At one time successful exploits in Colleges football were exclusive to St. Patrick's CS, Navan but now the bug has spread with a number of Meath schools claiming notable achievements in the year gone by.

Another Leinster title

The Meath Vocational Schools' team made it three successive Leinster SFC titles for the county, but again there was no All-Ireland crown after Kit Henry's charges lost to Galway in agonising fashion at the semi-final hurdle.
Weather conditions couldn't have been any more inclement when Meath opened their provincial campaign against Longford at Ballymahon in mid-January, with wind and rain lashing the venue, but at least the result was favourable as they won by 1-11 to 1-3.
Longford played with the gale in their favour in the first half and were only on level terms (0-2 each) at the break, before Meath pushed ahead and copper-fastened their position of supremacy with a late Conor Devereux goal. Sean Barry got an even later one for Longford, but it was to no avail.
Meath got word on the morning of the scheduled Leinster semi-final against Carlow that they were receiving a walkover and that put them straight through to the final against Kildare which was played at Dunganny in early February, a week after the game had to be postponed due to weather conditions in Kildare. That certainly wasn't the ideal preparation for a final, but it was just a case of getting on with it.
Meath tallied 10 wides, but still won easily by 3-11 to 0-5 after leading by 2-9 to 0-2 at the break. Devereux and Niall Farrell got the first half goals and substitute Shane Rock fisted home the third with his first touch. The performances of midfielders Bryan Menton and Devereux were particularly noteworthy and must have added to Meath's sense of hope ahead of the All-Ireland bid.
Meath's hopes of a place in the All-Ireland final were shattered when Joe Breathnach earned a dramatic semi-final win for Galway with a late point at St Loman's, Mullingar. Andrew Tormey was a big loss with a hand injury which he picked up in the Kildare game, but Meath dominated much of the match and should have won.
The impressive Liam Tolan (three), Eamonn Bowe and Felim Dowling (two each), Farrell and John Daly were on the mark with points in the first half as Meath opened up a very useful 0-9 to 1-2 interval lead, but the concession of a goal to Fiontan O Curraoin before half-time was to prove damaging.
By the time he scored his second goal at the start of the last quarter Galway were ahead, but wasteful Meath got back on level terms, before Breathnach snatched a sensational victory (2-7 to 0-12). It was a shattering defeat for the Royal County lads, with the concession of the two goals proving very costly, and the quest for that overdue All-Ireland title must go on into 2010.

Meath (v Galway) - P Curran; S Lynch, T Rahill, A Owens; D Coyle, S Kavanagh (0-1), F Dowling (0-2); B Menton, C Devereux; M Carroll, J Daly (0-1), E Bowe (0-3); L Tolan (0-4), G Kennedy, N Farrell (0-1). Subs - E Hegarty for Owens, I Maguire for Lynch, S Mac Concharraige for Carroll.

Navan Boys take title
After the disappointment of making an early exit from the Leinster SFC, St Patrick's CS, Navan, earned some consolation when dramatically beating St Joseph's, Rochfortbridge, by 1-8 to 1-6 in the North Leinster Juvenile FC final at Mullingar.
It was the Navan school's third successive triumph in the competition, but it was the Rochfortbridge lads who opened the scoring with a point. St Patrick's hit back in style with points from Paddy Kennelly, Eoin Ferris and Barry Dardis (two), but they failed to convert all of their chances into scores and the Westmeath boys got back to level terms, before Dardis edged the winners ahead by the minimum, 0-5 to 0-4, at the break.
Ruairi O Coileain and substitute Conor Murphy scored points early in the second half for the Meath side, but Rochfortbridge came back again and a goal put them in front. In a hectic finish, St Patrick's snatched victory when Kennelly fisted O Coileain's point attempt to the net. It was a cruel way to lose, but Pat's had to be admired for battling until the very end.

The Navan team had earlier beaten St Mel's of Longford by 3-7 to 1-8 after extra-time in the semi-final.
St Patrick's CS - C Farnan; N Kane, J O'Malley, D O'Kane; J Smith, E Ferris (0-1), C O'Reilly; E Sheridan, B Dardis (0-3); N Lyons, P Kennelly (1-1), R McDonnell; N O'Brien, G Nelson, R O Coileain (0-1). Subs - C Murphy (0-1) for Nelson, C Doyle for Smith.

Dunshaughlin impress
The Dunshaughlin Community College under-14s impressed in 2009 when they first won the North Leinster FC 'C' title and later added the provincial crown.
The North Leinster decider against Dundalk DLS took place at Dunganny in late January when Dunshaughlin won comfortably by 5-17 to 1-3. They opened up a 0-5 to 0-0 advantage inside the opening 12 minutes and goals from Paul Clarke and Jake Harlin helped them to a very useful 2-9 to 1-1 interval lead.
Shane Gallogly goaled early in the second period and Oisin Foley and Conor O'Brien also found the net as Dunshaughlin continued to dominate.
Leinster honours were added with a 6-15 to 3-4 final victory over Portmarnock at Ballymun where Fergal Cleary was one of the stars of the show with a contribution of three goals.
Team captain Paul Donnellan was an inspiring figure at midfield and kicked some great points in the first half. Among the others to impress were goalkeeper Stephen McCarthy, Conor O'Brien, David Reilly, Josh Wall, Aidan Wall, Michael Lennon, Johnny O'Connor and Paddy Darby.

Dunshaughlin panel - S McCarthy, J Wall, A Wall, M Lennon, S Fitzpatrick, G Fitzpatrick, C Whelan, J O'Connor, P Donnellan, C O'Brien, P Darby, J Harlin, D Benson, P Clarke, F Cleary, O Foley, S Gallogly, B Duggan, S Kinsella, E Jordan, D Reilly, D Aloba, N Plevin, N Thynne, S Lambe, L Byrne, P Butler, J Finnegan, T Sharpe, S Doyle, G Rooney, M McNally, M Montague, D Ryan, J O'Reilly, L Bannon, C Burke.
Athboy girls triumph

Athboy CS, who were coached by Louise Byrne, held on during 11 minutes of injury time to secure a dramatic 2-7 to 1-8 victory over Maynooth PP in the Leinster Girls' SFC 'C' final at Trim in March.
For seven of those minutes they had to cope with only 14 players after Niamh Collins was sin-binned, but when the long whistle finally arrived it sparked scenes of great jubilation after a thrilling contest.
Louise O'Connor scored a first half goal for Athboy, but they led by only 1-4 to 0-4 at the interval after playing with the breeze. Vivienne McCormack (three) and Laura Gilsenan scored the points and two players were sin-binned in that period - Athboy's Julie Ann Corrigan and Maynooth's Aisling Hughes.
Goalkeeper Rihanna Kelly came to Athboy's rescue with a great second half save, but Maynooth scored a fortunate goal when Orla Canning netted when kicking for a point. That left them ahead by 1-7 to 1-5 and they had a chance to push further clear when Collins was sin-binned for a foul and Roisin Murray was wide from the penalty.
O'Connor's second goal edged Athboy ahead and further points from Gilsenan and O'Connor boosted them further, but they still had to hold out in injury time.

Athboy CS - R Kelly; J Greer, E McNulty, U Leonard; G Mulvaney, N Collins, G Whelehan; L Gilsenan (0-2), A Keogh; B Keogh, M Kelly, V McCormack (0-4); S McGuinness, L O'Connor (2-1), JA Corrigan. Subs - A Gath for Corrigan, S White for Kelly. Tweet

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