With the Ballinabrackey junior side failing to make an impact in the year just past, it was up to the club's under 12s to bring glory to the Offaly-border parish. Here, club stalwart Jim Cooney outlines the great strides that are being made at underage level. Towards the end of 1998, an important decision was taken by Ballinabrackey club members. Although their adult team had clung onto intermediate status, Ballinabrackey felt that they were making no headway. Hence, the decision to drop back to the junior ranks. It was a difficult move for the Offaly-border club but one that was necessitated nevertheless. With playing resources at a premium and not enough underage talent filtering through, Ballinabrackey allowed their heads to rule their hearts. "We had no option but to drop back," says club stalwart Jim Cooney. "The results we were getting in the intermediate championship weren't very encouraging and every game seemed to be a struggle. Given the scarcity of players available to us, we were better off among the junior teams." Ballinabrackey's return to junior football didn't yield the results the club had hoped for. A failure to make it through to the latter stages of the Junior 'A' Championship was disappointing but there was some consolation to be gained from the fact that they consolidated their position in Division Four of the League. "By staying in Division Four, we at least succeeded in halting the slide," notes Jim. "The championship didn't go too well for us but, in saying that, our hopes hadn't been all that high at the start of the year. We're in the middle of a transitional period at the moment and there's a lot of rebuilding to be done. Our aim is to establish ourselves as a good intermediate club in the coming years." In an attempt to improve fortunes at adult level, Ballinabrackey are currently embarking on a major youth policy, with a special emphasis on the under 10, 12 and 14 grades. The work put in by the club's juvenile committee is already starting to pay dividends - the highlight of 1999 being the under 12s' achievement in winning the Division Three title. "The success of the under 12 side provided everyone with a huge boost. They beat Seneschalstown in the Division Three final and showed great form throughout the year. What added greatly to the success was the fact that seven of the team were under 10, something which must augur well for the future." In charge of this particular team were Tony Lynch, Ethel Connolly, John Dunne and Nellie Cooney, wife of Jim. Jim's main involvement with Ballinabrackey this year was in coaching the under 10s alongside Tom Moran, John Dunne and Seamus and Ethel Connolly. In 1998, Ballinabrackey's under 10s won the Milltownpass Under 10 tournament and they followed that up this year by emerging victorious in the prestigious Bunbrosna tournament. Their victims in the final were Mullingar Shamrocks, a noteworthy scalp for any team. For the second consecutive year, Ballinabrackey hosted their own under 10 tournament with the prize for the winners being the Seamus Connolly Shield. Run on a league basis, the event proved to be a resounding success with no fewer than eight teams participating. Rather fittingly, Ballinabrackey qualified for the final but they were deprived of outright glory by a talented St. Mary's, Rochfortbridge team. It's also worth noting that Ballinabrackey entered the Johnstownbridge under 10 blitz, the proceeds of which were donated to charity. The Ballinabrackey under 14s, under the management of Christy Cooney, Tony Lynch and Ciaran Conlon, enjoyed an eventful year which culminated in defeat to Ratoath in the league and Seneschalstown in the championship. At minor level, Ballinabrackey amalgamated with neighbours Clonard and were somewhat unlucky to lose to Dunsany in the championship semi-final. Danny Flynn managed this team while Sean Bannon and Sean Coffey were his selectors. 1999 may have been a disappointing year for Ballinabrackey at junior level but the club was still proud to have both John Curry and Aidan Coffey on the Meath team which contested the All-Ireland Junior Football final. John played in goals while Aidan featured at full back. As ever, Jim Cooney's commitment to Meath underage football remains steadfast. In the past year, he combined the role as Vice-Chairman of the Minor Board with that as a county under 21 selector. Unfortunately for Jim, success once again eluded the Royal County in each of the underage grades, including under 21. What went wrong? "I think the biggest problem we have in Meath is that the expectations of supporters are much too high," he opines. "After the All-Ireland minor and under 21 victories of the early nineties, people were automatically expecting success but it is impossible for any county to keep it going. No county can keep churning out top rate teams year in, year out. Westmeath and Laois have been the dominant forces in recent years but I personally don't think they will be able to sustain that level of success for much longer." He continues: "In order to be successful at underage level, a huge amount of effort has to be put in by certain individuals. The same people cannot be expected to take charge of teams each year and that is why I would love to see more parents and players who have just retired taking up juvenile coaching." Perhaps other clubs could take a leaf out of Ballinabrackey's book in this regard. Tweet

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