Despite failing to win a major honour throughout the course of the year, St Paul's football club can be proud of their achievements on the playing field, particularly at underage level where luck deserted them on numerous occasions. Here we take a glance back at the fortunes of the North Westmeath club in 2003. By Stephen Reilly. In recent years the Meath border side's underage structure has become the envy of the county as they have benefited sufficiently from the population boom in the area. In the entire club now has over 120 underage members and are fielding teams from under-10 upwards. Not bad for a side that struggled to scrape a team together at any underage level only a few years ago. Club chairman Eugene Dolan has lead the way in guiding both the young boys and girls through the game in the last few years but he has not been on his own as there are many people in the area who have helped out at all age levels. At the under-10 grade there is no championship but these youngsters would not go short of matches as they played in a number of tournaments with a win in the Drumlane (Cavan) tournament being the highlight of the year. They also made the final of the well-known Streete Tournament only to be beaten by the home side in the final. There is no shortage of players at this level with the hope being that the majority will play football right up to adult level. Some of these players including Jack Clancy, Keelan Dillon, James Moore and Niall Leonard, to name but a few, have already shown great potential and are stars for the future. A new format is expected to be put in place for the 2004 Under-12 scene as there has been no championship in this grade for the past few years with a league being held instead whereby the youngsters play a lot more matches. St Paul's have a very young under-12 team with many of their side still eligible for the under-10 grade but they still are more than able to hold their own in many of their matches. To say that the under-14 team were unfortunate in 2003 would be an understatement as despite their heroics they went down in both the Feile and the championship at the final stage. They made it to the Feile Shield final only to be beaten by a stronger Athlone side. Ironically in the group stages of the Feile proper, St Paul's were paired with St Loman's and the Down's. In their first match they beat St Loman's who went on to win out the tournament but they lost to the Down's and went out on a poorer scoring average. The fact that these lads can compete with the so-called stronger teams in Westmeath is a credit to all that have worked with them in the last few years. Indeed it took an amalgamation side to beat them in the Under 14 A Championship as Kilbeggan\St Joseph's won by a slender two points, although the match could have went either way. Paul's got off to a great start in this match when Richard Sheridan fisted the ball over the bar but the combination side drew level almost immediately. Midfielder Sam Norton scored the first of his six points as the Clonmellon side began to dominate the game but their failure to convert their scores was to prove crucial. A goal for Kilbeggan/St Joe's really turned things around as they began to take control of the match and they stretched their lead with a point from a free. The impressive Sam Norton then went on a run before laying the ball off to Richard Sheridan who in turn fed the ball to corner forward Andrew Rice and the diminutive attacker finished to the back of the net with an excellent lob from an acute angle. That was the final score of the half and it was very much anyone's game in the second period with the Maroons getting off to the brighter start with an early point. Norton, who was St Paul's leading player fired over two points to give his side the lead and the same player extended their lead shortly after. Kilbeggan needed a goal badly and that's exactly what they got when one of their forwards was left unmarked on the edge of the square and fired past Paul's keeper Paddy Collins who had no chance. Norton once again quickly restored parity among the sides and the game was now reaching fever pitch as the action flowed from end to end but with the game in stoppage time the amalgamation side scored their third goal of the afternoon. But to the Clonmellon lads credit they never gave up and poured forward in search of a winning goal. Midfielder John Fitzpatrick made a great run through but his shot was saved well by the Kilbeggan goalkeeper before Norton slotted over the bar. Seconds later the referee blew the final whistle and it was further heartbreak for this side. This side are a very good bunch of lads who have been together for the past four years right from under-10 onwards and hopefully they can stay together and win something because no one more deserves success. For the under-16 and minor championships the club amalgamated with Delvin due to a shortage of numbers at these age groups with success being brought to the club by the Under-16's who captured the league title. The minor's were not so lucky as they went out of the championship in the second round. The club has also been well represented at county level with no fewer than 13 boys and girls wearing the maroon and white jersey throughout the year. At under-12 girls Sarah Keane, Orla Leonard and Amy Byrne were part of the Westmeath team that won the Carlow blitz early in the year, while the Under- 14 girls saw Leanne Dillon be the sole representative of the club. Rachael Dillon and Jane Norton lined out for the Lake county under-16 side while sisters Orlene and Carla Smith did the club proud at minor. The boys were not to be outdone either as Richard Sheridan and Aaron Kelly played for the Westmeath Under-14 side. Special mention must go to Philip Gilsenan who became the first person from the club to captain a Westmeath team when he was chosen to lead the side in the Leinster U-16 championship. The Dillon family was once again represented in the county colours as Leanne and Rachael's brother Graham played in the Minor side. For 2004 Kenny Higgins and Philip Gilsenan are currently on the minor panel while Graham Dillon was part of the Under-21 panel with Eugene Dolan acting as selector for that squad, although there will obviously be few more from the club donning the jersey but they are not yet known. Once again the club's junior side failed to live up to expectation as they fell at the semi-final stage of the championship for the second year running. They qualified for semi-final having suffered one defeat in the championship, albeit a heavy one at the hands of St Joseph's in Rochfortbridge. But hopes were high that they could at least reach the final after they were drawn against Milltown in the semi-final. Nothing went to plan in that game as St Paul's never really got going and the two points defeat was a fair reflection of the course of the game. The club then had a chance to exact revenge for the semi-final when the same two sides met in the Junior Cup final but Milltown capped a memorable year by doing the double with a three-point victory over their rivals. The club are now currently in the midst of a Fund raising drive to raise finance for the new dressing rooms that are currently being constructed at the grounds in Clonmellon and although they will be pleased with the majority of their performances in 2003 they will be hoping for more silverware in 2004. Tweet

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