No way says Pauric Loughran. The name Blackhill doesn't trip off the tongue lightly when one considers the pantheon of perennially successful clubs in Monaghan. And yet, as the club's joint junior team-manager Paraic Loughran explains, the club is heading in the right direction. Considering that Pauric Loughran only hung up his boots a handful of years ago, one might imagine that he's still feeling a sense of loss. But not a bit of it. He insists he enjoyed his time as a player but the natural ending of his career was never going to guillotine his involvement with Blackhill GAA. Indeed, the sense of satisfaction he has gotten over the last fourteen years (more particularly in the last few years since his retirement as a player) as a member of the club's think-tank team has made the angst he might have suffered, post-playing days, almost an irrelevance. "You can't beat playing and I would say that everyone should keep playing for as long as they can but being involved in coaching and selecting teams is the next best thing. I have got a great buzz out of helping out various teams at the club over the years and was glad to do my best over the past year with Phil Courtney and Kieran Mulligan. It's nice to be able to put something back into the club after your playing days finish." For the likes of a small club like Blackhill it is absolutely essential that people like Pauric Loughran continue to put their shoulder to the wheel. Operating under the shadow of a major force in Monaghan football like Castleblayney can't be easy. Pauric says that for as long as he remembers, keeping the show on the road has never been easy but he lives in hope all the same. The club is surrounded by a similar units of the Association - each beavering away in a bid to win over the hearts and minds of the youth in their catchment area. Some times there's a fine line between those areas. Sometimes the so-called minnows lose out to the big fish. It's a state of play which the gaels of Blackhill have become accustomed to since their club was founded in 1917. Apart from 'Blayney, there's Donaghmoyne, Aughnamullen, Drumhowan and Doohamlet all trying to work the oracle in and around the same quarter of the county. Blackhill gaels - Pauric included - would tell you that their's is arguably the smallest 'pick' of them all. "We've definitely one of the smallest picks in the county. At the present time we've only a panel of about 20 junior players to work with but the population in the area is increasing all the time and we're hopeful that the number of youngsters available to us will pick up considerably in the next few years. The outskirts of 'Blayney is seeing a big growth in the number of houses and families living there and there's bound to be a good spill-over into Blackhill territory," Pauric enthuses. And while admitting that like most other clubs these days, Blackhill could do with a few more labourers to reap the hoped-for harvest, the long-time mentor reckons that the club's great work at juvenile level over the last dozen years is beginning to manifest itself in the shape of silverware. In this respect, Pauric points to the success of the club in winning the Crawley Cup in 2001 and the fair sprinkling of underage titles which have meandered their way to Blackhill over the last couple of years in particular. "I never lifted a trophy in my life playing for Blackhill and there were no medals won either so it makes for a great change that any kind of cups are coming our way now. The club's success in the Curley Cup and O'Duffy Cup a couple of years ago gave great encouragement to everyone at the club." As for the past year and the absence of major silverware down Blackhill way, Pauric doesn't put a tooth in it when reflecting on the way things panned out for the club in 2002. "It was a disappointing year for us, especially after winning the Crawley Cup in 2001. But there's no point in apportioning blame. There was a lot of talk among club members about how things went so wrong in the championship for us but we just have to wait for our numbers to improve so that we have a bigger and stronger panel to work with at adult level. We're not a million miles away from the top teams at junior level but we're talking about a long term plan in terms of making it to the top. We need to try and get better strength in depth at adult level." Pauric insists that there's a lot to be positive, upbeat about in Blackhill football circles. The present team has a lot of time on its side, he contests. But the team's coming of age may come around sooner rather than later, he predicts."I think the current crop will realise their potential in the next three or four years. I think they'll be at their best then but we'll have to hope that the lads who are playing now stick together. I definitely think there's a junior title in them," the former no-mean attacker adds. Reflecting on Blackhill's short and hardly sweet junior championship campaign in 2002, Pauric accepts that Blackhill underperformed in exiting the competition in double-quick time. In assessing how the club conspired to lose out to Oram in the first round of the junior championship, the 40-something club stalwart concludes that Blackhill simply "threw it away" in going down by 0-8 to 2-11 in a game played in mid-May at Magheracloone. And Pauric's reckoning couldn't but be shared by anyone who attended that match. Simply said, Blackhill's inability to convert their chances cost them an opening win in the competition. Even the most blinkered Oram fan could hardly contend that their favourites were nine points the better team although they did undoubtedly deserve to win. Blackhill looked to have been in the mood to snatch the spoils in the early stages as they raced into a three point lead but an Oram goal later on conspired to leave Blackhill trailing by 0-5 to 1-3 at the interval. "I think we hit something like nine wides in that first half which was disastrous and then when they (Oram) got a bad goal midway through the second half, we were in trouble even though we were unlucky not to have got at least one goal before the end." But did the joint team-manager genuinely believe that his charges could have secured a win over Oram? "Definitely, even though they were hot favourites going into the game. And on the day itself we had at least 50 percent of the play but they used the ball better, especially in front of goal, and that's what counted in the end. "We should have been seven or eight points ahead by half-time if we had finished half of the chances we created. Instead of that we went in at half-time a point behind which was crazy. There was no way Oram were as superior to us as the scoreboard at the end suggested. They were the better team alright on the day but our inexperience let us down in a big way. We were kicking the ball when we should have been holding it up and the panicking when we had good scoring chances. "But that's hardly surprising given that the average age of the team would only be around the 20 mark.The fact is though that the experienced lads we need just aren't there and we have to make the best of it," adds Pauric who for years kept plugging away with the likes of Philip Courtney when they were well past their best in order to try and keep Blackhill above the water line. "Unfortunately we haven't had fellas who are around the 25-27 age group for years now." Adamant that a lack of fitness wasn't a root cause of Blackhill's poor championship form in 2002, Pauric says that the team's league form was more representative of their standing in junior ranks at the present time. He says considering that the club finished in the basement bottom position in the league in 2001, their league standing in 2002 was "a hell of an improvement." But the 1-6 to 0-16 defeat to Cremartin in the club's second championship outing was a poor result though? "There's no doubt about that. The lads rebounded well from losing to Oram because they went out the next week and beat Currin away from home so morale wasn't that badly effected. "We had a full squad with no injuries going into the Cremartin game and so we had no excuses for the defeat. Cremartin were far more clever and far too experienced for our lads. We were soundly beaten and never really looked like getting on terms once they stepped on the gas in the last quarter. But again our inexperience worked against us, big time." The days when Blackhill teams were getting annihilated in the junior championship have long since gone though and Pauric is quick to point out such a turnaround. He strongly believes that there is a lot of talent in the current squad and with the right commitment, the best of the silverware could indeed be hauled in by 2005 if the commitment is forthcoming to match the players' burgeoning talent. One imagines that no one in the county will begrudge the Blackhill club their day should it arrive as predicted by Pauric in the not so distant future. Club review As the new year dawned, members, players and supporters of Blackhill GFC were in high spirits and looking forward to building on their success on the field of play during 2001. At the February County Board the 'Hill were drawn to play parish rivals Oram in the first round of the Junior Championship. The match went ahead in Magheracloone on Saturday the 11th May where Oram came out on top by 2-11 to 0-8. It was the back door system for Blackhill from now on and another local derby against Cremartin which ended their participation in this year's Junior Championship. In the Junior league the team finished mid table after a decent start but faded away in the second half of the competition. The Junior B team holders of the Crawley Cup reached the final of the competition for the second year in a row. They faced Drumhowan who had already captured the league title, the game took place in Toome and Drumhowan relieved the holders of the title on a scoreline Drumhowan 1-9, Blackhill 0-4. U21 and minor news The U21 team reached the league semi-final and were beaten by Doohamlet. The minor team reached both the league and championship finals only to loose both finals to Eire Og. Juvenile News It was another excellent year for Blackhill's Juvenile teams with the U12, U13, U14 teams reaching their respective finals. The U12 team defeated Aughnamullen to collect the Conlon Cup after a titanic struggle in Toome on the 6th June. Anthony McDermott's goal midway through the second half was the decisive score and the hill were one point ahead of the final whistle on a scoreline Blackhill 1-6, Aughnamullan 0-8. Our U13 team were awarded the league title without taking part in the final while the U14 team were defeated by Drumhowan in the U14 league final. The U15 team faced tough opposition in their league campaign and failed to qualify for the play offs. The U10 squad were winners of the McBennett Cup in the clubs annual tournament and played numerous games during the summer. Johnny Courtney, Mac Malone, John Costello, Paul West and Seamus McEneaney were part and parcel of the Juvenile scene throughout the year. Dinner Dance The club's dinner dance took place in March, the highlight of the night was the presentation of the Crawley Cup and medals to the Junior B team by John Scully, County Secretary. Kieran Donnelly received the award for club person of a year. Players of the Year - U12 - Peter Daly; U13 -Daryl Craig; U14 - Ciara Malone; U15 - Niall Loughran; U16 - Stephen Duffy; Minor - Barry Callan; U21 - Eamonn Byrne; Junior - Tony Cumiskey Overall View of 2002 2002 was a good year for the club as we played in six finals (1) Junior B Championship (2) Minor Championship (3) Minor League (4) U14 League Final (5) 13 league final (6) U12 league final, winning two titles, U12 - U13, plus the U10 team winners of the McBennett Cup in a club tournament final. Blackhill GAA Tweet

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