Bolger’s devotion to the cause still reaping rewards
THE GREEN and gold colours have been readily associated with the county of Meath since the earliest days of the G.A.A. However, the natives will have to take a back seat for once on Saturday because the Rathgarogue-Cushinstown contingent will be travelling in their droves to Páirc Tailteann in Navan to cheer on their local heroes in the AIB Leinster Club Junior football championship final.
Their opponents, Clann na nGael from Athboy and Rath Cairn, also normally sport the green and gold, but Leinster Council regulations stipulate that in the event of a direct clash, then it’s the home side that’s obliged to change.
It means that Rathgarogue-Cushinstown will be wearing their familiar jerseys for this huge day in the club’s history, and to win this title on ‘foreign’ soil would be a magnificent achievement.
It’s amazing how fortunes can change in such a relatively quick time in the sporting world, and the unpredictability of it all is what keeps us coming back for more.
I’ve known the Rathgarogue-Cushinstown manager, James Bolger, since 1992 when he was a player and I was a selector on the county Juvenile football team.
Two years later he featured with the Minors when they lost the Leinster final to a Jason Sherlock-inspired Dublin, but there was a measure of revenge to be enjoyed in 2000 when James captained the county Junior team as they defeated the boys in blue in the provincial decider in Carlow.
In the same year of our first meeting, 1992, his beloved club went all the way to their only Senior football championship semi-final to date, losing by 0-15 to 0-7 to the great Duffry Rovers side of that era who went on to complete the seven-in-a-row against St. Anne’s.
Success comes in cycles for every club, and it’s fair to say that Rathgarogue-Cushinstown slipped down the ladder as the years progressed.
After relegation from the top flight in 1994, there was a gut-wrenching trio of Intermediate final losses to neighbours Gusserane after a replay in 1997, to St. Patrick’s two years later, and to Ballyhogue following another two meetings in 2004.
They had avoided a drop to Junior by clearing the last hurdle against Réalt na Mara in 2001, but their involvement in the Intermediate grade did come to an end with a one-point loss to Monageer-Boolavogue in 2005.
And that’s where they stayed - in the Junior ranks - until October of last year when the Enniscorthy District men were defeated in the final by two points.
That was a case of third time lucky, as Rathgarogue-Cushinstown had been beaten in the deciders of 2014, by Crossabeg-Ballymurn after a replay, and 2017 when St. Martin’s prevailed by 1-9 to 1-7.
There was one constant throughout that potted history of occasional ups and considerably more downs, namely the ongoing involvement of James Bolger, whether as player or mentor.
He was very much in the veteran stage when the club suffered the bitter disappointment of that defeat to the Over The Water men five years ago, and he quickly turned his attentions to backroom duties after his retirement.
Apart from those final defeats, there was also a succession of exits in Junior quarter-finals and semi-finals through the years.
I can remember commiserating with James after one such loss, when his forlorn reply was: ‘will we ever win the damn thing?’
Persistence and a steadfast refusal to lie down can be powerful driving forces though, and Rathgarogue-Cushinstown have known such riches since October last year that those litany of earlier heartbreaks must be long since forgotten.
James and his fellow mentors will bring a fit, talented and motivated crew to Navan on Saturday, and it’s no more than they deserve after embarking on a winning run that has featured some memorable flourishes of positive football.
The chief quest at the outset of his tenure as boss was to finally win that county Junior crown, but now loftier targets are set.
Imagine the scenes if the cup is brought back to Ballinaboola on Saturday evening. Best wishes to James and his fine bunch of lads.