There's no other GAA pitch in Meath that experiences the volumes of traffic passing by its gates on a daily basis than that of St Paul's. Yet, paradoxically, St Paul's are largely an unknown entity in Meath GAA circles. By Gordon Manning. Their pitch hugs the side of the N3 road in Clonee near the beginning of the dual-carriageway. The N3 is the major artery that Meath commuters take every day to and from work in 'the big smoke.' But St Paul's have been huffing and puffing rather than exactly putting out fires in recent years. The loss of players to other clubs and through retirement has hit the club hard since the dizzy heights of 1999 when they won the Junior A Championship. Their star has fallen since that glorious success and they now find themselves in the Junior B grade. But there is a heart in this club that beats stronger than those of bigger town outfits elsewhere. The annual membership numbers of the club are rarely greater than 70 odd - but still they turn out, still they compete. "We know we've fallen back since 1999, there is no doubt about that but we are not as far away as people might think," admits David Higgins who formed a management team along with Johnny Curry and Joe Barker this year. St Paul's failed to win promotion back up from Division Five this season after suffering successive relegations from Divisions Three and Four in the previous two years. Bective and Clann na nGael ran away at the top of the division while St Paul's also failed to make the latter stages in the Junior B Football Championship. "We had set out to win promotion from Division Five and also to get a good run in the championship and although we mightn't have achieved everything we hoped to I think there are positives as we were quite unlucky in most games. "We lost a lot of our games by only a point or two, there were a lot of close matches. We actually could have progressed to the quarter-finals of the championship had we beaten Trim in our last game but we lost by three points. "In the previous game we had lost to Walterstown by a single point so we were not that far away from making it to the quarter-finals. We know we are nowhere near the strength we were in 1999 but there are good players coming through. "If we were to win promotion in the league next year that would be a boost and sometimes success breeds success." Higgins was a selector when St Paul's made that historic breakthrough in 1999 but he admits the lack of an underage set-up in the club is a hindrance. "We don't have a juvenile set-up here so most of our eventual players line out with Dunboyne at underage level. It's difficult to attract players when there are so many bigger clubs in the area. "Like most small clubs a couple of families keep it going and there are some great people who put in a huge amount of time and effort. "All we can do at the moment is keep the club going, keep St Paul's playing football and hopefully in the future with more houses going up in the Clonee area we'll be able to start up our own underage set-up." Prior to 1999 the last time the Junior Football championship had come to the area was in 1968 when Flathouse were the local team. St Paul's have sprouted up since the seventies and the Junior A success was their finest hour. Right now though, there are very few clubs in Meath that are such a mystery as St Paul's. The Clonee outfit should be more than what they currently are. They straddle the Meath-Dublin border, an area of the county bustling with sprawling new housing developments. Clonee is one of the areas of Meath which has seen unprecedented growth over the last decade, but unfortunately St Paul's have failed to evolve with the times. All around them, their neighbours are blossoming. Blackhall Gaels and St Peter's Dunboyne contested the Meath senior football championship this year. Just down the road Ratoath are enjoying life in the Intermediate Championship while Kilbride are holding their own in the Junior grade. It's an annual battle to hold onto players for St Paul's. Just a few years ago current Meath midfielder Anthony Moyles and his brother Barry transferred from St Paul's to neighbouring club Blackhall Gaels. Anthony, a powerful midfielder, realised he needed to play football at a higher grade if he was to catch Sean Boylan's attention and make the senior county set-up. The brothers have since gone on to play in two county senior football finals with Blackhall Gaels - winning one - while Anthony has also become a regular with Meath as a midfield partner to Nigel Crawford. "They are two great players so of course it was a big blow to lose them but they wanted to try a higher standard of football," continued David. "Not all clubs can be big ones. There is a great spirit in St Paul's and for the next few years we have to keep that going." But then again sometimes it's not just about winning. It's about identity. It's about existence. St Paul's will have a new home soon as the National Roads Authority have informed them that a slip road for the new M3 Motorway will be going through their current pitch. They haven't found out yet where their new pitch will eventually be located, but they hope that it will allow them eventually build facilities which can cater for an underage set-up. "We have been told that we will have to leave our current pitch, which is disappointing of course because it's always been our home. We are in discussions with the NRA at the moment about the location of our new pitch so we'll have to wait to see how it turns out. "We're still there at the moment though and next year the team will set their sights on winning promotion in the league. That is a big priority, because if we get a good run going there then hopefully it will transfer over to the championship. "A lot of the older players have retired at this stage so hopefully we shouldn't be losing any more fellas over the next couple of years. There are a couple of good young footballers including Damien and Anthony Barker coming through and overall there is a nice mix. "As far as this year is concerned well things are wrapped up now for the winter but we'll be back again in January. We'll back out training and hoping for a good year." A walk around their current pitch on a damp and dark November evening tells its own tale. The ground is soft and before long the rainwater that has settled on the grass is soaking into your socks. There isn't a soul around the pitch. The goal posts rattle and the nets bulge slightly in the breeze. Just over the fence there is the constant hum of engines as cars, lorries, buses and motorbikes whiz by - their lights intermittently puncturing the darkness. There is not one moment of silence. Yet within moments of ambling around the pitch it is astonishingly easy to forget about the humdrum of the outside world. Suddenly, even in the darkness of November, this place is all about football. Soon this pitch, which looks out over the N3, will be gone and replaced instead by yet another road for yet more cars. St Paul's will find a new home and with it they'll hope for an upturn in fortunes. But for now this is where it's at. This is home for St Paul's. As the world passes by out beyond the fence, in here the club continues its battle for survival, success and respect. And just like the traffic, it never stops. Tweet

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