The long wait gets longer for Ballinabrackey as the gap back to their last Junior Football Championship success lengthens with each passing year. It's now 21 years since the Offaly-border club last tasted success in the grade, but the desire to do so once again remains strong and they are a team that nobody will take for granted in the 2007 campaign. By Paul Clarke. That 1985 JFC win was the club's fourth following on from their triumph way back in 1926 and the two in the space of only five years in 1972 and 1977. They have threatened to add another in more recent years, though the last three championship campaigns have brought considerable disappointment, most notably 2006 when they just missed out on a place in the business end of the title race. Looking back over the past five years, Ballinabrackey seem to have slipped further out of contention in the race for the Matthew Ginnity Cup, though it has to be said that they demonstrated a fair amount of promise in the campaign gone by and with a little bit of luck they would undoubtedly have made it through to the knockout stages. And who knows what might have happened after that. Back in 2002 they ruined their chances of reaching the final when they kicked far too many wides and went under to champions to be Nobber in a low-scoring semi-final on a 2-2 to 1-6 score line. A year later they advanced to the quarter-finals and lost to one of the most consistent teams in the junior grade, Dunsany, but at least they were doing well enough to be still involved in the championship when it really heats up and there's the scent of silverware in the air around Pairc Tailteann. But that wasn't the case in the 2004 and 2005 championships and again this year when they failed to negotiate the divisional stages and were forced to look on and wonder what might have been as other clubs battled it out for the title and the right to play their football in the intermediate ranks in 2007. Ballinabrackey were drawn in Group C of the Junior Championship and it had all the appearances of a section that they could emerge from as few of the other clubs really stood out as realistic contenders for the title. Meath Hill were to go on and enjoy a very productive divisional campaign, dropping only two points along the way to the last eight, while Moylagh and Kilbride also advanced from the group, with Bective, the previous year's IFC relegated side Drumree and the second string combinations from Skryne and Simonstown Gaels making up the eight-team section. 'Brackey's only defeats in the group campaign came against Meath Hill and Kilbride, while they beat Skryne, Drumree, Simonstown and Bective. But it was a draw with Moylagh in their final match that ultimately cost them a place in the business end of the championship and what a shattering blow that proved to be for all concerned. When the championship got under way in mid-April Ballinabrackey opened up against Skryne and they couldn't have asked for a more clearcut victory to get their qualification bid firmly on the rails. The Tara men proved no match in a very one-sided contest and 'Brackey had all of 16 points to spare at the final whistle, winning on a 3-10 to 0-3 score line. Drumree had lost the previous year's Intermediate Championship relegation play-off to Slane, but failed to reach the knockout stages of the junior competition in their first year back in the grade and one of their damaging reversals came against Ballinabrackey at Summerhill where it finished 3-6 to 2-7. The match contained five goals and the fact that 'Brackey put their name on three of them was highly significant to the outcome. Four of those goals were scored in the first half and the teams were locked together on 2-2 each at the break, before Drumree proceeded to gain the upper hand in the third quarter as they moved into a very promising position. However, 'Brackey shaded the exchanges subsequently to edge through by just two points. A considerably more clearcut win was secured against Simonstown's second team, but this time the umpires with the green flags were totally redundant as Ballinabrackey scored by 0-11 to 0-6 and it was also an all points encounter against Bective at Summerhill where they came out on top by 0-10 to 0-6. The defeats against a clearly much-improved Meath Hill team, which later lost to Longwood in the quarter-finals, and Kilbride (eliminated by Drumbaragh in a preliminary quarter-final) were damaging, but Ballinabrackey prepared for their last group outing against Moylagh - a team enjoying a very encouraging championship run - knowing that they were still in there with a chance of advancing to the knockout stages. At that stage, with all eight teams in the group having one game to play, it had come down to a battle between four sides for three qualifying places. Moylagh and Meath Hill had won five of their six matches and were tied at the head of affairs on 10 points, with 'Brackey and Kilbride both on eight after each of them had won four times and been beaten twice. The game between 'Brackey and Moylagh was close throughout and it was all to play for at half-time when the teams were level on 0-5 each. 'Brackey edged ahead after the change of ends, but the men from the north-west of the county managed to stay in touch and had the final say when Colm Fanning fired over an injury time point to earn them a share of the spoils. It finished 0-10 apiece and what it meant was that Moylagh were through to the last eight and Ballinabrackey were out. When all was said and done in the Group C campaign Meath Hill were sitting on top of the pile with 12 points from a possible 14. Moylagh were next on 11, Kilbride were on 10 and unfortunate 'Brackey were a further point adrift and were out of the title race. Former player Kevin Conlon was the Ballinabrackey manager and his selectors were Danny Flynn and Jim Coyne. "We really should have qualified for the quarter-finals," said Coyne as he reflected on the JFC campaign and contemplated what might have been. "We just didn't perform on the evening against Moylagh. "It was a big disappointment to draw that match and to lose out. If we had got through to the knockout stages I believe we would have beaten Dunsany and we might have gone on and won the championship after that. "We won four of our group games and drew another, which wasn't bad going, but we still didn't qualify. But we are very hopeful for the future because we have so many young players coming through. We have done well in under-age football in recent years and we are expecting to have a good run in the Under-21 Championship this year. "But a lot of those players are very young and it will take a few years for them to make the breakthrough to the junior team. But with all those young lads I would have to say that the signs are encouraging. "There is also a very good commitment to training among the players, so we are optimistic." John Curry and Trevor Bannon continued to fly the flag for Ballinabrackey on the inter-county front during 2006 as both were members of the Meath team that retained their Leinster Junior Championship title. And there was an added bonus when they experienced that great thrill of playing in that fabulous theatre for Gaelic games, Croke Park. That was because the provincial final against Louth took place at headquarters as a curtain-raiser to the Dublin versus Laois Leinster SFC semi-final. Winning the Leinster title was obviously a big thing in itself, but to do so on such a big occasion in Croke Park surely added considerably to the enjoyment of the success. Meath had beaten Kilkenny, Kildare and Laois en route to the decider and Louth were again defeated in the one that really mattered as Dessie Hamilton's side won by four points (1-12 to 0-11). As ever, Curry was a reliable goalkeeper for Meath, while Bannon lined out at right corner-back. Unfortunately, the winning run came to an end in the All-Ireland semi-final at Dr. Cullen Park, Carlow, when Kerry won decisively by 0-13 to 0-7. Curry and Bannon have been key figures in the Meath junior set-up for some time and Curry has been an almost constant part of the panel for the best part of a decade, making his first appearance back in 1997. Of course, both players helped Meath to their fifth All-Ireland success in the grade back in 2003 when the Martin Barry-trained side defeated Galway by six points in the final at Cusack Park, Mullingar. Tweet

Most Read Stories