After a few difficult years in the Junior Championship St Mary's took the decision to seek regrading to the Junior B ranks for 2010 and their first campaign in the lower grade brought them as far as the semi-finals where they were eliminated by Moynalty. By Paul Clarke.

Survival in the junior competition had become an issue in more recent years, like in 2008 when they finished bottom of their qualification section and secured their status with an easy victory over Kildalkey in a relegation play-off. Last year, with Brian Lynch acting as coach, they again struggled in the championship and survived, but were relegated to Division 5 of the A League.
A huge amount of work is being carried out in the St Mary's club towards the promotion of football in the under-age ranks and that will bring its rewards down the road, but adult football has been bringing little in the way of joy and stepping down a grade was a sensible move in the circumstances.
St Mary's were coached by Ronan Nally, a brother of a previous manager Colm, and their first assignment in group B of the championship was against Dunshaughlin at Ratoath where they made a stunning recovery, but still lost. Dunshaughlin's second string raced into a 1-9 to 0-1 lead after 20 minutes and were still ahead by 1-10 to 0-4 at the interval.
But Mary's took over almost completely and had recovered sufficiently to be ahead by 2-10 to 1-11 with 10 minutes remaining. However, Dunshaughlin found their feet again and reeled off the last six points to win by 1-17 to 2-10.
When a second defeat followed against Blackhall Gaels at Kilbride, where it finished 2-10 to 1-7 to the Kilcloon/Batterstown combination, St Mary's already looked to be struggling in the qualification race, but it was then that they began to turn their championship campaign around.
A strong Trim second string provided the third round opposition at Summerhill, but St Mary's got their first victory of the championship when winning by 0-13 to 0-6. This was an impressive performance and with Robbie Callaghan and Stephen Madden doing the scoring they led by 0-4 to 0-3 at the interval.
They pushed clear in the second half with points from Cormac Drew, Derek O'Brien and James Lynch and had seven to spare at the finish. Madden, Eoin Morrison, David Smith and Callaghan were particularly impressive in a victory which really ignited St Mary's title challenge.
With their confidence boosted, St Mary's comfortably defeated Clonard by 2-9 to 0-5 in the fourth round at Dunsany and when a 0-13 to 1-6 success followed against one of the favourites for outright success, St Vincent's, they had demonstrated that they were genuine contenders themselves.
This match took place at Kilbride where Mary's, helped by the accuracy of Madden and Callaghan, held a double scores (0-8 to 0-4) advantage at half-time. They extended their lead to seven points and though the Ardcath men rallied with 1-2, there were still four separating the teams at the end.
St Colmcille's  second string proved no match for high flying St Mary's in the sixth round at Duleek where a 10-point victory was secured on a 2-13 to 0-9 score line and it was back to the same venue for a meeting with Ratoath when a fifth successive group win earned a quarter-final place.
This was a very good team performance by St Mary's who started well and opened up a 1-4 to 0-3 interval lead thanks to 1-1 from Madden, two points from Simon Neary and one by Callaghan. Ratoath were still in touch, but not for long as the gap between the teams steadily widened.
Drew, Madden and Callaghan added points and when Neary goaled Mary's were well on their way to the last eight. By the time the last whistle sounded they were clear by 2-14 to 1-5, with Callaghan contributing six points and Neary getting 1-3 to share the scoring honours.
David Gogarty, Gary Teelin, Neary, Callaghan and Madden were particularly impressive and the win meant Mary's had recovered brilliantly after losing their opening two games and were tied for second place in the group with St Vincent's on 10 points, two behind Trim.
They were through to an intriguing quarter-final against neighbours Seneschalstown who included former St Mary's player Pete Watters. This was an absorbing contest at Slane and after the Yellow Furze men led by 0-5 to 0-4 at the break they were held scoreless in the second period.
Watters scored three of Seneschalstown's points and they might also have got a goal when Tommy Ledwidge was denied by Mary's 'keeper Derek O'Brien. Callaghan (two), Madden and Neary scored points to keep the Donore/Lougher men well in contention.
Mary's battled back as the excitement intensified and points from Stephen Bishop, Callaghan, substitute Drew and Madden earned them a 0-8 to 0-5 victory in what had surely been one of the most enjoyable games of the championship. Even with five minutes of injury time being played Seneschalstown couldn't come up with a second half score.
The tough schedule impacted on the St Mary's players and when they met Moynalty in the semi-final at Syddan it was their third game in a little over two weeks. They gave it a real go against the 2009 beaten finalists and were only beaten after extra-time as Tommy Dowd's men won a memorable game by 2-14 to 0-17.
Moynalty made a dream start when Christy Cahill goaled after 15 seconds and they led by 1-7 to 0-6 at the break after Stephen Madden (two), Eoin Craven, Aaron Madden, Bishop and Leon Madden had scored the Mary's points. They might well have been in front at that stage, but Neary was denied a goal by Moynalty 'keeper David Murtagh.
Eoin Morrison, who had switched from full-back to midfield with telling effect, scored two points on the restart for Mary's and centre-back Craven added two more, but Moynalty were still in front at the three-quarter stage, 1-9 to 0-10.
Mary's were soon level as Stephen Madden scored a brace of points and Bishop gave them the lead with 10 minutes remaining. Moynalty edged ahead again, but Leon Madden forced extra-time when he took a point with a goal on and it finished 0-14 to 1-11 at the end of normal time.
Moynalty, boosted by a Ronan Tormay goal, were in front by 2-13 to 0-16 at the short interval after Stephen Madden and Bishop had been on target for Mary's. Points were traded in the second period, but Callaghan missed a great goal chance which, if taken, would surely have made all the difference.
David Smith is a son of former St Mary's player John T Smith and he and his brother Brian are key players for the club. David was captain this year and while he was disappointed after the Moynalty defeat, he is eagerly looking forward to next year.
"We applied to be regarded to the Junior B Championship," David said. "It was the right thing to do. We were losing games by big margins and it was getting stale. We were getting only 10 or 12 at training. Once you're winning it makes a big difference. We were getting up to 30 at training this year."
St Mary's didn't make a particularly encouraging start to the championship, but really turned things around.
"We lost our first two games to Dunshaughlin and Blackhall," David added. "We got them early on and they were strong. We played quite well against Dunshaughlin, but we were poor against Blackhall. Thankfully, we picked it up after that and played well to beat Trim.
"That win made us believe we could get out of the group. We beat Clonard, St Vincent's and St Colmcille's after that and had built up great momentum. Our attitude going into the last group game against Ratoath was that we had to win it. We won well and were through to a quarter-final against Seneschalstown."
And that's where the St Mary's players came face to face with a former colleague.
"The atmosphere at that game was great," said David. "It was a sunny day in Slane. Pete Watters played at centre-forward for Seneschalstown. I played a lot with him when he was with us. There was no animosity towards him. After the game he shook all our hands and told us to go on and win it.
"Our defence was very good that day. We were slow to get going, but we came out of the blocks fast in the second half and put up a score. It was a low-scoring game and we held Seneschalstown scoreless in the second half.
"When we played Moynalty in the semi-final it was our third championship game in 15 days. That's what killed us in the end. David Gogarty, Robert Victory and Cormac Drew didn't play any part because of injury. They were big losses. Moynalty had a huge squad and that stood to them in extra-time. It was very noticeable.
"It was still a game we could have won. We gave away an early goal, but were ahead by a point in the second half of normal time. We probably went ahead too early. They took the lead, but we got an equaliser to force extra-time. Moynalty had the stronger legs in extra-time, yet we could have won it in the end.
"It was disappointing, but we're looking forward to next year. Everyone on the panel knows we're capable of winning it. We're looking forward to it with great vigour."

AFL 5 final: St Mary's are
league champions

Clonard were narrowly edged out by St Mary's in an exciting Division 5 Final played in Dunsany, by 1-12 to 1-11 at the start of October.
A brilliant first half display from St Mary's was decisive as they led by 0-8 to 0-1 at the break
Steven Madden, Cormac Drew and Erin Madden grabbed the scores for the impressive Donore outfit.
The second-half saw an impressive response from Clonard with Frank Heavey dominating at midfield, while Eanon Lynch made an impact when introduced as the gap was narrowed to three points.
A Leon Madden goal and a superb point from Stephen Bishop pushed St Mary's into a seven point lead with ten minutes remaining.
Clonard responded when Niall Walsh finished a superb effort to the net but as they tried in vain to rescue the game time ran out as they were laying siege to St Mary's goal.
It is St Mary's first adult league success since wining the junior A championship in 1979 and best for the winners were Stephen Madden, Stephen Bishop, David Gogarty, Paul Scanlon and Leon Madden.
St Mary's - Derek O Brien, David Fogarty, Eoin Morrison, David Smith, Paul Scanlon, Eoin Craven, Brian Smith, Joe Moore, Gary Teelan, Steven Madden 0-5, Simon Neary 0-1, Erin Madden 0-2, Stephen Bishop 0-1, Leon Madden 1-1, Cormac Drew 0-2. Subs - Luke Sullivan for Simon Neary.

Mary's U11 side
St Mary's U11 squad made the trip to Killucan in Westmeath on Saturday to play in an intercounty blitz.
The teams that took part were Milltownpass (Westmeath), Killucan (Westmeath), Rhode. (Offaly), Allenwood (Kildare), St Mary's (Meath).
St Mary's had wins over Killucan and Milltownpass, they drew with Allenwood and lost to overall blitz winners Rhode.
All teams had a great day with medals for all.
St Mary's - Adam Byrne, Erin Gorman, Emma Marr, Laura Wall, Eoin Flynn, Jamie Collier, Cormac Dunne, Cian O'Brien, Oral McMahon, Daniel Tully, Peter McGowan, Patrick Brady Coleman, Conor O'Brien.
St. Mary's mentors: Ciaran Flood and Paul Scanlon. Tweet

Most Read Stories