After a year of contrasting fortunes in league and championship in 2006, St. Mary's probably went into '07 with the aim of achieving greater consistency and with a burning desire to at least reach the knockout stages of the Junior Football Championship. The Donore-Lougher combination, who have to look all the way back to the year of the Pope's visit to Ireland in 1979 for their previous junior triumph, managed only one victory in the group stages of the '06 championship which left them bottom of their section and way out of contention for a place in the business end of the championship. However, things were different in the All-County A League - very different. So different indeed that they progressed to the Div. 4 final where they were beaten by St. Michael's who had won the Junior Championship the previous year. While losing the decider was undoubtedly a big disappointment, at least there was the considerable consolation of promotion to Div. 3 where the standard of football is somewhat higher and teams have an opportunity to further their development. They claimed a senior scalp in the early stages of the 2007 league when they recovered from defeats in the first two rounds against neighbours Slane and St. Michaels's to get the better of Ballinlough, so their JFC campaign was awaited with interest by the club's supporters. St. Mary's had a new manager in '07, with Colm Nally taking over from that great servant of the club Liam Smith. Nally is a native of Balbriggan who played with Drogheda club Newtown Blues and trained them for a couple of years before teaming up with Mary's. He certainly went into the position with plenty of experience behind him and long-serving player Brian Lynch and Ronan Nally acted as his selectors. They were drawn in Group A of the championship which looked quite tough, but which clearly also offered obvious opportunities to get desirable results. Also included in the section were Boardsmill, Clann na nGael, with Graham Geraghty in their ranks following his transfer from native club Seneschalstown in the spring, Moylagh, Curraha, Longwood and Drumree. St. Mary's opened their campaign with a tricky looking assignment against a Longwood team that had shown considerable promise the previous year when they reached the semi-finals where they lost to champions-elect St. Ultan's by only three points and who included players with Meath senior experience in Michael Burke and Rory Maguire. Mary's were on the verge of securing a confidence boosting win against one of the top teams in the grade until the 'Wood notched an equalising point in injury time at Dunshaughlin. However, it was an impressive display from Mary's who dominated the early stages, before Burke and Maguire helped Longwood to trail by the minimum (0-5 to 0-6) at the interval. Tony Grifferty and Peter Watters proved influential for Mary's and they looked set for victory until they were caught with that late, late leveller. It was a match they probably felt disappointed not to have won as they certainly had the scoring chances. Still, it was a satisfactory start and things got considerably better when they defeated Curraha by 2-7 to 0-7 in the second round at Duleek. Two goals from Cormac Drew made all the difference in the first-half as Mary's opened up a 2-3 to 0-3 lead at the break and with the teams sharing eight points evenly in the second period Mary's were six ahead at the final whistle. The performances of Brian Smith, Eoghan Craven, Robbie Callaghan and Watters were important in that success. It became a very mixed bag of results for St. Mary's when they followed that earlier draw and win by losing to Clann na nGael in the third round at Kilberry. The Athboy-An Gaeltacht combination maintained their 100 per cent winning start to the championship with a clearcut 0-13 to 0-7 victory which dealt a big blow to Mary's hopes of advancing from the divisional stages. Graham Geraghty rowed in with two points for the winners who led by 0-7 to 0-3 at the interval after pushing clear late in the opening half. Mary's scored four times in the second period, but were six points adrift at the final whistle, with Watters topping the scoring on five points. Matters got considerably worse for St. Mary's in the fourth round of the championship when they tallied a paltry three points against Drumree at Skryne, losing by 0-3 to 1-11 to a side they must have felt capable of beating. They had a real struggle in the opening half, at the end of which they trailed by 0-1 to 1-6, and with a deficit of that magnitude their prospects of getting anything from the match were severely dented. Mary's completed their tally with a couple of points in the first 10 minutes of the second half and after that a combination of poor shooting and strong defending by Drumree prevented them from adding to their very poor tally. That heavy defeat meant they had won once, drawn once and lost twice and had gained only three points from a possible eight in the section. It was a very disappointing return. Their Group A qualification hopes were over in a section that was dominated by Longwood and Clann na nGael and St. Mary's dream of a first junior title in 28 years had petered out rather tamely after a promising start which suggested they might just reach the knockout stages. As has been the case in recent years, it's now a matter of looking forward to the 2008 championship in the hope that things will get better. And as selector Brian Lynch pointed out, that is exactly what they are doing - looking to the future. "We started well in the championship, but it petered out towards the middle of the campaign," he said as he reflected on the JFC. "We made a very promising start by drawing and winning on our first two outings. We drew with Longwood in a match we really should have won, but didn't because we missed chances. "After that we beat Curraha and went into the third round game against Clann na nGael with three points out of a possible four. After those two games we probably thought that we were going places and that we were better than we actually were. "But then it was the same old story with St. Mary's and unfortunately we lost our way in the middle of the campaign. It's hard to put a finger on why exactly that happens." It was obviously disappointing the way Mary's failed to build on that bright start, but Lynch has his sights and his thoughts fixed firmly on the years ahead and appreciates that nothing can be achieved overnight. "We are building a young team at the moment and that is a very slow process," he added. "The same old faces were there over a number of years and the younger lads are getting chances now. That is vitally important with the future in mind. "We have a very good man there in Colm Nally. He is a very good coach who has plenty of experience. There are new ideas when you have a new man at the helm. With a new system a team will have good days and bad days. We will just have to have patience and have faith in it. It takes time." Reaching the A League Div. 4 final last year was a big highlight for St. Mary's, even though they lost the final to St. Michael's, and the promotion that went with it was rightly viewed as a very important development for the club as they looked ahead. "We came up from Div. 4 of the league last year which was a big thing for us," Lynch said. "When you are operating in the higher divisions of the league you are playing against better teams and it is a better brand of football. "The club is fully behind us and we have the right man at the helm. We have up to 30 lads at training every night. It is only a matter of time." Every club needs to look after its younger players if it wants to prosper in the future and St. Mary's certainly have this in mind. "There is a lot of work being done at under-age level in the club," Lynch added. "People like Paul Scanlon, Kieran Flood and Derek Hughes are doing great work. The work has to be put in at that level." It is fast approaching three decades since St. Mary's won the Junior Championship with a memorable victory over Meath Hill in a replayed final. What fantastic scenes of joy and jubilation that triumph brought for all concerned. The reality is that it may well take some time before they are in a position to reach such great heights again, but the vital work geared towards a rewarding future is being done within the club. It is a matter of being patient. Tweet

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