After a two-year sojourn in the intermediate football championship, St. Joseph's will be back operating at junior level in 2007. For 2004 junior championship winning captain Fergus McCormack, last year's relegation was a bitter pill to swallow, but he is nevertheless upbeat about the Streamstown club's chances of bouncing back in the coming season. Two years after they achieved promotion to the intermediate football championship for the first time, St. Joseph's slipped back to the junior ranks in 2006 after failing to register a win in any of their five championship outings. One draw and four defeats was scant reward for a team that lost two of their games by single-point margins. A crushing defeat to champions-elect Bunbrosna in their final group match confirmed their relegation back to the junior championship along with their illustrious neighbours Rosemount, who also surprisingly made the dreaded drop last season. "It was a hard one to take, especially as most of our football careers have been spent trying to get out of junior," laments St. Joseph's full back Darren McCormack, who captained the 2004 junior championship winning side. "It will be difficult to regroup, but the lads have done it before (won the junior championship) and they know exactly what's required. It's just a pity that we didn't hang in there at intermediate level for another year or two. We have a good few young players emerging at the moment and it would have been great for them if we had managed to stay up." After losing the 2000 and 2002 finals as well as the 2003 semi-final to Mullingar Shamrocks, the Streamstown/Horseleap outfit finally got their hands on the Hugh Daniels Cup three years ago following a dramatic 0-12 to 0-11 victory over St. Paul's in the junior final. In 2005, they preserved their intermediate status by virtue of a relegation play-off victory over Caulry, but they weren't so fortunate last year when injuries to key players contributed greatly to their demotion. "I thought we were very unlucky - if we had everyone fit I think it would have been a different story," McCormack says. "Because we've a small squad, we're not able to absorb injuries like other clubs can. We can't afford to be without anyone and last year the likes of Mark McCormack, Neil Keegan, Brendan Nannery and Darren McCormack were injured at various stages. "We lost two of our first three championship matches last year by a point and drew the other, and this later came back to haunt us. In our fourth game against Shandonagh, we collapsed in the second half and our confidence was gone by the time we played Bunbrosna in our last match," he adds. Under the management of former Offaly player Vinny Henry and his selectors Michael Lynam and Josie Boyle, St. Joseph's were desperately unlucky to lose to newly-promoted Ballinagore in their opening championship game at Castletown-Geoghegan. Ballinagore triumphed by 0-9 to 1-5, but the green and golds almost snatched a share of the spoils when former county goalkeeper Aidan Lennon's later 45 came back off the upright. The sides were level on 1-2 to 0-5 at half-time with Brendan Slevin scoring the St. Joseph's goal after Ballinagore had raced into an early three-point lead. Full back Brendan Nannery, who was having a great tussle with his Westmeath colleague Michael Ennis, gave St. Joseph's the lead for the first time when he converted a long-range free early in the second half, only for Ballinagore to regain the lead with points from Eoin Miller, Cathal Ennis and Michael Ennis. Ronan McDonnell reduced the deficit to the minimum before Lennon was denied at the death by the woodwork. Against Ballynacargy in their next outing, St. Joseph's had to settle for a draw after leading by seven points just after half-time. Inspired by midfielder Declan Nannery, the Streamstown men held a six-point advantage (2-4 to 0-4) at the interval after Nannery and Ronan McDonnell had both found the net. When Nannery extended St. Joseph's lead to seven points early in the second half, it seemed as though Vinny Henry's side were heading for an easy victory. But they could only manage two further points per Aidan Lennon and McDonnell as Denis O'Mahony's goal kick-started the Ballynacargy fight back. St. Joseph's were still a point up after goalkeeper Andrew Meares saved a 58th minute penalty from Daniel Keena, but in the fourth minute of injury-time, Dwayne Maher made it 1-10 to 2-7 when he pointed a 50-metre free after Ballynacargy full back Paul McDonnell had been needlessly fouled. There was further despair for St. Joseph's when they succumbed to their second one-point defeat to Moate All-Whites at Pairc Chiarain in Athlone. A splendid contest saw Moate open up a 0-6 to 0-2 lead by the 11th minute and they were 0-9 to 0-6 ahead after 21 minutes. Alan Claffey then scored a goal to stretch Moate's lead and they were seven points to the good, 1-10 to 0-6, at half-time. The switch of midfielder Andrew McCormack to full forward proved a masterstroke on the part of St. Joseph's, who started the second half with four unanswered points per Declan Nannery (two), David McKnight and McCormack. However, Moate had restored their seven-point advantage before St. Joseph's were thrown a lifeline when Nannery converted a penalty. Deep in injury-time, Aidan Lennon and Alan McCormack combined to set up Brendan Nannery for a second goal which left the minimum between the sides. However, as the St. Joseph's players celebrated in the belief that they could salvage something from the game, the final whistle sounded leaving Moate very relieved to have held on for a 1-16 to 2-12 victory. Vinny Henry's charges suffered another setback when they lost to Shandonagh by 0-9 to 3-9 at Moate's Hogan Park. The losers started brightly and were 0-4 to 0-2 in front at the end of the opening quarter. Philip Smith's 25th minute goal gave Shandonagh the lead, but St. Joseph's responded with four unanswered points from Declan Nannery (two), Aidan Lennon and Pauric Moran to take a 0-8 to 1-3 lead into the break. Within seven minutes of the restart, however, Shandonagh had taken a three-point lead thanks to points from Smith and Cormac Davey, and a goal from Michael Boyle. The margin was still the same entering the final quarter, but Shandonagh finished strongly with sub Eddie Gallagher's late goal being followed by points from Alan Hickey and David Duffy. St. Joseph's meeting with Bunbrosna was a game they simply had to win to avoid relegation. But they got off to the worst possible start when Finian Newman and Peter Tormey combined to release Kieran Brennan for the opening goal inside 90 seconds. Aidan Lennon replied with a pointed free for St. Joseph's, but they never posed a threat after Peter Tormey grabbed Bun's second goal in the 14th minute. Further majors from Brennan and Tormey left the blue and whites sitting pretty on a 4-4 to 0-4 interval lead. The play was even more lop-sided in the second half with the likes of Tormey, Padraig Tighe and Brennan doing as they pleased. Tighe helped himself to 2-4, while former county minor Brennan completed his hat-trick before the end as Bunbrosna ran out emphatic 7-14 to 0-6 winners, and in doing so, sent a totally demoralised St. Joseph's through the relegation trapdoor. In recent years, St. Joseph's have formed a successful alliance with Kilbeggan Shamrocks at underage level and last December, the neighbouring clubs teamed up to capture the under 16 club championship Division 3 (13-a-side) title at the expense of St. Malachy's/Ballinagore. After a keenly contested opening quarter, Kilbeggan/St. Joseph's gained the upper hand and had opened up a four-point lead before a Danny Gardiner goal eased them into a 1-8 to 0-3 interval lead. St. Malachy's/Ballinagore matched their opponents in the early stages of the second half, but the result was never in doubt with Kilbeggan/St. Joseph's extending their advantage to 10 points before a late rally by the losers left a seven-point margin, 1-16 to 0-12, at the finish. Despite last season's disappointment, McCormack is convinced that St. Joseph's have the ability and character to bounce back. "Our objective is to win the junior championship this year and I can see no reason why this can't be achieved. Rosemount will be most people's fancy to go straight back up and you can be sure that the likes of Milltown and St. Paul's will also be in the shake-up. But we think we have as good a chance as anyone," he concludes on a positive note. The Kilbeggan/St/ Joseph's team that captured the under 16 club championship Division 3 crown was: David Carr; Brian Fitzgerald, Hugh Peter Murray; Pauric Ennis, Peter Lynch, Craig Arthurs; David Keenan, Malachy Lynam; Cathal Johnson, Simon O'Neill, Pauric Deegan; Don Scally, Danny Gardiner. Sub used: Tadhg O'Gorman. Tweet

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