The winds of change may have started to blow around Ardcath in the past year. The St. Vincent's footballers reached the semi-final of the junior B championship, the final of Division Five in the league and claimed their first under-12 title in 22 years. They also enjoyed good minor and under-21 championship campaigns. In general terms it might not be awe-inspiring stuff, but that would be to miss the point completely. A quick flick through the articles written on St. Vincent's in the last number of years in the Royal Meath Yearbook would not exactly fill you with optimism for the future of the club. The hard working Ardcath Gaels must be fed up reading about another miserable season gone by and wondering where it all went wrong. Numerous Christmas mornings have been spent unwrapping Yearbooks by fathers all across Meath. In Ardcath it is no different, but this year when they sit down after their fill of turkey, stuffing and sprouts it just might make for happier reading. It must be admitted though that those aforementioned articles had plenty of foundation. Recent years have been extremely lean for St. Vincent's and poor results are a testament to that. Even club members themselves had been forced to admit the outlook was bleak. But they have been working away at the coalface for way too long to just throw in the towel now. So at the turn of the year they set about rejuvenating the players and started training in January. Constant defeats knock the confidence out of players and soon they question why they even bother. Numbers in training start to dwindle and then selectors are forced to drive around looking for players 15 minutes before a game. Inevitably the team lose and the cycle repeats itself over and over again. But if the team started to win games and challenge for trophies, players would rediscover their interest and return to training. Thus St. Vincent's committee decided to get the footballers out early in the year and hoped by the time the league and championship got underway they would be prepared. "At the AGM before Christmas last year things were looking very bleak within the club. Everybody was anxious and we all wanted to improve things. So we decided to get the lads out training early in January this year. They trained one night a week to begin with and the attendance was quite good," states club chairman James Tallon. By the time the championship was underway they had acquired the services of a Meath legend, David 'Jinksy' Beggy. The former Navan O'Mahony's man managed the team for the year and many in Ardcath deem that his coaching brought about a huge difference. The arrival of such a high profile figure grabbed the attention of the St. Vincent's players and they responded to Beggy instantly. He brought with him a reputation of being a winner and that appeared to rub of on the players. Long time clubman Brian Carberry also contributed a huge amount of time and effort to the cause in the past year. However their junior B championship campaign got off to a losing start at the hands of Summerhill in April. The maroon and whites fell 3-8 to 2-5, but went on to enjoy a string of victories. In early May they hammered Clonard 3-11 to 1-4. That crucial first win in the championship had come and the players started to believe in themselves again. Impressive wins followed including triumphs over St. Colmcille's, Castletown 0-12 to 1-7 and Cortown 0-16 to 2-4. By the end of the group phase they had done enough to qualify for to the semi-finals where they faced Walterstown in early October. Unfortunately for the Ardcath men their adventure had reached the end of the road as Walterstown ran out 1-13 to 0-9 victors. Although it is a step in the right direction for the club the chairman believes that under different circumstances they might well have gone further in the championship. "I think the structures in place are not all that fair because you have small clubs like us taking on senior teams such as Summerhill and Walterstown. I mean some senior clubs might only get to play three games in their championship if they don't get out of the group phase. Facing senior sides really makes our job difficult because we have a much smaller pick of players and if a senior club comes along and wins a junior championship it is not great for the morale of smaller teams. I think maybe the senior championship should have a better format whereby all teams get to play more than three games in that grade." In Division Five of the league St. Vincent's went a stage further than they managed in the championship by contesting the final. Their campaign started way back in February and a draw with another small Meath club, Kilmainham, 0-11 to 2-5. But a win against An Gaeltacht, 1-13 to 2-2, followed in March and they went unbeaten until they faced Longwood in the late summer. Indeed Longwood were the only team to beat St. Vincent's in the league this past year and by the end of the season they had become their bogey side. Prior to their meeting though the Ardcath side accounted for Clonard, Boardsmill and St. Brigid's. But in their last game in the division they fell 1-7 to 0-7 at the hands of Longwood. As St. Vincent's, St. Brigid's and Longwood all ended up on nine points a play-off scenario was forced. It ended up that St. Vincent's would face Longwood but yet again the black and whites dispensed of their challenge, 3-12 to 2-6. However all was not lost as they still had one more chance to progress to the final when they faced St. Brigid's in a winner takes all play-off. In a tight encounter St. Vincent's ran out winners by a single goal, 1-10 to 0-10. A final date with destiny loomed ahead in mid-October. However it was not to be third time lucky for St. Vincent's as Longwood racked up another victory and collected the Division Five title by winning 0-10 to 0-8. It was hard to stomach for the Ardcath faithful but beneath the desolation they realised that they had come quite a way in the space of only ten short months. The junior C side also enjoyed a lengthy run in the championship this year, as did the under 21 and minor teams. At under-12 level they tasted victory for the first time in 22 years. Following committed work by Ambrose O'Sullivan, Pat Hand and John Brangan the under-12 team were excellently prepared for the title charge and fully deserved the victory. Ronan Sheridan lined out for the Meath juniors this year and although a shoulder injury interrupted his year, he showed enough to surely warrant a callback to the county panel in 2003. The club is also looking good for the near future as nine of the junior B players this year also played with the under-21 side. The continued dedication from Bennett's, Ardcath, has also provided the club with much needed sponsorship in recent years. However it is the long-term future that is of most concern to club members. A recent report has shown that Ardcath is possibly the only village in Meath to experience a drop in its population. This year no new children went to school in the village and although it is within commuting distance of Dublin, no new houses have sprung up in the area. "The Meath County Council have built seven new houses in the area but they are only for local needs. That means that only local people can buy them but the locals can't afford them. We need people from the outside to come into the village and buy houses," contests the St. Vincent's chairman. For the time being though the club are busy planning a two-pronged attack on next year's junior B football championship and Division Four of the league. Furthermore it is a possibility that they could actually win both. The St. Vincent's players have returned to winning ways and that sometimes can become a habit. Training again in chilly January? Perhaps, perhaps not. The only thing that is for certain right now is that 2002 digests a lot easier than 2001 did. It would be wrong to say that they are happy with their lot in Ardcath these days, but certainly a little more content. The year just gone might be the start of something big. Tweet

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