Club Focus: Bailieboro Shamrocks on the brink of something special

Senior men

IT’S an exciting time to be a Bailieboro Shamrock; their senior men’s team are in the throes of preparing for their first Intermediate Championship semi-final in eight years, and it isn’t before time according to Club Secretary Mark Gilsenan.

He thinks that they’ve probably underachieved in the last few decades, and it’s a thought process that’s presumably shared by many members of the club.

That’s because they have everything in place for success: they have a rich tradition with a not-too-shabby five Senior Championship titles to their name, they have a healthy playing population, and they have some top notch facilities down at the club grounds.

So hopefully their swashbuckling run to this year’s semi-final against Butlersbridge will prove to a be a turning point for a club which was founded under the name Bailieborough Home Rulers a long, long time ago (founded in 1886, they were renamed the Shamrocks in 1911 when the Home Rule movement was replaced by a desire for full independence, and by coincidence they won their first senior title the very same year.)

Gilsenan said: “The last time we won the senior championship was in 1995, and that’s a long, long time for a club of our size.

“That team ended up in the Ulster final, and they were narrowly beaten by Mullaghbawn after a controversial decision near the end.

“That team should’ve won a few more titles but they didn’t, and they were that good it was hard for younger players to get into the team so when lads retired there was no-one there to replace them.

“We’ve underachieved a lot really, and once you’re down in the Intermediate ranks, it’s hard to get back up.

“Michael Argue plays for us, and after we beat Drumlane in the weekend, he said in a radio interview afterwards that it’s the first time since he’s come on the scene that he’s got to a semi-final.”

Gilsenan – who actually played for Bailieborough in the Minor Championship final in 1995 in the curtain raiser to the senior decider against Gowna – sees no reason why they can’t go at least one step further and reach the final, and with players like Rhys Clarke and Luke Gilsenan running riot at the minute, there’s no reason why Finbar Clarke’s men can’t do the business against Butlersbridge.

“Butlersbridge are a good team and won the Junior Championship a few years ago, but we fancy ourselves as well. Rhys and Luke are flying at the minute, Luke scored 1-10 two games ago against Ballymachugh and 1-7 at the weekend against Drumlane.

“The lads are getting a great supply of ball as well. We have quite a young team and some of the lads are only new on the senior panel so we couldn’t be happier with how it’s going really.”

memorable seasons

1952/1957/1964

In a glorious period spanning from the early 1950s until the mid-sixties, the Shamrocks played in a total of eight county finals and won the senior championship in 1952, 1957 and 1964. They were unlucky not to win a couple of more titles, and they had a number of great Cavan players in their ranks. Pat Clarke (father of present senior manager Finbar), Ciaran and Tom McIntyre, Donal Kelly, Gabriel Kelly and Peter Pritchard all donned the county colours with distinction, and they enjoyed some great duels with Cootehill Celtics during the fifties. They probably could’ve won a couple of more titles only for bad luck in a couple of those aforementioned final defeats.

1989

Bailieborough won their only Intermediate title in their history back in 1989 when they overcame Lavey. It was a particularly important win for the Shamrocks as it formed the launchpad for their eventual senior championship win in 1995. They’d actually won a couple of U21 titles previous to 1989, so hopes were high in the club heading into their match against Lavey. They had a strong all-round team at the time, including defenders Glen Crossan, John Donnellan, Hugh Brady and Aiden Connolly, talented midfielders Ciaran Reilly and Philip Dunne, and forwards like Brendan McGownan, Mickie Clarke, Pat Fallon and Paul Kelly.

1995

This was a massive, massive year for Bailieboro, as they not only one their first senior title in decades, but they made it all the way to the Ulster final where they just fell short against Armagh side Mullaghbawn. They had some serious players on the team that year, including Cavan players Paul O’Dowd, Gerry Sheridan, Adrian Lambe, Roy Brennan and Clarles Clarke. While defeating Gowna was a thrilling moment and has passed into Bailieborough folklore, they felt injustice at the manner of their defeat to Mullaghawn.

They had thought they’d snatched a draw with a last-minute goal, but former Mullaghbawn and Armagh keeper Benny Tierney explains just what happened in a somewhat farcical end to proceedings: “We were three points up and Pat McEnaney gave them a 21-yard free and told them it was the last kick of the game,”

“Anyway it hit my elbow and bounced back out and the boy pulled on it and hit the roof of the net with it. Bailieboro were celebrating but I was already under the stand at Clones celebrating.

“People couldn’t understand what I was celebrating for when they had just scored a goal but Pat applied the letter of the law – the free was the last kick of the game and after it hit me and came back out the game was over.” Desperately disappointing for all involved but nonetheless it was still one of the finest years in the club’s storied history.

Ladies and camogie

WHILE the Bailieboro ladies crashed out of the championship at the semi-final stage to Drumlane at the weekend, by no means has it been a purely bad week for the girls in the club.

Their U-15 camogie team secured a magnificent league title victory on Monday night, and this is a club that takes inclusiveness and integration very seriously.

“The camogie has been going very well in the club, and there’s a core group keeping it all together,” said Gilsenan.

“It wouldn’t have the same numbers as the ladies football, but they’re just as passionate and a lot of them are dual players as well.

“I also have to mention our camogie players who don’t have the sport in neighboring clubs, so they’ve come into our club and they’re really committed and are a great asset to us.”

It’s just a pity, says Gilsenan, that their ladies couldn’t make up for losing the last two Intermediate finals.

“They lost to Arva/Killeshandra in 2018, and then they were going so well last year, but they didn’t really show up in the final against Gowna.

“They’ve still come a long way – at the beginning of last year there were seven or eight girls turning up and basically training themselves.

“There was no management, no nothing, but they’ve really turned it around.

“Conor Gilsenan came in as manager and gets great help from a couple of guys, so it’s just a shame that they came up short in the final, and hopefully they won’t be disappointed for too long after losing in the semi-final at the weekend.”

Our Grounds

Bailieborough Shamrocks have some fantastic facilities, but they’re determined to make them even better in the none-too-distant future.

The club presently has three pitches – their main one, a training pitch and an astroturf pitch that was opened up three years ago.

The astroturf has been a massive boost as it can be played on no matter what the weather conditions are like.

The grounds also have a walking track, and they’re aiming to have the entire grounds tarmacked as well as renovating their pavilion. They’re hoping to install a sports surface in a general meeting room, while old dressing rooms have been transformed into a club gym.

Anyone who’s been to Bailieboro’s GAA Grounds will know that Lakeland Dairies is located directly beside it (you can hardly miss it), and they have a great working relationship.

Lakeland Dairies permit the club to use it for car parking on the day of a big game, and the club has also resodded the pitch and given the grounds a fresh lick of paint during the lockdown.

Our community

Even in this unusual year, Bailieborough have plenty going on. Gilesenan is the club’s Healthy Club Officer, and they’re currently in the last phase of their healthy club roadmap.

They also had a local girl who performed magnificently well in the leadership programme for Operation Transformation.

The club joined in with her efforts, opening up the park with hundreds of people walking in the evenings while a local DJ played music. The club has also held drug awareness talks recently, and the whole facility is going non-smoking soon.

Bailieborough has also integrated with Cavan Sports Partnership to help old people get out and aboutwith a six-to-eight week programme on the astroturf.

Gilsenan also wanted to pay tribute to all the club’s hard-working volunteers, in particular Rita Clarke (if you need anything done ask Rita), ex-chairman Paddy McDonald who is also very active within the club, and current chairman Gavin Mackey for his support and help with the Healthy Club, the facility upgrades and the general day-to-day running of the club.

Underage

Embracing the two-team model

Bailieborough have big ambitions on the field of play, and accordingly they take their underage football and camogie very seriously.

Their juvenile camogs are kicking up a storm, their ladies structures are fantastic with plenty of girls breaking through to the senior ranks, and that’s without mentioning the many trophies the boys have captured in recent years.

The list is practically as long as your arm; in 2018 alone, the U-13s were Division One League Champions, Division One County champions, while their second team won the Division Five Championship. Their U15s also did incredibly well that year, with their first team reaching the semi-finals of the league and championships, while their second team did brilliantly in Division Five.

Gilsenan explains that they were one of the pioneers of the ‘two-team’ approach in Cavan.

“A couple of years ago we formed a strategic development that entailed a five-year approach for our 15-to-20 year olds.

“One of our goals was developing a two-team structure that would interlink both teams – if you’re playing for the Division Fives and are doing well you get on the Division One team.

We’re one of the first clubs in Cavan who adopted it and it’s becoming very popular. It gives meaningful football to the kids and we’re basically doing it the whole way up now.”