A first-ever senior trophy continues to elude Simonstown Gaels. In 2004, the north Navan men returned to the county final stage but were beaten in a second successive SFC decider. Colm O'Rourke's charges then made it an inglorious double when also losing the Division One league final. While the double defeat is an obvious disappointment, it should be noted that Simonstown is still a relatively young club and reaching both senior finals represents a commendable achievement by any standard. It goes without saying that a strong sense of frustration was evident in the resplendent Simonstown clubhouse as the 2004 calendar year drew to a close. Once more, the Sky Blues came close to the Holy Grail. Yet again, the spoils proved elusive. Having reached the SFC for the first time in '03, Simonstown were hoping to go one better. There was a feeling that they had 'blown it' against Blackhall Gaels in the 2003 decider - could they make amends? They negotiated the group stage without setting the world alight and enjoyed a rather fortuitous quarter-final victory over Kilmainhamwood. However, the emphatic semi-final defeat of high-flying Trim was the result of the year and suggested that perhaps Simonstown were on the verge of a historic breakthrough success. But a powerful Skryne performance on county final day saw to it that the Keegan Cup remained tantalisingly out of reach. Meanwhile, in the league, Simonstown reached their fourth Division One decider, wherein another chance of claiming a senior trophy presented itself. This time, Summerhill proved the party-poopers with a one-point victory on Saturday October 30. Thus, the season ended on a patently disappointing note for Simonstown Gaels. They were good, but not good enough. What's the feeling within the camp, then? Anger? Frustration? Are Simonstown annoyed with themselves for missing the boat again? Club stalwart and 2004 senior team selector Justy Ward calls it as it is: "It's always very easy to be wise after the event. We went in and prepared as well as we could and we thought we had covered everything. Going into the final, we were in good shape fitness-wise and there was no danger of over-confidence on our part. "Skryne were just the better team on the day and there's nothing you can do about that. That's the way football goes. There can only be one winner. What people have to realise is that Simonstown Gaels have no divine right to a senior championship - no more than any other club in Meath has. Senior championships have to be won and the reality is that they're very difficult to win. The likes of Skryne aren't going to roll over for anybody. To win a championship, we're really going to have to earn it. "I suppose the only real worry is that this team has been together for a while now and a fair few of the lads are around the 30 mark, so they might be beginning to wonder how many more opportunities they are going to get. But there are good young lads coming through too and we'll knuckle down again next year and see how it goes." How much disappointment is in the north Navan air? "There are two ways of looking at it. When you get to two finals out of three, a lot of people would say that represents a good year. After the disappointment of losing the previous year's final - and, more especially, the manner of that defeat - we put a lot of work into it in 2004. We varied the training and got back on track, with a little bit of luck along the way, it must be said. "Of course we're disappointed that we didn't win one of the two finals. Either one would have done us. Indeed, there was as much disappointment after the league final as there was after the championship, because on the day of the county final we could have no complaints whatsoever about losing to Skryne, who were the much better team on the day. We didn't play well enough. "It was in stark contrast to the 2003 final against Blackhall Gaels, when we had a big lead at half time but let it slip through our fingers. When you lead by nine points at half time in a county final and lose, it tells its own story. All we could do was put it down to inexperience." At the start of the 2004 season, what was Simonstown's objective? Was there a specific target? "We had just got to play in our first county final and that was a nice feeling, even though we lost, so it was just a case of getting back into the swing of things. Colm Brady came on board and he did the training on Tuesday nights and we had two or three different people handling the various training sessions and there was great variety there, which the players appreciated and responded to. Each trainer put his own slant and individual approach on things and that was a positive thing for the team. We felt we were as well prepared as possible." Considering that Simonstown is essentially a young (albeit ambitious) club with no great tradition of adult success, are expectations unrealistically high? "Possibly. You can't just go out and win a senior championship just like that - it doesn't work that way. We've had two opportunities of winning county finals now and haven't taken them. The lesson we have to learn is that we have no right to it and will have to earn it. "We have fabulous facilities and a lovely clubhouse and pitches, but these are only secondary things compared to success. To be considered one of the top clubs in the county you have to go out and earn it on the pitch. Irrespective of what people think, there are no easy championships won in Meath. We just have to start at square one again next year and put in the work again. "We don't have a bigger panel than Navan O'Mahonys or Walterstown or any of the traditional clubs in the county. Despite what people think, we don't have a whole reservoir of senior players chomping at the bit to break onto the first team. We carry a senior panel of about 25 and we'll be working largely with the same crop of players again in 2005." Group A of the 2004 SFC was definitely the more difficult of the two sections and securing a Top Four finish was an achievement in itself. Simonstown kicked off with a win over Ballinlough and drew their second outing against Skryne. They beat O'Mahonys comfortably but lost their next two outings to Dunshaughlin and Trim. However, victories over Dunboyne and Gaeil Colmcille in their final two group outings saw Colm O'Rourke's charges through to the knockout stage. K'wood were beaten by 0-20 to 0-12 after extra time and Trim were avenged in the semi-final, 2-13 to 0-6. In the decider, Skryne proved too hot to handle, prevailing by five points, 1-9 to 0-7. The 0-12 to 1-9 Division One league final defeat to Summerhill (after the losers carried a three-point lead into the final quarter) compounded Simonstown's woes. All in all, an eventful year then, with plenty of food for thought as we prepare to go into 2005. "We're no different than any of the other senior teams to an extent," says Justy. "We usually start back training in late January/early February and build up the fitness. We'll try to get into a winning habit early in the season and then it's a matter of seeing how far we can take that. "We're no different than anybody else in the county. Since Colm O'Rourke took over, he has brought some new talent through onto the team each year and that was the case again in '04, with Ciaran Kenny and Niall McMahon getting introduced to senior football. "Up until the semi-finals of the championship, Trim were most people's favourites. They'd been having a wonderful year. They had gone eight games without defeat, which is a remarkable achievement in the senior championship. But their year ended in disappointment too and that's the way football goes. Unfortunately, there can be only one winner and Simonstown Gaels don't have a monopoly on disappointment." The four teams that came out of Simonstown's group went on to contest the semi-finals. This fact says all there is to be said about how difficult that group was. Justy notes: "On paper, it looks like it was a more difficult group. First and foremost, it's all about getting out of the group. The championship in Meath is more of a marathon than a sprint. Seven matches before you get out of the group is a lot of games and it's important to try to pace yourself. You aim for a place in the top four and realistically it doesn't matter whether you finish first or fourth because it's the same prize - a place in the quarter-finals. "We started well but then had our usual blip in July, when we lost four competitive matches in a row - two in the championship, one in the league and one Feis Cup game. The gun was to our heads for the Dunboyne match in Dunshaughlin but we came through that test and we were delighted." Simonstown won their quarter-final and semi-final ties by a combined aggregate of 21 points. Impressive stuff, though Justy points out that this statistic is misleading: "The quarter-final against Kilmainhamwood was the day that we really got the rub of the green. They had a big lead and we looked to be on our way out. We moved Shane O'Neill to full forward and the move worked because he got the equalising score. But the truth is we were blessed to get the draw in normal time and we should have been gone. They had three key players just coming back from serious injury and the sweltering heat told against them in extra time. "We had no time to dwell on the win because the semi-final came around very quickly. Any time you win a semi-final by 13 points you can't give out. On the day, we had no problem going out and motivating ourselves because Trim had beaten us well in the group stage and they were unbeaten in eight games." It all went pear shaped in the county final, though. Simonstown had a chance to salvage their season in the league final, but they came unstuck against Summerhill, who had just survived a relegation play-off. Were the Sky Blues really up for that game? "Of course we were. We haven't won a senior final yet, so we wanted it. It meant a lot to us. Summerhill were almost unbeatable in the league all year and they lost a lot of championship matches by one or two points. The fact that they ended up in a relegation play-off gave the impression that they were a poor team, but they're far from it. "After losing the county final, things did go a bit flat. We went down to Kilmainhamwood thinking we were out of the league and both teams fielded under strength sides. Low and behold, we ended up in the league final. It was as big a disappointment losing that as it was getting beaten in the county final. But it was typical Summerhill - they never gave up. We didn't take it lightly at all because none of our lads have five or six league medals in their pockets. The reality is that we have never won any of the three major competitions . and you are judged on what you win." Simonstown's secret weapon Thanks to the vision and endeavour of Head of Coaching, Sean Barry, Simonstown's juvenile arm is looking stronger than ever. The Dublin native is doing a superb job overseeing the implementation of a vibrant juvenile set-up and has, in the process, developed a whole network of juvenile mentors, ensuring that Simonstown's young footballers are given every chance of making the best possible start. Sean Barry moved to Navan in 1996 and has been involved at coaching level with Simonstown for about seven years. During his playing days, Sean lined out for Dublin at minor, junior and senior levels, winning an All-Ireland MFC as full back in 1984. He finished his playing career with the Castletown club in Meath, his fathers club. How did he become involved with Simonstown? "My own young lad [Shane] started playing with the club and I used to go to watch. [Club stalwart] Eric Brady talked to me one day - he had been told that I had been involved in Dublin and in Castletown. He asked me would I consider helping out with the youngsters and I said I would. One Saturday morning, myself and Geoff Miller took training and I've been involved ever since." During the intervening years, Sean has been responsible for a complete revamp of the club's juvenile framework. Today, Simonstown is one of the most advanced juvenile club's in the Royal County, both in terms of numbers and the quality of coaching being administered. Sean's philosophy from the beginning was that it's better to have a lot of people doing some work than some people doing a lot of work. He has stuck to this belief and acted accordingly, assembling a platoon of underage mentors, who assume the burden between them, making sure that the players get the best attention possible while the coaches themselves aren't over-stretched. It's a simple idea, but simple plans are always the most effective. True to form, Sean is reluctant to seek any praise: "In fairness, there were guys like Colm O'Rourke, Eddie Maguire and Jim McCabe working a few years ahead of us and they did great work and we should see the benefits of their efforts at minor level shortly. Perhaps it was let slip for a few years just before we came in, but there was definitely a lot of great work done by Colm before that. He was working with the current U16/U17 lads, while most of the lads I started with (from the ages of six, seven and eight) would probably be U14 now." Training is held religiously every Saturday morning and the players also participate in mini-leagues. With so much activity going on, delegating responsibility is crucial. "I tried to get people involved with each age group," Sean notes. "Because of time restraints, the amount of work involved can be a deterrent, so we tried to enlist as many people as we could, each to do a little bit. "The way we work now is that Eric arrives every Saturday and divides all the lads into different bunches and the various coaches then do their stuff. "Because numbers in Navan are so big - we have over 100 kids altogether - we try to keep all the players in their proper age group. For example, we had two U15 teams this year and some of the second team [who were U14s] were good enough to play for the 'A' team but we kept them with their own bunch." A series of meetings for parents and mentors was held during the year. Questions were asked, issues raised and brains stormed. It was recognised that the emphasis should be on bringing players through rather than on winning, particularly at U12, U13 and U14 levels. "Our aim is to have two teams at each age group," says Sean. "It's not about winning. We feel that if we can get to the closing stages of competitions at juvenile level then we are doing our job, because the long-term aim is to produce strong teams at minor and senior levels." Sean Kelly was also brought in for a couple of sessions to impart some coaching wisdom to the various juvenile coaches, while Colm O'Rourke sat down with the coaches and ran them through the 'Dos and Don'ts' of being a mentor. The mini leagues were also modified, with no more than ten on a team, no difference between points and goals, switching goalkeepers after every score etc. A foundation course took place in September, with 20 new people coming on board and learning the various drills as well as picking up a wider knowledge of the game. "You have to spread the word," Sean notes. "There's no point in just one person knowing what to do . or thinking they know what to do! "This is not just about Sean Barry. There are many other people involved. Eric Brady sets everything up on a Saturday and gets other parents involved. I was lucky enough to get involved at a time when there were people like Eric, Geoff Miller and John Lynch on the scene. Others have also come in from other clubs - Colm O'Rourke from Skryne and Francis Smith from Cortown - and got involved in Simonstown. "For the first time ever, we have young lads playing juvenile for Simonstown whose fathers played juvenile for the club. We're getting a tradition now and things are looking good." In 2004, both Simonstown's U13 teams reached semi-finals, in the 'A' league and the reserve league. The U14s contested league and championship finals. The U15 side (under Ollie Boland) reached a semi-final, while the second team, which was effectively an U14 side, got to a quarter-final (Pat Reilly was in charge). The U12s didn't have a great year but eleven of those players will be eligible next year and should do much better. The U10s, under Ollie Boland and Seamus Heaney's son Tony, did well. "We stressed that we wanted to compete but that winning wasn't everything. We don't have any silverware, but we're happy with how we performed. We have a happy bunch, and the parents are happy and the numbers good. Of course, we're always looking for more helpers because the more people we have involved the better." What does the future hold? "We're hoping that the work of the past nine/ten years will start to come to fruition over the next five or six years. The objective is to become competitive at minor level and we should be in a position to do that in the next two years. "It's an investment in time, but it's very enjoyable. If a kid comes in aged seven and wins an U12 quarter-final or is disappointed when the training ends for the year, then you know you're doing something right. You can get great satisfaction out of seeing a kid improve. And it's not just about how they improve as footballers but how they mix with other people. If you divide all the honours you win during your career into the amount of effort that goes into training and playing, it can seem like very little, but you can make a lot of good friends from football and that is certainly one of the most positive aspects of the game." Former chairman and club trustee Eric Brady is quick to stress that Simonstown Gaels greatly appreciate Sean's input: "Seamus Heaney, who passed away in January 1998, was extensively involved in juvenile coaching here for many years. His loss was a huge one and we thought we'd never have the likes of Seamus again, but Sean has filled the vacuum. "I first came across Sean by accident, when he was the young vibrant manager of the Castletown side that beat Kilmainhamwood in a county U21 final at Kilberry. He was subsequently introduced to me at one of our juvenile matches as a man who could make a contribution. Sean agreed to take on the role and he has done a wonderful job ever since. He's the answer to our prayers, in a way . it was like the man above sent someone to replace Seamus. "He's well organised, energetic, is good with children and has a novel, fresh approach. He has a great relationship with everyone in the club and has been responsible for improving our juvenile policies. Sean is the type of guy who is very rare in clubs and Simonstown are lucky to have a man of his calibre. "He works hard with the kids and he puts all his experience to good use, from when he played with Castletown and Dublin. He has also organised coaching for the other juvenile mentors and does a sight of unseen work in the background, but never wants the limelight for himself. "Most of the ideas we have at juvenile level today would come from Sean. He's simply had a tremendous input into the club. He's a natural and he does it all completely for the love of the game." Geoff Miller, who coaches alongside Sean, is in complete agreement: "I have been working with Sean for five or six years now and the kids have shown an unbelievable improvement since he became involved. He has a great way with the kids, as well as great ideas and training techniques. The kids listen to him and appreciate him. "One of the incredible things is that he brings all the kids up to the same level, regardless of how good they are to begin with. We have made a dramatic improvement since Sean got involved. "Sean has great knowledge from playing at a high level himself. He gives great service to the club, all of it behind the scenes. Anyone in Castletown or Simonstown who has ever had any dealings with Sean Barry has a good word for him. He just wants to see the kids improving all the time, and that's enough for him." Final word to Simonstown Gaels GFC manager/secretary Shane O'Brien, who sums up the importance of Sean Barry's contribution to the club: "Sean is a great asset to Simonstown and has injected a new lease of life into our underage set-up. His vision has been vital in formulating a clearly-defined juvenile strategy and his contribution is immeasurable. What more can I say?" Tweet

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