clan na ngael designed_Layout 1 22/11/2013 13:23 Page 6
On duty for the U12 Group 2 final against Seneschalstown in Simonstown, front l/r: Tom Doyle, Mathew Smith, Ryan McNamee, Michael Coffey, Sean Ivors, Liam Gough, Paul Tuite, Darragh Canny, Eoin Griffin, Liam McNamara, Niall Reilly, Drew Hamilton, Liam Tuite, Gary Monaghan, John Garry. Back: Tom Canny, Jamie Timmons, Christopher Uchena, Sam Black, Tomas Doyle, Tommy Hanley, Jack Castles, Darragh Swaine, Michael Tiernan, Josh McGrath, Conor McGovern, Darragh Doherty, Leo Anderson, Alex McGovern, Kevin Brady, Tom Hanley
Goalkeeper Darren Heaney
lads what they were really capable of. “Dunboyne were the opposition in the next round of the Feis Cup and we had a good win over them also. These games really brought us on a lot and it reflected in our league form which picked up a lot during this time.” When the championship break was finally over, Clann na nGael were chomping at the bit to get going again and this reflected in their performance against Syddan. In recent years, the Athboy-Rathcairn outfit have struggled against these opponents, but Geraghty’s charges produced a workmanlike performance to run out winners by 1-09 to 0-10 with Gary Hanley getting the all-important goal in the second half after good work by Geraghty. The return of the All-Ireland winning captain was a huge boost for the side, but they were soon to suffer a setback following the news that another former Meath captain, Shane McAnarney’s GAA career had been cut short through illness.
Paddy Geraghty heads for the Ratoath goal
Chris Fitzsimons
“Everyone in the club was hugely affected when they heard the news about Shane. It really put things into perspective and showed that at the end of the day, your health is far more important than anything. “It is great to see him make a full recovery and hopefully that will continue. He came in and gave Graham a hand out with the training for the remainder of the year and it was great to have him involved. I’ve no doubt that a successful managerial career beckons for him,” stressed Aidan. Clann na nGael went into their last game knowing that a win over Dunderry would see them through to the IFC semi-final, but if they lost the match, there was a possibility that they wouldn’t even get out of the group. A large crowd turned out at Cortown to see the local rivals do battle and they weren’t disappointed as an enthralling encounter ensued. It looked as if Dunderry were going to take the points when they scored a goal to gothree
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Alan Fox
points up with just ten minutes remaining, but the impressive Darren Kelly came up from his full back position to score a goal just moments later before Gary Woods hit the winning point right at the death to leave the final score at 1-09 to 1-08. “The Dunderry game was our best performance of the year, we showed great character in that match to come through. When they got they goal, it looked as if there was no way back for us, but we scored one ourselves almost immediately and I feel that showed how much we had come on from the start of the year. “If we had conceded a goal like that in the past, the heads would have dropped and that would have been it, but credit to the lads they dug deep and ground out the win.” In the semi-final, St Michael’s would once again be the opponents. Another hard fought game was the outcome as Clann na nGael dug deep to record a 1-13 to 1-12 win after extra time. Substitute Aaron Ennis was the hero on