Junior B Preview: Forward thinking Kilmainham fancied to bounce back

For generations, Mayo became the sporting byword for glorious failure. Between 1951 and 2026, they endured a 75 year wait for Sam Maguire, losing 11 All Ireland finals and drawing another two before finally ending the famine this summer.

While Moynalty's wait is nowhere near as long, there are echoes of that story as they prepare for another Junior B FC campaign. The north Meath club have won just one of its last 13 championship final appearances, despite reaching six deciders since 2009.

Yet if Mayo proved anything on the final Sunday in July, it is that history is there to be rewritten, not feared.

Decades of near misses, heartbreaking defeats and unwanted records counted for nothing once the ball was thrown in at Croke Park.

Moynalty will hope that Mayo's long-awaited breakthrough serves as a reminder that no hoodoo lasts forever and that all it takes is one afternoon to change the narrative.

In terms of high-profile managers, they don’t come much bigger at any grade than Micheal McDermott.

The charismatic figure has guided teams in four different counties to Senior success including Wolfe Tones in Meath. If he was to bring an elusive Junior B title back to Moynalty, it may go down as his best success yet.

Before they entertain the thought of another final, they must navigate a group that contains both Kilmainham and Kilmainhamwood, two of the other heavyweights in the grade. With no quarter-finals and only two advancing from the group, Moynalty’s opening round clash with Mickey Newman’s Kilmainham side will likely set the tone for both team’s prospects.

The Kells parish club were relegated from the Junior A Championship last year and recently suffered another demotion at the hands of Blackhall Gaels in FL Div 3. However, with player/manager Newman, Meath under-20 panellist Michael Hoey and the returning Dylan Morgan in their ranks – they possess three of the finest forwards around. Kilmainhamwood open their campaign with what is simply a must-win game against Drumconrath. The 1996 Senior champions, joint-managed by Stephen Smith and Kieran Shankey, made much of the running in FL Div 5 this season only to miss out at the penultimate stage to Moylagh.

Despite Shane Townley deputising well in his absence, the return of Rian Stafford from his summer travels in America will be integral to their hopes.

The other four clubs – Boardsmill, Clonard, Cortown and Eastern Gaels represents a group of opportunity. At least one of Kilmainham, Kilmainhamwood and Moynalty will fail to make the final four despite being the three leading contenders with the bookmakers.

Whilst Boardsmill and Cortown will be fancied to advance, Clonard are a club on the up again. Shane Oxley-Walsh, Alan Hannon, Kian Campbell and Kayden Plunkett will get their first taste of adult championship football fresh from collecting a Minor title in recent weeks.

It may be a year or two too soon but if the talent pool continues, it will not be long until Tony Walsh’s men are really plotting their ascend up the pyramid again.

Boardsmill and Cortown have also enjoyed a much-needed influx of youth into their ranks of late.

‘The Mill’, again managed by the popular double-act of James McNally and John Rafferty, will be quietly confident of rattling a couple of cages especially fresh from their second consecutive promotion.

Cortown, on the other hand, collected their first piece of silverware for 13 years last month and will be first looking for a third straight semi-final appearance before attempting to take down one of the big guns from the other group.

It is ‘Junior B’ in name and grade alone, the standard though continues to rise year on year as proven by clubs like Kilbride, Slane and St Brigid’s who have all pushed onto bigger and better things since their successes of yesteryear. Who will be the latest club to realise their potential and make the jump back to the third tier? It's hard to look beyond the class of Kilmainham.