Highlights were few and far between for St. Vincent's in 1999. Hopeful of an upswing in fortunes in the coming season is youthful club secretary, John Tuite. Nineteen-ninety-nine was another unsatisfactory year for St. Vincent's. A disappointing junior championship campaign, coupled with a failure to win promotion from Division Five of the league, meant that little progress was made. It wasn't all doom and gloom, though. Victories in the Clonalvey Patron and Ballyboughal tournaments as well as in their own tournament (for the O'Connell trophy) provides ample evidence of the potential that lies within St. Vincent's. Still, club members won't feel satisfied until a league or championship title comes to Ardcath. "Winning tournaments is great but we won't be happy until we start making a bigger impact on the either the league or the championship," says John Tuite, a young man who combines the role of player with that of club secretary. "We had a reasonable run in the league but a couple of defeats proved to be the difference between promotion and staying put. In the championship, we lost our first game to Ratoath and it left us fighting an uphill battle thereafter." The maroon and whites received a welcome boost early in the season when Garristown native John Sheridan took over the management of the junior team for a second spell. St. Vincent's number one target for the year was to gain promotion from Division Five of the league. As things transpired, however, they had to make do with a joint-third place finish alongside Curraha. Two defeats in seven games ultimately proved costly. Drawn in the same section as Trim, Enfield, Gaeil Colmcille, Simonstown Gaels and Ratoath in the championship, St. Vincent's suffered an unlucky defeat to the latter in their opening game at Duleek. Hopes of qualifying for the knock-out stages were effectively dashed when they also lost to Trim and Enfield. There was some consolation to be gained, however, from the wins over Gaeil Colmcille and Simonstown Gaels. The victory over Simonstown at Walterstown was significant in that it denied the Navan side a place in the play-off stages. Of course, the highlight of St. Vincent's year was their achievement in winning three tournaments. They defeated neighbours Bellewstown to win the Clonalvey Patron tournament while Ballyboughal were their victims in the Ballyboughal tournament final. The O'Connell trophy was also claimed at the expense of Ballyboughal. And, at the time of writing, the St. Vincent's second team were still in contention for reserve league honours. Tuite, who at 28 is one of the youngest club secretaries in Meath, is already looking ahead to next season and the prospect of the Ardcath men showing a marked improvement on this year. While acknowledging that St. Vincent's are not among the fancied teams to win the junior championship, he believes success in the league would be a more realistic target. "Our goals are much the same as last year but this time we'll be hoping for a far bigger effort from everyone. We'll be going all out to get promotion from Division Five and I think we can achieve that much if we put our minds to it. Other teams such as Curraha might have something to say about that of course. "No one will be expecting much from us in the championship but I can see no reason why we shouldn't be pushing for a place in the knock-out stages. The likes of Aodhagon Smith, Ronnie McNally and young Ronan Sheridan played very well last season and if others can up their performance levels, we could surprise a few people. The knock-out stages is what we'll definitely be aiming for." Back in 1955 St. Vincent's had possession of the Keegan Cup. A drop in playing numbers has been cited as the reason for their decline. Can John envisage the club benefiting from the current population boom in east Meath? "I'd like to think so but, by and large, Ardcath is still a very rural area. The population in the area is still in decline and, rather worryingly for us, the numbers attending the local national school last year were also down. In order to revive winning ways, we have to put the effort in at juvenile level and make sure we make the most of our resources." Tuite is fulsome in praise of the work that is being carried out by the St. Vincent's committee and singles out chairman Kieran O'Brien for special credit. "Although he's only in the job a year, Kieran has done tremendous work behind the scenes. He is a very progressive-thinking individual and he has big ambitions for the club." While he may now be in charge of the Bellewstown juniors, Brian Carberry remains a highly respected figure in Ardcath. Last year, Brian was a selector on the Meath junior football team which contested the All-Ireland final. Needless to say, John and his St. Vincent's colleagues were extremely proud of Brian's involvement. "On behalf of St. Vincent's, I would like to extend my congratulations to Brian on his association with the Meath juniors. He is a great clubman and his contribution to St. Vincent's down through the years cannot be overestimated," he comments. The new millennium provides an exciting challenge for St. Vincent's. Success may have eluded them in recent years but with the highly-rated John Tuite involved, a return to the glory days cannot be discounted. Tweet

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