Pat's secure in their senior status
November 27, 2010The Stamullen men have consistently qualified for the business end of the championship in recent years, though getting through to the semi-finals has proved too big a hurdle to clear, and in 2009 they were eliminated at the last eight stage by the previous year's beaten finalists Summerhill.
During the group stages they defeated Seneschalstown, who would later go on to win the championship for the second time in three years, and a talented Donaghmore/Ashbourne team. They also drew with Navan O'Mahonys, but when it came to their bogey obstacle in terms of progression Summerhill defeated them by three points.
Few people would have expected them to emerge from a very tough qualification group and some even viewed them as relegation candidates, but St Patrick's have a habit of causing a few surprises along the way.
Ciaran O'Hare from north county Dublin was their coach in 2009 and he was again at the helm this year when they aimed to build on that highly encouraging campaign and, hopefully, go at least one step further. They were drawn in group B which again looked quite tough as it contained the previous year's beaten finalists Wolfe Tones, Skryne, Simonstown Gaels, Dunboyne and Trim.
St Patrick's, with Cormac Murphy at full-back following his return from Kilbride, scored four goals in their opening championship assignment against Trim at Walterstown, but they still didn't win as the town side struck with a very late point to force a draw.
This was an entertaining match in which the Stamullen men made a highly encouraging start. Barry Campbell scored 1-2 in the first 10 minutes and they went on to lead by 3-3 to 1-4 at the interval after Niall Mooney had accounted for the other two goals, one of them from a penalty.
When Daithi Whyte scored a fourth goal for St Patrick's they were looking good with a seven-point cushion, but Trim had no intention of throwing in the towel and gradually reduced the arrears. Eoin McGrath, who had scored their first half goal, eventually notched the equalising point, but Whyte edged Pat's to the front again. However, the team in red had the final say when Neil Heffernan slotted over a free to force a draw on a 4-6 to 2-12 score line.
Paddy O'Rourke, who played in goal for Meath in the early stages of this year's Leinster SFC, lined out in attack when St Patrick's played Skryne in the second round at Ashbourne and contributed seven points (four from frees) as Liam Harnan's team won comprehensively by 0-17 to 1-6.
Barry Campbell gave Pat's an early boost with a goal and they led by 1-1 to 0-1, but Skryne limited them to a solitary point in the first half subsequently and were in front by 0-7 to 1-2 at the change of ends. Niall Mooney was sent off on receipt of a second yellow card early in the third quarter and the Tara men pushed clear to win by eight points.
When Simonstown inflicted a 0-15 to 1-6 defeat in a poor third round game at Donore in late May there must have been concerns in the St Patrick's camp that they would end up in relegation trouble. This match will be best remembered for the four red cards issued by referee John Farrelly in the last eight minutes - to Pat's trio Keith Whearty, Andy Reilly and Brian Calvey and Simonstown's Wayne McCarthy.
A close contest looked to be on the cards when the Navan men led by 0-3 to 0-2 at the end of the first quarter, with Barry Campbell and Niall Whearty scoring the Pat's points from frees. Campbell added another free, but Simonstown were ahead by 0-5 to 0-3 at the interval.
They soon took over and pushed clear by 0-11 to 0-4. St Patrick's really needed a goal to revive their fortunes, but the crossbar got in the way of Niall Mooney's shot. They did eventually find the net four minutes into injury time courtesy of Whyte's fisted effort and that was their only score from play.
By the time the championship action resumed on the third weekend of July St Patrick's were fully aware of the importance of their fourth round meeting with Dunboyne at Ratoath. Their response was superb as they recorded a 2-14 to 2-11 victory over a St Peter's team which was without injured Meath captain Nigel Crawford.
Pat's made their intentions clear in the opening half when they built up a 1-8 to 0-5 advantage at the break, with the goal coming from Donal Landy. But Ger Robinson was on the mark with a brace of second half goals for Dunboyne, one of them from a penalty, and it was all to play for. Crucially, Niall Mooney pounced for another goal for Pat's and they left Ratoath with two invaluable points.
Going into their last group assignment against Wolfe Tones at Seneschalstown, St Patrick's knew they needed only a draw to be sure of avoiding a relegation dogfight. But it was a big ask against a team which had taken Seneschalstown to a replay in the previous year's final.
It did finish all square (2-10 each), but Pat's were on the verge of another shock victory until Cian Ward fired over a late equalising point from a free for Tones. This was a very entertaining match in which Tones led by 1-4 to 0-3 near the end of the first quarter after Ward had goaled from a penalty.
But gritty St Patrick's responded positively and boosted by a brilliantly constructed Whyte goal they were on level terms (1-5 each) at the break. Ward found the net for Tones early in the second half, but Pat's hit back with a goal of their own almost immediately when Alan Vickers dived brilliantly to punch Niall Mooney's delivery to the net.
St Patrick's edged two points ahead in the closing stages and looked likely winners, but Ward first pointed from play and then slotted over a free to secure a draw for Wolfe Tones. It was enough to earn top spot in the group and a quarter-final meeting with Seneschalstown.
Tones and Skryne both finished on seven points after recording three victories, a draw and a defeat. Dunboyne also advanced after filling third position on six points and St Patrick's were safe on four. Down at the bottom, Trim and Simonstown were tied on three points, but it was the Navan men who ended up in the relegation mire by virtue of their defeat to Trim.
Brothers Brian and Ciaran Calvey are important players for St Patrick's and sometimes line out together at midfield. Brian is the younger of the two at 24, while Ciaran is 28. Their father Michael played under-age football for the club and uncle Hugh Calvey lined out in various adult grades.
"Preparations went well before the championship," Brian said. "We were very fit and confidence was high in the camp. But we had a few players out with injuries at various times. Keith Whearty was injured at the start of the year and Ray Russell and Ronan Kearns were out for a while too. Barry Campbell missed our last championship match against Wolfe Tones.
"We scored four goals in our first championship game against Trim, but they caught us with a late point to force a draw. It was very disappointing not to get a result after scoring so many goals. It was almost like losing."
After that St Patrick's suffered comprehensive defeats against Skryne and Simonstown which seriously undermined their qualification hopes and left them with one eye on the lower regions of the group.
"We were well beaten by Skryne and Simonstown," Brian added. "After those defeats we were wondering how we were going to get things back on track in terms of qualification. We weren't really thinking about relegation, though it was probably at the back of our minds."
St Patrick's lost to only one of the three teams which qualified from the section and scored a tremendous victory over Dunboyne in the fourth round.
"That was a great win against Dunboyne," Brian said. "It was a fantastic game of football. It was great to get back on track. We had a very good win over Rathkenny in the league before the Dunboyne match and that really helped us to get moving again.
"We should have beaten Wolfe Tones in our last game. We were really on form that day and made very good changes during the game which worked well. But we missed chances with balls dropping short. Cian Ward got the last two points to earn Tones a draw.
"It was a relief to stay up, but also disappointing not to qualify. But we are looking forward to next year. We have some very good young lads coming through, like Donal and Shane Landy and Mark McPhillips. We have good minor, under-16 and under-14 teams. We also have our new pitches and complex to look forward to. It's a fabulous set-up, great to see."
Minors on the double
The future for St Patrick's looks very bright if the performances of their minors this year are anything to go by. They produced a brilliant recovery to defeat Moynalvey in the MFL Division 3 final at Pairc Tailteann in May and completed the double less than two months later when beating Seneschalstown with another great rally in the Division 2 Shield final at Ashbourne.
Moynalvey led by 3-3 to 1-6 at the interval in the league final, with Michael Tobin getting the St Patrick's goal, and stretched their advantage to 4-4 to 1-7 early in the second period. A fifth goal enabled them to hold a 5-4 to 1-10 cushion with nine minutes remaining, but the Stamullen lads had no intention of throwing in the towel.
The Landy brothers, Donal and Shane, notched six of their team's final seven points and St Patrick's pulled off a sensational victory. Shane slotted over the equaliser and appeared to have forced extra-time, but when Neil O'Flaherty was fouled two minutes into injury time Meath minor player Donal kicked a brilliant long range free to seal the win on a 1-17 to 5-4 score line. He contributed 11 points overall, seven of them from frees.
St Patrick's - C Rothwell; A Byrne, M McPhillips, J Draper; D McQuillan, B Mooney, C Everard; S Dowling, B Mallon; S Landy (0-4), N O'Flaherty (0-2), R Fitzpatrick; D Landy (0-11), D Ryan, M Tobin (1-0). Sub - E Moynihan for Draper.
St Patrick's trailed Seneschalstown by six points at half-time in the Shield Division 2 final, but battled back to force extra-time and then shade the verdict.
This time, Donal Landy scored 1-10 in another brilliant performance, including a first half goal from a penalty which helped his team cut the interval deficit to 1-4 to 1-10. Pat's battled back well in the second period and O'Flaherty eventually forced extra-time with a brilliant point as it finished 1-12 each at the end of normal time.
Pat's scored seven points in extra-time, compared to Seneschalstown's four, and that was sufficient to clinch victory by 1-19 to 1-16.
St Patrick's - C Rothwell; A Byrne, D McQuillan, J Draper; M McPhillips, B Mooney, S Dowling; B Mallon, S Landy (0-3); D Ryan, N O'Flaherty (0-4), M Tobin (0-2); D Landy (1-10), M Nulty, R Fitzpatrick. Subs - E Moynihan for Nulty, S Mooney for Ryan.
St Pat's junior team enjoy a good run
The year started in positive fashion with a fine opening day victory over Drumree in the first round of the championship on a score-line of 1-7 to 1-6. The game was very much in the balance early on and there were only a few points in it at half time. Fergus Minogue came off the bench to make a difference in the second half and his vast experience showed well as he calmly slotted over two long range frees which proved to be crucial at the finish.
St. Patricks were winning comfortably by five points with five minutes left when Drumree scored a point and slotted away a contentious penalty to leave only one point between them with a minute to go. Brian Calvey saved the day for the Pats with two fine fetches in the middle of the park to win possession at the crucial stage and see out an enjoyable first outing victory for the Junior Bs of Stamullen.
The next round pitted us up against Dunderry in Ashbourne which always proves to be a difficult outing and turned out to be the classic game of two halves. Dunderry began the game like a whirlwind and left the Pats men chasing black and white shadows for much of the first half. In fact, if Dunderry had taken their scores they would have been out of sight after 20 minutes. However, the Pats full back line of Niall Black, Richie Folan and Colin Folan held firm under sustained pressure and Kieron Russell pulled off two fantastic saves midway through the first half. Dunderry wasted many of their scoring chances which culminated in nine wides by half time. In contrast, St. Pats were much more economical with their chances and hit just one wide in the first half and stayed in touch with their dominant opposition to trail by just two points at half time 1-3 to 0-4.
The second half could not have been more different. Brian Calvey got the upper hand at midfield and was well supported by James Bell, Brian Loughlin and Stephen McLoughlin. The St. Pats forwards started to get the upper hand on their defensive opponents with the strong running of Stephen McLoughlin and James Bell in particular causing all sorts of problems. In the end, the Pats defence held the Dunderry boys to just one point and Pats were victorious on a score-line of 0-10 to 1-04.
Two wins from two was looking very good but then the panel lost a few players to the senior team and it was more difficult from there on in. The team were well beaten by a strong Seneschalstown team (2-13 to 0-09) in the next round and ran St. Pauls very close after that but ultimately lost out on a score-line of 2-5 to 0-6.
It was all to play for against Walterstown on a warm evening in Donore with the winner having a great chance of qualification for the knockout stages. In what proved to be a highly entertaining game, there was very little between the teams in the first half with Mark Burns (0-3) and Patrick Calvey scoring fine points. The game was finely balanced until Walterstown got in behind the Pats rearguard to score a crucial goal just before half time and they then tagged on two points in quick succession to lead by six at the break 0-04 to 1-07. Fergus Minogue came on in the second half and made a huge impact scoring six fine points and was unlucky not to get more. In fact, all the subs for St. Pats - Barry Mooney, Shane Landy and Neil O'Flaherty upped the tempo for the second half and the Pats team closed the gap to three points with 10 minutes left.
However, Walterstown had enough in reserve to see out the game with two points to win by five in the end on a score line of 0-12 to 1-14. Despite losing, many players can be proud of their efforts on the day including Mark Burns, David Stafford, Byran Mallon and Mark McPhilips.
Our final championship game was against Cortown and with both teams out of the equation for the knock out stages, St. Pats ran riot and won very easily on a day when Cortown struggled to field any sort of competitive team.
In the reserve league St. Pats finished third in the league for the third year in a row and narrowly missed out on a final appearance and promotion again. Among the highlights were the eight goals a very young Pats team put past Dunboyne and the battling win against Rathkenny away.
All in all, it was a pretty good year and another year with St. Pats proving to be competitive at this level. Thanks to the players, management and selectors for all the effort they put in throughout the year and with the fine crop of youngsters coming through - the future looks bright for the Junior B team of Stamullen.
The junior panel for the year included: K. Russell, B. Baxter, D. Stafford, M. Burns, C. Folan, M. McKenna, A. Vickers, N. Black, B. Loughlin, F. Minogue, G. Duffy, E. Moynihan., N. Collier, R. Folan, S. McLoughlin, P. Clavey, T. Reilly, D. Ryan, J. Stillman, S. Landy, N. O'Flaherty, B. Mallon, M. McPhilips, D. Stafford, J. Bell, G. Bell, D. Eakin, B. Clavey, J. Kenna, B. Mooney.
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