A profile of dedicated St Vincent's club member and former Duleek footballer Shay Lane. Shay Lane was better known to everybody as "Shortie". Born and raised in Duleek in the 1950s, he showed even at an early age great potential on the football field. He was part of the Duleek U14 team that won county titles in 1970 and 1971. Shay played all his football in the forwards and helped Duleek to their intermediate title in 1978. Duleek remained at senior level for two years with Shay an integral part of their panel. Shay married an Ardcath girl called Mary Andrews in the early eighties and moved to Ardcath to live. He continued to play football for Duleek and played rugby for Delvin rugby club during these years. He transferred to St Vincents in 1987 and from there on showed great commitment to his new club. He became secretary of St Vincents in 1990 and was secretary for five consecutive years. In 1997 he was elected to the position of treasurer and to this day he still holds that role in the club. In 1991 Shay was voted Clubman of the Year for his enormous dedication and commitment to St Vincents. At present he is one of three selectors for the junior team as well as helping out with the underage teams in the parish. Now that his own family are involved in sport he has been known to referee the odd game for Cloghertown United soccer club. Shay also takes an active part in other aspects of parish life, such as formulating questions for the yearly parish table quiz and helping out with the weekly lotto. He enjoys watching all sports and likes nothing better than a good pint of Guinness and a quiet game of cards (25). His capabilities even extend to pulling pints on occasions. After a long and distinguished career in football it was a delight to see Shay still togging out for St.Vincents in the millennium year. Long may he continue to play a role in the running of the club. History, they say, is made at a snail's pace. Takes years for anything noteworthy to happen and then, all of a sudden, it happens overnight. Up in Ardcath, St Vincents have been soldiering away for seasons and because of the success they've failed to enjoy, divil the bit of notice have people taken of them. But in the year 2000 they made history, fielding an U21 team in the championship for ... well, the first time in a long while? Chairman Kieran O'Brien believes it to be the first time ever, though if it isn't the first time ever, it's the first time in a long time he says. And up in Ardcath where football success is keeping a low profile these days, that's a good enough reason to celebrate. An U21 team: St Vincents can rightly protrude their chests with pride. They are a club seeking to reclaim their place at the high table in Meath football, and get stuck in. But then, it's not the halcyon fifties of rural rule caution, circumspection must prevail. Things have changed in Meath football, in life to be sure, since the Vincents were gobbling up the luminaries of the county scene. As the Kinks sang, those were the days, back in '55 when the saints were devilishly good. That's when they were Meath senior football champions, not a bother on them. They were rural as could be then, and that's one thing that hasn't changed in Meath football, nor in life: they're as rural as could be now. It's just that now they're tipping along in the lower ranks, relegated by modernity, remorselessly. Ah sure, you can say That's Life, and it is. It is life. But there's something about clubs like St. Vincents, that strive and struggle and yet retain boundless levels of enthusiasm. It's a cliche but it's what makes the GAA such a cherisable association. At the end of every season, when the hard luck story must again be wheeled out, the chin remains up and the thoughts and actions remain positive. Two thousand was another dismal year for the St Vincents first team in the Junior 'A' championship: but that's an irrelevancy when off-set against the time and effort invested by players, mentors, committee members and lotto collectors, to make the year another enjoyable and hugely rewarding one off the field. So what if St Vincents recorded only one win in the championship - as the year comes to a close the club's first dug-outs have just been constructed; the U21 team has competed in the "C" championship; and everybody at the club, in unison, assert that St Vincents two main objectives for next season are promotion from Division 5 of the league and progression to the knock out stages of the championship. You can't keep a good club down. There are reasons for optimism indeed. For a start, the Meath club scene is well-oiled. In the last ten years clubs have sprung from nowhere and cat-burgled enormous quantities of silver. Every year "surprise" packets do exactly what's said on the packet. Up and down clubs have gone: minnows up, masters down. Fear is no longer a factor. By the throat, destiny is very grababble. It's useless of course to deny that it's not still tough for a club with St. Vincents recent record. But how often have nightmares ended? Exactly, they always end. Poor seasons can so easily give way too good ones if the ingredients are right. And looking at the back of the St Vincent's packet, the ingredients look good. Players such as Aodhagan Smith, Ronnie McNally, Ronan Sheridan and John Grehan performed well in 2000 and with a number of young players emerging from the underage ranks, as typified by the advent of the U21s, to complement that nucleus, there is no reason why the St. Vincent's gaels cannot assert their objectives with confidence. The St. Vincents committee 2000 Kieran O'Brien - Chairman; Gerry Clerkin - Secretary; Shay Lane - Treasurer; PRO - Kevin Boylan; Richie Dunne Sr and Brian Carberry - Delegates to the Meath County Board St Vincents Juvenile Committee 2000 Pat Hand - Chairman; Ambrose O'Sullivan - Secretary; Brian Carberry - Treasurer Tweet

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