Mick’s men out to make new memories

AIB Connacht Club JFC Semi-Final 

Sunday, November 16 

St Croan’s v Kiltimagh

1.30pm in St Aidan’s GAA Club, Ballyforan 

REF: Michael McGirl 

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It has been sixteen years since Kiltimagh have ventured outside the county borders in search of success, but they now stand potentially sixty minutes away from a Connacht final this weekend.

The year 2009 was a special one in Kiltimagh’s storied history. They won the junior league, East Mayo junior championship, Mayo Senior League Division 1C title, the Minor Division 1 League, East Mayo championship and capped it off by winning a first provincial title, defeating An Spideal in the junior championship decider.

In many ways, the run for Kiltimagh this year mirrors the background to that 2009 campaign. They were relegated after a poor run in intermediate but bounced back brilliantly to win the junior title, and hope and confidence will be high they can repeat the trick.

Mick Regan, who oversaw their county and Connacht junior success in 2009 is back at the helm and has navigated the club through a tough couple of years, which saw them not just relegated from intermediate but struggling even to field at times during the Mayo Senior League. Brian ‘Chucky’ Gallagher is the sole survivor from that Connacht final team of ’09 who played in their junior ‘A’ final win over Eastern Gaels last month, producing a man of the match performance.

In addition, Paul Kelly is a powerful presence in midfield, Jack Niland and captain Liam Kelly are lynchpins in the backline while they have scoring power in the shape of Thomas Keegan, Fionnan Burke, Conor Mallee and Oisin Mulderrig.

It has been nearly three weeks since their convincing victory over Gaels, and the Kiltimagh management team will have been interested observers in Hyde Park at the weekend as they got a close-up look at Roscommon champions St Croan’s, who saw off the challenge of Sligo champions Cloonacool.

The Roscommon champions, who won their own junior championship in impressive fashion, started and ended the game well against Cloonacool but they struggled to put their opponents away for much of the contest. Centre forward Kevin Smyth departed the game due to injury and manager Vinnie Egan faces an anxious week to see if Smyth, as well as Greg Grogan and Ross Timothy, are fit to face Kiltimagh this Sunday.

“We just found it hard to get traction out of our forward line, especially in the first 15 minutes of the second-half. What we’ve been trying in training wasn’t working. We made a few substitutions in the last 15 minutes, and the lads that came on made a difference,” was St Croan’s manager Vinnie Egan’s take on his side’s victory last Sunday.

“We haven’t kicked many wides all year. Our decision-making wasn’t up to par today. We were taking shots from positions we shouldn’t have. We haven’t done that all year but it’s something we can work on ahead of next weekend.” 

Kiltimagh will have to wary of Eoin Collins, who kicked three excellent points form the middle of the field while captain Ger Connaughton is a leader in every sense of the word at full-back. He can also be a key creator, as evidenced when he set up Freddie Kelly for St Croan’s first goal.

We saw already last weekend how Ballina Stephenites and Kilmeena were pushed far before getting over the line. Kiltimagh are more than capable of winning their opening provincial tie too, but a big test awaits them.