St Brigid's, Ballinacree will have to wait another year to regain their cherished Junior 'A' status, having been beaten at the quarter-final stage of the 'B' competition in 2003. Club secretary Padraic Fanning believes 2004 could be the year when they return to the promised land. Losing Junior 'A' status in 2002 came as a bitter blow to St Brigid's. It just wasn't on the agenda of this progressive and tightly knit club. So when they dusted themselves down and got over the initial shock, thoughts of an immediate return to the 'A' ranks began to emerge. Realistically everybody connected with the club knew it would take a mammoth effort to bounce back at the first time of asking. After all the Junior 'B' ranks are packed to overflowing with clubs with similar aspirations. With teams like Walterstown, Navan O'Mahony's, St. Vincent's and Boardsmill pushing for honours, nobody connected with the club were taking anything for granted. Junior "B' football is an ultra-competitive grade, despite its lowly status. Former Ballinlough stalwart Raymond Lydon was recruited as team trainer and selector to add weight to their armour. The St Brigid's back room team felt Lydon's considerable knowledge gained in the senior ranks, might help to work the oracle. His presence certainly proved as a tonic for the troops. "The training was brilliant. We had more than 30 lads training in the park all year. The lads responded very well to Raymond and put in a big effort," Padraic remarked. "The commitment and attitude of the players was very good, and I think Raymond got the best out of them, but it was always going to be tough to win the Junior 'B' championship at the first time of asking," Padraic commented. Raymond along with Eamonn Tuite and Declan Masterson were charged with the responsibility of guiding the fortunes of the first team. Shay Fanning joined 'the three wise men" to coach the club's second-string. St Brigid's were pitted in a group along with Cortown, Walterstown, Na Fianna, Navan O'Mahony's, St Patrick's, St Colmcille's and Clonard. "We had three very tough matches in the group stage against Waterstown, Cortown and Clonard. We managed to overcome Cortown and Clonard but we went under to Walterstown. We won the rest of our games easily enough," Padraic recalled. He added: "Walterstown were a class apart. They were a very strong outfit and we just couldn't match them on the day. They had an awful lot of experience in their ranks. You would know that they had a very good senior team." That solitary defeat to Walterstown, the eventual group winners left St Brigid's in the runners-up spot in the group and in the quarter-finals. "Realistically we wanted to qualify from the group and get into the knock-out stages. At that stage it was our intention to give a real go and see how far that brought us." St Brigid's were drawn against Boardsmill, who went on to reach the final. "They won the Junior 'C' last year. We where in the game for a long time, but things just didn't go right for us on the day. On another day, I felt we would have beaten them," Padraic remarked. To compound the team's frustration they narrowly missed out on promotion from Division 5A of the All County League when they went under to Kilmainham 2-15 to 2-12 in the divisional play-off. "It was a great game of football but that was of little consolation to us. We lost in extra-time, which was heart breaking to say the least," Padraic commented ruefully. The club's second-string gained promotion from Division 6B. "We got promotion, which was brilliant, because that was one of our aims at the start of the year but we were very disappointed to have been beaten in the final. St Vincent's were on a high after winning the 'B' championship the previous week." He continued: "They got of to a great start, which left us playing catch-up for the rest of the game. We just couldn't get within striking distance of them and they ran out 1-11 to 1-5 winners." Anchored by Padraic and Paul Flood, the club's second-string is bristling with young talent. "It was a very young team with the exception of myself and Paul. Feichin Heery, Patrick Fagan, Conor Farrelly, Hugh Fanning, Dermot Mullally and AJ Gilsenan are ones to look out for in the future," Padraic predicted. "Those lads were pushing for places on the first team this year and I would expect to make the step up next year and establish themselves on the team. They certainly have the ability. They should be playing along with the likes of Fergal Hennessy, Raymond Heery, Peter Moore and Stephen Farrelly on the first team in 2004," he added. With such a crop of young talent in the club St Brigid's were hoping for an extended run in the under 21 championship. Their hopes were dashed in their very first outing, when they were pipped by Boardsmill 1-9 to 1-8. Padraic recalled: "We were beaten by a goal in the 34th minute. Needless to say we were gutted. That was the best under 21 team we had for quite a few years and were hopeful they would go well in the championship." "The defeat was all the more painful because we were missing several players on the day through injury. A couple of other lads played even though they were carrying injuries," he added. Located in the northwest of the county on the Meath / Cavan / Westmeath borders St Brigid's epitomises a small well-run rural club, making the best of its scant resources. "We are pinned in from all angles. Ballinacree is only a half parish. The other half of the parish is Mountnugent in Cavan. "We are surrounded by Castletown/Finea and Ballycomoyle in Westmeath. In Meath we are bordered by Moylagh and Oldcastle so we have a very small pick really." However there is spirit in abundance and a fair quota of talent on which to build for the future. To that end St Brigid's are looking forward to 2004 with renewed optimism. "In the league we will be pushing to get promoted from Division 5A, while our main aim will be to win the Junior 'B' championship. We won't be content until we are back playing Junior 'A' football," Padraic warned. Having established a "base camp" in the Junior 'B' ranks St Brigid's can look forward to 2004 with optimism and should be good enough to make the knock-out stages of the championship. With a favourable draw they might go on to regain that much sought after place amongst Meath's elite Junior clubs. Tweet

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