Even in success-spoiled Meath, rich pastures don't entirely dominate the county's football landscape. Amidst all the rich oasis of the big ball game in the Royal County, areas like Ardcath yearn for a place in the sun - at least just the odd time. It's seldom been easy down Ardcath way. Local gaels are proud of their Saint Vincents club. Even though sometimes a constant diet of crumbs can be hard to swallow when a taste of the high life would do wonders for the constitution. It's not today or yesterday though that the hard-core Gaelic fraternity at St. Vincents have had to bite their lip as neighbours much further north feast at the top table with monotonous regularity. St. Vincents club secretary Gerard Clerkin hails from nearby Bellewstown so he's not unfamiliar with the 'oft time barren football landscape that marks the Ardcath gaeldom. He is long enough about the place to understand the vagaries that go with life in the not-so-fast lane in Meath football circles: "We've been struggling of late - there's no point in saying otherwise and things need to turnaround a lot for us to enjoy any better fortune at all levels. "It's been quite a while since the club achieved anything of real note and at this stage, it's really just a matter of trying our best to keep things going as best we can." Gerard's downbeat view of matters pertaining to the south county Saints wouldn't make for easy listening for die-hard Ardcath gaels but the hard-working club official feels that to paint any other picture would be less than honest and, indeed, could lend itself to accusations of ostrich-in-the-sand type activity. Some of what is holding St. Vincents back at present has been around for a long time now. We're talking numbers here. Simply said, the Ardcath-based club hasn't anyway near the sort of playing numbers which 95% of the clubs in the rest of Meath can fall back on when fielding their quota of teams. "We just haven't the numbers. We're a small parish and we're really depending on every single person to play football here otherwise we fall short of the numbers we need to field various teams up through the grades. "Although the area is within commuting distance of Dublin, we haven't seen an explosion in the number of houses being built in the area and so the population hasn't grown nearly as much as it has in other areas of the county. "Then at different times of the year, we might have fellas who are on holidays or who are injured or can't get off work - we seem to be working with just the bare 15 or sixteen more often than not which isn't very satisfactory for those looking after the teams. "We had to pull our Junior C team out this year after just a couple of games because we needed a few fellas on that team to play for our Junior A side. That's very frustrating for everyone involved, players, mentors and the committee and supporters," Gerard explains. While there is a fair degree of talent emerging every year from the Ardcath and Clonalvy primary schools in the parish, class sizes in both institutions reflect the lack of material that bedevils team-mentors in their efforts to build strong panels. "For instance, we fielded an under 12 team this year but our under 14s, under 16s and minors have to join with Curraha to get games. It ends up that only a handful of Ardcath players get on those teams and although Curraha, Bellewstown and Garristown don't poach players from our club, we tend to 'lose' some every year with, for example, a number of players going to play with the Duleek club because they go to school in Cushinstown." Gerard's concurs completely with the suggestion that St. Vincents badly need success to encourage youngsters in the Ardcath area to give their allegiance to their native club. It's a bit of a chicken and an egg situation though, he acknowledges: "We haven't really got the numbers which would see us challenging for honours at Junior level but we need some success to give the club a boost and increase its profile in the area. "This year at under 12 level we got into the play-offs but we were unlucky on the day and weren't helped by some decisions that went against us. A win in that competition would have helped morale a lot within the club." Interestingly, some of the fellas who have given their best for St. Vincents have proven their worth in more exalted company. In this respect, Aogan Smith was found to be good enough to be invited into join the Meath junior team last year while in 2001 Ronan Sheridan - one of the brightest talents to emerge from St. Vincents' underage ranks in recent years - showed up well with the Meath junior squad. A former Bellewstown player - he still lives just a mile or so from there - Gerard has been associated with the 'Vincents for upwards of 20 years now. He would like to say that the next 20 years for the club should be much more prosperous but . . . "We're short of players and we'd need a greater input from parents in the area too if the club is to begin to generate some success on the field." And what about 'Vincents amalgamating with one or other of its neighbours? "That's a possibility. I know the only time we really won anything was when we amalgamated with Bellewstown. That was back in the 'fifties when we won both intermediate and senior championship titles. "I personally wouldn't be against amalgamating but I would prefer it if we could do well on our own but amalgamation may come sooner rather than later. "Alternatively, we could regrade to Junior B. It's a couple of years since we won a championship game and it doesn't help when you're coming up against senior clubs in the first round like Dunshaughlin and Dunboyne. They have the numbers and they could nearly field two teams capable of playing senior football. "I'd like to see those senior clubs competing in the same group at junior grade. It would give smaller clubs a far better chance of winning something. "If we managed to win a few meaningful matches, the lads would be more enthusiastic about playing and it might persuade others to give more commitment or persuade others not to join neighbouring clubs. "I think there's enough talent in the club to make progress but everyone needs to put their shoulders to the wheel at the same time. "The county board needs to give clubs like us a chance too. Far too often we'd have no games for weeks and then we'd have to play a couple in the same week. Sometimes it happens that we don't know from one week to the other when we have a game and that can lead to players losing interest or getting disenchanted," adds Gerard. Secretary for the last three years (his second spell in the job), 36-year old Gerard hasn't ruled out making himself available as a sub-goalie or corner forward in the year ahead but, needless to say, he would love to see a lot greater competition for places on the team and at least a return to the days when, as in the early eighties, the club was competing for league (division three) honours. Division five is not where the club should be, he maintains. Son of Joe Clerkin who played for the long-since defunct Young Irelands club, Gerard calls a spade a spade and though he says he remains committed to St. Vincents, he wonders at how much longer his adopted club can continue to seek out an existence on the very periphery of mainstream football affairs in Meath. "We need more numbers in every respect - more players, more coaches and more support from the parents in the area." And the football fraternity in Kilkenny think they've a monopoly on having it tough! Tweet

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