Kilmessan shaping up on all fronts

GAA Club aiming to reclaim the glory days

Kilmessan have turned to Cork man Eoin O'Leary in their efforts to add to their already impressive collection of Meath SHC titles with the club hoping 2021 will be a very significant year for them on a number of fronts.

O'Leary has been appointed the manager of the senior team and he will be assisted by Peter Gorman and Eddie Keena.

The club's second team will be coached by Jimmy Maguire and his selectors are club chairman Paddy Horan and former player Nicky Horan.

Maguire will also be involved as a member of the backroom team for the senior side.

Winners of the SHC on 29 occasions Kilmessan have not managed to get their hands on the Jubilee Cup since 2013, but now they will be hoping O'Leary and his management team can do the business and bring the coveted trophy back to the club.

Last year Kilmessan's hopes of landing another SHC title ended when they were defeated by Kildalkey in the quarter-final and O'Leary and his selectors face a considerable challenge in taking the team to the stage where they can once more be considered strong contenders for the crown.

O'Leary played club hurling in his native Cork, but in more recent times has turned out for Na Fianna in Dublin.

O'Leary lives in Walterstown, played junior football for the Blacks and has coached in a Dublin university. He also managed Clane in Kildare. He is regarded as a innovative and promising young coach.

Paddy Horan is optimistic Kilmessan can get back to the top of the mountain in the coming years.

"I always said we were never too far away, but we did struggle for a time to get young players coming through the system, but we've worked on that.

"We blooded four minor players last year and brought them into the senior set-up and we hope to bring in a few more this year.

"Another five minors played with our junior team and we are still waiting to play that junior final against Ratoath.

"We would like to think every one of those has the potential to become senior players for us in the coming years.

"We have a good crop of young players coming through now and that's very encouraging for the club. Winning back the Jubilee Cup is something that's very important to us."

Kilmessan have also made hefty investment in the facilities at their home ground. This summer, circumstances allowing, they hope to officially unveil the redevelopment of their main pitch.

It's a project that cost in the region of €350,000 and includes a complete resurfacing of the pitch and the provision of a walking track for the local members of the community which has proved to be extremely popular.

"The pitch was resurfaced, it was also moved slightly northwards creating more parking space. The walking track is also used by a serious amount of people, it's unbelievable the amount of people using it. We would hope to officially re-open pitch this summer, all going well," added the chairman.

Funding for the developments were generated from a Leader Programme grant and a very successful Oscars night organised by the club in 2019.

Also this year Kilmessan aim to start work on the development of a second pitch on 4.5 acres of land they purchased some years ago which is adjacent to the main playing arena. The projected cost is in the region of €120,000 and a Sports Capital grant has being secured for the project.

Changing times in Kilmessan as they look to provide a firmer foundation for the future - and win back the Jubilee Cup.