CLONTARF GAA CLUB

The 2004 season started afresh back in January with anew management team consisting of Niall Fitzgerald (manager) ,Mark Coffey(selector),Alan Costello (football coordinator), Cathal Carr (capt) &Dermot Leahy (selector).

Pre season / early Spring training took place inInnishfails GAA ,Balgriffin. While their facilities are quite adequate, wet weather meant pitches were more often ‘off’ than ‘on’ resulting in the squad having to train indoor. This lack of on field work coupled with early injuries picked up by players contributed to our poor start to the league campaign. Two losses at the hands of  St Sylvesters & Fingallians respectively.

On returning to our home base of pitch 34 with the longer evenings arriving our fortunes turned for the better. Injuries began to heal, training numbers increased and consequently our form improved greatly. The next four league games resulted in wins over, Ciarans, Barrog, Mearnog,& R Towers. Somewhere in between those games we lost in the first round ofthe Championship to newcomers St. Maurs by 2 points. Perhaps that game is best forgotten about – we didn’t play to the top of our ability on the day. Mistakes were made both on & off the field. Lessons were learned!!!

On June 22nd, we travelled out to St Marks for our toughest league assignment todate. Torrential rain and gale force winds spoiled this game as a spectacle. We missed 2 good goal opportunities in the first half, against the wind. After the restart, Marks showed why they were potential Div2 champions by scoring freely and won snugly by 11 points.

At this juncture it was time for squad to regroup& renew the focus. Great credit is due to the players for the manner in which they responded to the Marks defeat. Our next three league games were won in tremendous style with an aggregate score of 6-24

Play-offs now looked a realistic target. Our ‘friends’St. Maurs had other ideas – they stole the points from under our noses in our next game – August 17th on pitch 34. This loss proved to be another wake up call for the panel. Three league games later – win, draw, win,- the latter a bruising home game against Garda and we had reached the playoffs – one of our objectives for the season. Round Towers with all their inter-county stars available proved too strong for us in the promotional semi-final. They in turn reached Div 1 by beating Plunketts in the final.

Senior Record 2004: Played 22, Won, 10, Drawn 1, Lost 11

Championship Clash, 8th May 2004.

ST MAUR'S 1-9 CLONTARF 0-10

A strong finish to the opening half helped by Peter Reynolds' goal in the 25th minute proved vital for Maur's at O'Toole Park on Saturday.

Barry Horgan and former Dublin minor Chris Moore added points as Maur's led 1-6 to 0-4 at half-time.

SCORERS - St Maur's: C Moore 0-4, M Byrne 0-3 (0-1f), P Reynolds 1-0, B Horgan, D Caffrey (0-1f) 0-1 each. Clontarf: K Leahy 0-5 (0-3f), D O'Brien (0-1f), C Carr (0-1f) 0-2 each, D Smith 0-1.
NH MAUR - N Maypotter; R Kelly, S Flynn, C Sweetman; G Landy, J Kelly, E Bollard; J Sweetman, B Horgan; D Boylan, C Moore, P Reynolds; R Carty, M Byrne, A Kelly. Subs: D Caffrey for A Kelly, R Wilde for Doylan, B Tracy for Horgan, J Walsh for Carty, P Keegan for Reynolds.
CLONTARF - J Moroney; C Kelly, D Fennelly, D Lambert; D Carew, B Stokes, M Coffey; I Smith, D Smith; M Leahy, C Carr, S Coen; K Leahy, A Costello, D O'Brien. Subs: K Devine for Carew, G Devine for Costello.
REF - N Cocoman (St Oliver Plunkett's/Eoghan Ruadh).