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42 COUNTY FOCUS
August 3, 2007 | Gaelic Life
MonaghanView » THE COUNTY LIFE
Captain Freeman ready
to take on the Kingdom
Farney team
excited by
impending
Croke Park
experience
THE MONAGHAN captain
Damien Freeman is relishing the
challenge of facing All-Ireland
champions Kerry after the counties
were paired together in the
All-Ireland SFC quarter-final
draw.
Seamus McEnaney’s charges
indicated how far they have come
this season by demolishing National
League champions Donegal
on Saturday night, and Freeman
admitted that confidence has never
been higher.
“Kerry are All-Ireland champions.
T hey’ve stacks of All-Ireland
medals in their back pockets, so
it’s going to be a big challenge,”
he said.
“But we’re playing well at the
moment. To be in the last eight is
fantastic. We’ve worked hard and
the next big challenge lies ahead.
“Kerry, themselves and Tyrone,
are the top two that’s tipped heavily
to win the All-Ireland again
this year.
“But playing at this level, you
want to play against the best to
see exactly how far you’ve come
on.”
Meanwhile, with Monaghan
preparing for their big day out at
headquarters on August 12 the
Supporters Club has announced
that they will have their whole
range of merchandise available
and that they will be setting up
shop at a number of locations
throughout the county in the runup
to the big day.
The club was practically sold
out of all their merchandise before
the Ulster final and the
amount of blue and white that
was seen in Clones on that day
and last Saturday evening in
Omagh is proof positive that the
Monaghan supporters are out to
make a very big impression.
Club PRO Seamus McMeel
along with Luke Cunningham and
Mary Kerr Conlon will be in
charge of sales again and they expect
that their new range of polo
shirts and T-shirts will prove and
very popular.
BIG CHALLENGE...Monaghan captain Damien Freeman is excited at the prospect of facing Kerry
» BLUFFER’S GUIDE TO
CREMARTIN GFC
GAA clubs often live and prosper in limited
circumstances and sometimes the more limited
the circumstances the greater the effort is
to compensate.
The Cremartin club could well be described in
those terms as they are based in part of the bigger
Parish of Clontibret, nestling in an area that also
supports a couple of other clubs.
The club has been in existence since 1934 and
they achieved their first success on the field when
they won the junior football league in 1938. Success
was hard won and it wasn't until 1956 that they
took some more silverware.
The club made a major breakthrough in 1976 but
not in terms of winning trophies but rather in the
development of their own facilities when the decision
was made to purchase four acres of land and
the old grain store off Cremartin old creamery.
Shamrock Park was officially opened in 1979 and
since then has become one of their most popular
venues in the county. The hard work and dedication
of many people has seen the club prosper particularly
at underage level.
A lot of that work came to fruition in
Drumhowan on last Tuesday when the club annexed
the minor football league division 2 title for
the Jimmy McCarey Cup. It was a victory, fashioned
in true Cremartin tradition out of hard work
and a couple of inspired personal performances.
NATIONAL RECOGNITION
Individuals are often the inspiration for great
achievements in many clubs and Cremartin’s passage
onto the provincial and national stage came
from such a base.
A cup commemorating one of their own emerging
young stars, Paul Kerr, who was tragically
killed in an accident was a fitting trophy for such
an exercise and driven on by Declan Flanagan the
experiment proved a potent success.
The interest in the tournament was unbelievable
with huge crowds travelling from clubs in the different
counties to the mid-Monaghan venue and
the first final between Doohamlet from Monaghan
and Drumgoon from Cavan saw Shamrock Park
packed to the rafters. Such was the success of the
tournament that it was taken up at national level
and another trophy, the Shamrock Cup was presented
by the club for competition in the All Ireland
part of the series.
The All Ireland dimension was heartily supported
by the then Uachtaran of the GAA Sean Kelly
who himself travelled to Shamrock Park by helicopter
to present the cup to the winners.
WHERE IS IT
The most direct route to access Shamrock Park is
off the main Monaghan to Castleblayney road (although
you can come the other way as well), at the
village of Annyalla. Another landmark that indicates
where the club is situated is the new Monaghan
GAA training facility at Cloghan that can
now be viewed from the Castleblayney bypass although
there is no access from the new road directly
onto the by-road that services both Cloghan and
Cremartin.
STAR PERFORMER
DECLAN FARRELL (CREMARTIN)
He was a member of the Monaghan minor football
panel this year and he played a central role in
Cremartin's minor league victory in Drumhowan on
last Tuesday night. Playing at midfield he was part of
the engine room of the team and his hard working
display, both defensively and going forward, was one
of the central planks in Cremartin's victory. His battle
in midfield with his county minor colleague Colm
Greenan was a feature of the game and when it was
needed the most in the second-half as Cremartin
kicked on to victory, Declan Farrell swung over two
inspirational points to create a tide that lifted all
boats around him and his side pulled away to clinch
victory.
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