St. Paul's bypass Junior grade
December 31, 1999
St. Paul's arrived in the big time this year when they got their hands on the Matthew Ginnity Cup. Royal County reports on an historic year for the Clonee club.
They say a rising tide lifts all boats and with Drumree, Dunshaughlin, Dunboyne and Blackhall Gaels having all sampled the sweet taste of championship success in recent years, it was the turn of their south Meath neighbours, St. Paul's, to get in on the winning act during 1999.
The Clonee outfit gained entry to the Meath Roll of Honour via their memorable success over Moylagh in the Junior Football Championship decider. Played as the curtain raiser to the Meath/Clare National Football League 1st round clash, St. Paul's - who share the same sponsor, Martin Donnelly, with the Clare footballers - captured the Matthew Ginnity Cup with a 0-11 to 0-9 success.
It was a day that star full forward Anthony Moyles won't forget in a hurry. He had to put his personal celebrations on hold for a couple of hours as he received a call up to the county senior panel for the game which followed. It wasn't the first time he donned the famed green and gold jersey as he starred with the county juniors at the start of their campaign before heading for America.
It was also an eventful weekend for coach, Kilkenny native Declan Mahon, as he married local woman Claire Keague (sister of long serving St. Paul's player Tom) the Saturday before the final. Ten of the players attended the wedding but all were tucked up in bed early that night. Incidentally, David Higgins made up the remainder of the management team.
The last time the Junior championship came to the area was in 1968 when Flathouse was the local team.
It's fair to say that St. Paul's, at the beginning of the year, would not have figured amongst many 'outsiders' permutations. Last year's beaten finalists St. Mary's along with Jimmy McGuinness' Dunsany would have been on the top of most people's tongues when the JFC was the topic of conversation.
The Barry Moyles captained outfit brought St. Mary's aspirations to an end at the quarter-final stage. St. Paul's progressed quietly through their division - a draw with Nobber was the only point they dropped - but the St. Mary's win made people sit up and take notice.
The Donore side were hot favourites for the clash in Walterstown on the last Sunday in August, but the saffron and blues defied the odds to lead by 0-8 to 0-3 at the interval. The expected St. Mary's revival never materialised and thanks to fine displays by Tom Keague, Con Lucey, Richie Gibbons and Alan Barker, St. Paul's earned a a 1-13 to 0-8 win.
St. Paul's road to glory
1st Round: St. Paul's 1-15 Syddan 0-7
2nd Round: St. Paul's 6-14 An Gaeltacht 1-7
3rd Round: St. Paul's 0-11 Nobber 0-11
4th Round: St. Paul's 3-17 Ballinabrackey 2-2
5th Round: St. Paul's 1-12 Dunshaughlin 1-5
Quarter-Final: St. Paul's 1-13 St. Mary's 0-8
Semi-Final: St. Paul's 3-9 Meath Hill 1-13
Final: St. Paul's 0-11 Moylagh 0-9
St. Paul's were again installed as underdogs for their semi-final encounter against Meath Hill but first half goals from the outstanding attacking duo of Anthony Moyles and Philip Connolly made the difference as St. Paul's booked their place in the junior showpiece, 3-9 to 1-13 was the final score.
Despite a slow start - they found themselves three points adrift before they launched their first attack - St. Paul's, boosted by the brillance of Moyles and Connolly, had built up a nine points lead (3-4 to 0-4) at the break
Meath Hill did make a game of it in the second half as the Clonee side appeared to ease their foot of the pedal but the foundations laid in the opening thirty proved rock solid.
The scoreboard read 0-3 to 0-0 in favour of their opponents before Connolly opened St. Paul's account with a goal in the eight minute. It came after a long ball by Tom Keague was well fielded by Anthony Moyles whose pass left Connolly in the clear and the big corner forward finished neatly to the net.
Moyles, Conolly and Johnny Geraghty added points to extend the lead to 1-3 to 0-4 at the end of the first-quarter. It took St. Paul's ten minutes to register their next score, Connolly returned the favour to Moyles when setting him up for their side's second goal. Connolly added a point soon after.
On the stroke of half-time, Connolly and Moyles combined yet again to orchestrate St. Paul's third three-pointer. Moyles had the honour of raising the green flag.
Meath Hill looked dead and buried at this stage but they emerged for the second half a different side. They reeled off six successive points in the opening 20 minutes to narrow the gap to five (0-10 to 3-6) and although Connolly replied with a point, a goal in the 53rd minute threw them a lifeline.
Soon after they found themselves with a golden goal opportunity but St. Paul's custodian Mick Fox denied them with a fine save. They did muster a point when the rebound fell nicely for one of their forwards and that left the minimum between the sides.
Luckily, for St. Paul's, they couldn't find the equaliser and it was fitting that Anthony Moyles sealed the issue with an injury-time point.
Moylagh surprised many by defeating Dunsany in the other semi-final, to set up an intriguing final pairing.
The Matthew Ginnity Cup decider has provided some top class entertainment in recent years and this year's showpiece was no exception. Approximately 50 miles separate these two clubs in geographical terms but only two points separated them at the end of a thrilling contest.
The sign looked ominous for St. Pauls when they only led by 0-6 to 0-3 at the break having played with a strong wind advantage. But as one spectator quite rightly pointed out the wind never won a game for anyone and St. Paul's ability to grab crucial scores when Moylagh pressurised was vital to their success.
The eventual winners could even afford the luxury of a missed penalty. Damien Hobbs - a JFC medalist with Dunboyne ten years ago - put his effort wide 19 minutes into the second half after veteran Tom Keague had been fouled.
St. Paul's made good use of the elements once the ball was thrown in and points from Richie Gibbons and Philip Connolly gave them a two point lead after as many minutes. However, over a quarter of an hour had lapsed before they added to their tally and during that time Moylagh had taken the lead with three points.
The last ten minutes of the opening period proved to be profitable for the Clonee side. They restored parity from a 20th minute John Geraghty point and regained the lead when a long range effort from Gibbons took a deflection of the post. Hobbs raised two white flags in the space of a minute to establish that interval lead.
The expected Moylagh pressure yielded a point on the restart but St. Paul's took control and a decisive spell towards the end of the third-quarter provided them with three more points Anthony Moyles (free), Eamonn Moyles and Geraghty found the target.
Their north county opponents refused to throw in the towel and they did manage to reduce the deficit to the minimum, 0-10 to 0-9, with two minutes remaining. Indeed, they could have been in the lead by more at this stage were it not for a Mick Lyons 1987 style block by captain Barry Moyles when Moylagh seemed certain to score a goal.
Moylagh went in search for the equaliser but some stout defending by the Paul's kept them at bay and the back's efforts were rewarded when Anthony Moyles struck for the insurance point in the second minute of injury-time.
Barry, Sean and Anthony Moyles, Gibbons, Hobbs, Geraghty and Connolly were the stars on an historic day for the St. Paul's club.
The St. Paul's team which was on duty against Moylagh was: M. Fox; R. Barker, B. Moyles, C. Lucey; D. Kane, S. Moyles, C. Finn; T. Keague, R. Gibbons (0-2); A. Minch, D. Hobbs (0-2), E. Moyles (0-1); J. Geraghty (0-2), A. Moyles (0-2), P. Connolly (0-2).
The remainder of the panel was: Padraig Gavin, Brian Rennick, Alan Barker, Willie Keague, Brian Conran, Michael Gogan, Brendan Thornton, Ciaran Gogan, Andy Connolly, James Gibbons, Ken Monaghan.
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