In scooping the North Leinster League, St. Pat's went a long way to recapturing glories from times past when a Hogan Cup was the order of the day. There are many rational, objective and experienced football pundits in Cavan who genuinely believe that 2006 will see the county recapture the Ulster MFC title, 32 years after the last such title was bagged. There are equally just as many observers convinced that quite a number of the Cavan minor side this year will boast St. Pat's College roots. Indeed, on the basis of the college's North Leinster league displays, few of the St. Pat's starting line-up can be discounted for inclusion on the Cavan minor championship squad this year. Whether or not the Breffni starlets secure the holy grail in Ulster, it's not over-stating it to say that the achievements of St. Pat's College premier football team over the past year has given underage football in Cavan a massive boost. In careering all the way to the North Leinster colleges league title, St. Pat's notched their first major success at senior level since the school's famous All-Ireland Hogan Cup colleges' triumph in 1972. St. Pat's' campaign saw them beat the best of the rest in a testing pre-Chrismas campaign with wins over Rochfordbridge, Gormanston and St. Mary's of Mullingar ring-fencing their claim on the North Leinster league title. A date in the final with the aristocrats of Leinster colleges' football, St. Pat's Navan beckoned. Key St. Pat's Cavan attacker Colm Smith recalls how most commentators on the colleges' scene had the Meath lads as odds-on favourites to land the title at Cavan's expense. "They would have been hot favourites with most people because of the fact they won the All-Ireland a couple of years ago," Colm opines. "They also hammered us by something like eighteen points in an earlier round of the competition which must have given them a great psychological lift. "They were the only team to beat us in the run-up to the final but we had a few important players missing for that game." Reflecting on just how Cavan's finest managed to overturn a deficit of 18 points into a surplus of nine points (2-12 to 0-9), the classy half-forward believes that the Royal County side may have believed their own publicity a tad. "They might have taken the outcome of the final a bit for granted after the hiding they gave us earlier in the competition. "I thought, on the day, that they looked a bit complacent or over-confident," Colm adds. And with a full squad on board for the final at Kingspan/Breffni Park, the Ray Cullivan (Laragh Utd) - managed crew duly upset the apple-cart, chiselling out a terrific nine points victory. St. Pat's Cavan went into the decider on the back of a morale-boosting semi-final victory over Community College, Athlone but St. Pat's, Navan represented a much bigger fish which needed to be fried. The final itself was a fine advertisement for colleges' football. St. Pat's Cavan started off on the frontfoot, dominating much of the play out around the middle of the field and an early lead, thanks in the main to the accuracy of Martin Dunne, was nothing less than the Cavan lads deserved. Further scores followed for Cavan with Killian Monaghan and Colm Smith also finding the target as the Cavan boys grew in confidence and belief. However Meath underage teams are invariably imbued with a steely resolve and an inner confidence and the Navan college duly rallied. A golden period in the last ten minutes of the first half had the would-be losers' supporters in fine voice and their favourites ahead by a neck, 0-6 to 0-5, going in at half-time. It was very much all to play for as the second half got underway and both teams came out of the traps in gung-ho fashion, desperately eager to leap into the driving seat. However in the early stages of the second half, it was Cullivan's crew who turned on the style and two goals from the brillant Martin Dunne helped turned the tide in Cavan's favour. Thereafter a succession of long-range points from Colm Smith ignited a terrific response from his team-mates as they proceeded to secure an almost vice-like grip. The Cavan lads visibly grew in confidence and by the three-quarter juncture, the Meath county lads were playing like a team that knew exactly what their fate would be. "I think by the midway stage of the second half, we were playing like a team that just knew the day was going to be ours," Colm explains. "We were playing some great football and they just weren't able to get a foothold in any of the crucial areas of the field." Cavan's tenacious defending, workrate in the middle of the field and classy retention and efficient use of the ball at the business end of the field proceeded to break Navan's hearts. As things panned out, further points from Daniel Graham, Colm Smith and Martin Dunne served to put a bit more shine on a thoroughly polished team display by Cavan. The aforementioned Smith says he will never forget the feeling of unrestrained joy which filled the Cavan dressing-room after the win over Navan. "It was just unbelievable. Being a point down at half-time, we knew that it was a case of do-or-die in the second half and we just went ahead and pulled out all the stops. "I think that was our best performance of the year; just everyone clicked and played for one another." For the record, the all-conquering St. Pat's team that scooped the North Leinster Colleges title was as follows; Danny Anscombe (Belturbet); Damien Higgins (Killeshandra), Damien Reilly (Belturbet), Darragh Tighe (Killeshandra); Ciaran Greenan (Butlersbridge), Tomas O'Reilly (Killeshandra), Joshua Hayes (Cootehill Celtic); Paddy Brady (Mullahoran), Dane O'Dowd (Drumlane); Colm Smith (Cootehill Celtic), Declan McKiernan (Killeshandra), Daniel Graham (Cavan Gaels); Enda Gaffney (Crosserlough), Killian Monaghan (Drung), Martin Dunne (Cavan Gaels). Sub used; Shane Craig (Cavan Gaels). The victorious St. Pat's squad had barely their feet back on terra firma when an appointment with Portlaoise CBS in the first round of the Leinster senior colleges loomed large on the horizon. A gritty, workmanlike display against the midlanders sufficed and confidence was sky high in the Cavan camp by the time the quarter-final against Malahide Community School came around in the first week of February. In the event, St. Pat's cruised to an emphatic 3-13 to 1-6 win by dint of a superb team display. The Dubliners did most of their best work in the first half with an 18th minute goal propelling them into an early lead. However St. Pat's refused to panic and by half-time they led by a single point. St. Pat's moved quickly to upp the ante in the second half and within 13 minutes of the restart made a vital breakthrough when Paddy Brady drove through the Malahide defence before slipping Martin Dunne in for a brillantly crafted goal. St. Pat's remained on the offensive for the remainder of the game and a fine goal by Joshua Hayes (Cootehill Celtic) served to put the icing on the cake for 'Pat's. The following week saw St. Pat's taken on Good Counsel from, New Ross, county Wexford for the right to take their place in the Leinster final. Sadly, the game proved to be a bridge too far for the Cavan lads as they lost out by 2-6 to 1-10. The tie was an archetypal case of 'one that got away' syndrome. "We threw it away," Colm admits. "We didn't react quickly enough to counteract some of their moves but we were a bit unlucky overall. "Martin Dunne had been sick in the run up to the game and so wasn't at his best in the game. "Damien Reilly was another player who wasn't 100% fit because he was suffering from the flu. "On another day though with a fully fit squad, I'm convinced we'd have beaten them. "We were well on top in the first half and when Enda (Gaffney) got his goal to put us 1-5 to 1-3 ahead at half-time, I thought we were going to go on and win it. "But unfortunately we didn't gel well enough as a team and we had too many wides in the second half. "At least we won the league though," Colm adds. And, doubtless, there's more to come in the months and years ahead from the self-same league of gentlemen! Tweet

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