Over the last few years St Patrick's have consistently reached the last eight or nine of the Meath SFC but advancing to the final four has proved beyond them. In 2009 the Stamullen side again qualified from the group stages before losing to Summerhill in a closely contested quarter-final. By Noel Coogan.

Before the starter's flag was raised in the latest race for the Keegan Cup, one local sports scribe suggested that St Patrick's were in a "ferociously difficult group and they will do well to get a win." But after being tipped for a relegation play-off, they did much better than that.
Pat's played above some expectations to finish in second place in the six-team group with two wins and two draws. A draw with holders Navan O'Mahonys in their fifth outing gave them second place, only one point below the 2008 champions.
After Paddy Clarke, Martin Barry and Mickey McQuillan had been at the helm in previous seasons, the baton was passed over to Ciaran O'Hare from north Co Dublin who had Fergus Minogue and Niall Russell along the sidelines with him. The latter combined playing and selecting duties.
One of the best championship displays by St Patrick's came in the draw with O'Mahonys and back in March they scored a 2-10 to 0-5 Division 1 FL victory over the county champions at the Brews Hill venue. The home side fielded without a number of key players and Pat's were delighted to record the success after losses to Duleek/Bellewstown and Wolfe Tones.
After losing to Seneschalstown by two points in their fourth league outing, St Patrick's' SFC campaign opened on a controversial note when they refused to field for the first round game against Simonstown Gaels.
Popular club president Jimmy Curran was being buried on the Sunday of the scheduled match and although the starting time was put back from 2 o'clock to 4 o'clock, not surprising, Pat's felt that the tie could have been postponed until some day the following week.
They were successful with their appeal for a refixture which was played between rounds three and four. The Competitions Controls Committee's decision to award the two points to Simonstown was overturned by the Hearings Committee and the CCC resigned en bloc before later returning to their posts.
When Pat's eventually got to taste some SFC action the wait proved to be well worthwhile as they inflicted a 1-10 to 1-8 defeat on 2007 champions Seneschalstown, who had scored a surprise opening win over O'Mahonys.
The Stamullen side laid the foundations for their success in the first half when building up a 1-7 to 1-3 interval advantage. Top scorer on the night, Niall Whearty, fired in the eventual winners' goal after 14 minutes following a pass from Barry Campbell.
A goal and three points from Whearty was a crucial ingredient in the surprise success while the usually accurate place kicker, Campbell, landed three points from frees. Goalkeeper Seamus Byrne, centre back Ray Russell and Niall Mooney at midfield also made notable contributions.
St Patrick's were clear leaders of Group A after defeating Donaghmore/Ashbourne by 2-13 to 1-13 in the last of the third round ties in a Monday evening tussle at Donore. The Stamullen side benefited from a bright start which saw them race into a 1-4 to 0-1 lead after just six minutes.
Barry Campbell fired in the goal and with Niall Mooney sending over three points, the advantage was increased to eight points (1-7 to 0-2) before the end of the opening quarter. Donaghmore/Ashbourne rallied to reduce the deficit to four points at the break when the board read 1-8 to 0-7.
Mooney netted the second Pat's goal from a penalty awarded for a foul on Ronan Kearns and after Campbell made the difference five points from a free, the 2007 intermediate winners hit back with a goal, they were unable to get their snouts in front.
The first round game against Simonstown was eventually played in mid-August at Pairc Tailteann and Pat's went down to their only group defeat as the Navan side won comfortably on a 1-16 to 1-8 scoreline, having led by 0-9 to 0-1 at the break.
Pat's had to play more than half the game with 14 men after wing back JP Ryan was dismissed by Rathkenny referee John Martin, who showed a straight red card following an over robust tackle.
Niall Mooney netted the Stamullen penalty art the start of the last quarter and five of the losers' points, four from frees, were put over by Barry Campbell. Although well beaten in that outing, to their credit, Pat's recovered to draw their next two games and again progress beyond the group stages.
In the 0-10 each draw with neighbours Duleek/Bellewstown in Ashbourne, St Patrick's had to depend on a late Barry Campbell point in order to take something from the tie, having led by 0-6 to 0-3 at the halfway stage.
The Stamullen side had increased the lead to 0-9 to 0-5 by the start of the final quarter. Then five successive scores from their opponents turned things around before Campbell saved them with his fifth point. Ciaran Calvey (three) and Niall Whearty shared the rest of their total.
Some might have felt that dropping a point in that game would prevent Pat's from qualifying but not so as they drew 0-11 with O'Mahonys at Donore with an added time equaliser by Niall Mooney very crucial as it meant the difference between finishing second and fourth in the group.
Despite being without a number of key players including Stephen and David Bray and Kevin Reilly, O'Mahonys dashed into a 0-4 to 0-0 lead in the opening 10 minutes. It took Pat's 14 minutes to get their first score and after leading by 0-5 to 0-4, they were just behind (0-6 to 0-7) at the break.
Two Barry Campbell frees had the sides on equal terms for the fourth time and after Paddy Smyth edged the town team back into the lead with his fifth point, Mooney struck for that late leveller to send the St Patrick's contingent away happy.
For a while during the second half of the quarter-final against Summerhill, it looked as if the Stamullen side would make it through to the last four.
In a game in which the teams were on equal terms five times Pat's were run out of a possible visit to the winners' enclosure in the last furlong and they lost out by 0-11 to 1-11.
A goal from Stephen Kennedy after just five minutes was the difference between the sides at the finish. It was 1-4 to 0-6 at the break and Barry Campbell made a fine contribution with six points, five of them from play.
Experienced St Patrick's wing back Ronan Kearns said it was very
disappointing to again miss out on a place in the semi-finals, "especially as we put in a bigger effort than in other years, we trained harder than ever before.
"We were never as fit and were extremely hopeful. The team improved since last year and our performances against Seneschalstown and Navan O'Mahonys showed that we are a match for the best of teams in the county," he added.
It was the first year in a long time that Pat's were without Cormac Murphy, who hung up his boots. In the absence of the All-Ireland winner, another Celtic cross holder Cormac Sullivan, Ronan Kearns, Niall Mooney, Barry Campbell and Daithi Whyte spearheaded the team.
Kearns was on the Meath senior panel for a while in 2006 when Eamonn Barry was in charge and got a run in a National League game against Laois. "We had our backs against the wall in the game against O'Mahonys and we had to play well to get the right result on the night.
"The game against Summerhill was close all the way and we held our own with them until they got a couple of late points to win by three. When we went a point up in the second half I thought we might push on and win but that was not to be.
"Those games should give us a lot of encouragement for next year. Even though a lot of new people moved into the area in the last few years, the club didn't get many new players. However, we have a few good young players on the way up, lads like Darren Hagan, who did very well at full back this year, Donal Landy, Alan Vickers, and Adam Woods," he said.
In a few years in the decade drawing to a close St Patrick's saw their championship dreams dashed a few times by the eventual winners. But the efforts in 2009 should make them all the more determined to clear at least one more hurdle come next autumn.

St. Patrick's keep the hurling flag flying in the east of the county. After gaining outright honours in the JHC in 2007, they were not promoted and continued to operate in junior ranks.
This year they failed to reach the closing stages. After starting off with a 0-11 to 0-7 win over Kiltale in Ashbourne with Mark Scanlon putting over nine points. But later defeats at the hands of Ratoath and Donaghmore/Ashbourne put paid to their hopes of repeating the success of two years ago.

Junior B Football

Having reached the semi-finals of the Junior B Championship in 2008, hopes were high in 2009 that St. Pats would go all the way with the same management team of Niall Black and Jerome Baxter and a strong squad.

The year started in positive fashion with a very convincing defeat of Cortown in the first round of the championship on a scoreline of 2-11 to 0-04. Fran Mooney scored two goals and Fergus Minogue rolled back the years with five points. Despite losing Niall Russell to a red card, the entire Pats defence performed superbly with Darragh Everard, Richie Folan and David Stafford playing especially well.

The next round pitted us up against one of the favourites, Dunshaughlin. Despite competing bravely over the hour, St. Pats lost out 1-08 vs 0-13 in a fine game of end to end football. An inability to convert scoring chances in the last 10 minutes when the game was for the taking proved to be Pats' Achilles heel on the day. Donal Landy was the best player on view scoring five points and Shane Kirwan put in a superb performance at full forward. 'Puts' Cluskey made some dramatic saves to keep a clean sheet and was well supported by David Stafford in defence.

In the third round, St. Pats played a very strong Blackhall Gaels team in Ashbourne and were well beaten 0-14 to 0-05 in a very poor performance all round. St. Pats just never got going on the day and elimination from the championship in the group stages was becoming a strong possibility unless they could win their final group game against Clonard and leap frog them in the table.

So it was on to Dunboyne to play Clonard in the final group game with a 'winner takes all' finale. Despite losing many players off the junior panel, it was the new faces who shined and none more so the youngster Eoin Moynihan who grabbed two goals and helped St. Pats to a superb win against the odds on a scoreline of 2-10 to 0-11. Niall Black and Alan Vickers held their own in midfield with Brian Loughlin, Darragh Everard and Mark Burns playing very well throughout. This was the best performance of the year and hopes were high that St. Pats could reignite their title challenge. The result meant St. Pats qualified for a pre-quarter-final against Trim.

Unfortunately, the game against Trim proved to be a massive disappointment for St. Pats. Midway through the first half with St. Pats leading 0-05 to 0-03 and playing well, a melee broke out with the result that St. Pats lost Noel Collier. This changed the game and St. Pats went in leading by a point at half time. Fergus Minogue scored a goal for St. Pats midway through the second half against the run of play as Trim were totally dominant at this stage. However, with two minutes left on the clock, after Trim missed a penalty and Pats were leading by two points - an own goal was scored to ensure Trim won on a score-line of 1-08 to1-07. It was heart breaking to exit the championship in such a way but hopefully the junior panel will kick on and give it a real lash in 2010.

The junior panel that played game vs Trim 2009: R. Cluskey, S. McGinty, B. Baxter, D. Stafford, M. Burns, C. Folan, M. McKenna, A. Vickers, N. Black, B. Loughlin, D. Everard, S. Kirwan, F. Minogue, G. Duffy, E. Moynihan., N. Collier, R. Folan, F. Mooney, S. McLoughlin, P. Clavey, T. Reilly, D. Ryan, J. Stillman. Tweet

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