Commitment is not wanting
November 30, 2009How time flies! It's hard to believe that it's 30 years since the Donore-Lougher combination achieved championship glory when they defeated Meath Hill in a replayed Junior Championship final.
Liam Smith, who was to help Meath to Centenary Cup success five years later, rescued their ambitions in the first match when he scored a goal from a free to earn a dramatic draw. St Mary's made no mistake in the replay when they took full advantage of the second opportunity and won comfortably to spark wild celebrations.
Of course, they were no strangers to replays at that stage. The previous year they had needed two bites of the cherry to get the better of Meath Hill at the semi-final hurdle, but then suffered the bitter disappointment of losing the decider to Walterstown after a replay. Remarkably, that was the Blacks' third championship title of the year as they had already won their first senior crown and added the under-21 a week after that historic breakthrough.
Having already lost a final, it must have been particularly sweet to bounce back and achieve outright success in 1979, but these days St Mary's probably harbour less lofty ambitions in the Junior Championship. They diced with death last year when they managed just one group victory over Bective and finished bottom of their section. However, they preserved their junior status when scoring a 12-point victory over Kildalkey in a play-off.
A huge amount of valuable work is being put into the promotion of under-age football in the club and this will undoubtedly reap rich rewards in the future. Therefore, avoiding the drop out of the Junior Championship has to be viewed as a priority and, while St Mary's never threatened to reach the knockout stages in 2009, they at least avoided slipping into a dreaded relegation dogfight.
The championship campaign didn't bring a great deal of joy for the Mary's supporters and that was also the case in the All-County A League where they endured a real struggle at the bottom of Division 4.
Mary's were coached by Brian Lynch, who essentially acted as player/manager, and the selectors were Ciaran Flood and Denis Craven and they were drawn in group D of the Junior Championship where the standout team appeared to be Ratoath who had lost the previous year's final to Moynalvey. Also in the mix were their neighbours Slane, Boardsmill, the second string team from Simonstown Gaels and St Brigid's from Ballinacree.
When St Mary's got their championship campaign under way on the third Sunday of April they came face to face with Ratoath at Duleek in what was always going to be an extremely tough assignment against a side which probably didn't play to its potential in the 2008 final and suffered a nine-point defeat as they tried to make an instant return to the intermediate ranks.
The task proved too great for Mary's who were comprehensively beaten by 0-7 to 0-16 and when a second defeat followed against Slane who won by 0-11 to 0-7 at Seneschalstown the fear of another battle for survival intensified.
They needed a victory to arrest the slide and the opportunity presented itself in the third round at Dunsany when they played fellow strugglers Boardsmill. There was little in it, but the win was all that mattered in the circumstances and Mary's shaded the verdict by two points on a 1-11 to 1-9 score line.
That was to prove an invaluable success in their quest to stay clear of the threat of relegation, particularly as they were well beaten by St Brigid's in the fourth round at Bohermeen. It was all to play for at the change of ends when the men from Ballinacree held a slender 0-5 to 0-4 advantage, but it all went wrong for St Mary's in the second half.
If failing to get a single score in that period wasn't bad enough, they also conceded three goals which put paid to any chance they had of making it back to back championship wins. They were clearly in trouble when Brigid's found the net shortly after the restart to extend their lead and they added two more goals which helped them to a 3-6 to 0-4 victory.
By that stage they had just one group match left to play against Simonstown Gaels, but it was Boardsmill who looked doomed to finishing bottom of the section. They were pointless after suffering four defeats from as many outings, including that highly significant loss to St Mary's in the third round.
Boardsmill had a points difference of minus 47 and with Mary's one place above them in the table on two points and with a far more favourable points difference of minus 22, the situation looked clearcut in the lower reaches of the section
Not falling into a scrap for survival was of huge importance for St Mary's this year and with the structures in place that will secure a brighter future, all involved with the club will hope for some sort of progress in the Junior Championship over the coming years.
Long-serving St Mary's player Paul Scanlon looked back on a difficult year and also set his sights on what he expects will be a much brighter future for the club.
"Training had gone well before the championship," he said. "Brian Lynch was more of a player/manager this year. He played in some games too. His training was brilliant.
"We lost our first two championship games to Ratoath and Slane, but there was little more than a kick of the ball in it against Slane. The win over Boardsmill was very important to us. It secured our survival. That was a big win for us."
Scanlon identified some reasons why recent years have been a struggle for the St Mary's juniors.
"We got to a junior final in 1998 and a league final three years ago," he added. "We probably had 10 good seasons in about 15 years. Every team goes through its cycles and we are no different. The last three or four years have been tough.
"A lot of good lads have retired and a few others went to Australia. We had only two or three coming onto the adult panel in the last few years. We lost good lads and it's very hard to replace them.
"But our biggest problem is that we lack scoring forwards. Cormac Drew got a bad injury a few years ago. He used to get a lot of scores for us. All year we just couldn't score. We can contain teams because we have good backs, but scoring is a problem for us."
But Scanlon was rich in his praise for the commitment of the St Mary's players during difficult times.
"We got some big beatings in the last two years, but the lads keep coming back, they keep togging out," he said. "They are brilliant lads. There's hope there. We need to get a platform of winning games in Division 5 of the league next year and bring that into the championship. It's all about getting back to winning games for us. I think we will be back."
The tremendous work being undertaken by the St Mary's club at under-age level was well documented in last year's 'Royal County' and it's these efforts which will secure a bright future in years to come. Scanlon has been delighted with the progress so far.
"For five or six years we didn't have a strong juvenile structure in place, but we are working on that now," he added. "We have unbelievable structures in place now which are vital for the future. Tremendous work is being done."
The fruits of that hard work and commitment were already in evidence as the summer of 2009 drew to a close and the St Mary's under-10s won the St Colmcille's tournament, beating teams from Navan O'Mahonys and Simonstown Gaels along the way. That success was surely a big endorsement of the efforts being made by so many people with the future of the club in mind. The big hope is that it will be the first of many successes as the club continues to develop those vital structures for its young players.
Paul Scanlon was in charge of that victorious young team and even though he is now in his early thirties he hopes to continue his own playing career with the club for a good few years yet.
"I have been playing for the last 12 or 13 years with the juniors," he said. "I'm 31 now, but I have been lucky with injuries and would hope to keep going for a few years yet."
He has played plenty of football and watched plenty too over the years, but what players has he admired most?
"I suppose I liked Mick Lyons a lot," he added. "His sheer hard work had to be admired. "Of the present day players there's Paul Galvin. He's such an inspirational figure."
Trojan work in the
Juvenile section
St Mary's Juvenile set up has been very busy this year and all thanks go to the strong team of mentors we have involved.
Our Nursery kick started the year under floodlight on 16th of March and has run every Saturday until 17th October. We had numbers of over 30 children aged between 3 and 6. Well done to Regina Everard, Paul Reilly, Tracey Doherty, Emer McCormack, Shauna Lynch and all the parents who helped out.
St Mary's Hosted Play And Stay for the month of May we had two teams and welcomed in Slane, Rathkenny, Syddan and Drumconrath/Meath Hill. We got to take 10 players to Croke Park the first week of July where we played against St Jude's and well done to all involved. We also took part in The Ashbourne League which took the team from Nobber to Dunboyne and many pitches in between. We hosted a blitz in July which was a fantastic day. We also took place in The Ashbourne Autumn League and the finished the season with a match between our 30 strong team under floodlights. Well done to Manager David Austin and his team of mentors John O'Brien, Barry McCullen, Robert Victory, John Heinz, Ivor O'Sullivan Frank and Paula Taaffe and Alison Gogan.
Our Under 10s season started with the Drogheda League which we won 3 out of 7 games. We the had challenge games most weeks all summer and we ran a blitz in July with the under 8 and the second Blitz in September with the under 12s, both days were a great success. We also went to 4 other blitzes around the county and we won the cup in the St Colmcilles Blitz, again well done to all the gang. Paul Scanlon set up a Winter Development League (floodlights league) which ran for the month of October and was a great success. Slane, Kilbride, Glen Emmets, St Colmcilles and Seneschalstown were all welcomed on board. It is hoped to make this league an annual event. Well done to Paul Scanlon for his dedication and effort he puts in as managed of the under 10s and Ciere Cudden, Ciaran Flood and Alison Gogan.
Our under 12s had a great season in the spring league and the summer league making it to the semi-finals where they came up against Walterstown who proved to be the stronger team on the night. The 12s ran an in house blitz in August with the under 10s where over 30 children took part. At the 10s and 12s Blitz in September we had Stephen Bray to present all the children with medals it was a great day had by all.T hanks to manager Marc Morrisson, Annette Lynch, Paul Mc Donnell and Martin Mc Mahon.
The club ran a table quiz last November and with the money raised we took 70 children on a trip to Croke Park for the Museum and stands tour. A great day had by all and a huge thanks to Yvonne Coleman for the refreshments on the day, We ended the trip in Dalys of Donore with meals for all the children. Tweet
