The tradition of winning at college level has started to spread around the county and the 2006/'07 school year brought joy to more than just Navan and Oldcastle, as success visited Gormanston, Dunboyne and the large Meath contingent in Drogheda. Franciscan College, Gormanston (North Leinster SF A League Winners) While they may not be one of the more renowned names in Leinster College football circles, Franciscan College, Gormanston failed to let their 13 year barren spell without success in the grade impede their winning run in the North Leinster SF A League which culminated in a minimum margin, 2-12 to 0-17, defeat of St Mel's, Longford in an enthralling decider. The winning outfit comprised of nine players who play their club football with sides in Meath and it was one such player who made the most significant impact as Seneschalstown's Mark Morgan signalled his arrival to the action by netting the all important goal in the closing stages. Gormanston began the tie much brighter than their illustrious opponents and at the end of the opening quarter they had established a 0-5 to 0-1 lead courtesy of a brace of Barry Flanagan points and similar scores from Kevin and Eoin Whyte and Stephen Dervan. However, St Mel's soon accelerated into top gear and dominated the remainder of the half, with their 0-10 to 0-7 interval lead indicating their control of that spell and in truth it could have been worse for Gormanstown as 'keeper Donal O'Sullivan produced a fine save from a 21st minute penalty to condense the damage. Facing the prospect of playing into a strong wind after the resumption, Gormanston looked to be in a spot of bother at the break and early Michael Quinn points compounded their woes but full-forward Barry Flanagan handed his side a lifeline when he punched to the net following a long delivery from Stephen Rowley which reduced the deficit to the minimum. Then with under five minutes remaining John Levins gathered a kickout at midfield but a late tackle from his opposite number David Faughan was enough to yield a second yellow card for the Longford lad. From the resultant free, Dervan was found and he raced through on goal before offloading to Morgan who sent the Gormanston following into raptures by netting in clinical fashion to poke his side's noses in front. There was still time for Eoin Whyte to add to Gormanston's tally and St Mel's Denis McGoldrick to cut the deficit back to the minimum with a late point but the seasiders had done enough to claim their first success at senior colleges level since 1994. The Franciscan College, Gormanston team that edged out St Mel's, Longford to claim the North Leinster SF A League title was as follows: D. O'Sullivan; M. Eagleton (St Colmcille's), P. Butterly, L. O'Sullivan (St Colmcille's); S. Brennan (Simonstown), D. Rooney, M. Battersby (Curraha); J. Levins (St Colmcille's), D. Carrick; K. Whyte (0-1), C. Mullen (St Colmcille's), D. Ryan (0-1) (Skryne); E. Whyte (0-2), B. Flanagan (1-3), S. Dervan (0-2) (Donaghmore/Ashbourne). Subs - S. Rowley (0-2) for K. Whyte, C. Lenehan (Skryne) for Brennan, M. Morgan (Seneschalstown) (1-0) for D. Carrick. St. Peter's, Dunboyne (North Leinster SF B League Winners) There was some early season silverware for St Peter's, Dunboyne to celebrate as they captured the North Leinster Schools' SF B League title in emphatic fashion at the expense of Colaiste Choilm, Tullamore. St Brigid's ground in Blanchardstown was the venue for the decider which was played in typical mid-January weather but the atrocious conditions beared no barrier to the Dunboyne school who ran out comprehensive 2-9 to 0-4 winners. The school had shown a steady progression in the colleges scene in the previous couple of years and after winning Leinster Vocational Schools titles at both Under 16 and minor level in 2006, the triumph over Colaiste Choilm marked a steady development for St Peter's. After seeing off the attentions of Clane, Kilcock and Mullingar in the qualifying phase of the competition, St Peter's were pitted against Kells CS in the quarter-final and a cosy victory there set up a date with St Mary's, Edenderry at the penultimate hurdle. The Offaly school provided stiff opposition for their Meath counterparts and it was only in the latter stages of the encounter that St Peter's managed to pull away and ran out narrow winners in an exciting encounter. That tussle proved the perfect preparation for St Peter's as they entered the decider in buoyant mood and a workmanlike opening period display formed the foundations for a relatively comfortable victory. An early Niall McWilliams goal accompanied by points from Michael Convey, Danny Ennis, Robbie Wall and Craig Berrigan propelled St Peter's into a 1-4 to 0-2 interval advantage, a lead they never subsequently relinquished. Marc Convey and Alan Nestor defended tenaciously during that half hour and their ability to snuff out Colaiste Choilm attacks was one of the key components behind the five-point lead at the change of ends. With the assistance of a stiff breeze in the second half, St Peter's took little time to regain the initiative and an early Michael O'Grady point set the tone for the remainder of the tie with Nestor and Robbie Wall swiftly following with similar efforts. There were a number of noteworthy performances that led to St Peter's second half supremacy not least 'keeper Padraig Curran who was very safe under a number of high balls that were lofted in his direction, while Mick Convey and Wall also demonstrated their aerial ability with some fine fetches at midfield. The introduction of David Glen also boosted St Peter's and he put a sheen of gloss onto the scoreline by netting in the latter stages to stretch his side's winning margin to eleven points at the final whistle. The St Peter's, Dunboyne team that defeated Colaiste Choilm, Tullamore in the North Leinster Schools SF B League decider - P. Curran; B. Fahey, P. Kelly, Marc Convey; D. Blain, A. Nestor (0-1), M. O'Grady (0-1); Michael Convey (0-2), R. Wall (0-2); E. Dolan, C. Berrigan (0-1), N. McWilliams (1-0); D. Ennis (0-1), D. O'Brien (0-1), R. Keany. Subs - K. Gilligan for Keany, D. Glen (1-0) for Ennis, D. White for Marc Convey, A. Jackman for Fahy. St Oliver's, Drogheda (Leinster VS SFC A Winners) Although there was no All-Ireland glory to gift-wrap a memorable year for St Oliver's, Drogheda, the Louth school were crowned provincial kingpins after disposing of Tullow CS with the aid of extra-time in the Leinster VS SFC decider at O'Connor Park, Tullamore in March. The winning outfit comprised of six Meath players and it was Bellewstown's Mark Collins who grabbed the crucial score when he netted from a penalty in the opening minute of extra-time. The sides had been deadlocked at the end of an exhilarating sixty minutes with the board reading 0-8 apiece but a Collins strike at the beginning of the additional periods swayed the tie in St Oliver's favour and they managed to maintain that slender advantage for the rest of the tie to run out 1-9 to 0-11 victors. It was the form of Collins that had kept St Oliver's in touch with their opponents as his accuracy from placed balls ensured that Tullow were unable to establish a match winning lead and his goal in extra-time proved too tough an ask for Tullow to recover from. This slender success set up an All-Ireland semi-final meeting with Davitt College, Castlebar at Ballinasloe and on this occasion St Oliver's had more in hand and turned in a most impressive display accounting for the Mayo based school on a scoreline of 1-12 to 1-8. Collins was once again his side's most potent attacking threat and he registered a personal tally of eight points while Duleek's Daniel Martin also turned in an impressive display and managed to get himself on the scoresheet. It was in the opening period where St Oliver's inflicted most of the damage on their opponents and a Ronan Holcroft goal early in the action boosted St Oliver's to a 1-8 to 0-4 lead at the break and although Davitt College did stage a mini second half revival, the Drogheda school did enough to book their ticket to the decider for the first time. To reach an All-Ireland final for the first time was a remarkable feat for the Drogheda school but the magnitude of the occasion seemed to have a negative effect on the players as the trip to Clones to take on Viriginia College proved a fruitless experience. A brace of Ronan Holcroft goals did generate some hope among St Oliver's supporters but those majors only succeeded in prolonging the agony for the Wee County school as they were no match for their Cavan counterparts who ran out comfortable winners on a scoreline of 4-10 to 2-5. The St Oliver's, Drogheda side that lost out to Virginia College in the All-Ireland Vocational Schools SFC decider was as follows: A. Everard; G. Murray, B. Campbell, C. Brodigan; D. Whyte, J. Martin, S. Barnett; R. Kearney, C. Lynch (0-1); P. Collins, D. Martin (0-1), K. Farnan; B. Caffrey, M. Collins (0-3), R. Holcroft (2-0). Subs - A. Comerford for Caffrey, B. McDonnell for Farnan, J. Flaherty for Barnett, P. Clarke for Kearney, S. Murphy for Campbell. St Patrick's, Navan (North Leinster Juvenile Football 'A' Winners) While the general trend among teams in St Patrick's CS, Navan is to show a steady progression through the age groups before making an impact at senior level, this years juvenile footballers altered that tendency by capturing the North Leinster Colleges Juvenile A title with a narrow victory over old adversaries St Mel's. With the Longford school usually holding the upper hand over St Pat's at juvenile level, the 3-4 to 2-5 victory marked a welcome change in fortune for the Navan side who were deserved winners at St Loman's Park, Mullingar in mid-February. Stefan McDonnell was main factor behind the success as he registered all but two points of his side's final tally with his two gaols in the opening period ensuring that St Pat's were on level terms at the break, 2-2 apiece. St Mel's looked to be gaining a stranglehold on the tie when they pointed twice on the resumption but another McDonnell goal midway through the second half saw St Pat's establish a slender lead and with Alan Forde, James Halpin and Liam Burke in particularly impressive form, they managed to resist a late rally from their opponents to claim the silverware. The passage to that decider proved a fairly straightforward assignment as a 11-9 to 7-4 defeat of Marist, Athlone paved the way for their last four date with Athlone CC which they comfortable disposed of on a 4-9 to 1-10 scoreline. After stringing such results together, a Leinster title looked to be in the offing but the provincial decider provided a stiff test with Patrician College, Newbridge also impressing en-route to the clash and it was the Kildare side that took the honours after extra-time. A 6-13 to 7-5 scoreline indicated the excitement of the fare and St Pat's were highly unfortunate not to land the spoils as their opponents needed a last gasp point from Adam Tyrell to tie the scores at the end of the sixty minutes play with the board reading 3-11 to 5-5. As in earlier outings, McDonnell was again the star performer for St Pat's, accumulating a personal tally of 4-3 and was a clear cut winner of the ''played too well to be on the losing side'' accolade. Ray Mooney's charges had to swallow a bitter pill midway through the second half when Fiachra McEntee was dismissed but St Pat's failed to let their numerical disadvantage hinder them and they put in a spirited second half showing to almost carve out an unlikely victory. But that effort had a knock-on effect in the additional periods and St Pat's seem to run out of gas in the 20 minute spell with St Mel's being able to establish a five-point lead at the end of the 80 minutes. The St Patrick's, Navan team that edged out St Mel's, Longford to claim the North Leinster Juvenile A title: J.P. Kennelly; N. O'Mahony, C. Sheridan, R. Gore; N. Coughlan, J. Halpin, A. Forde; C. Fitzsimons, M. O'Brien; K. Reilly, L. Burke, F. McEntee; M. Fitzpatrick (0-1), S. McDonnell (3-2), D. Callan (0-1). Tweet

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