The 2005 season may not be regarded as one of the best on the field of play in the history of St Patricks GFC. However, when they club looks back on this year they will have every reason to be extremely proud. By Eunan Whyte After considerable amount of hard work and fundraising, the club opened its magnificent community centre, which houses dressing rooms and other excellent facilities which will make the football club one of the best in the county. Not only this, but the new centre will serve the community in many other ways, as it provides a function room and will also cater for a wide variety of sports. In footballing terms, the past two seasons have been without equal in St Pats' history. They landed a first ever senior championship title with victory over St Marys after a replay at St Brigid's Park in 2003. A year later they defended their title in the best possible fashion by defeating peninsula rivals, Cooley Kickhams, in the decider at Clan na Gael Park in what proved to be a very tense battle in front of a packed attendance. Injury and travel robbed them of a number of key players for the 2005 season and despite a valiant effort they had to relinquish their title without making it through from the group stages. However, nobody connected with the club will view this season as a failure with the magnificent complex now seeing them boast some of the top facilities in the county. It has been a long road for the club over the past 52 years and the set-up at Pairc Eamoin will serve as a monument to the efforts of everyone associated with St Patricks since it was formed in 1953. Over the years they used as their playing pitches various fields which they were allowed to use through the generosity of local farmers. In the early 1970s a big effort was made for the club to find a permanent home. This was achieved through the generosity of the then Parish Priest Fr Eamoin Devlin and his successor Fr John Keelan, who allowed them take residence in a field adjacent to Rampark School, and also they agreed to sell the club the old building of Rampark School. In 1973 the new playing field and clubrooms were officially opened. Louth played Armagh in a challenge match that day. Many of the club's players donned the red jersey for that match. At the time that the club bought the premises it contained two school classrooms. The wall dividing the rooms was knocked down to give one reasonable sized room or hall. In the years following the club built on toilets, a kitchen and a meeting room cum dressing room. Further developments were to include two dressing rooms, the building of a perimeter wall around the field, the building of a stand, which was later knocked to facilitate a bigger stand, the erection of floodlighting to facilitate training in the winter nights. In the early 1990s the club took the bold step of buying out the playing pitch from the parish. This was facilitated under the guidance and co-operation of Fr Bobby McKenna the then Parish Priest. The next project the club undertook was the erection of full floodlighting, which facilitated the playing of full matches on the winter nights. Over the years this has been an invaluable asset to the club as with so many fixtures involving so many teams it would be almost impossible to play all games in daylight. In the mid 1990s land adjacent to the club property became available and the club purchased it. A few years later a field, which was adjacent to the club's and which was part purchased by a local Community Centre Committee became available. Through the co-operation of the landowners and the said Community Centre Committee the St Patrick's GFC were facilitated in buying the property at a very reasonable price. The land lay idle for a while and in an effort to raise funds it was rented to local farmers for a few years. All this while in the background the club was making plans, consulting with various bodies regarding required facilities. Eventually a final plan was agreed upon and building commenced. In an effort not to get themselves into debt the club did what work they could afford. While it has taken a few years to complete it has been worth the wait. The Complex houses, along with the club's main playing ground Pairc Eamoin, a second full size playing pitch. The building houses a main sports hall, four dressing rooms, three meeting rooms, function hall and two kitchens. The Louth County Board did the club the honour of holding their October Monthly Meeting in the new Centre, and it was a justifiably proud group of people that were the Pat's club on that night. It took great foresight and courage on the club's behalf to take on with such a venture, but the clubs committee of the past few years have taken guidance and example from those who have served on the clubs committees over the past 50 years, some unfortunately who have gone to their eternal; reward, but some thankfully who are still with St Patrick's. The club has got great support from the local community in this venture, support that was boosted in no small way by the club's success on the playing field. Among their successes are, winning a minor Championship and league, a junior championship, a senior league, a ladies Intermediate Championship and two Senior Men's championships. The next stage in the work in the club's development has begun and that involves making use of the centre. Already there are computer classes. Activities starting shortly are bowls, indoor football, badminton, indoor skills training for the clubs underage and adult teams. Many more activities will commence over the coming weeks and months. The club hold a very high profile in the local community and no doubt their development will progress the footballing skills of the youth of the area and provide much needed facilities for all age groups in a fast growing community in the Lordship and surrounding areas. In terms of the senior championship, it wasn't a memorable year for St Patricks. They began their Group C campaign with a very difficult tie against neighbours Cooley Kickhams in a repeat of the 2004 final. On this occasion the result was reversed as Cooley turned in an impressive display to record a 3-10 to 1-6 victory over St Pats at Knockbridge. The Lordship men fought back in the second game to score a 2-9 to 1-6 win over St Bride's at Dromiskin to retain hope of qualifying. It looked as if St Patrick's would take great heart from that victory as they headed into their final outing knowing a win would keep them in the competition. Unfortunately they weren't able to build on the success against St Brides as their final group outing saw them suffer a comprehensive 2-14 to 0-7 defeat to St Marys, resulting in their exit from the championship. Nonetheless, the St Patricks club ended the year on a high as their new community centre was due to be officially opened on Sunday November 27. A name to remember St. Pat's and Louth star Owen Zamboglou is gravely disappointed with the way things panned out for his club in 2005 but he's adamant that the past season hasn't taken the gloss of 'Pat's recent championship successes. In 2005 St. Patrick's could hardly give away tickets for those looking to get excited by football. The north Louth side were more sinners than saints over the past year and even their most partisan, blinkered club stalwart couldn't but admit as much. Thankfully recriminations within the club has never been its stock-in-trade. And before the criticism swamps the club review from the wanabees lurking in the tall grass from outwith St. Pat's catchment area, let's first acknowledge what St. Patrick's have contributed to the Gaelic game in the Wee County over recent seasons. In 2003 and 2004, tickets for those wanting to see St. Pat's ply their skills were much in demand. Thoroughbred GAA men across the length and breadth of the county deemed the club as good a champion side as seen in Louth for many a year. Not even Eddie Hobbs and his Rip-off Republic team could have picked holes in the value for money the supreme 'Pat's delivered to partisan and non-partisan fans alike All-belonging to St. Pat's were as proud as punch of their back-to-back blue riband successes in seasons 03/04. Pride glistened off the club's colours like the reflection of the moon on Carlingford Lough. And then came the fall. All the positives of two seasons melted into the maelstrom of a scorched earth season experienced by the club in 2005. Cynics decried that after such a whirlwind couple of years, where almost everything the club touched turned to gold, St. Pat's couldn't have bought silver(ware) in '05. "I think what made the last year so disappointing is that it followed on from the championship success we had the other years," St. Pat's star Owen Zamboglou opines. Dundee is home to Owen these days. The St. Pat's star is a student at the local university and settling in quite nicely. It's a long way from his natural environment though. Closer to Her Majesty perhaps than Lordship, so to speak. Another exile which gaelic Ireland can scarcely afford to bid adieu too, never mind Louth GAA. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, they say, and being away from things in his native Louth has left Owen with plenty of opportunity to analyse and comb the past. He has several months now to stand back and gauge just why such an impregnable-looking ship became such a leaky, lightweight schooner in just 12 months. Owen has been ensconced on Tayside since last September and is busily beavering away at his studies there among a smattering of fellow nationals. These days the 21-year old is becoming more accustomed to hearing about matters happening at Dens Park and Tannadice rather than Louth GAA. Months on though, St. Pat's defeat in the league to Glyde Rangers still irks him but he says that that was a game which was just typical of 'Pat's season. "We didn't get our act together at any stage during the year and in a lot of respects, we got what we deserved really. I don't think we can have any excuses. "We didn't win too many games all year; there seemed to be a lack of ambition, as if we believed the hype that built around us after the couple of championship wins." In terms of mitigating reasons why things should have nosedived so conspicuously after the highs of 2004/05, Owen proffers a reasoned but common theory, ambition aside. "We were missing a few players through injury and there were others abroad for part of the year and a couple of fellas retired. "There was a change of manager early in the year too which was a bit unsettling and, in fairness, attendances at training weren't what they should have been." All told St. Pat's, over the past year, were a poor imitation of the all-conquering sides of yesteryear and that's no fault of fellas like Colin Goss, Jim Holland, Paudie Mallon, Ray Finnegan, Pat Devane and Eamon Carroll, all of whom were posted absent for all or part of the year for a mix of reasons. No fault either of Pat Cassidy or Declan Smith Hills can sometimes smack of mountainous challenges. Repeating their 2003 county title triumph in 2004 was achieved but 2005? "It was a year to forget. I think maybe things went stale among the players and a lack of hunger and ambition stirred within the squad. Football wasn't always the priority." After the highs of SFC/underage title triumphs, the barren nature of the past year came as a shock to Owen and co, the Scotland-based Civil Engineering student admits. Owen doesn't wish to labour the point(s) but he re-iterates the the club "just hadn't enough players playing up to scratch and those who were there in 2004 but weren't about during the year weren't really replaced and the trouble just went on from there." Picking through the threads of the past season draws one to spear the meat of the championship campaign and, in that forum, St. Pat's travails were gravely exposed. As is his wont, Owen pulls no punches in his analysis of his team's shortcomings in the championship rounds. Plenty of regrets but no excuses. "We never really got going against Cooley, especially in the first half when we conceded two goals. "Things weren't much different in the second half but, overall, we were never in the game - things didn't happen for us, the squad didn't prepare well enough, simple as that. "A week before the 'Mary's game, the attendance at training was terrible and that wasn't good for the confidence or the morale of the squad. "Against them (St. Mary's), it was something similar as the game against the Kickhams, a carry-on from what the type of stuff we were playing for most of the year. "Against St. Brides, we bucked the trend but it wasn't great either. It was as if we played believing that things would automatically fall into place but they didn't. "It was like there was a domino effect at work during the year and with one bad result after another, discipline began to fall apart a bit too which didn't help." Owen is desperate to extract something positive from 2005. He is innately positive and has become a better player for having learned lessons from the past. He cites the experience of senior championship fare garnered by some of the younger members of the senior team in 2005 as a plus and some consolation for the year. "The experience should stand to them and to the club too in the years to come. They had a tough baptism of fire though which they'll not want to have to go through again. "In other years those fellas might have been on the sidelines but because there were so many fellas unavailable the new lads got their chance." A player who has adopted an approach to the game he loves which belies his young years, Owen recognises and acknowledges that St. Pat's were "there to be beaten." As champions, St. Pat's were the target for all the other teams, he suggests; the side the best of the rest wanted most of all to knock off their pedestal. "You'd definitely notice how the other teams would rise their game when playing against us - there's no doubt about that," explains Owen who made his senior county debut as a substitute in the Wee County's NFL clash with Wicklow during the past year. "I noticed that with St. Mary's especially where they must have put on their best performance of the year against us. "I was very impressed by them but then they went and drew with the 'Brides the next day out. "That's not making any excuses because it was up to us to raise the bar and push on after winning the championships over the last couple of years. "It was up to the players to improve the side even further and make the other teams work really hard to match us but instead we didn't even get out of the group. "It would have been really great if we had won the hat-trick of championship titles but it wasn't to be unfortunately. "I think going into 2005 every player in the squad had to give even more than they did in 2004 because of the players that we missing at different times during the year. "Maybe a few of the lads felt during the year that the hill we had to climb was just too big and morale slipped a bit after a few defeats and there wasn't the same ambition." Those privvy to the inside track at 'Pat's will tell you that the son of Greek national Manolis Zamboglou and Lordship native Aileen gave it his all to the club in '05. "Most lads go out at the start of each year to give it their all but sometimes it doesn't work out and isn't as straightforward as it should be. "It can be difficult to do your best when the commitment of everyone in the panel isn't what it should be - whether that's about turning up for training or just discipline." Still, if someone in 2003 had painted a picture of what was to befall Owen on the playing field over the following three years, no doubt he would have had it framed. He had a dream debut year in '03 at senior level, helping the club bring to a close a half-century of championship heartbreak, angst and frustration. The rookie corner-back 'cum half-back says he was personally "lucky" and that in vital games against the Clans and O'Connells, the team was also "lucky" but "there was an incredible spirit in the team then, in the club as a whole." "We really had the rub of the green last year. Cooley were training from December while we didn't really kick things off 'till a couple of months before the final. "Fortunately we had the talent, had the players who were able to do the business." Looking ahead to 2006, Owen says it's crucial that St. Pat's get back on the winning track and string together a winning run in the early stages of the forthcoming league. "At the end of this year, we found ourselves looking over our shoulder and wondering if we going to be caught up in the dog fight to avoid relegation. "Struggling to get 15 players on the field isn't what we should have been at but if we get the right structures and support in place for the start of 2006, we've got a good enough nucleus to make a real impact next year." Tweet

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