Bellewstown's ambition to start their climb back up the Meath footballing ladder met with further disappointment in 2004 when they failed to reach the business end of the battle for the junior 'B' Football Championship. The men from the Hill lost their Junior 'A' Championship status in 2002, 16 years after their memorable JFC triumph in 1986 which came courtesy of a low-scoring victory over Simonstown Gaels in the final at Kells. How the fortunes of the two clubs which battled it out for the junior title that day have differed to such an extraordinary degree since then beggars belief. Of course, the north Navan men have climbed through the ranks to win the Intermediate Championship in 1995 and then went on to become a major force in the top flight of Royal County football, reaching successive senior finals in the past two years, though losing out on both occasions. Unfortunately, Bellewstown's form in this year's Junior B competition just wasn't consistent enough to enable them to reach the knock-out stages, so it's simply a case of looking to the future and hoping that 2005 and beyond might just bring somewhat better fortunes. However, unfortunately the outlook doesn't appear particularly promising at the moment. Bellewstown were drawn in Group A of the championship, a section that also included Na Fianna, St. Patrick's, St. Paul's, Cortown, Trim, Clonard and Boardsmill. It had the appearances of a section from which they must have at least entertained realistic hopes of emerging and they certainly opened their title bid on a positive and winning note when they got the better of St. Paul's at Dunsany. Every team likes to start championship campaigns with a win to set themselves up for the remainder of the competition, but Bellewstown certainly made their supporters sweat it out before they emerged victorious by the narrowest of margins on a 0-12 to 1-8 score line. And the hero of the hour was substitute Stephen Mills who fisted a last minute point to secure the win. However, it was the Clonee side which looked more likely to open the competition on a winning note when they held a 1-5 to 0-5 lead at half-time, thanks largely to the only goal of the game which was scored at the end of the opening quarter. But, to their credit, Bellewstown upped their game somewhat in the second period as the efforts of David Rogers, Kieran Collins, Andrew Power, David Mullaney and Stephen Duggan proved highly significant and that late, late score from Mills did the trick. Collins was the winners' top scorer with four points. That was the winning start to their championship campaign that Bellewstown wanted, but they were brought back down to earth in the second round at Rathkenny when they were edged out by Cortown's second string, despite having the better of the first-half exchanges. They restricted Cortown to just a brace of points in that period and held a 0-5 to 0-2 interval advantage, but the winners turned in a much-improved second-half performance to secure their second win of the competition on a 0-10 to 0-8 score line. After that setback, it was important that Bellewstown responded positively and they did so as they made it two wins from three outings with a minimum-margin 1-5 to 0-7 success over Clonard, again at Dunsany, which was certainly a happy hunting ground for them in the earlier stages of the championship. As was the case in the opening round assignment against St. Paul's, it took a very late point to secure the victory. This time it came from Kieran Collins in injury time. Collins, who did the brunt of the scoring over the hour with a highly significant personal contribution of 1-4, got his goal in the first-half, but Bellewstown still found themselves narrowly in arrears at the break by 1-1 to 0-6. However, it was of considerable significance that they managed to hold Clonard to just a single point in the second period when they added four themselves - among them that all-important injury time winner from Collins. Unfortunately, that was about as good as it got for Bellewstown in the Junior B Championship and they went on to suffer a succession of defeats that completely derailed their hopes of making it through to the knockout stages. The first of those losses was their heaviest of the competition as a strong-looking Trim team, which included former Moynalvey player and Meath under-age star of the early '90s Barry Sheridan at centre half-back, inflicted a heavy beating at Dunsany. After earning two earlier wins at the same venue, the Bellewstown supporters certainly left the ground with less happy feelings on this occasion. The men in red had the two points well and truly wrapped up when they moved into a very commanding 0-12 to 0-3 half-time advantage, though Bellewstown did manage to restrict them to just a further five points after the change of ends. However, Trim were still well clear at the final whistle, winning by 10 points on a 0-17 to 1-4 score line. Boardsmill, who had suffered a shattering defeat in the previous year's Junior B final when St. Vincent's from Ardcath snatched the title with a dramatic late, late goal from a penalty, were always likely to provide a very searching test for Bellewstown when the sides met in the fifth round at Summerhill. Bellewstown were badly in need of a victory to give themselves a lift after that heavy loss to Trim and they were well in the hunt at the interval when Boardsmill held a slender 0-3 to 0-2 advantage. But, as they say, goals win games and the south Meath side managed to get two of them in the second period to earn a six-point victory on a 2-8 to 0-8 score line. It was back to familiar territory for Bellewstown in the sixth round when they faced the Baconstown-Enfield combination Na Fianna at Dunsany and their qualification prospects suffered a severe blow when they were edged out by 0-8 to 0-6 in a tight encounter. That left one last group assignment for Bellewstown and it brought another defeat when St. Patrick's beat them by six points at Curraha. Again it was goals that made all the difference as the Stamullen men scored three of them. Keith Folan was on the mark with two of them which helped St. Pat's to a 2-2 to 0-4 lead and Bellewstown were unable to recover from that. By the time the final whistle sounded Pat's were in front by 3-6 to 0-9 and Bellewstown's championship was over for another year. Bellewstown club secretary John Kirwan wasn't feeling overly-optimistic about the future as he reflected on the Junior B Championship campaign of 2004 and looked ahead. "From last year's team we lost two players, Derek Teeling and James Devereaux, to Duleek," said Kirwan. "Another two players, Alec Collins and Gino Brannigan, didn't play with us this year either, so we were certainly weakened without those four lads. "On top of that, our team manager Stephen Sherlock left us before the fifth round defeat we suffered against Boardsmill. So, all in all, things were unsettled and that certainly didn't help our cause" However, Bellewstown were still in contention for a place in the knock-out stages at an advanced stage of the Junior B Championship, despite their generally inconsistent form. "If we had managed to win our last two group matches we would have made it through to the knock-out stages," the secretary added. "But unfortunately we lost our last four group games against Trim, Boardsmill, Na Fianna and St. Patrick's and that very bad run of results killed off our hopes of going any further in the championship. "The reality is that we just haven't got enough first team players at the present time to even compete at Junior B Championship level. We have been on something of a downward spiral for a while now and we lost our junior 'A' Championship status back in 2002. Things just haven't improved for us since. "We haven't got enough players to make up two teams. It also has to be said that the parish rule does us no favours at all. A lot of lads who go to Bellewstown National School don't play football with us because Stamullen parish is so close to us, but some do stay with us. "Overall, it has to be said that things don't look particularly bright for Bellewstown at the moment, but we can only hope. It's about time that all the players who learned their football in Bellewstown National School gave the club a chance by lining out with us in 2005." Those who can recall the wonderful colour and atmosphere that the very enthusiastic Bellewstown supporters brought to the various venues around the county during happier times for the club back in the '80s will certainly hope there are better times around the corner. Tweet

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