2f] and M Cullen 0-2 each.
TEAMS GALLEN CS,D Digan , J Nally, C Lowry, D Kelly , S Wren , D Corbett , S Costello , L Fox,C Cahill, J Maher , A Mc Donagh , D Keenaghan,R Delaney, B Grehan and E Lowry.Subs used;B Rigney for Keenaghan 52 mins and K Connor for Fox 55 mins;
KELLS CS; P M c Cormack, M M urphy , S Briody, E Keegan , P Murray, M Cullen ,B Clarke , M Brogan ,E Cunneen , D Clarke, S Mattimoe , J Ward , J Carpenter, C Murray , Ro Reilly. subs; P Clarke for Keegan [ht] and M Carrigyfor Brogan [37]
REFEREE , J Gordon[ Meath]