Jimmy Geoghegan: Defensive fortitude paved the way to Trim's big day

It's a fundamental law of team sports. Get your defence right and you are more than half way towards ultimate success.

That certainly proved to be the case in Sunday's SHC final. The Boys in Red built strong battlements which Ratoath struggled to breach. The statistics indicate as much and right up there in flashing lights is the fact that of the six named starting Ratoath forwards only two of them managed to eke out points - Cian Rogers and Gavin McGowan, and then it was only a score apiece.

Such meagre productivity was never going to be enough to build a sustained assault on Trim's control of the game. Ratoath did eventually get a goal they so badly needed but it came just before referee Stephen Masterson brought the engaging contest to a conclusion. Too late.

McGowan helped himself to six points against Kiltale in the semi-final and was hugely influential. Starved off possession on Sunday - or the time and space to inflict any damage - he was never going to do the same against a Trim side blessed with a tight, defensive unit. A unit who consider it a personal affront to concede a score.

That assertion was backed up by Trim manager Jimmy Canty afterwards when he spoke to the Meath Chronicle about how the afternoon unfolded for him and his team.

"Yeah, the lads (in defence) have been outstanding all year, we've really built a team around that and on what was a wet day they never let Ratoath in. It was only at the very end they got in for a goal from a free. Our defence has been the rock of the team all year."

Dimmy Higgins, James Toher and Conor Quigley, in particular, made up a formidable half-back unit that was a like the Wall of China. Others played their parts too such as Gerard Dwane, Ciaran O'Rourke and Ben Holden. Strong. The Trim defence was so organised and tenacious it muzzled the Ratoath attack for much of the game.

James Murray was named the Michael 'Harry' Connor 'Man of the Match' and rightfully so. His personal tally of 10 points embellished a mature performance that belied the fact he is still only 20-years-old, at the foothills of his career, with two of his scores derived from classy sideline pucks.

Yet Toher was also immense, time and again emerging from rucks with the ball to launch attacks for his team. At times Toher was left on his own as Ratoath sought to bolster their bulwarks by bringing players back to man their own defensive lines. However, give a player of Toher's quality time and space and invariably there is a price to pay - and Ratoath paid it on Sunday.

The centre-half-back mopped up a world of ball providing his team a platform in the process for ultimate success. He also carried out his defensive duties diligently, as did his colleagues in the defensive division. Like Toher, Higgins also show real vision when it came to distribution and turning defence into attack.

Not that manager Canty just praised the defenders. He pointed also to the strong collective mentality of the side. That part of the team's make up, of players' make-up, that regard losing like a plague. He lavished praise too the dedication of his troops, their willingness to put in the hard yards in training not just in the lead up to the championship but earlier in the year when stamina was put in the legs. Stamina that was needed on Sunday.

Canty won three SHC medals as a player with Trim. He knows that a lot of factors go into making a team successful. There is the graft, the talent and another ingredient that no manager or team can legislate or plan for - a slice of luck. Canty agreed Trim got that when, with 17 minutes played, James Andrews played the ball towards the Ratoath posts.

Goalkeeper Gearoid Crowley looked to have it covered but the slippery sliotar escaped his forlorn grasp and rolled agonisingly into the net. In some respects Sunday's showdown was the tale of two goalkeepers. Ennis, as he is wont to do, brought off a brilliant save from Daithi McGowan in the second-half.

Yet he almost conceded a goal that was a carbon copy of the score Crowley shipped. Unlike the Ratoath netminder Ennis had time enough to get back and scramble the ball clear. On such moments do championship ambitions hang - or fall.

This is Canty's first year as a manager of the senior side and he - along with selectors Ciaran Joyce and David McGuinness - can reflect back on a trophy-rich season that includes the A HL Div 1 crown and now the Jubilee Cup. Canty and his selectors had a clear plan going into battle on Sunday.

"We knew we had to try and keep our shape and get as much possession as we could from our own puck out and not get dragged too much into the middle," he outlined.

He also pointed to another formidable asset Trim have - a strong bench. "We also had players to bring on and get us through that last 15, 10 minutes, the same as we've had all year. You are not going to win anything without being able to call on your bench as well."

Canty pointed out how he and his selectors took on the challenge of managing the team knowing full well they had the players to land another title. He knew he had personnel with experience and know-how as well as the hunger needed for success, yet it still had to be done. Ambition still had to be turned into reality.

When they look back on their championship campaign Canty & Co can do so with a real sense of achievement. They might have led most of the way on Sunday but that doesn't mean it was easy. From from it. The Trim manager refereed to the hunger needed as "guts and determination" outlining how in "a few games this year" Trim were rocked and rattled by opponents but somehow the players found within themselves desire to win.

It was something like that on Sunday. "There's a great winning mentality within that group that has been created in football and hurling games over the last few years. They are never beaten which is a great trait to have in any group of players."

The rain and wind made conditions very difficult for both teams on Sunday but as Canty pointed out good hurlers will always be able to find a way to win.

"We were up for the battle and were in a good position with five minutes to go but against a team like Ratoath you are never going to get a chance to see out a game too easy. You have to really work for everything you get."

Trim did just that on Sunday. They found a way helped along the route to the glorious summit by the kind of defensive fortitude that is the stuff of champions. Real champions.