Heineken Cup star ends club medal drought on his birthday
AFTER amassing four international senior rugby caps, 104 Munster caps, 37 with Leinster, one Heineken Cup and two Magners League victories, Niall Ronan has finally won a medal with his GAA club St Colmcille’s.
And the Corn Na Boinne success over Castletown last Tuesday night at Dunganny was achieved on his 34th birthday!
It’s quite a notable achievement for a man who started out as a young star with the seasiders and represented Meath at minor level before his Gaelic career was ‘interrupted’ for 12 years while he pursued what turned out to be a very successful stint in professional rugby.
‘It’s the first medal that the lads who have been playing over the last 15 to 16 years have won at any level in adult football,’ the delighted birthday boy said.
‘I started playing adult gaelic when I was 15 years of age and I’m 34 today. I’m back now with the Cille’s two and a half years, so it is great to win something.
‘To be honest we were disappointed with the way we played out there. We had something like 12 wides, our finishing wasn’t great and we made numerous errors, but we won.
‘Obviously it is a very important time, with the quarter-finals of the championship. If we repeat that display in the knockout games we won’t be progressing too far.’
After a number of impressive outings when coming out of the group stages of the IFC with a 100% record, Cille’s, last year’s beaten finalists, are hot favourites for outright honours.
Colm Nally’s side gave themselves a massive boost of avoiding league relegation with a final-round victory over Gaeil Colmcille’s the previous Sunday. Their league fate will be decided when they play Blackhall Gaels of Division 2 in a one-off promotion/relegation play-off.
‘The Gaeil Colmcille game and this Corn Na Boinne Final are great preparation for the championship, better than any training or challenge matches,’ Ronan continued.
‘We have a very good coach in Colm Nally and we have 30 lads training and there are plenty of young lads coming through, so there will be keen competition for places over the next couple of weeks,’ Ronan concluded. THE proposed fixtures for the 2017 NFL and NHL campaigns have been released, with Meath’s footballers set to face Kildare in their Division 2 opener in Navan on Sunday February 5th.
Newly-appointed Meath senior football manager Andy McEntee will have four home games to look forward to, starting with the visit of the newly-promoted Lillywhites.
With no floodlights in Pairc Tailteann all of the home ties will be played on Sunday afternoons and the Royals’ only floodlit match is away to Down on Saturday February 25th.
Meath will also be at home to Derry, Galway and Fermanagh and finish their campaign with an away trip to Clare.
The hurlers begin their bid for promotion from Division 2B when they host Down on Sunday February 12th. Four of their five matches are home ties. Sunday February 5th - Meath v Kildare; Sunday February 12th - Meath v Derry; Saturday February 25th - Down v Meath; Sunday March 5th - Meath v Galway; Sunday March 19th - Cork v Meath; Sunday March 26th - Meath v Fermanagh; Sunday April 2nd - Clare v Meath. Sunday February 12th - Meath v Down; Sunday February 19th - Meath v Derry; Sunday March 5th - Donegal v Meath; Sunday March 12th - Meath v Mayo; Sunday March 26th - Meath v Wicklow.