Clonard missed out on a quarter-final slot in the Junior 'B' Football Championship by the slenderest of margins, going out on scoring difference to St. Paul's. Frank Hevey reviewed the year. Clonard had hoped to make it to the knockout stages of the Junior 'B' Football championships so it came as a huge disappointment to players and mentors alike when they failed to reach their ultimate goal. "We were looking to make it to the quarter-finals or semi-finals. Anything after that would have been a bonus. So to go out at the group stages on score difference was a huge disappointment," Frank recalled. In the mid to late 1990s Clonard were arguably amongst the best Junior 'B' sides in the county and top of the pile in south Meath. However, Frank feels have they have fallen down the pecking order in the past few years. "Clonard have some very promising underage teams coming through at the moment, but the Junior 'B' team is practically the same team as we had back in 1996 / 97. In those days we played football with our feet, but nowadays were are relying more and more on our heads to win games," he opined. Clonard's season got off to the worst possible start, losing their first three Group 'A' fixtures. That they managed to get back in the hunt at all, bears testimony to the latent talent that still exists in the team. In their opening game they went under to a late Boardsmill rally 1-9 to 2-4. "We lost that game to a Boardsmill goal in the dying moments. We thought we had them beaten, but they came back at us and pipped us on the line with a late goal," he recalled. "We were confident enough going in to that game, to get beaten in dying moments was a huge disappointment to us," he added. Clonard's plight went from bad to worse in Round 2 when they were comprehensively beaten by Trim, 3-13 to 3-4. "We were short a few players on the day, but we aren't offering that as an excuse. Trim got a good start on us that day and we just couldn't get into the game. I don't know if our heads went down, but we just couldn't get our game going," he recalled. Having lost their opening two group games Clonard were anxious to open their account with a victory over Bellewstown in the third series of games. Their cause was boosted in the second half when the east Meath side were reduced to 13 men. "We had that game in the palm of our hands but let it slip. Bellewstown had two players sent off, but somehow we allowed them back into the game when we had it won," he noted. In a low scoring game (1-5 to 0-7), Clonard had led from practically pillar to post, but once again they were headed in the dying moments. "We were caught on the line again. We lost the run of ourselves in the final few moments," Frank added. Manager Ray Brennan, and selectors Finn Campbell and Declan Twomey are probably still wondering how the God's conspired to rob them of victory against Bellewstown. It was a case of revenge is sweet for East Meath outfit, who had succumbed to 14-man Clonard in the 2003 Junior 'B' championship. Frank recalled: "The year before we had a player sent off against Bellewstown and we turned it around and won the game. It often works in your favour to have a man sent off, because you have to dig a lot deeper. "When they went down to 13 men, we didn't no what to do with the two free men. On the other hand Bellewstown just ran riot. They threw caution to the wind in the final moments and we didn't know how to handle it," he affirmed. Clonard belatedly got their season up and running in Round 4, when they accounted for Na Fianna on a 1-11 to 2-5 scoreline. "It was a game we had to win to stay alive. I was missing with a back injury, so was Niall Walsh, but the lads dug deep and carved out a good victory." He continued: "The whole team played well on the day. Na Fianna got two goals that kept them in the game. Nickie Egan made a couple of great saves for us that day, while Ian Campbell and Alan Campbell also starred," he elaborated. Clonard built on that winning platform when they scored a narrow but deserved victory over St. Patrick's in Round 5. "It was a bad day for a game of football. There was driving wind and rain, which blew across the pitch for the entire game." He continued: "We had to dig very deep that day. We got ahead early on and managed to keep ahead, but St, Pat's carried the fight to us all the way to the final whistle. Luck was on our side that day. The final whistle came too soon for them and they probably deserved a draw." With just four points from their opening five games Clonard felt they needed to beat St. Paul's and Cortown in their final two group games to be with a chance of securing a place in the knockout stages of the championship. In Round 6 they couldn't only manage a draw against St. Paul's (2-7 to 0-13). "We probably deserved the victory but in the end we had to settle for a point. St. Paul's are always a strong dogged and determined team and hard to beat," he noted. He continued; "They always put it up to us. It was a tough game of football and close throughout. We could have come away with the victory, but ended up with a draw." That draw meant Clonard had to beat Cortown, who had collected maximum points from their first six games, and hope results went in their favour elsewhere in the group. "The draw made the last game against Cortown very interesting. We knew we had to beat Cortown who had already qualified. They were really up for on the day, but we turned in probably our best performance of the year to beat them by four points, 1-13 to 1-9," he noted. Frank believes that Clonard blew their chance of reaching the knockout stages when they were held by St. Paul's in the penultimate group game. But in reality the damage was done in their opening three group games when they failed to pick up a solitary point. Had they managed to pick up a point against either Boardsmill or Bellewstown, matches they lost in the dying moments, they would have leap-frogged St. Paul's into the fourth qualifying place. "If we had managed to qualify we would have faced Longwood in the quarter-finals. They beat us at the same stage last year. We led at half time, but they came at us in the second half to win the game," he recalled. "Longwood would have been favourites having topped their group, but anything can happen in a local derby. We wouldn't have been overawed going into that game, and we could have raised our game sufficiently to beat them," he suggested. In the near future Clonard's prospects should be bolstered by the emergence of young talent such as Kenneth Darby, Simon McNevin and Owen Tracey who starred on the Clonard / Ballinabrackey combination that win a Minor 13-a-side league this year. "Kenneth played a few league games at the end of the year and performed very well. They are very young but we are hoping they will be pushing for places next year," Frank commented. Off the field Clonard are giving serious consideration to the idea of buying and developing their own grounds in the next year or two. "There is talk of buying a field close to the village and building proper facilities. That would prove a huge boost to the club. "Hopefully those plans will fall into place over the next few years. It is something we really need to do for the benefit of the club and the community," he concluded. Tweet

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