After a few difficult years, St. Fintan's/Multyfarnham showed signs of a revival last year by reaching the knock-out stages of the junior championship. And as club chairman Denis Kelly points out, they have plenty to build on in the coming season. Having failed to register a championship win in three years, St. Fintan's/Multy-farnham made a welcome return to winning ways in 2004. A one-point victory over Delvin in early June brought an end to one of the longest losing runs by any team in Westmeath GAA. A second win over Ballycomoyle was enough to earn the Streete/Multy combination a place in the junior championship quarter-final where they suffered a narrow defeat to Athlone. "I'd like to think that we turned the corner last year," says St. Fintan's/Multyfarnham chairman Denis Kelly. "We had become sick and tired of losing and it was nice to be able to win a few games for a change. As well as beating Delvin and Ballycomoyle in the championship, we won four or five matches in Division 7 of the All-County League. A huge amount of work has been put into the underage structure and I feel we're now beginning to reap the benefits at adult level." Following the amalgamation of the two clubs in the early 1990s, St. Fintan's/Multyfarnham were one of the more competitive teams in the junior championship. They reached their zenith in 1997 when they contested the championship final and also captured the Junior Cup. But decline quickly set in and before last season's resurgence, they were considered by many to be the whipping boys of the junior championship. "There were a huge number of retirements after '97 and it wasn't something we were prepared for," Kelly recalls. "We've had a few torrid years since then but despite this, we always made a point of fulfilling all of our fixtures. Our biggest problem has been the distance between Multyfarnham and Streete. There's 12 miles between the two villages and that has made things difficult for obvious reasons. "But we are committed to making this amalgamation work and I do believe that we are making progress in this regard." Under the management of Derry native Tony McGreevy and his co-selectors Ollie Kidd, Jim Maher and Michael Feerick, St. Fintan's/Multyfarnham made the best possible start to last year's junior championship when they edged out Delvin by 1-6 to 0-8. Their joy was shortlived, however, as first St. Paul's and then St. Joseph's inflicted heavy defeats on them. But a comprehensive 3-11 to 0-5 victory over Ballycomoyle got them back on track and, despite losing to Loughnavalley by a point (1-5 to 0-9), they qualified for the quarter-final as the fourth placed team in their group. Ballinagore was the venue for their clash with Athlone on October 16. Tommy Denning opened the scoring for St. Fintan's/Multy before Athlone replied with points from Nigel Johnson and Joe Dunne. Enda Carter levelled for the north county outfit, only for Athlone to respond with four points on the trot. The game looked over as a contest when David Johnson blasted past 'keeper Peter Keaney in the 18th minute. Moments later, the same player put eight points between the sides and a rout looked to be on the cards. But this Streete/Multy team is made of stern stuff and they came back strongly before half-time. Jason Matthews and David Kelly had reduced the leeway before Leonard Mahoney scrambled the ball to the net to leave just four points, 1-7 to 1-3, between the sides at the break. The Streete/Multy fightback continued after the resumption and by the 40th minute, they had gained parity courtesy of points from David Kelly, Conor McGreevy (brother of manager Tony), Denning and Mahoney. But after battling back from the brink, the combination side suddenly lost their momentum and Athlone made them pay with unanswered scores from substitute Owen McCormack (two), James Tobin and David Johnson. Kelly replied for Streete/Multy but they never looked like making up the deficit as Athlone held on for a 1-12 to 1-8 victory. "The thing that beat us against Athlone was our lack of self-belief," Kelly opines. "The game was there to be won 10 minutes into the second half, but we didn't finish the job. We let Athlone come back at us and they had the experience to close the game out. We have a very young team and most of the lads are still learning the trade. The experience they gained last year should stand them in good stead." Kelly takes much encouragement from the great strides that St. Fintan's/Multyfarnham have made at juvenile level. In last year's under 16 'premier' championship, St. Fintan's/Multyfarnham players made a handsome contribution to Inny Gaels' county title win. The other clubs involved in the amalgamation were Bunbrosna and St. Michael's. After emerging from a section that included Athlone, St. Earnan's, St. Loman's, Caulry/Castledaly and Clann Braonain, Inny Gaels easily accounted for Ennell Shamrocks in the semi-final to qualify for a final meeting with St. Brigid's. A close contest was anticipated but the north county outfit never looked back after Jamie Shaw and Emmet Feerick scored early goals to give them a dream start. St. Brigid's staged a great recovery to be on level terms at half-time, 3-2 to 1-8, but further goals from Eanna Doolin, Feerick and Andrew Whitney in the second half sealed an emphatic 6-8 to 1-10 victory for Inny Gaels. "The Inny Gaels success was a great boost to everyone in the club. We had Emmet Feerick, Stephen Moran and Max Brady on the starting team, while Ross O'Neill, Michael Savage and Henry Reilly were among the subs. Conor Murtagh was another one of our players who was involved in the early part of the year. And, of course, Max Brady, also made last year's county under 16 team," Denis explains. While Kelly feels it would be asking a lot of St. Fintan's/Multyfarnham to win the championship this year, he expects them to be in a much better position to challenge for honours in 2006 - the 50th anniversary of Multyfarnham's only junior championship success. "It's probably a bit ambitious to say we can win the junior championship next year. Ballinagore, who have just come down from intermediate, and St. Paul's would be a step ahead of us at the moment but I wouldn't fear any of the other exclusive junior teams. You also have the likes of Mullingar Shamrocks and St. Loman's who would have very strong second teams. "We made a lot of progress last year and we'll be disappointed if we don't get to a quarter-final or semi-final this year. For the first time since 1997, players are showing a big interest and much of this is down to Tony McGreevy and his selectors. "Our target for this year is to build on last year's progress and to put ourselves in a position where we can win the junior championship in 2006. It will be the 50th anniversary of our last championship win and what better way to mark it than by winning the championship again," he concludes. The St. Fintan's/Multyfarnham team which lost to Athlone in the JFC quarter-final was: Peter Keaney; Paul Moran, David Nolan, Barry Smith; Stephen Moran, Leeroy Casserly, James Carey; David Kelly, Tommy Denning; Lee Ward, Enda Carter, Jason Matthews; Brendan Leslie, Conor McGreevy, Leonard Mahoney. Subs used: Joe Kelly, Paddy Boyce, Cian Cooney and Leo Blake. Tweet

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