Just two years after coming into existence, south Meath amalgamation Na Fianna are knocking on the door of the senior championship. Their star forward Paul Hanley was disappointed by the club's narrow failure to qualify for the intermediate semi-finals in 2001, but he believes that with consistency and a bit of luck, Na Fianna could make it to senior level before long. When Enfield, Baconstown and Rathmolyon's footballers combined to set up Na Fianna just two years ago, it signalled a new beginning for a corner of the county that had become entrenched in underachievement. Enfield had not built a convincing challenge for the junior championship in a number of years, while Rathmolyon were hardly well set to battle through the football ranks when hurling held so prominent a position within that club's list of priorities. Never easy to beat but never remotely like challengers in their latter years as a separate entity, Baconstown had become "fed up of being hammered", according to Paul Hanley, their former star forward who has gone on to assume similar status with Na Fianna. So the marriage, less of convenience than necessity, was welcomed by the majority, and now, a short time later, with the amalgamation knocking on the door of the big time, the wisdom in the fusion is clearly in evidence. "When we joined up a couple of years ago," says Hanley, "a lot of people wondered whether there would be some bitterness between the different sets of players, given the fact that we were close rivals, and played each other every year or two in the championship. But it hasn't been like that at all, probably because all the lads know each other well, we all played all our underage football together, so it has definitely been a success. The level of football is far better, and the games are much more interesting. None of us were making too much headway at junior, so we're all happy with the way things have been going. "When we started up, we were given the choice of playing in intermediate or staying in junior, and we decided to go for the challenge of intermediate. We said that if we weren't good enough, we'd be relegated and we could start again from scratch, but we've done well, and we were a bit unlucky with a few things this year; otherwise we might have made it into the last four, and from there, anyone can win it." And if the club can gain a measure of consistency to go with their undoubted potency, there is no obvious reason why they should not launch a concerted push towards the intermediate crown within the next year or two. Na Fianna mixed performances of attacking excellence with slipshod shambolic efforts this year, ranging from a 17-point defeat of former senior side Moynalvey to an 18-point reverse to eventual beaten finalists Ballivor. But the real "killer blow", according to Hanley, was the two-point loss to Rathkenny in the third round of games, in effect a result that prevented them from taking their place in the knock-out last four. "If we had won that one, it wouldn't have mattered what Ballivor did, so that was very disappointing. We had started well, beat Castletown in our first game, and we were the only team to do that in the group stages. That got us off to a great start, and we beat Moynalty well after that, so we were going into the game against Rathkenny full of confidence, too much confidence. "We hammered them last year, so looking back, I think it's fair to say that we underestimated them, there's no doubt about that. It's not something you do deliberately, but because of the way the game had gone the year before, we probably thought subconsciously that all we had to do was show up." They showed up alright, but Rathkenny possessed the drive, the hunger, the will to avenge the previous year's defeat, and Na Fianna were rocked back on their heels when a late sucker-punch goal handed victory to the underdogs. Ballivor, the group's favourites, blew Na Fianna out of the water after that, and suddenly progress to the latter stages of the competition was out of their hands. Ballivor went under by a single point to Castletown, and a victory for Na Fianna over St Ultan's would have put them level with Ballivor again, with just a couple of rounds of games remaining. Na Fianna could manage just a draw, however, although Paul recalls that no-one was too upset, because the balance of play against St Ultan's suggested that Na Fianna were somewhat fortunate to have emerged with anything to show for their efforts. Missing a number of players for the game against the Bohermeen side, the south Meath men were six points down at one stage, and were relieved to escape with a point at the finish. It was not to be enough, as Castletown and Ballivor advanced, with Na Fianna lying just one point adrift in a close third. Lacking consistency and that elusive measure of luck required to make a sustained tilt at any championship, Na Fianna just missed out on one of the two qualifying places, but that at least tells them that, should they iron out their problems, the semi-finals - and possibly much more - could be well within their compass. "We were very inconsistent all year, alright, even in the league when we slipped up and lost points against Drumbaragh late in the year," Hanley admits. "That cost us promotion and a place in the league final, so we have to improve on that." Ill fortune played a large part as well, as Na Fianna lost some crucial men for important games at various stages, with captain Gene Greville and midfielder Jason Hendrick both sustaining bad knee injuries during the year. "On top of that," continues Hanley, "Ronan McMahon and Thomas Cosgrave, who were both very good with Enfield, left the country at the start of the year, and they'd definitely be two important players for us. So we were unlucky to be missing a few lads for nearly every game this year. Having said that, we have a good size panel, and hopefully a few of the younger lads and lads from the second team will come through and make a push for places on the first team, and if we can keep everyone playing together, we have a great chance of going close next year." Hanley flitted between full forward and corner this year, but admits to preferring the latter, where he can use his pace and smaller stature to get more involved in the game, and impressed enough observers to be hailed as one of the best forwards on view in the intermediate grade this year. The normal recognition for that is often embodied by a place on the Meath junior side, but he missed out on the panel this year, something he admits disappoints him greatly. "Trials are hard, because you're really on your own, trying to impress," he says, "whereas when you're playing with lads you know well, they all play to your strengths and it's much easier that way. I made it to the last 28, but not long before the first game they had to cut it to 25 and myself and a couple of others lost out. It was a kick in the teeth to get so close, I probably would rather have been told at the start, but that's the way it turned out. I'm 31 now, so it's probably a bit late for me, I should have been going years ago." On top of being one of Na Fianna footballers' principal scoring threats, Hanley is also a keen hurler, and says that the club could well have made the semi-finals of the intermediate grade this year with a bit of luck, though the fact that they were missing some important players for certain games again made the task a difficult one. Hurling is definitely the smaller part of the club, he says, and the numbers are not as big as for football, but they have a decent core of players and could make a push for championship success at some stage in the near future. If that sound suspiciously similar to the fortunes of the club's footballers, it is. The past twelve months have told stories of promise, of unfulfilled potential, for Na Fianna, in both codes. They are unlikely to succumb a second time to the complacency that went a long way toward ruining their chances of championship success in 2001, and if they manage to create a positive momentum early next year, few sides would relish the prospect of facing them at the business end of championship fare. And spurring them on remains the burning desire to avenge this year's heavy defeat to Ballivor. What price retribution in 2002? Tweet

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