Lowndes fires his way into Dunboyne history
ADAY at Páirc Tailteann when past and present collided. At half-time in the senior final, the talented team that pulled off the double of minor and Under-21 All-Irelands in 1990 and 1993 was unveiled to the crowd, featuring a roll call of familiar faces.
Graham Geraghty was there, left arm in a sling after featuring in the junior C final for Clann na nGael last weekend, still raging against the dying of the light. Not far down the line from him, another double All-Ireland senior winner in Enda McManus. Jimmy ‘Boots’ McGuinness. Trevor Giles, the cerebral two-time Footballer of the Year.
Up in the stand, the man who master-minded the success story at senior level in the 1980s and 1990s, Sean Boylan, looked proudly on, wearing the black and amber colours of his native Dunboyne.
And this day belonged to St Peter’s, the decisive score coming from the boot of Stuart Lowndes who found the net five minutes from the end of normal time.
Before the Keegan Cup was presented, the speech of chairman Peter O’Halloran referenced the clubs along the Dublin border and the expanding population base of the likes of Dunboyne, but also the huge work needed to transfer that into success.
What added another layer of emotion to what was the club’s third senior title, to go with the successes of 1998 and 2005, was the backstory of Sean Cox, in a week when the club launched a dedicated fundraiser to the former chairman who was left in a critical condition after travelling to Anfield to support Liverpool in a Champions League semi-final against Roma and whose rehabilitation continues.
Captain Cathal Finn spoke very well afterwards, referencing how much he is still in the thoughts of everyone at the Navan ground yesterday.
The game-breaking score was in keeping with a scrappy encounter, coming five minutes from the end of normal time when Dunboyne clung to a single point lead, 0-10 to 0-9. County attacker Donal Lenihan ballooned a point attempt and Summerhill made the fatal mistake of letting it bounce around the 20-metre line.
A flick down then into the path of Lowndes allowed the forward to run through and find the net. Robert McCarthy — so impressive from placed balls, including one classy effort in the second half from a tight angle near the main stand — fisted over the last score of the game to make it safe.
Like his brother Eric, Lowndes played a lot of underage football for St Peregrine’s and has that rare distinction of representing both Dublin and Meath in O’Byrne Cup football. His brother Craig also featured yesterday and his dad John is a selector. ‘My Dad is a Dunboyne man, my family are all Dunboyne, my uncle is a die-hard who is here today so it’s a very proud day for him to see myself and Craig. So it’s great to get the win and to get the trophy home.
‘It’s a nice story to tell sometime. It’s been a great journey. It’s been a tough two or three years to get here, a bit of heartbreak along the way but we got over the line.’
Still, he was honest enough also to admit ‘it wasn’t the most free flowing game of football ever’. Even without out-and-out sweepers, both teams funnelled plenty of bodies back when possession was turned over, which was often.
It’s 16 years and counting since the champions of Meath went all the way in Leinster and a half-time scoreline of just 0-5 to 0-4 in Summerhill’s favour — with just five points combined coming from open play — hardly suggests an end to those struggles in Leinster.
As Dunboyne went ahead 0-3 to no score inside the opening quarter a couple of opportunities for goal for Summerhill went abegging. Wing-forward Kevin Ryan was pinged for steps just as he raced through with goal on his mind while Barry Dardis turned and fizzed a snap-shot just wide of the right-hand post.
In that time, a Ronan McCarthy free for Dunboyne was added to by a Liam Byrne point and David McEntee’s smart turn on the outside was rounded off with a neat point off his left foot.
A Dardis free settled Summerhill and Michael Byrne’s thumped point from distance was the pick of four unanswered scores that helped them narroe the lead.
Three Dunboyne frees — including that cracking effort from from Robert McCarthy — saw the lead swap hands, Summerhill replying with a brilliant weaving solo run and individual score from David Larkin.
Both teams huffed and puffed, going point for point, until the critical moment when Lowndes found the net.
And so the match ended with St Peter’s running down the clock and midfielder
David Gallagher being able to say that he played on all three senior title winning teams, dating back 20 years to 1998. Some going.