Minors lift title
April 01, 2010However, long serving clubman Ned Flynn stressed that the year was far from a disaster and the list of honours obtained in 2009 backs this up. Success in division 3 and 7 of the adult leagues was added to by their minors, who are joined with neighbours Ballycomoyle at underage level and together as St Michael's they won the division three championship.
The majority of clubs in the country would be delighted with such a haul and Ned admits that it shows that the North Westmeath outfit are heading in the right direction.
"Last year was a major improvement for the club as a whole and to finish the year with so many honours is quite satisfying and shows that the hard work at all levels is paying off," said Ned.
"Of course, losing another intermediate semi final was very disappointing, but it is still a young enough team and they can certainly bounce back this year."
The success of the minors is the culmination of a few years hard work as both Finea and Ballycomoyle have placed a greater emphasis on promoting the underage in the locality, something that is not always easy to do.
"It can be very difficult to find nights to coach these young lads as most would be playing hurling with three different clubs Castlepollard, Ringtown and even Lough Lene Gaels. There just aren't enough nights in the week and you can't expect them to be out every night."
Despite the difficulty of training Ned along with Gerry Coyne, Johnny Corrigan, John Smith and Andy McKeown helped guide the minors to success over Bunbrosna in the final.
Played in mid November, the players were always going to have to deal with wintry conditions and that was the case here, but in fairness to the St Michael's lads, they made light work of the weather.
The amalgamation outfit lead from start to finish and they went in half time leading by 1-4 to 0-2 with the goal coming from the left boot of Tommy Doyle.
Bunbrosna fought back early in the second half to reduce the gap to three-points but a goal soon after by Mark Coyne put some daylight between the sides once again.
The blue and whites responded immediately with a goal of their own and this match looked set to go down to the wire. The impressive Stephen Boylan was kicking St Michael's in front with some fine scores as Bun were doing their best to stay in touch.
A second goal by Doyle left six points between the sides as the game entered the final quarter; Bun came back once again and got their second goal of the match with three minutes remaining, but a second from Coyne ensured the victory for St Michael's on a scoreline of 4-6 to 2-8.
"It was brilliant for the lads to win the minor title. The two clubs get on very well together and there are quite a number of people there that are willing to put the work in to make sure that all the teams are catered for.
"We also reached the under-16 league final, but we lost to Moate in a game that maybe we should have won. I'm not making excuses but we were missing two of our best players that day and they were a huge loss.
"The work is being done now and that is great to see. We are joined with Ballycomoyle from under-12 to minor and one man that has given a lot of time and effort to this is Dermot McKenna."
Under the guidance of Tom Keague, Ray Dobson and Declan Cahill last year, Finea powered their way to the division three league title and Ned admits that playing in division two this year will help their cause in the championship.
"I feel as an intermediate team, you need to be in division two of the league, where the majority of teams in the grade are along with some senior clubs."
This year Finea have turned to former Granard and Dromard trainer Enda Macken to try and guide them to the intermediate title and he will be ably assisted by Des Doolin and Declan Cahill.
There cause will be helped by the fact that five of last year's squad were or are involved with the Westmeath senior football panel and Ned admits that is a good reflection on the club.
"It is a great honour for the club to have so many involved with the county. It shows a true reflection of the work that is being done here. We will be hoping that can help us push on this year and we're hoping it will be another big year for the club."
Off the field, the club have been busy developing their grounds and they now have added ball catchers and dugouts to the dressingrooms that were built a couple of years ago.
"We have been making progress on that front also and we're delighted with the work that has been done. The next target is to erect fencing around the pitch and I must say that our chairman Frank Sheridan deserves great credit for the work that he has done."
For the record the St Michael's minor team that lifted the title was as follows: Shane Moran; Aaron Leahy, Stephen Sullivan; David Higgins, Shane Fagan, Robert Cooney; Glen Flynn, Mark Coyne (2-0); Aidan Daniels, Stephen Boylan (0-3), Alan Fitzsimons; Kenny Lord (0-2, 0-1 from a free), Tommy Doyle (2-1). Subs: Paddy Cheevers (for Lord, 43 mins), Michael Connors (for Cooney, 49 mins), Emmet Corrigan (for Sullivan, 57 mins). Tweet
