St. Paul's this year bade an emotional farewell to their pitch in Clonee which is situated on the site of the new M3 Motorway. Despite being without a home, the club is determined to carry on as chairman and junior team selector John Curry explains. St. Paul's may find themselves without a pitch as we reach the end of 2007, but the defiant message from the club's 70 or so members is that the show will go on. "There has been a lot of uncertainty created by the situation with the pitch, but we are committed to promoting the GAA in Clonee and we're not going to stop now. St. Paul's will still be here going forward into the future," says club chairman John Curry. Until this year, St. Paul's had leased their pitch from a local farmer. But the controversial decision to build the new M3 Motorway through it has left the club homeless and they have been forced to train and play their home league matches in Batterstown and Kiltale. "We're very grateful to Blackhall Gaels and Kiltale for the use of their grounds, but it's not an ideal situation and we hope to secure land for the development of a new pitch in Clonee. We are determined not to lose our presence in Clonee and we want to get back playing there as quickly as possible. "We did most of our training in Kiltale this year, but as grateful as we were to them, it wasn't ideal as their pitch is 14 miles from Clonee. We also played a couple of our league matches in Batterstown, which is nearer to us, but we won't be happy until we're back playing on our own patch," he adds. St. Paul's played just one league match in Clonee this year, while the final game to be staged there before the bulldozers moved in was the meeting of a St. Paul's selection and Meath's 1999 All-Ireland winning team for the Grainne Keague Cup. A crowd in the region of 300 turned out to bade an emotional farewell to the pitch which had served the Dublin-border club well for the past quarter of a century. Meath, who were managed by Sean Boylan and captained by Jody Devine, triumphed by a point and afterwards the two teams went back to the Dunboyne Castle Hotel and Spa for a meal and a few drinks. "It was a very emotional day for the members of our club, knowing that football wouldn't be played on that site again. Having said that, we were delighted to have the Meath '99 team and Sean Boylan down with us, and we were also grateful to Pat McEnaney for refereeing the match." On the field of play, St. Paul's were disappointed not to reach to the knock-out stages of the junior 'B' football championship. Their performances in Division 5 didn't bring much joy either, with their only league victory coming at the expense of Moynalty. It meant that they finished behind Meath Hill, Boardsmill, Moynalty, Clonard, Kildalkey and Bellewstown on the league table. Under manager Paul Barker and his co-selectors Paul Garvey and John Curry, St. Paul's were unlucky to draw their opening Group A championship game against Trim. Played at Kiltale, the game looked to be heading St. Paul's way until Trim staged a late rally to force a 0-11 apiece draw. "We were four or five points up and should have held on," John reflects. "That result probably cost us in the long run. Trim went through to the knock-out stages instead of us and they did very well after that." St. Paul's second outing against Dunshaughlin also finished in a draw, and they fell to their first defeat against Cortown in the next round. This game was played on a wet Friday evening in Walterstown, and was notable for the fact the Clonee men failed to register a score for 45 minutes. After receiving a walkover from Na Fianna, St. Paul's championship interests ended when they registered their third draw of the campaign against Donaghmore-Ashbourne. For the record, the teams to qualify from the section were Dunshaughlin, Trim and Cortown. Despite this year's results and the uncertainty that comes with being homeless, St. Paul's are looking forward to the future with optimism and are eager to revive winning ways. Their loyal band of supporters will never forget the joy 1999 brought when St. Paul's wrote themselves into the history books by winning the junior championship for the first time. Their 0-11 to 0-9 victory over Moylagh in the final was a source of enormous satisfaction for a club that has sadly been out of the limelight ever since. After holding their own in the intermediate championship in 2000, St. Paul's were relegated back to the junior ranks in 2001 and a further two years later in 2003 they suffered another big blow when they were demoted down to junior 'B' status. They have also dropped down the grades in the All-County League, having slipped from Division 3 to 5 in the space of a few years. In 2004, the Clonee club reached the junior 'B' quarter-finals, but they have failed to reach the knock-out stages for three years running now. St. Paul's have undoubtedly been weakened by the departure of Meath captain Anthony Moyles and his brother Barry to Blackhall Gaels, but Curry isn't holding it against them. "Anthony and Barry wanted a crack at senior football and we weren't going to stand in their way. Both players gave great service to this club and have done the same with Blackhall. Anthony, in particular, was an inspirational figure in our 1999 junior success and everyone here was very proud of him when he was handed the Meath captaincy this year." While on the subject of transfers, St. Paul's were delighted to welcome three new playing members to their ranks during this year. Sean Hanafin and Dave Smith transferred from clubs in Dublin, while Joe Sweeney arrived from Laois. "They have been three useful additions and next year we'll have them from the start of the season which is great," enthuses Curry, who is in his third year as chairman. "Our target is to go a step further in 2008 and reach the knock-out stages of the championship. Our ultimate aim is to get back to the stage we were at a few years ago when we were competing in the intermediate championship and in Division 3 of the league. "But there is no getting away from the fact that we have a lot of work on our hands. We're combined with Dunboyne (St. Peter's) up to under 16 level which means we don't have our own underage structure. Clonee has a big population now and it needs its own underage club. At the moment, we are only living off scraps and are nowhere near our potential," he concludes. Tweet

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