While disappointed to lose out to St. Brigid's in the junior 'B' championship decider, Clonard can still take a great deal of encouragement from their progress this year according to club stalwart and selector Leonard Farrell. Clonard's long wait for junior 'B' football championship honours goes on after they succumbed to St. Brigid's, Ballinacree in a low-scoring final at Pairc Tailteann on October 7 last. Despite their underdogs tag, hopes were high in the Westmeath-border village that Declan Tuomey's charges could bridge a 35-year gap and become the first holders of the Larry Kearns Cup in the process. Nobody wanted to see the long barren spell end more than team selector Leonard Farrell who, much to his disappointment, remains the only man to captain a Clonard championship winning side. "The last time we won a junior 'B' championship was in 1971 and we've been waiting patiently to win another one ever since," says Leonard, whose son Alan skippered this year's team. "We went very close this year, there was nothing it and we had a ball cleared off the line just before half-time. It would have been great if we managed to pull it off, but it wasn't to be and the task now is to try to come back and make amends next year." Over the years, Clonard has seen several potential players line out for their fellow parishioners Coralstown/Kinnegad across the county boundary in Westmeath, and this has made it difficult at times for the small South Meath club to make progress. Since winning their first and only adult championship in 1971, silverware has sadly eluded them. Despite the many disappointments, Clonard's long-serving chairman Joe Gannon has never given up on his dream of restoring the club to the winners' enclosure and in the past 10 years in particular, they have been knocking on the championship door very loudly. In 1996, they reached the junior 'B' final, only to lose to Seneschalstown. The following year, they were beaten by Curraha in the semi-final and there was more heartbreak in '98 when they lost the county final to Trim. Clonard lost another semi-final to Walterstown in 1999, and a year later they went down again in the semi-final to Kilmainham. After a few difficult seasons, the blue and golds returned to the business end of the championship this year with familiar names such as Darby, Connolly, Farrell and Duignan featuring prominently. But despite the strong family connections with the 1971 team, disappointment ultimately proved to be Clonard's lot. However, Leonard insists that the year was still laden with positives. "When you consider where we came from at the start of the year, you'd have to be very pleased. We were struggling to get a panel together and were left with no alternative but to throw some of the younger lads in. "We brought in lads like Kenneth Darby, who's Peter's son, and Eoin Treacy. Both of them had been involved with the Meath under 16s in the past couple of years and are fine prospects. Eoin Connolly was another of the youngsters who did well for us. "As the year went on, things steadily improved and our manager Declan Tuomey, who played in the '98 final against Trim, got a great response from everyone. We probably surpassed expectations by reaching the final, but I honestly felt the players we had were good enough to win it." Clonard's path to the final was by no means a smooth one and it could be argued that they were fortunate to reach the knock-out stages after failing to win four of their seven group games. They looked anything but championship contenders when they shipped a heavy defeat (0-4 to 1-10) to Seneschaltown in the first round. But they bounced back impressively with three straight victories over Syddan (1-8 to 0-4), St. Patrick's (3-12 to 1-10) and Walterstown (4-8 to 1-5). They were then involved in draws with St. Paul's (2-5 to 1-8) and Trim (2-5 to 1-8) before suffering a 1-7 to 0-16 defeat to St. Brigid's in a dress-rehearsal for the final. It was widely felt Clonard wouldn't be strong enough to negotiate Moynalty in the quarter-final, but their ability to score goals proved decisive as they chalked up a 2-5 to 0-8 victory. Clonard needed two attempts to overcome Trim in their last four encounter. After fighting out a 0-12 to 1-9 draw at Summerhill, the Westmeath-border club triumphed in the replay by 3-7 to 2-7. All roads led to a very wet Pairc Tailteann for the final as Clonard attempted to end three-and-a-half decades of failure and frustration. A big, colourful crowd was in attendance as the two clubs from the far reaches of the county battled it out for the right to compete in next year's junior championship. Appearing in their second consecutive final, St. Brigid's were strongly fancied and while they justified their favouritism with a 1-7 to 0-6 win, they were never able to pull clear of dogged and determined opposition. The south county side were quickly into their stride with early points from centre forward Eamon Campbell and dead-ball specialist Declan Rowley. But St. Brigid's were never headed after their 17-year-old wing forward Killian Kiernan scored the only goal in the 12th minute to wipe out Clonard's early advantage. The game developed into a tough battle and referee Pat Clarke issued yellow cards to Clonard's Willie McEvoy and opponent Conor Farrelly following an exchange early in the second quarter. Points from play by Tomas Blake and Brendan Gibson had the Ballinacree men four to the good at the break, 1-4 to 0-3, but the rest of their total came from frees and it was the 46th minute before they registered another score. Although former Meath All-Ireland minor winner Niall Walsh opened the second half scoring, Clonard were unable to take advantage of their opponent's lethargy and they could have conceded a second goal in the 43rd minute when goalkeeper Simon McNevin was forced to make a fine save from St. Brigid's sub AJ Gilsenan. Walsh's score was the only one from play in the second half as Blake and Rowley (two each) and Fergal Hennessy slotted over frees. Clonard threw practically everybody forward in the closing stages as they chased the lead, but the St. Brigid's defence absorbed the pressure to hold on for victory. Even in defeat, Clonard could feel proud of their performance with every player in a blue and gold jersey giving his all. The Campbell brothers, Ian, Alan, Eamon and David, along with Niall Walsh and team captain Alan Farrell, manned the central positions, while up-and-coming stars such as Eoin Treacy, Kenneth Darby and David Rowley performed admirably out on the flanks in what was their first big game for the club. Clonard were also disappointed to miss out on promotion from Division 5A of the league after finishing on the same points as second-placed Drumree. However, Drumree's superior score difference saw them join table-toppers Curraha in Division 4 next year. After capturing an unprecedented three underage titles in 2005, Clonard failed to add to that tally this year, though the under 16s were unlucky to lose the Division 4A league final to Boardsmill. Farrell, who was joined on the Clonard backroom team by Finn Campbell, is full of praise for the work being carried out at juvenile level by so many people, including Joe and Mary Gannon, and former Meath star Kevin Foley, who has immersed himself in the underage set-up since taking up residence in nearby Killyon a few years ago. "To have someone of Kevin's calibre working with the young players has given the club a huge lift. It also helps that Clonard is a growing village and there are more children now attending the local National School than ever before. "We were amalgamated with Ballinabrackey at underage level for many years, but we are now doing well on our own." Leonard, whose daughters Louise and Claire have represented the county in camogie and ladies football respectively, is looking forward to 2007 and the prospect of Clonard building on this year's progress. "The target has to be to get back into the final and win it. It will be a long, hard road back to the final and I'm sure a lot of people are already writing off our chances, but we feel the experience gained this year will stand to the younger lads and we should be a better team for that," he concludes. The Clonard panel which reached this year's junior 'B' final was: Simon McNevin, Eoin Treacy, Alan Farrell, Ciaran Darby, Paul Boland, Niall Walsh, Jason Moore, Ian Campbell, Alan Campbell, Kenneth Darby, Eamon Campbell, Willie McEvoy, David Rowley, David Campbell, Padraig O'Donovan, Nicky Egan, Eoin Connolly, Damien Flynn, Cyril Treacy, Enda Darby, Padraig Donlon, Francis Mulvin, Brendan Leech and Joseph Sherwood. Tweet

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