Mr Curraha's faith is rewarded in fine style

Coyle eyeing up more silverware as attention turns to Leinster

Eleven years on since they last won the Meath JFC crown and nine years since they were promoted to senior after winning the IFC in 2017, Curraha were back lifting trophies on the big stage again at Simonstown on Friday night.

One man who was central to those glory days in the last dozen or so years is Gavin Coyle and last Friday night Curraha captain Diarmuid Moriarty paid tribute to the man he called 'Mr Curraha'.

Coyle has been through it all. He surfed the waves of those meteoric highs, and rode the storms of the lowest of lows, but through it all, one thing remained constant for Coyle - his blood is green and gold.

A player in those heady days Coyle has also endured the rough with the smooth. There must have been times when he felt alone in his desire to keep the good ship afloat in the stormy waters of relegation.

Coyle was has been everything to Curraha. Former star player, captain, secretary, and when no one else would take the job he took on the manager's role.

Over the last two years the easy thing would have been to jump the sinking ship, but Coyle stayed at the wheel. He never lost faith, even when the team suffered back-to-back relegations he still believed.

Curraha have a club in transition for the last few years. Their seven year stay in senior was a constant battle. They contested the relegation play-offs in six of those years, only ever making it out of the group once where they lost a preliminary quarter-final by six points to Donaghmore/Ashbourne in 2019.

In 2024 they lost on penalties to Ballinabrackey in the relegation final and last year they lost to Oldcastle, Drumbaragh and Longwood in the group stages of the IFC before defeats to Bective and Navan O'Mahonys confirmed a second successive relegation.

Through it all Coyle kept the faith and the appointment of Stephen Morgan, another loyal and proud Curraha man, helped turn the tide, as did the return of a plethora of high quality players from abroad.

"It's been a long two years for the club," recalled Coyle, almost dismissing the previous five years that weren't exactly a cakewalk either.

"Without a pitch (because of redevelopment) and all that, but things are on the up now in Curraha and it's great for the younger lads who haven't won a championship before.

"We've produced great talent over the years and we held our own in senior before back-to-back relegations, which wasn't nice.

"At the start of last year, my aim was to be playing, but we struggled. Between myself, Stephen (Morgan) and Tony (McEntee) we were looking for managers to come in, but we couldn't get anyone, then I took it on.

"Obviously, last year was a difficult year with no pitch and all that. We knuckled down this year and then Stephen (Morgan) coming in has been a breath of fresh air, he's inter-county standard.

"I've no doubt in my mind that he will be involved at county level very soon, hopefully with Meath in the future because his knowledge, his expertise, his no-bullshit attitude, is brilliant. He's fantastic to have around the club as well."

The last time Curraha won the Meath JFC, they proved their strength by going on to win the provincial title too, they are hot favourites to repeat that trick this year and Coyle's ambitions are in line with those expectations.

"This will be enjoyed. The one bonus about the win tonight is that it's a Friday night, so we can enjoy tomorrow and Sunday," said the joint manager.

"but there'll be no Monday club, let's leave it at that. We will focus on Leinster now and drive on again."

It is that ambition, that belief, that single-minded drive that has earned Coyle the 'Mr Curraha' moniker.

Reflecting on Friday night's win over Ballinlough, Coyle admitted that it was just the battle he expected and he reserved special praise for those players who don't always grab the headlines for Curraha or whose names aren't as familiar in the households around the county outside of Curraha.

"It was definitely a battle. We knew what Ballinlough were going to bring to the table. We'd seen them against St Vincent's, they're a very hard-working team, give loads of contact in the middle and the massive pitch in Simonstown suited them, but we didn't help ourselves," admitted Coyle.

"We kept it in the middle and we went away from our game plan as well. It was a dogfight and it wasn't the best game to watch.

"It's a massive pitch here in Simonstown, even compared to Skryne where we played a couple of weeks ago, and that led to a lot of space and open football.

"The likes of Brian Joyce had a massive game for us, he was outstanding at full-forward where he worked his socks off, then came out around the middle and won a few breaking balls and kick-out and drove the whole thing on again.

"When we were probably struggling a little bit in the middle, Brian gave us that energy and ball winning out there.

"Then Ciarán O'Hanrahan, Ronan Flynn, lads that aren't expected to be the big names, they had absolutely massive games for us."

Coyle was impressed with how Ballinlough coped after being reduced to 14 men, but he admitted that Curraha struggled to take full advantage and believes that half-time came at just the perfect time for his side to come to terms with their numerical advantage.

"We were disorganised after it (the sending off), big time. They reacted to it well and finished the half strong," recalled Coyle.

"Half-time came at the right time for us to go in and regroup. With the new rules and extra men, it doesn't really make a huge amount of difference because you still have to keep your three up and four back.

"We tweaked things a little bit and the bench as well was huge, the strength in depth we have is great."

Coyle was also delighted to debunk the myth that a team that goes directly to a semi-final or final and has to sit and wait for an extra couple of weeks is often disadvantaged by the wait.

He heaped praise on his entire panel for their attitude and commitment to the cause.

"Leading into the Slane game, we had four weeks off. History tells us that going straight to the semi-final, you can struggle, but without the 35 or the 40 lads in the panel, the 15 lads on team aren't going to win a championship.

"That's a credit to the lads that are involved in the whole team. We were able to play an in-house game two weeks before the Slane game and that was the first time that has happened for a few years because of all the lads that were gone away for the last couple of years," concluded the manager before receiving a ringing endorsement from his captain and then almost immediately turning his attention to taking on Longford's Ballymore in Ashbourne on Saturday 31st October in the first game of the bid for more silverware.

Coyle intends to enjoy surfing the waves of success again.