Athboy face stern test to retain the McGee Cup

One of the first pieces of silverware in the rugby season will be on offer on Sunday when Navan and Athboy front up in the McGee Cup final at Ardee on Sunday, 12.0. Athboy are gunning for a hat-trick of titles having defeated Ardee 15-5 in last year's bruising showdown before a big crowd at Balreask Old. The year before that Athboy ended a long drought without claiming a trophy of any significance when they won the McGee Cup by defeating Navan. Athboy had won the toss to stage the final on their home ground that year and they took full advantage to ambush a Balreask Old side who were hot favourites to prevail. Now the team coached by Dave Farrelly are in line for a three-in-row although the 15 Athboy players who take the field on Sunday will be considerably different from the selection that won the trophy last spring. Many of the players from last year have departed to pastures new and Farrelly has had to rebuild a new side around the likes of JP Matthews, Stevie Lee and experienced back-row forward Mickey Casey. "The guts of half the team is missing from last year, an awful lot of it through emigration," explained Farrelly as he embarked on a lengthy list of players and how each of them has headed for countries such as Australia and Canada. "It took a while to get us re-adjusted. We've new players in and some of them would be inexperienced. For some of them it's the first full year they've played rugby. They've really adapted very well, but it takes time for new players to blend into a team. "The players have worked very hard, they've done very well. They're great self-critics, if they had a bad game, they don't make excuses, they front up and try and make sure it doesn't happen again." This is Farrelly's third year in charge, but he modestly emphasises that the progress of recent seasons is very much down to the hard work of the players. Both teams have had to endure a long arduous journey to get to the final with 13 games played including the semi-final. In the last four Athboy proved too strong for Boyne on a 21-8 scoreline with their cause boosted by tries from Alan O'Toole and Ed Bridge. Place-kicker Shane Mooney has also weighed in with a haul of scores over the campaign. Navan's coach is Niall Hennessy while the manager is Myles McCarthy who can all-too-clearly recall two years ago when Navan were surprised by Athboy in the McGee Cup final. He feels his team learned a hard lesson that day. "We won the league comprehensively that year and you can very easily take your foot off the pedal and that's what happened. We got a little cocky for our own good and went in assuming we were going to win because we had beaten everybody on the way to the end of the season," he recalled. McCarthy is hoping that Navan have being cuter this season and peaked at the right time, the fact that they defeated Ardee 13-0 in the semi-finals suggests they have. Experienced members of the Navan squad include former Athboy player Richie Ball, Darren Cherry and Kieran Brassil who has savoured Provincial Towns' Cup success. Among the Navan squad is former Longford Town and Dundalk goalkeeper Aaron Shanahan who may not start the McGee Cup final, but could make an appearance at some stage on the wing or at full-back. Shanahan is also a noted soccer referee. Another squad member, who has made his mark in another sport is former jockey Terry Mitchell. "We have a quite a few players who are only in their second or third year playing rugby. There not all life-long rugby players. A lot of them have come in from playing soccer or Gaelic football," added McCarthy. A tough, uncompromising encounter is promised and a re-modelled Navan side could do the business over the team chasing the hat-trick of titles. PANELS Athboy - JP Matthews, Joe Griffin, Ger Fitzgerald, Padraig McGurl, Stevie Lee, Barry Gileese, Ed Bridge, Eoin Whelan, Kieran Cullen, Brian Quirke, Mickey Casey, Tommy Masterson, Greg Lutz, Alan Fox, Shane Mooney, Kieran Murphy, Micheal Priest, Gearoid Breachnach, Michael Fagan, Bert McLoughlin, Eoin Ryan, Declan Murray. Coach - Dave Farrelly; assistant - Tony Dale, David Bohan, Fergus O'Boyle. Navan - D Dixon, K Brassil, R Hirtes, J Geoghegan, TP Lenehan, B Moran, A Puddick; P Maginn, D Dempsey, S Dixon, P Muldowney, P Kane, D Brady, R Ball, B Connolly, M Connolly, G Morrison, E Corrigan, A Hoey, D Cherry, E Craik, T Foley, W McDonagh, K Beckham, M Lowther, J Macken, E Maguire, R Smyth, P Elliott, B Dunphy, A Shanahan, D Kealy, K Keenan.