St Vincent's have a proud tradition in footballing circles but 2007 proved a frustrating year for the Ardcath club as they were forced to suffer the unfortunate fate of being relegated to the ranks of Junior B. St Vincent's were given two bites at the cherry as they tackled both Kildalkey and Gaeil Colmcille in trying to retain their junior status. But on both occasions they lacked the sufficient firepower to trouble their limited opponents. The prospect of relegation came as a bit of a surprise to onlookers as in the opening game of the campaign, they gave JFC finalists Moynalvey plenty to sweat about and we unlucky to come away from the tie empty-handed, losing out 2-5 to 1-13. One of the most experienced campaigners on the St Vincent's side is Ronan Sheridan and the talented talisman admitted that it was a bitterly disappointing year for himself and his colleagues. "It was a very disappointing year but we were just very short on numbers all the way through and it seemed to be very hard to keep lads interested the whole way through the championship," Sheridan said. "In the first game against Moynalvey we were going very strong for a long way and we actually led at half-time. But Moynalvey came back at us in the second half and went on to win it narrowly enough." Following that promising display, it was expected that St Vincent's would give Dunsany a big game in the next round but such a thought failed to materialise as the aforementioned romped to a comprehensive victory. "The next day then we played Dunsany and to be honest we never got out of the blocks at all. We were completely outplayed and just never showed up. "It is always tough when you lose the first couple of games. Lads start to lose interest and they don't seem to want to give a commitment. We were only getting the bare numbers for each match day and you are fighting an uphill battle when that is the case. "We have a small pick out in Ardcath and it is not too bad when you are winning games but when you start to lose a few it gets that bit harder. "The most annoying thing of all is that we went out against Moynalvey the first day and gave as good as we got. They went on to just getting pipped in the final and we end it up being relegated. That showed that there really isn't that big of a difference between the top and the bottom teams. "The year before we were bet by a single point by both Moynalvey and Clann na nGael and they went on to contest the junior final this year. I suppose you would have to question our commitment but I really think that if we could get our act together we could be a force again." Despite seeing off Bective by a slender two-points in their third round encounter, losses at the hands of St Brigid's and Summerhill swiftly followed. Those efforts signalled St Vincent's fate and their next assignment was a meeting with Kildalkey and Sheridan stressed that things didn't go to plan in that outing. "We got two bites of the cherry at staying up. I was missing for the first game against Kildalkey and Darren Ling was injured that day so it was a tough ask for them to beat Kildalkey and we did well to get within two points of them." It was a similar scenario in their final outing of the year when a local soccer game restricted St Vincent's from fielding their strongest team. Sheridan felt that the players they were missing on the day, especially the forwards, would have saw them put up a much better show against Gaeil Colmcille who eventually prevailed on a scoreline of 1-11 to 1-7. "In the relegation play-off with Gaeil Colmcille, the local soccer team was playing and four or five lads chose to play soccer instead. That meant that we didn't have most of our forward line and we paid the price and we comfortably beaten. "We were always playing catch up and we found scores hard to come by with the usual forward not being there. But I think some lads had got into their heads that we had gone down at that stage." While for many sides the drop down to Junior B would be greeted with a cry of disbelief, Sheridan stressed their relegation might not be the worst thing in the world for the club, as like two years ago, they will be able to compete with the best sides in the grade. "There was a bit of a mixed feeling in the camp as a lot of the lads didn't mind getting relegated and we saying that it wasn't the end of the world going down to junior B. Two years ago we won the Junior B and we had a great bit of craic in winning that so it might just be the same next year. "Winning any championship is great so hopefully we will be able to get back up. At the start of the year we will see what sort of attitude the lads have and I am sure we will be able to give it a right old shot at going back up. "There is plenty of talent coming up through the underage ranks and I still think that there is a bright future for the club. They got to an Under 15 final earlier in the year and according to reports, there are a couple of very talented footballers starting off with St Vincent's so if they progress as expected we will be a force one again." On first glance, St Vincent's stumbling off the junior stage seems like a backward step for the club. But next season could provide them with the confidence booster they need to re-emerge as a force in the junior championship. Tweet

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