For the third successive year Kildallan came close to scooping the Cavan junior football championship. But, much to the frustration of centre forward Stephen O'Neill, their 2003 bid came unstuck after a semi-final replay. Optimism still abounds in west Cavan, however, and the club did achieve yet more underage success in the year gone by. Kildallan are rapidly becoming the Jimmy Whites of Cavan football. We all know what they're capable of - we've seen it time and time again down through the years - yet for some unknown reason the Ballyconnell crew are struggling to make a breakthrough in the junior championship. Back-to-back JFC finalists in 2001 and 2002, the White & Reds went into the '03 season intent on making the long overdue step-up to intermediate football. Narrow defeat at the hands of Butlersbridge in the '02 decider had gone down like a lead balloon out Ballyconnell way. It was a double whammy as, with the league and championship streamlined through a marriage of sorts, it also cost Kildallan their Division Two status. Thus, the objective for last year was clear: set the record straight by effecting a JFC success. Having lost two finals on the trot, Kildallan knew what it would take and set about their task accordingly. Despite the unavailability of a glut of key men from the previous campaigns, they blazed through to the semi-final stage, leading to rampant speculation that this would, at last, be Kildallan's year. However, the most agonising of defeats (one point, after a replay...) put paid to the west county club's aspirations for at least another twelve months. Kildallan approached the 2003 season gunning for a remarkable third successive JFC final appearance. When Munterconnacht were edged out in a gripping quarter-final encounter (0-11 to 1-7), the dream once more looked a distinct reality. Much-improved Lavey provided the semi-final opposition and Kildallan were possibly fortunate to escape with a draw (0-12 apiece) the first day. They were well on top in the first half of the replay, though, but failed to push home their superiority and suffered a heartbreaking 2-6 to 0-11 defeat in a tense, exciting affair at Kingspan Breffni Park on Sunday September 14th. Enjoying his best year yet in the white and red shirt, Stephen O'Neill bagged seven points in the drawn 'semi' and chipped in with a brace of minors second day out. His overall contribution from play was immense over the course of the '03 campaign but it's difficult to elicit any satisfaction from personal performances when the team fails to meet its objective. Listening to his tone on the other end of a crisp telephone line, one gets the distinct impression that Stephen would prefer to have played poorly if it meant winning a JFC medal! Reflecting on the year, and the junior semi-final replay defeat in particular, he admits: "It was very disappointing. We thought we had a great chance to win it but once again we failed to produce the goods when it mattered. "For the semi-final, we were missing six players who had been on the team for the previous three years and that was a big blow. Four lads were unavailable all year and two others got injured just before the Lavey game, but we still felt we could do it. And we almost did. "We can't offer any excuses because the bottom line is that we didn't perform to our strengths in the second half of the replay and that's why we lost." Indeed, Kildallan made light of the absence of a number of key players and at one stage looked capable of gleaning championship honours regardless. Says Stephen: "Up until the semi-final, things were going grand in spite of all the players we had missing. With so many players unavailable, the remaining lads on the team all had to improve their performance by 20% and this meant that, even though we were clearly under strength, the team was still playing very well as a unit. We were able to compensate for the absentees and were still in with a great chance of winning the championship. "However, we're hoping to have all our players available again next year and we're going to give it a good crack..." Though still only 23, Stephen has been on the Kildallan first team for seven years already. During this time, the Ballyconnell-based outfit have emerged as genuine contenders for junior championship honours. In the past three seasons in particular, they've been knocking loudly on the door to intermediate football, but the door stubbornly refuses to budge. The club has invested heavily in state-of-the-art facilities in Ballyconnell and the feeling in the air is that it's high time they delivered some adult silverware to match. For the time being, frustration reigns: "It has been frustrating," Stephen O'Neill concurs. "Fair enough, we got stuffed in the 2001 final but we were only beaten by a point in the '02 final and then to lose by a point again last year was sickening." Is it simply a case of bad luck or is there something lacking in the team? "I think it's just a mental thing. We just have to get it right mentally ... to believe we can go on and win it. If we remove the mental stumbling block, there's no reason at all why Kildallan can't win some major honours. "The players are here ... and there are a lot more coming through as well. We've enjoyed a lot of success at underage level and there are some wonderful young players emerging. Aaron Duignan has been with the county minors for the past two years and we have very high hopes for him. He's already broken into the first team and we're going to be hearing a lot more about Aaron. Mark Doonan is another young player to keep an eye on. The talent is here, it's just a matter of harnessing it." As has become par for the course, Kildallan had great success at underage level in 2003, winning minor league Division Three and U16 championship Division Three honours amongst others. "There's not a year goes by without us winning something at underage level," Stephen notes. "We're very strong at grassroots level and the next challenge is to get the adult team playing with the same conviction. "Hopefully, with the new [prunty and training] pitches ready, we can move forward. The facilities are excellent and should help keep the lads interested." Not to say that Kildallan ever have any trouble with numbers! Even though some players were missing, they still had 25/26 at training for most of the year. However, a lot of these are young and will need time to break through at adult level. Everybody will be a year older and wiser in 2004, when Kildallan's hand should be considerably stronger. Having come so close to annexing the Cavan JFC in recent times, Kildallan are not about to give up the ghost, as Stephen confirms: "We did okay in 2003 when a lot of people didn't expect us to get too far, but we're not happy with that - we want to win a championship. We know we're close and we know we're good enough to win it next year. "We're not going to rest until we bring the junior championship back to west Cavan for the first time since 1977. There's a big desire in the team to deliver intermediate football to Ballyconnell. A lot of money has been spent on facilities and it would be nice to have a trophy to go along with that. This is a rapidly developing area and we think it's time for Kildallan to move up a grade. "We should be very strong this year. Trent Fitzpatrick is expected back, and he was a massive loss. Dermot Smith, Emmet Curry and Paul Maguire will be in charge for their second year and I think they'll get the best out of us." Coming through the grades, Stephen met with phenomenal success. He won two U12, two U14, an U16 and a minor championship. But there has been a longer-than-expected hiatus at adult level and the gifted attacker is understandably determined to put an end to that as soon as possible. A county minor in 1998 (when Cavan lost to Antrim at the Ulster semi-final stage), O'Neill has had more than his share of injuries in the past but remained relatively untroubled in 2003 and performed excellently as a result. His younger brother John also plays for Kildallan, while their father Eamonn is a former first team selector and manager. Eamonn brought the club to two county finals in the late '80s/early '90s and was more recently a selector alongside Mark Lawlor for three years, 2000-2002. The entire O'Neill family are hoping that 2004 will mark Kildallan's long-awaited breakthrough and Stephen is quietly confident: "We'll definitely be knocking on the door again," he promises us. Tweet

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