Ratoath remembers Ronan on Keegan Cup's journey to Brownstown

Low key was the order of the evening at Brownstown on Sunday. Just as they have been quietly climbing up the championship grades over the past seven years, the Ratoath players slipped back into Sean Eiffe Park after winning the club’s first ever Meath senior football championship, no fuss, no formalities, no fanfare, but, of course, a rousing cheer from the waiting supporters when the Keegan Cup arrived in the clubhouse.

"That’s the way it’s been all along," Shay McGill, club vice chairman and father of club and county player, Conor, explains. "They all drove their own cars to the game. No big fuss or bus or build-up. We tried to keep as much of that away from them as possible, let them get on with the football while we did the buntings and everything else needed."
Shay, along with John McMahon, father of Conor’s Meath team mate, Bryan, Danny Gaughan and Andy Fahy, ensured that the blue and gold of Ratoath was flying high everywhere, including around the galloping horses sculpture at the Black Bull roundabout on the old N3. Players and management were treated to steak dinners in the clubhouse, opened 15 years ago as part of the Brownstown development, while outside, burgers were provided in a free-of-charge barbecue for members and supporters.
"It’s all being done voluntarily by the community," club chairperson, Suzanne O’Toole, who must have brought lady luck to the club as one of the few women holding chairpersons positions around the county. "It’s great to be able to come back to our own clubhouse and celebrate. Everyone is being very generous with their time and support."
It’s a community and GAA club that had the foresight to develop what was known as the Brownstown Project, purchasing a 27-acre site on the outskirts of the rapidly expanding village in 1996. This led to the opening of the clubhouse and the first phase of the pitch development in June 2004 by then GAA president, Sean Kelly. The grounds were named after former player, Sean Eiffe, a garda and member of a well-known Ratoath GAA family who died in a shooting during a bank raid in Abbeyleix in December 2001.

Sponsors Mick Brazil (left) and Larry McGowan with the McGowan brothers andSean Brazil.

Ratoath is a real example of old and new Meath, rural and urban, of Celtic Tiger meets hunting horns and horses.
Many older names associated with the GAA here, like Mannerings, Eiffes, Everards, Bradys, and Wallaces, have been joined by names like McGills, McGowans, McCabes, and McMahons, and former Dublin player, Davy Byrne, the man who has managed the current crop to Keegan Cup success. Rathbeggan NS on the outskirts of the parish, and its GAA fanatical teacher, Mary Devine, produced nine members of Sunday's team.
Club secretary Paul McCann explains that the population of the village went from around 650 in the 1990s, to 3,000 in the noughties, to over 9,000 in the last census, and rising.
The club wasn’t immune to recessionary times either, and had to work hard to get its finances back to a healthy position over the last decade. Current sponsors include Kevin Flynn of construction company Flynn, Mick Brazil of Fairyhouse Steel, whose son Sean played on Sunday, and Larry McGowan of Uniflu, who had four sons on the team  - Gavin, Ben, Daithi and Jack. The winning of the 2019 senior county final – the last time the original Keegan Cup is to be presented to the winning team – was even more special as the championship this year is sponsored by Fairyhouse Steel.
Support came from abroad too – a sign at the GAA grounds wishes good luck to the lads from ‘Bob and all the O’Briens’ – Bob is a contemporary of the current crop of players who is now in Australia, and from McMahon Custom Builders in Chicago, owned by Bryan's uncle. Another former team mate, Brian Power, flew home from his studies in America for the final.

The late Ronan Cahill.

There was another reason for the Keegan Cup’s quiet arrival at Brownstown on Sunday evening. Last month, Ratoath buried 20 year-old Ronan Cahill,  who had cystic fibrosis. He had never let his illness affect his involvement with Ratoath GFC, and had been a member from juvenile up to adult level, winning a Meath Chronicle/Newgate Mazda Sports Achiever Award when nominated by his school in 2011.
On Sunday evening, on their way home from Pairc Tailteann, team members, along with Ronan’s family, brought the Keegan Cup to his grave in Ratoath Cemetery, in honour of a young man who was so highly regarded by all his clubmates.

Ratoath player Joey Wallace's tribute on Twitter to Ronan Cahill.

Writing in the programme for the opening of Sean Eiffe Park in 2004, Davy Byrne said he never understood the true meaning of the "Up the Parish" until he started playing in January 2003 with Ratoath, then a junior club, and a step down from his Ballymun Kickhams senior side in Dublin. He now saw a close knit community, with footballers playing amongst eash other for each other, week in, week out, for the betterment of the community and the village.
"One thing is for sure: the "parish" will give it a damn good crack this year and hopefully bring home some long awaited silverware to our new clubhouse. Hold on tightly, the roller coaster ride is only just beginning," he wrote.
He could hardly have foreseen that, 15 years later, he would be the vital ingredient bringing home the ultimate piece of silverware on his ride into Ratoath.