In recent years, Ballycomoyle have failed to reach their true potential, but long serving player, Seamus Lynch feels it may not be too long before the Bal are back battling for honours. In 1991, Ballycomoyle won the Westmeath Junior football championship for their first and only time. Intermediate ranks followed in '92 and they achieved their goal of staying up the first year. Then in 1993, they shocked followers of Westmeath football by reaching the last four of the Intermediate championship only to be narrowly beaten by Maryland by three points. For a club of it's size and where it is positioned in the county, getting to within two games of senior football was a major achievement in itself, but following the break-up of that successful team, a return to the junior ranks soon followed. They did make it back to the Junior final in 1999, where they met St Pauls and could be forgiven for saying that they threw the game away after a late surge came too late. A defeat in this year's quarter-final was as far as the club progressed this season and many would have expected the club go through the motions there after, but not so as they realised a proper underage structure was needed to be put in place, which has been done with some success. Already the club are beginning to reap the rewards and one man who has seen it all is star corner forward Seamus Lynch. "There is definitely a great buzz in the park every Friday evening when they kids are down there," he says. "I think since the success of Westmeath at underage level has brought about renewed interest in football in the North of the county as a whole. Bal, now have a very good underage structure and there is a great bunch of lads looking after them. They were unlucky in the Under 14 championship this year when they got to the final but were beaten by an amalgamation side of Maryland and Tang." Seamus also admits with the underage structure in place for a few years now, the current junior team are playing more skilful football than the team that won the junior championship in '91 (which included himself). "Definitely the current crop of young lads playing on the junior team are far more talented than the '91 team. They mightn't have the same heart or determination but football wise it is a better standard to be playing." Seamus may be more well known for his goalkeeping ability in hurling. Having played with Castlepollard and Westmeath for a number of years, picking up two senior hurling championship medals with Pollard and two Keogh Cup medals with the county. You might think that hurling would take precedence in his sporting career but not so. "I have had some great times with Castlepollard and Westmeath, winning the two senior finals were proud moments for me, but I have always enjoyed football. Winning the Junior championship in '91 was probably the highlight of my career, so far. Ballycomoyle are a great club," he says proudly. For this year's championship experienced trainer Seamus Reynolds from Offaly was brought in and he was aided in selecting the team by John Smith and John 'Snow' Fitzsimons. Training began in February under lights but the turn out was far from acceptable. Many might think that the attendance would be poor due to players from the club playing hurling or training with either Lough Lene Gaels or Castlepollard but Lynch disagrees. "We knew at the start of the year that some lads would be missing, but only to have ten or 12 turn out consistently was ridiculous. The biggest problem was it wasn't the lads who play hurling who were missing, but lads who would not give enough commitment. Bal's night's for training are always Tuesday and Thursday, while the Gaels and Pollard nearly always go for Monday and Wednesday. Granted lads who train for the hurling are not going to give four night commitment to training and you just can't blame them. But the few that did show up put in a great effort and Seamus Reynolds was an excellent trainer." Having played a number of challenge matches against clubs from Cavan, Meath and Westmeath before the championship started, Reynold's team were ready for their first championship outing against near neighbours St Paul's. The game was played in St Loman's and as usual was played at a hard fast pace with nothing between the sides and an early goal by half forward Joey Williams settled any nerves Ballycomoyle had. The teams were neck and neck throughout but St Pauls ability to take their chances proved to be decisive as they won by three points, 0-12 to 2-3. A defeat in a championship is always hard to take, but Bal had to deal with the loss of captain Jim Ward, who was going to America the following day to start a basketball scholarship in the United States. "We weren't to concerned with the result against St Paul's. We knew they would be very strong and even though we beat them last year, it was always going to be a difficult match. The game being played in St Loman's did not help us as we never seem to produce the goods there, but that's no excuse. Losing Jim for the rest of the championship was a major blow to us. He is without doubt the best player in the club and a perfect gentleman to go with it." Wins over annual strugglers St Finian's/Multyfarnham and Delvin put Ballycomoyle in the frame. Multy were disposed with ease on a scoreline of 1-12 to 0-3, while a youthful Delvin side were beaten by four points, 1-9 to 1-5. Next up were eventual champions Caulry who were to strong for Bal and ran easy victors 1-12 to 0-5. Caulry went through the group stages unbeaten and showed a hunger, that not many other teams did throughout the championship, but Bal stuck with them until half time and only for a lack of fitness, a surprise could have been on the cards. A hard earned win over Loughnavalley kept Ballycomoyle in contention for the knockout stages. Points from Joey Williams, David Gorman and Lynch himself ensured a three point victory, 2-9 to 0-12, over a side that had caused them problems in recent years. "The win against Loughnavlley was crucial because it was these so-called weaker teams that we were losing too in previous years and it was essential to win this game because we knew it would probably be between ourselves and Loughnavalley for the last play-off place." Their resurgence was short lived as St Joseph's totally outplayed the North Westmeath side and ran out easy victors, 3-9 to 0-4. On the day St Joseph's could do no wrong as Andrew McCormack and Aidan Lennon were the scorers in chief. 'Bal never got into the game and were all but defeated at half time. A win against a fancied Milltown side would have seen Bal straight into the play-off's. They led for most of the match and points from Sean McKeown, Kevin Gavigan and Lynch while a Joey Williams goal looked to have secured the victory. In all fairness to Milltown they never gave up and were rewarded when late scores seen them take a three point lead, they never surrendered, 1-9 to 1-6. It was now the last chance saloon for Balcomoyle, when they faced St Loman's in their last group game. Played in Bunbrosna on Sunday August 11, the Bal arguably put in their best performance of the year and had eight points to spare over a team who had taken points over some of the stronger sides. Kevin Gavigan and Lynch were the goal scorers in a 2-7 to 0-5 win on a day when the whole played very well. A quarter-final place with old rivals and neighbours St Paul's was the next port of call for Ballycomoyle. As stated before there is never too much between the sides and a tough but fair contest is always the outcome. Bal started the brighter and points from David Gorman and Joey Williams gave them an early lead, before a Darren Henry free and a Graham Dillon point from play levelled matters. Points were exchanged throughout the first half with the Clonmellon side going in one point up at half time 0-6 to 0-5. The second half started much the same way as the first finished and David Gorman and Paul Gilsenan scored excellent points for their respective sides. At this stage St Pauls got the break the needed when Dara Brady fisted a through ball to the net. Ballycomoyle heads seemed to drop as St Pauls scored five unanswered points to give the scoreline a flattering look of 1-13 to 0-6. "We knew going into the game it was going to be tough, but having got that far there is always a chance of making it through. We beat them in last year's championship and we knew that we were capable of beating them again.It was a fairly close game until they got the goal and we just seemed to lose heart. Seamus Reynolds was a great trainer all year, but when lads were not showing up consistently for training, their levels of fitness were not up to scratch. If we get the lads better organised and motivated, there is no doubt that Ballycomoyle will be battling for honours next year." Tweet

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