St. Mary's, Rochfortbridge won a long overdue underage title last September when their under 14 team defeated Killucan in the Division 2 championship final. Youth officer Eugene Coyle is hoping the success will herald a new era for juvenile football in the rapidly developing town. A major underage revival is currently taking place in St. Mary's, Rochfortbridge and it's not before its time according to the club's youth officer Eugene Coyle. "We neglected our underage structures for about 10 years and we're now trying to make up the lost ground," he readily admits. "We haven't featured for a while at underage level and what we're trying to do is to build from the bottom up. Rochfortbridge has experienced a huge population boom and there is an onus on us to cater for every child in the town. We made good strides last year, but it was only the start and we still have an awful long way to go." 2005 was arguably St. Mary's most successful year at underage level in over a decade. The under 12s, who were coached by Ray Lyster, Kevin Hyland and Tony Gallagher, reached the Division 2 final; the under 14s won the Division 2 championship, while the under 16 team - playing under the guise of Milltownpass - were beaten narrowly in the Division 3 knock-out competition final. The success of the under 14 team was undoubtedly the year's highlight. Managed by Owen Nugent, Gerry Byrne, Declan Darcy and Ernest Alford (who was recently elected as the club's new juvenile chairman), they impressively saw off all comers to take the Division 2 championship title. The 'Bridge had big wins over St Michael's (5-15 to 0-5), Millmore Gaels (5-12 to 1-7) and Kilbeggan/St. Joseph's (4-18 to 2-4) before accounting for Killucan by 2-12 to 2-5 in the final at Shandonagh on September 17. "They played great football in the championship and winning that certainly made up for the disappointment of failing to win the league. They were beaten by both Killucan and Millmore Gaels in the league, but avenged those losses in the championship," recalls Eugene, who is a member of the teaching staff at St. Mary's CBS in Mullingar. Rochfortbridge's victory in the championship final was never in doubt after Brendan Keegan set up big full forward Colin Gavin for the opening goal in the seventh minute. Gavin added another point soon after, but Killucan responded with scores from Cormac Boyle and Eoin O'Sullivan. However, three points in quick succession from Ger Glennon, Paul Rabbitte and Brendan Keegan eased the 'Bridge into a 1-5 to 0-3 lead at the break. St. Mary's effectively put the game beyond Killucan's reach at the start of the second half when a Brendan Keegan goal was sandwiched between points from the same player and Eoin Gorman. These scores left Killucan 10 points in arrears but, to their credit, they battled on and were handed a lifeline when Dean McFeeley blasted to the net. However, St. Mary's upped the ante again and further points from Glennon, Rabbitte and Eddie Alford had made certain of the win before Jamie Shields managed a late consolation goal for the losers. St. Mary's joined forces with Milltownpass at under 16 level, and despite having by far the biggest representation on the team, they were ordered to play under the Milltownpass banner because of an insistence by the minor board that teams should not have more than one name. Jointly managed by Eugene Coyle and Ian Kinsella, the St. Mary's/Milltownpass combination qualified for the Division 3 knock-out final by virtues of wins over Caulry, Millmore Gaels and Rosemount (after extra-time). However, Millmore Gaels exacted sweet revenge in the decider with a 0-8 to 0-7 victory. Milltownpass were the better team in the early stages and they led by 0-4 to 0-1 after 20 minutes thanks to scores from Aidan Fallon, Noel O'Reilly, Ian Kenny and Stephen Treacy. At this stage, Millmore Gaels were struggling to make any headway and when they chose to drop the ball in around the house, full back Seamus Kinsella invariably cut out the danger. Two quick points brought the Gaels back into contention before Aidan Fallon scored his second point to leave Milltownpass 0-5 to 0-3 in front at the break. Milltownpass continued their dominance in the second half and looked set to repeat their earlier win over the Ballymore/Milltown amalgam when efforts from Kenny and Fallon stretched their advantage to four points, 0-7 to 0-3. However, they failed to score again as Millmore added five points to their tally to take the title. Four points in seven minutes brought Millmore level and they completed a remarkable recovery when Owen Kenny scored the winner from a '45' with only seconds remaining. Milltownpass had one last chance to salvage an equalizer, but Aidan Fallon's shot drifted agonisingly wide. Coyle explains that St. Mary's have taken a "more professional approach" in an effort to improve their underage fortunes. At the beginning of this year, Laois star Ross Munnelly was the guest of honour at their medals presentation night, while significant developments have taken place at committee level. "We are trying to make things more professional. For the first time this year, we have a co-ordinator for the under 7s and under 8s, and a juvenile PRO in Declan Darcy. Rose Whelehan will act as co-ordinator. "We organised a big event for the underage players in January which was attended by Ross Munnelly. It was a great night and we intend to make it an annual event," the Oldcastle native adds. While there are clear signs of improvement in the juvenile grades, St. Mary's continue to struggle at senior level. Last year, on their return to the senior championship, the 'Bridge only avoided a relegation play-off by virtue of their 0-9 to 1-4 victory over Ballymore in the group stages. This was their only win, although they were unlucky not to take anything from their other four outings against Castledaly (0-8 to 0-12), St. Malachy's (2-8 to 1-12), Garrycastle (1-12 to 4-7) and Mullingar Shamrocks (3-4 to 2-9). Against the reigning champions Garrycastle, St. Mary's recovered from the shock of conceding three first half goals to reduce the deficit to three points by the midway stage of the second half. But a fourth goal from Alan Daly in the 48th minute put paid to their hopes of causing an upset. The highpoint of St. Mary's championship came in the previous round when they edged out Ballymore at Shandonagh. Despite conceding an early goal, St. Mary's always looked to have the measure of their opponents with Ken Delaney, Damien Healy, David Mitchell, Damien Gavin and Robbie Kenny all in fine form. They led by 0-6 to 1-1 at the interval and deservedly held on for a precious win after Ballymore had rallied in the second half. Coyle fears that St. Mary's will continue to find the going tough in the short term because of the huge vacuum that exists between the under 16 and senior grades. "While we now have huge numbers in the younger grades, we are hardly able to field at minor and under 21 level. The senior team hasn't changed that much over the past 10 years and we continue to rely on the same players. "Being realistic, it is hard to see us improving at senior level in the next year or two. We are trying to get a conveyor belt of talent going, but this won't be felt at senior level for a few years yet," he concludes. The St. Mary's, Rochfortbridge team which captured the under 14 Division 2 championship title was: Shane Kiernan; Cian Kinsella, Paul Carey, Dwayne Leavy; Cathal Coyle, Jake Byrne, Declan Lennon; Ray O'Sullivan, Eoin Nugent; Eoin Gorman, Ger Glennon, Paul Rabbitte; Eddie Alford, Colin Gavin, Brendan Keegan. Sub used: Wayne Gahan. The Milltownpass (joined with St. Mary's) team that contested the Division 3 knock-out competition final was: James Leogue; Gary Nolan, Seamus Kinsella, Mark Kelly; Liam Hogan, Darren Ryan, Andy Cunningham; Noel O'Reilly, Ger Keegan; David Devine, Stephen Treacy, Gavin Carey; Ian Kenny, Kevin Morgan, Aidan Fallon. Subs used: Jonathan Mahony and Eoin Gorman. Tweet

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