History makers? Kildalkey claim senior, intemediate and junior hurling titles in Meath

HISTORY MAKERS: From left, Colin Brennan Co Hurling Sec, Aaron Traynor (Junior captain), David Conneely (senior captain) and Shane Reilly iintermediate captain) with (right) Martin O'Halloran, the Hurling Board chairman.

Shortly after Kildalkey's Meath SHC final loss to Kilmessan in 2008, a post mortem was conducted within the club.

That review didn't so much concentrate on cause of death, however - more so on where new life could potentially be brought to a club generally in rude health.

The conclusion was that a high functioning underage section was missing and was required to generate and sustain future success.

A year later, Kildalkey eventually got their hands on the Jubilee Cup as county senior champions, a first for the south-east Meath club in modern times having only done it once previously in 1951.

The cup was brought to the local national school and, on the floor with wide eyes looking up at it, were kids like the McNallys, James and Niall, Brin Kelly, Nicky Potterton and Evan Fitzgerald.

All of those lined out in Kildalkey's county senior final defeat of Ratoath last Sunday week, the rural club's third such success in five seasons. Population-wise, there's around 700 in Kildalkey compared to over 10,000 in Ratoath.

David versus Goliath stuff for sure but that's not the real kicker about this year of years for the Kildalkey club. What will go down in local hurling history is their clean sweep of the three main adult hurling titles in the county; junior, intermediate and senior.

Nick Fitzgerald, the Waterford native who managed Meath to the 2019 Christy Ring Cup title, was in charge of the Kildalkey intermediates and seniors and trawled the web after the inters beat Navan O'Mahonys in a county final replay last weekend to complete the rare slam.

"Someone told me that Athenry might have done the three in Galway at some stage but I can't find anything on the internet," said Fitzgerald. "Has anyone else done it? I genuinely don't know. For us, regardless of who did or didn't, it's just an unbelievable achievement and one we plan to celebrate."

For the genesis of this landmark achievement, Fitzgerald is drawn to that decision 15 years ago to look inwards.

"Obviously we were coaching kids up to then but it was someone doing a bit of this and someone else doing a bit of that," he said. "There was a huge focus put on that area. Those kids sitting on the floor in the primary school the following year, when the cup came in, I think eight of those are current senior players."

It helps that Kildalkey is hurling country. Ballivor, seven kilometres away, is the 'local' football club. There is an adult hurling WhatsApp group for Kildalkey players and management which has over 80 names on it. That's over 10% of their population.

Strong numbers for a rural club, yes, but all of that needs to be pulled together too, and given clear direction. Nodlag O'Neill Forde, principal of the superbly appointed new primary school, has helped provide that. So has Philip Lyons in his role as overseer of all things developmental.

Then there is Fitzgerald himself. A blow in of sorts. When he finished up a 13-year stint working in London in 2002, he went looking for a house close to Dublin. He was thinking somewhere 'south of the Red Cow' but house prices were off the charts in the capital and he settled on a nice spot in Kildalkey, in Meath.

"Look, I'm absolutely blessed where I ended up," he said. "A club that plays hurling only. And hurling is my sport, albeit I played as much football as hurling with my home club and in London."

Fitzgerald's exact role, not within Kildalkey but within hurling generally, is a tough one to nail down. Between Waterford, London and Meath he has done a little bit of everything; player, manager, coach, administrator, even county final referee. He received a GAA President's Award in 2020 in recognition of it all.

The Kildalkey juniors train with his intermediate and senior groups, a huge group of 55 some nights.

"One of the things we focused on at the start of the year, which I felt had gone away from the game, was the dressing-room banter," he said. "Covid got rid of the dressing-room for a good while and we focused on getting that back in the early part of the year. It was one of the things we asked players all the time - 'when you're going training, use the dressing-rooms. Don't just park your car and hop over the wall onto the pitch'. We definitely went after that and you noticed the banter and the bond coming back. For me that was crucial, especially with the younger players coming in."

Training alongside high performing seniors benefited the juniors and intermediates. When the minors finished up, seven of them were brought in for a couple of training sessions, with a view to the future and to keeping that wheel of success turning.

There is still a little to run on this 2023 season. The seniors will play Clodiagh Gaels of Offaly in the AIB Leinster club intermediate championship, on November 11 in Trim. And there is business to attend to in Meath too.

"We entered eight adult competitions this year and got to eight finals," beamed Fitzgerald. "We've won three championships, we've won one league final, lost one league final and we've three cup finals coming up. I'd hope we'd win the three cups which would give us seven from eight from adult competitions."