A year which promised much for St. Loman's ended in disappointment when they were eliminated from the senior football championship by Garrycastle. Indeed, it was the only dark cloud in an otherwise great year for county star James Davitt. While James Davitt enjoyed a phenomenally successful year with Westmeath, he didn't fare so well with his club St. Loman's who continue to underachieve in the senior football championship. After capturing their first under 21 football championship in 2003, the Delvin Road outfit were expected to mount a serious challenge for senior honours last year. But after qualifying from the group stages, they bowed out at the quarter-final stage after losing to eventual champions Garrycastle by four points in a forgettable encounter. "It won't go down as one of St. Loman's better years," admits defender James Davitt, who can still look back on 2004 with much satisfaction after playing a starring role in Westmeath's historic Leinster championship breakthrough. "Winning the under 21 championship the previous year gave everyone in the club a great lift and we had high hopes of getting to the county final at least. But it didn't work out as we had hoped and all that we can do is try to make amends in the coming year." Davitt, whose tight marking and intelligent use of possession were features of Westmeath's Delaney Cup success, put St. Loman's championship demise down to a loss of form at a crucial stage in the season. He also believes they were unfortunate to meet a Garrycastle team coming into form at the right time. "Our manager Robbie Kenny got great commitment from the players throughout the year but perhaps the long break caused by Westmeath's lengthy championship run saw us go off the boil a little bit," he says. "I know it was the same for all clubs, but the long break certainly didn't do us any favours, especially as we had started our training earlier than we usually do. Our form suffered and I don't think we were in the right frame of mind when it came down to it. "Having said that, we had enough chances to beat Garrycastle but the absence of a reliable free-taker probably cost us. Garrycastle had Dessie (Dolan) and he was taking the sort of chances we were missing. "It was frustrating to lose to them because they also beat us in semi-finals in 2001 and 2002. They've been a real thorn in our side in recent years and we might have won a senior championship before now if it wasn't for them being so strong," he adds. St. Loman's opened their championship campaign with a 0-8 to 1-11 defeat to Castledaly at Cusack Park. JP Casey scored 1-9 in a virtuoso attacking display and St. Loman's had simply no answer to his scoring power. Despite making the better start, the Mullingar side trailed by 0-3 to 1-3 at the interval with Casey finding the net after nine minutes. Following the resumption, Mark Syron, David Windsor and Niall McGurran notched points to bring St. Loman's back onto level terms, but their challenge wilted in the final quarter as Casey cut loose again to steer Castledaly to a comfortable victory. Robbie Kenny's side bounced back to defeat 2003 champions The Downs by 1-11 to 2-5 in their second outing. Loman's played some great football in the first half and helped by a Vinny Gavin goal, took a commanding 1-8 to 1-2 lead into the break. But The Downs came out fighting at the start of the second half and within eight minutes they had reduced the deficit to the minimum following scores from Tommy Cleary and Shane Deering. When Cleary levelled in the 54th minute, the black and ambers looked the most likely winners but Loman's dug deep and copper fastened victory with late points from Colin Whyte and Jonathan Plunkett, who gave one of the performances of the championship by scoring 0-4 from centre back. The passion that was evident in the win over The Downs was sadly lacking when St. Loman's scraped a 0-7 each draw with Ballymore a week later. There was never much in it with the sides level on 0-5 each at half-time. In a low-scoring second half, the blue and whites looked to be heading for a shock defeat until former county defender Dermot Brady came to their rescue with a late equalizing point. Despite producing a much-improved display, St. Loman's succumbed to Athlone by 1-6 to 1-9 in their next outing at Moate. The Shannonsiders led by 0-5 to 0-2 at the interval, but Loman's started the second half brightly and took the lead when Brendan Bannon diverted the ball into his own net. But after Rory O'Connell had levelled, Athlone went on to secure victory when Dermot Bannon fisted a late goal past 'keeper Stephen Gallagher. With just three points from four games, St. Loman's needed to beat Coralstown/Kinnegad in their final group match to clinch the last remaining knock-out place. As it transpired, the Mullingar side got the result they sought with Colin Whyte's 42nd minute goal proving to be the crucial score in their 1-7 to 0-8 win. Loman's led by 0-3 to 0-1 early on but Coralstown/Kinnegad fought back to restore parity early in the second half. However, the tide turned again when Whyte cut in from the left before blasting to the right corner of the net. Coralstown/Kinnegad battled back to trail by the minimum on two separate occasions, but Loman's were not to be denied and made victory safe with late points from Whyte and McGurran. In the quarter-final final at Cusack Park, St. Loman's were always playing second fiddle to Garrycastle, despite enjoying the lion's share of possession. With Dessie Dolan and Alan Daly causing all sorts of problems for the St. Loman's defence, Garrycastle led by 0-8 to 0-3 at the interval. And while points from Paddy Dowdall and Vinny Gavin cut the leeway after the changeover, the Athlone side comfortably held on for a 0-10 to 0-6 victory. Having gone over 40 years without a senior championship success, St. Loman's are desperate to bring an end to that losing streak. In the coming year, Meath native Tom Keigue will take charge of team affairs and, along with selectors Fergal Reynolds and Noel Gibney, will hope to oversee a major improvement in fortunes. "Tom is our fourth manager in as many years and hopefully he will have better luck than his predecessors had. He has plenty of talent to work with but he needs to find the right formula. We haven't been too far off the mark in recent times and hopefully this will be the year when things finally happen for us," Davitt says. 2004 was an unusually quiet year for St. Loman's on the underage front with no 'premier' championships coming their way. They did, however, capture under 16 and under 12 Division 1 league titles while the under 14 team won the Feile na nOg title as well as the club '1' championship. In the under 14 club '1' final, Loman's made the short trip to Springfield where they defeated town rivals Mullingar Shamrocks by 1-9 to 0-4. It was a great win for the blue and whites considering they had trailed the home side by three points after just eight minutes. s successful as usual at underage level, but that is probably a reflection on how strong some of the country clubs have become. The likes of Bunbrosna and Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall have come on in leaps and bounds and have made it harder for the likes of Loman's and Shamrocks," James opines. Davitt, whose family is immersed in GAA and in hurling in particular, feels privileged to have represented St. Loman's on last year's history-making Westmeath team. Of course, he wasn't the only Loman's man to have had an involvement in the success - Aidan Canning, Paul Martin and Colin Whyte were also panellists while Paddy Collins was a team selector. "I was very proud to represent my club on the Westmeath team. It was great to have the three lads and Paddy Collins involved as well. When I think of all the great players this club has produced who never won anything with Westmeath, I feel very lucky," he concludes. The St. Loman's team which won the under 14 club '1' championship was: Ronan Kelly; James Fearon, Barry Beglan, Seamus Savage; Sean Murphy, James Kelly, Emmet Cahill; Joe Doherty, Darryl Quinn; Niall Claffey, Andrew Smyth, Niall Kershaw; John Heslin, Conor Lynam, Adrian Gilmore. Sub used; James Kenny. Tweet

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