The last few years have been difficult for St Paul's with all the uncertainty over where they could call home, but the club's footballers gave their supporters a fair bit to cheer about during the 2010 Junior B Championship as they successfully negotiated the group stages. By Paul Clarke. 

St Paul's failed to reach the business end of the race for the Larry Kearns Cup last year, but they weren't all that far away. Duleek/Bellewstown went on to win the competition with a final victory over Moynalty, but the Clonee men had beaten them by a point during the qualifying campaign, only for the result to be later reversed. They still had a chance to qualify, but just didn't make it.
It was very disappointing, but St Paul's went into this year's championship with hopes of something better. The competition was fought out in two sections and they were in group B which also included Drumree, St Patrick's, Seneschalstown, last year's beaten Junior B and Division 5 FL finalists Moynalty, Walterstown, Cortown and Dunderry.
When St Paul's got their championship campaign under way with a match against Cortown's second string at Bective in mid-April they must have been very hopeful of opening with a win, but they had to settle for a draw despite scoring the only goal of the contest.
This was an exciting match and Paul's held a 1-4 to 0-2 lead at the interval, thanks in no small way to a Fergal O'Neill goal. But Cortown outscored them by 0-7 to 0-2 in the second period and the teams were tied at the end, 1-6 to 0-9. Kevin Lynam, Rory Kissane and Declan Cunningham were particularly impressive for Paul's.
It wasn't exactly a great start to the competition, especially with a very tough assignment coming up in the second round against Moynalty at Dunshaughlin. Things were looking quite good for Paul's at half-time when they led by 1-5 to 0-5, but the north Meath team gained the upper hand in the second period to win by 1-13 to 1-10.
With just one point in the bag from two outings Paul's needed a win when they faced Dunderry's second string in the third round, also at Dunshaughlin, and they kick-started their bid for a place in the knockout stages with a 1-10 to 0-11 victory. They were guilty of wasting a lot of chances in the first half, but still led by 1-4 to 0-6 at the break after Dave Coleman had scored their goal.
Dunderry scored an equalising point on the restart, but Paul's just about did enough subsequently to shade the verdict. They had to defend stoutly in the closing stages to hold onto their advantage, but the most important thing was that they had achieved their first victory of the championship.
Curraha provided the setting for a fourth round clash with Drumree and this proved to be a very comfortable victory for Paul's who scored points with regularity to win by 0-19 to 1-5. They were well on the way to a second successive championship win when leading by 0-10 to 0-2 at the interval on a day when Joe Sweeney impressed with a personal tally of nine points and Steve Rafferty, Rory Kissane and Declan Cunningham also showed up to good effect.
St Paul's took another step towards the quarter-finals when they defeated St Patrick's by 2-5 to 0-6 at Skryne where Coleman scored a first half goal which helped them to a minimum margin (0-5 to 1-1) advantage at the change of ends. They scored 1-2 in the opening five minutes of the second period, including a Sweeney goal, and had five points to spare at the end despite missing a lot of chances.
Like St Patrick's, Seneschalstown fielded their second team in this grade and St Paul's sealed their passage to the knockout stages when beating them by 0-17 to 1-9 in the sixth round at Dunshaughlin. They led by 0-9 to 0-4 at half-time and by 0-14 to 0-5 at the three-quarter stage, before the Yellow Furze men rallied with 1-2.
But Paul's regained control and pushed on to win comfortably. With Dunderry defeating Walterstown they were assured of a place in the quarter-finals and their meeting with the Blacks in the last round at Ratoath had little significance. Still, it was a game they undoubtedly wanted to win ahead of the serious action.
As was the case in the fourth round against Drumree, St Paul's scored 19 points, but they also got four goals to earn a runaway victory on a 4-19 to 0-5 score line. Sweeney was their leading marksman with 2-6, Phil Connolly contributed 1-3 and P Dunne helped himself to 1-2.
St Paul's had achieved their first goal of the 2010 championship, recovering from dropping three points out of four in their first two games to reach the quarter-finals, but that was as good as it got and St Vincent's edged them out by the narrowest margin in a high-scoring last eight encounter at Ashbourne in mid-August.
This was a hugely disappointing defeat for Paul's who led by 1-6 to 0-4 at the interval and extended their advantage to seven points early in the second half. But the concession of three second half goals proved disastrous and the Ardcath men won by 3-10 to 2-12. Aidan Minch and Alan Barker scored the losers' goals and Sweeney was their top marksman with six points.
Richie Gibbons was both player and manager with St Paul's in 2010, though he didn't play in that quarter-final. The selectors were John Curry and David Higgins and one and all were, quite naturally, disappointed with the way things worked out at the last eight stage.
Paul's started the championship in less than convincing fashion with a draw against Cortown's second string and a defeat to one of the favourites for outright glory Moynalty, but then they got on a roll which took them to the quarter-finals.
"We had been struggling for years to get new players into the club, but thankfully we attracted a few new lads in March or April this year, like Cathal Donnelly from Ratoath, Bawn Kelly from Dunboyne and Peter McDonnell from Clonee," Richie said as he reviewed the championship. "That gave us a boost; suddenly we weren't struggling to make 15 players.
"We drew our first championship game against Cortown. That wasn't a great start and then we lost to Moynalty. We had only one point from two games at that stage, but we got a bit of a break and were able to work with the new lads. Bawn Kelly slotted in at full-back for a couple of games and Cathal Donnelly went in at wing-forward.
"Having players coming in like that gives you more scope and we picked up the maximum 10 points from our next five championship games. We were pleased to get through to the knockout stages."
St Paul's last group outing was against Walterstown at a time when they were already assured of a place in the quarter-finals. They won by 26 points which wasn't the sort of test they would have wanted heading into the knockout action.
"Walterstown were only fulfilling a fixture and were out of contention when we played them," Richie added. "It was a facile victory. By contrast, St Vincent's had a game seven days before the quarter-final which they had to win. That was essentially a knockout match and stood to them. They were mentally ready for a tough game."
The lack of a competitive outing on the run-up to the St Vincent's match was probably a factor, but St Paul's still got themselves into a position in the quarter-final where they looked very likely to earn a ticket to the penultimate stages of the championship. That was before things started to go very wrong in the second half.
"Things didn't go to plan against St Vincent's," Richie said. "We were in charge early in the second half, but then it started to go wrong. They got 3-3 in a 10-minute purple patch. We missed a 20-metre free at the end which would have given us a draw."
It was a heartbreaking way to exit the championship for St Paul's, but it's now a matter of looking to the future with renewed hope. Getting to the business end of the championship represented progress, even if it did end in major disappointment, and with a strengthening panel they might soon have their day in the sun.
"I think that going forward we have to add to our young player base," Richie added as he looked to 2011 and beyond. "That's what we are aiming for. But psychologically I think we are in a better place now than we were."
The St Paul's team in the championship quarter-final against St Vincent's was - B O'Sullivan; S Rafferty, B Moyles, N Gogan; A Minch (1-0), R Kissane, Anthony Barker (0-1); D Cunningham (0-1), P Connolly (0-1); C Donnelly, D Coleman (0-1), F O'Neill (0-1); Alan Barker (1-1), J Sweeney (0-6), S Dunne. Subs - C Daly for Donnelly, B Kelly for Dunne. Tweet

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