P.J. Cudden made his bow as a football coach in 2001. Training and managing his native Bellewstown was a real learning experience, he admits. We recently rolled the tape back in his company. It wasn't a bad maiden voyage for team trainer P.J. Cudden when all things are considered. After all, Bellewstown GFC aren't used to getting to finals at the best of times. Fact is, there's always crumbs of comfort to be teased out of defeat down Bellewstown way, even when it happens at the final hurdle. The club may have had to suffer the disappointment of losing out in 2001 in the Division Five league final but it was universally agreed by those closest to the coalface within the club that in winning promotion, progress was most certainly achieved. Not that things spelt promotion at the outset of the past season. Injuries to key players and the traditional sluggish start to early-season training didn't exactly inspire confidence. Players like Alan McKeon, team-captain Paul Brannigan, Jason Collier and James Devereaux were all forced to nurse various injuries at the start of the year. Broken arms, bruised ribs - it all added up to a dose of medicine the club's rookie trainer could have done without having to swallow as he attempted to revive confidence among a group of players who needed a boost. "Losing out to Nobber last year by a single point in the relegation play-off was a real downer for the lads but it was important that they picked themselves up again as soon as possible and, fair play to them, they did just that," P.J reflects. Assisted in the selection of the team during the year by the club's erstwhile 'keeper Alan McKeon and club secretary John Kirwan plus Martin McEntaggart (at under 21 level), P.J. says that once the aforementioned spate of injuries had cleared up somewhat and the nuisance value of the Foot and Mouth scare had diluted, an increasing sense of optimism swept across the bows of the camp. Wins over Boardsmill and Longwood in the early part of the season fuelled this greater sense of well-being as the league campaign progressed. Amazingly, the team were to go on and remain unbeaten apart from one setback, ironically, against Kilbride. "The objective we set out for ourselves was to gain promotion out of division five and in that sense we achieved our goal for the year. I know the championship is what's it all about but we had to set our own realistic target. Unfortunately as things worked out, we had a terrible championship campaign." P.J. delighted though in seeing how the players rolled up their sleeves and rebounded from their narrow relegation failure to Nobber. Over the course of the year, the players attended the training sessions set out by P.J. in good numbers overall. P.J. believes that 36 players, all told, attended his sessions on one or more occasions during the year, be they under 21s, junior C' or junior A' players. When one considers that the Bellewstown GAA fraternity is arguably unique in Meath, such commitment is commendable. "The thing about those who play with Bellewstown is that they have to positively choose to line out with us. The fact that most of our adult players play all their underage football with Duleek or St. Pat's means that there is a great temptation for them to stick with either of those two clubs. "Those who play with Bellewstown show a good degree of loyalty to the club by doing so. Not having an underage section at the club is a disadvantage but the numbers game is such that the club has no option but to rely on the likes of local national school principal Frank Reidy and neighbouring clubs to give our juveniles the necessary grinding in the basics of the game," adds P.J. who, coincidentally, played all his underage football with the aforementioned 'Pats. In time, P.J. suggests, the Bellewstown GFC catchment area might attract the same volume of new householders that has come to enlarge neighbouring districts such as Stamullen and Duleek. Maybe then the numbers will be there in Bellewstown to get underage teams up and running. In the short-term though, the catchment area for P.J. and co. straddles an area hardly more than three miles around the local racecourse and football pitch. Outside of that patch, clubs like Duleek, St. Pat's, St. Vincents and St. Colmcille's come into their own. But, according to P.J. there's always been great men looking after football affairs in Bellewstown - men who have seen to it that the club has very much kept its head above water over the years. In this regard, he is fulsome in his praise of the work put into the club over the years by the likes of Gerry Moore, Christy Moore and Brian Carbery. "The likes of those fellas laid the foundations for what was achieved in 2001. I have just come along and kept things on the boil a bit by helping to earn the club promotion into division four." But what of this year's Division Five decider? Could Bellewstown have nicked it? "Oh most definitely. The big problem was that we let Kilbride get far too much ahead of us in the first half and we were playing catch-up from then on. "They were really up for it from the start; winning breaks around the middle of the field and hitting long, direct passes into their full-forward line. The conditions were bad but Kilbride deserved to win on the day. " Those at the final warmed to Bellewstown's second half recovery though. The introduction of Anthony Flynn (brother of long-term club stalwart Martin) to the midfield sector for the start of the second half saw the would-be losers eat into Kilbride's nine point half-time lead. "We knew at the interval that we had played very poorly for the first half hour. We had often chosen the wrong option or failed to take our chances. It was a different story in the second half though. We scored four points and held them to a single point. I think it's fair to say that we won the second half. But that didn't prevent Kilbride from taking home the silverware. We couldn't complain either really," adds P.J. who was a member of the Bellewstown team which beat Simonstown in the 1986 junior championship decider. So was winning promotion of any consolation? "It was, without a doubt. That was our aim all year. With no disrespect to any of the other clubs who compete in division five, there's not much thought of that division around the county. "I personally feel division five should be done away with and division four maybe extended or enlarged and possible an extra team placed in division three. I think that would be a much better set-up for all concerned." Looking ahead to the coming seasons and mindful of the fact that the team was relegated from division four in 2000, P.J. expresses the hope that Bellewstown will not proceed to adopt a 'yo-yo' tag. "During the year the players weren't showing the sort of commitment we would have wished. They were apathetic towards training and losing out to Curraha, Bective and Simonstown in the championship didn't help the mood. "We had a meeting where everyone was invited and there was some frank talking done which led to a bit of soul-searching among all concerned. Things picked up a lot from that and the lads proceeded to show that they had the potential to compete with all-comers. "I think the current panel has the potential to hold its own in division four. I got a great response from the players during 2001. I enjoyed myself and I think the players did too. If they can give that bit more commitment in the coming year, I've no doubt but that they can end up in the top half of the division." * For the record, the following is the Bellewstown team, scorers and subs, that featured in the 1-7 to 2-9 A FL Division Five final defeat to Kilbride at Skyrne in mid-October last: M. McEntaggart; J. Joyce, C. Black, D. Mullaney; D. Teelin, G. Brannigan, John Collier; Jason Collier, S. Black; A. Collins, J. Devereaux (0-3), D. Rogers; A. Smith (0-4), S. Mills, P. Brannigan (1-0). Subs; A. Flynn, A. Carr, P. Collins, P. Reilly. Tweet

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