After a year that must have been difficult, disruptive and somewhat sad in 2007, St Paul's made good progress in the Junior B Football Championship this term, so much so that they advanced from the divisional stages to play knockout football in late summer. However, disappointingly for the Clonee men, that was where their interest in the battle for the Larry Kearns Cup came to an end as Moynalty beat them by the narrowest of margins at the quarter-final hurdle, but the campaign represented an improvement on the previous year when they failed to emerge from their section. Of course, last year St Paul's sadly had to say farewell to their home in Clonee which was situated slap bang in the middle of the site for the new M3 Motorway. Up until then the club had leased the pitch from a local farmer, but the controversial decision to run the road through it left them without a home and with all the problems and complications that such a situation brings. However, they proved what a very determined and resilient bunch they are by carrying on regardless - even without a place of their own to call home. They used the Batterstown and Kiltale pitches for training purposes and to play their home league matches. Batterstown was only a short trip down the road, but having to travel the 14 miles to Kiltale and back for training obviously wasn't an ideal situation by any means. Therefore, it's good to see that things have improved somewhat for St Paul's as they now have a temporary base nearer to home which will obviously make things easier to organise, but the definite desire is to have a pitch of their own as soon as possible. "We have a temporary pitch on the way into Dunboyne," said club secretary David Higgins. "We have played league games there. We have been sorting out the power for showers, etc and it's a big help to us. "This pitch will keep us going for a while, but we are still on the lookout for something permanent. We really need a base in Clonee. The population is getting big here and we really want to tap into the potential that brings. Hopefully, something will happen fairly soon." St Paul's won the Junior Championship in 1999 and it's not all that long ago that they were playing their football in the intermediate ranks and in Div. 3 of the All-County A League. They would undoubtedly have liked to move up a grade in 2008 by winning the Junior B competition, but while that didn't happen they can certainly look back on the campaign gone by as one that represented significant progress and also offered hope for the years ahead. The team was coached by Dave Sweeney, who is a Laois native living in Clonee, and Paul Barker also acted as a selector. When the championship draws were made earlier in the year St Paul's came out in group C and that was a section made up largely of second string teams from senior clubs, namely Blackhall Gaels, Duleek/Bellewstown and Walterstown. Also in the mix were St Vincent's, who had been relegated from the junior ranks last year, and while it looked like a tricky enough section it definitely offered Sweeney's side a very realistic chance of gaining sufficient points to make further progress in the championship. And it was St Vincent's, who were winners of the Junior B Championship as recently as 2003 when they scored a dramatic final win over Boardsmill, who provided the first round opposition at Dunboyne where St Paul's made the desired winning start to get their qualification ambitions up and running in the best possible way. A well taken goal from full-forward Joe Sweeney gave the Clonee men a big boost in the first half and they went on to hold a useful 1-5 to 0-3 lead at the interval. St Vincent's did cause them some worries when they scored a brace of goals in the second period to keep their challenge alive, but St Paul's always looked to be the more likely winners and points from Alan Barker, Sweeney and Robbie Barker pushed them towards the winning post as it finished 1-10 to 2-5. The in form Sweeney rowed in with a very significant personal contribution of 1-5. The confidence garnered from that narrow success over the Ardcath men clearly helped the St Paul's players and they scored a seven point (3-10 to 1-9) victory over Blackhall Gaels in a second round encounter at Dunsany to really signal their intentions of earning a place in the business end of the championship race. Another second string team, Walterstown, provided the opposition in the third round at Dunshaughlin and St Paul's achieved their first big ambition of the campaign by earning the victory that propelled them into the quarter-finals. Walterstown are rarely easy to see off at this level and so it turned out as goals proved decisive in a three point (3-6 to 1-9) victory. Two such scores from penalties by Declan Cunningham enabled St Paul's to trail by only 2-1 to 1-5 at the break and it was all to play for heading into the second period of a well contested match. Philip Connolly, Declan Cunningham, Nicky Gogan and Brian O'Sullivan were particularly prominent in that close second half when another goal from substitute Robbie Barker also proved invaluable in the hard earned victory. The happy reality coming away from Dunshaughlin that day was that St Paul's had reached the last eight with a group game still to play and could start to think in terms of knockout action, but as it turned out they received a walk over from Duleek/Bellewstown in a fixture that had been scheduled for Ratoath. They had achieved maximum points in the section and they certainly had grounds for optimism as they prepared for a quarter-final against a Moynalty side which had exited the title race at the same stage last year when losing to champions to be Wolfe Tones in a match that went to extra time. Unfortunately, it proved to be a step too far for an understrength St Paul's team as Moynalty edged them out by 1-6 to 0-8 at Walterstown. Losing by the minimum margin in any game is disappointing, but when it's at such an advanced stage of a championship and you're starting to think in terms of possible final appearances and even silverware, it can be even more difficult to come to terms with. Goals have a habit of winning games and the fact that the side from north Meath got the only one of this close encounter was highly significant in the end. Ronan Tormay was the man who rattled the net for Moynalty in the first half and that three-pointer boosted his team to a 1-2 to 0-2 lead at the change of ends. It also left the Clonee side playing a game of catch-up and, while they did improve in the second period and added six points to their tally, they also missed crucial chances and their effort came up just short as Moynalty held out for victory. "The group stages of the Junior B went very well for us," David Higgins added as he reflected on the campaign. "We won our three games against St Vincent's, Blackhall Gaels and Walterstown and got a walk over from Duleek/Bellewstown in the other. "We finished top of our group. We were scoring very well during the group games, but unfortunately that wasn't the case in the quarter-final against Moynalty. It was a very bad night for football, but I suppose it was the same for both teams. "We were short a number of players for that game because of suspension and injuries and that weakened us. We were without our best player Alan Barker who was sent off in a league match and was suspended for a month. He missed the Moynalty game by about a week. Michael McDonnell and Aidan Lynch were also missing because of injury. "We didn't really do anything right in that game and lost by a point. It was very disappointing. We missed frees and we could have got a draw out of it. We had a late chance to level it, but we didn't take it." When the disappointment of that narrow loss to Moynalty has lessened and winter turns to spring, the St Paul's players and all associated with the Clonee club can certainly look forward to the 2009 championship with renewed hope and optimism. After all, they suffered only one defeat in this year's competition and that was by a single point. Their earlier form in the divisional stages had been very encouraging indeed and they certainly have left themselves with plenty to build on for the future. "Hopefully, we can build on what we have achieved in this year's championship," said Higgins. "We are only getting things going again after all the difficulties over the pitch." Tweet

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