Loughnavalley's failure to make an impact on the junior championship for a second successive year gives credence to the belief that their success in 2001 was a flash in the pan. But midfielder Bobby Elliffe is confident that their recent problems can be overcome in the season ahead. When Loughnavalley captured the Junior Cup for the first time in their history at the tail end of 2001, a strong hope existed that the success would be a precursor for a championship breakthrough. In the same year, the 'Valley won five championship matches and were only denied a semi-final place by virtue of a play-off defeat to Milltown. But since then, they have failed to make any sort of an impact which has inevitably led to suggestions that the success of three years seasons ago was a flash in the pan. "It's frustrating to think that we haven't built on the progress we made in 2001," says midfielder and 1999 All-Ireland under 21 medalist Bobby Elliffe. "We had high hopes after winning the Junior Cup, but we've had nothing but disappointment since then. People are bound to be thinking that 2001 was a fluke, but we know that we're a better team that we've shown in the past two years and we hope to prove that in the year ahead." Loughnavalley recorded just two wins from eight championship outings last year and Elliffe attributes their poor form to the unavailability of key players and problems relating to the team management. "We were severely weakened by the absence of Paddy Kelly, Sean Ruane and Darren Rigney who spent the summer in America," he explains. "They are three of our best players and we simply couldn't afford to be without them. We only have a panel of 24 or 25 and we need everyone to have any chance of making progress. "We also had problems with trainers - we had two that didn't stay with us very long - and our fitness wasn't up to scratch as a result. Had we being fully fit, it's quite possible that we would have ended up with five wins rather than two which would have been good enough to put us through to the knock-out stages." The green and golds opened their championship campaign on April 11 with a 0-5 to 0-3 win over Delvin. The victory was achieved despite the fact that Loughnavalley had full back Colm Ruane sent off and also lost Packie Donoghue through injury. Against Ballycomoyle in their second game, the 'Valley squandered many chances before succumbing to a 1-6 to 0-12 defeat. Ken Daly scored a first half goal, but they still trailed by 0-5 to 1-1 at the interval. Darren Rigney kept the losers in touch with four second half points, but his heroics weren't enough to save them from defeat. Loughnavalley's hopes suffered another setback when they lost to St. Paul's by 0-10 to 0-4. They looked set to regain winning ways when they held a 0-6 to 0-3 interval lead against St. Loman's in their fourth outing, only for the Mullingar side to storm back in the second half and secure a 1-6 to 0-7 victory. Eventual champions Milltown inflicted a fourth straight defeat on the 'Valley on June 22 when they recorded a 2-6 to 1-6 victory. The losers got off to the best possible start with an early point from Patrick Kelly being followed by a goal from his brother Peter. As the half drew to a close, however, Milltown scored a penalty to leave the minimum between the sides at the break. Following the restart, Milltown outscored Loughnavalley by 1-4 to 0-3 to effectively kill off their hopes of reaching the knock-out stages. Loughnavalley's losing streak was ended on June 27 when a goal just before half-time by new recruit Willie Ahearn put them on the road to a 1-9 to 0-7 victory over St. Fintan's/Multyfarnham. Ahearn's goal gave them a 1-4 to 0-3 lead at the interval and they maintained their grip on the game with second half points from Bobby Elliffe, John Quinn and Gerry Kelly. A most unsatisfactory campaign ended with defeats to St. Joseph's (1-7 to 1-13) and Mullingar Shamrocks (1-15 to 1-6). In the latter game, the 'Valley led by 1-3 to 0-4 at half-time thanks to a Gerry Kenny goal, but as was the case in a number of their previous outings, they faded badly in the second half. "Our big weakness last year was that we didn't have the fitness to last 60 minutes," acknowledges Elliffe, whose parents Billy and Anne are chairman and secretary respectively of Loughnavalley. "We were well in contention at half-time in most of our games, but generally ran out of steam in the second half. If we had the fitness, I'm convinced we would have beaten Milltown, St. Loman's and Ballycomoyle." Loughnavalley's league form was considerably better, albeit against weaker opposition. "We finished as runners-up to St. Malachy's in Division 6 which wasn't a bad achievement. But we should really be aiming to get out of that division in the year ahead because most of the teams we're playing against are clubs' second and third string teams. The stronger junior clubs are playing in Division 4 and we need to be operating at that level." The future looks bright for Loughnavalley if the achievements of the local St. Baoithin's National School are anything to go by. In 2001, they were crowned Cumann na mBunscol Boys 2 and 3 Teacher 7-a-side winners and last June they regained the title with a 5-11 to 6-5 victory over Horseleap National School at Cusack Park. At the end of a wonderfully entertaining first half, the sides were level on 4-4 apiece. The goals dried up somewhat in the second half, but Fionn O'Donohue did manage to add a fifth for Loughnavalley to help them to a deserving victory. "It's great to see St. Baoithin's doing so well. We 're producing a lot of good young players, but unfortunately there's not enough of them for the club to sustain an underage section. Hopefully we'll be able to field our own underage teams in the future, but for the time being our young players will continue to play with St. Malachy's/Ballinagore." Last year also saw the formation of the St. Baoithin's ladies football club in Loughnavalley. The new club fielded teams at under 14 and junior level and, judging by the interest shown so far, looks set to have a long and bright future. Granard man Jimmy Brady has been appointed manager of the junior football team for the coming year and Elliffe is confident that he will oversee an improvement in their fortunes. "Jimmy is totally committed to Loughnavalley for 2004 and that can only be a good thing for the club. He did well when he was in charge of Bunbrosna a few years ago and hopefully he'll have similar success with us. Our two main aims are to qualify for the knock-out stages of the championship and to get promotion from Division 6 of the league," he concludes. The St. Baoithin's NS team which reaped Cumann na mBunscol honours was: Brendan Keegan, Craig Lowndes, Edward Elliffe, Fionn O'Donoghue, John Heslin, Paul Newman, Orla Glennon. Rest of panel: Denise Clarke, Conor O'Donohue, Amy Gogarty, Shauna Keenan, Ryan Crowley-Lucas, Niall Gunning, Faolan O'Brien, Laura Elliffe, Sarah Gunning. Tweet

Most Read Stories