A club which came close to folding a few years ago, St. Brigid's revival continued apace last year when they captured the under 12 'A' and under 21 'B' championship titles. Now under 12 manager Nollaig McEnteggart is hoping these successes can be repeated at adult level. While 2004 was another difficult year for St. Brigid's at intermediate level, the club maintained its winning ways at underage level with championship titles being annexed in the under 12 and under 21 grades. In October, the under 12s captured the 'A' championship following a replay victory over Southern Gaels/Fr Dalton's. Then, a week before Christmas, the Dalystown club were crowned under 21 'B' champions for the second time in three years when they defeated Turin in the final. "What we achieved at underage level went some way towards atoning for the disappointment we experienced in the intermediate championship," says under 12 manager and club stalwart Nollaig McEnteggart. "We have put a lot of work into our underage set-up over the last few years and it's nice to see it paying off. It was our fourth year to contest an under 12 final, but this was our first time in the 'A' championship. It was also our second under 21 'B' championship success since 2002 so nobody can say that last year was a flash in the pan," he adds. Under the guidance of McEnteggart and his co-selectors Marius Gavin, Francis Murtagh and Michael Riggs, St. Brigid's recorded wins over traditional powers Ringtown and Castlepollard to qualify for the under 12 'A' decider against Southern Gaels/Fr Dalton's at Cusack Park on September 14. A fourth minute goal from Lee Moran gave Southern Gaels/Fr Dalton's a dream start and, after Ciaran Daly and Daniel Qualter added points to stretch their lead, James Connaughton and John Warburton scored goals in quick succession to leave the combination side perched on a 3-2 to 0-1 lead at the break. There appeared to be no way back for St. Brigids but, to their credit, they staged a tremendous second half fight back to earn a replay. Two goals from Sean Deegan and another from Aaron Byrne had reduced the deficit to the minimum before Jamie Gonoud sent over the equalizing point, the teams finishing on 3-2 apiece. Amazingly, neither side managed to score in the first half of the replay which was played at Shandonagh on October 2. Following the changeover, St. Brigid's fired over three unanswered points and they looked set for victory until Colin Barrett forced extra-time with an equalizing goal five minutes from the end. In the first period of extra-time, Gonoud and Sean O'Kelly-Lynch exchanged scores before a Jake Byrne goal restored St. Brigid's three-point advantage. The combination side tried desperately to close the gap in the second period but their hopes faded when Conor Slevin scored a second St. Brigid's goal to help them to a 2-5 to 1-2 victory. "It was a great achievement to win the 'A' championship because it shows that we are capable of competing with the best," McEnteggart proudly points out. "It wasn't the biggest team we have ever fielded at under 12 level, but they had plenty of skill and great fight in them. Most of them are eligible for the grade again this year and some of them have another two years left. Young Danny Galvin, who played in goal and is a nephew of Martin Flanagan, was just one of the under 10s to be involved with last year's team." The under 21 team, which was managed by Rom Deegan, Jay Faulkner and Sean Gallagher, recorded wins over Castlepollard and Brownstown to qualify for the 'B' final where Turin provided the opposition. In what proved to be an ill-tempered encounter, the Dalystown side had opened the scoring through Michael Geraghty before David Glennon used all his footballing ability to skip past the last Turin defender and fire to the net. Turin hit back with unanswered points from Declan Carey, Bryan Foley and Kevin Gilroy. However, St. Brigid's took a 1-4 to 0-4 lead into the interval thanks to points from Larry Poynton and two from Geraghty. Turin restarted with points from Enda Aughey and Gilroy before Geraghty opened the Saffrons' second half account. A Foley free brought Turin to within a point after 16 minutes of the half, but they missed a few chances to get on level terms and were made to pay when Geraghty converted a free deep in injury-time to give St. Brigid's a 1-6 to 0-7 victory. While St. Brigid's are clearly making great strides at underage level, 2004 was something of an annus horribilus for the club's adult side who had the ignominy of failing to win a game in the intermediate championship. A senior club as recently as 2001, they suffered successive championship defeats to Turin (2-6 to 5-7), Crookedwood (2-3 to 1-8), Cullion (1-4 to 3-11) and St. Oliver Plunkett's (1-3 to 3-19). "The interest didn't seem to be there last year," McEnteggart laments. "Our biggest problem is that football is so strong in the area. It's rare that we put out a full strength team because football gets first priority with most of the lads and that's just the way it is. We didn't have Denis Glennon for last year's under 21 campaign and it looks like we won't have his brother David either for any of our games this year. "Indeed, I'd nearly go as far as saying that we wouldn't have won an under 21 championship last year if it had been played during the summer. The fact that it was run off late in the year suited us because the lads hadn't any football commitments then." Despite the prominence of football, McEnteggart is optimistic about the future providing that greater organisation is brought to the intermediate set-up. "We have been producing lots of talented underage players over the past few years and we now need to harness that ability at adult level. If we can get our act together, I think we could win the intermediate championship in the next few years. "Jimmy Keegan from Rochfortbridge was elected as our new chairman at the recent AGM and he will bring a fresh approach to the whole set-up. He is a very enthusiastic individual and he's exactly what this club needs at this point in time," he concludes. The under 12 'A' championship winning team was: Danny Galvin; Stephen Keegan, Stephen Quinn, Kieran Gill; Cathal Doyle, Sean Deegan, Edward Alford; Jake Byrne, Barry Murtagh; Ben Gavin, Jamie Gonoud, Conor Slevin; Aaron Byrne, Dermot Judge, Ciaran Daly. The St. Brigid's team which captured the under 21 'B' (13-a-side) championship was: Darren Quinn; James Leogue, John Peppard; Seamus Faulkner; Dermot Faulkner, Philip Sheridan; Damien Loran, TJ Gonoud; David Wright, Larry Poynton, Michael Geraghty; Andy Devine, David Glennon. Sub used: Michael Malone. Tweet

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