St. Brigid's may have endured another difficult year at intermediate level, but the club's success at underage bodes well for the future according to new chairman Eamonn Gallagher. For a club which came close to folding a few years ago, St. Brigid's have shown remarkable resilience to turn things around. In 2002, the Dalystown outfit enjoyed one of their best ever years at underage level by achieving a treble of championship successes. Last season wasn't as successful, but they still finished the year as minor 'B' champions. And the under 12s just failed in their bid to put county 'B' titles back-to-back. "Overall, it was another good year for us at juvenile level," says new chairman Eamonn Gallagher. "Not so long ago we were struggling badly at every level, but the recent underage successes have given us plenty of hope for the future. We're still struggling a bit at adult level, but if the underage teams can keep winning, I'd expect that to change." Gallagher, who was an integral member of the Westmeath senior team which almost achieved a major breakthrough in the 1980s, attributes St. Brigid's recent underage revival to an intensive coaching programme undertaken by the club. "It's no surprise that we have come good at underage level, albeit in the 'B' competitions," he remarks. "There has been a huge effort put into the coaching side of things and in this regard, the likes of Mossie Slevin, Joe Quinn, Mick Flanagan, Nollaig McEntaggert, Jimmy Gallagher, Marius Gavin and Jimmy Keegan have done trojan work. "Without them, the club would have gone belly-up a long time ago. We are also appreciative of the support we have received from parents - they have saved us a lot of money by providing transport to and from matches," he adds. Backboned by players who had tasted success at under 16 level in 2002, St. Brigid's captured the minor 'B' (13-a-side) title following a 5-7 to 2-7 victory over Brownstown at Cullion on October 26. In a game which saw both teams reduced to 12 players, the Saffrons fell behind to an early Daniel Smith goal. But they recovered impressively from that setback with goals from Drew Morgan, Andy Devine and Robbie Kenny helping them to establish a 3-3 to 1-2 lead at the interval. On the restart, Brownstown reduced the deficit with points from Smith and Graham Dillon, but with Dermot Faulkner in inspired form at centre back, St. Brigid's wasted little time in regaining the initiative. After Michael Maloney and Morgan posted points, Kenny scored his side's fourth goal to effectively end the game as a contest. David Glennon followed up with another major for St. Brigid's before Kenny Higgins managed a late consolation goal for the losers. The minor success atoned for the disappointment of the under 12 team's defeat to Raharney in their county final four weeks earlier. After accounting for Turin and St. Oliver Plunkett's in the earlier rounds, St. Brigid's lost out to the Deelsiders on a 2-2 to 0-5 scoreline. The signs looked encouraging for the holders at half-time when points from Conor Slevin and Brendan Keegan gave them a 0-2 to 0-0 lead. Early in the second half, Pual Carey increased their lead, only for Paul Coyle to reply with an equalizing goal for Raharney. Sean Deegan edged St. Brigid's back in front before Gary Greville grabbed Raharney's second goal to give them the lead for the first time. The Saffrons tried desperately to find a way back, but some heroic goalkeeper by Michael Boyle kept them at bay. In contrast to the underage teams, success never looked likely for the St. Brigid's intermediate team in 2002. In fact, they recorded just one championship win for the second year in succession. The tone for the year was set when they lost to Cullion by 0-5 to 0-11 in their opening game. After succumbing to Southern Gaels in their second outing, St. Brigid's received a much-needed boost when they got the better of Turin by 1-10 to 1-9. However, they failed to build on that victory, losing their remaining games to Lough Lene Gaels, Delvin and Crookedwood. Despite last year's poor showing, Gallagher - who is still going strong for the intermediates at the age of 43 - is optimistic about the future. "We were very disappointed with last year's effort, but the one thing I will say is that the team is very young and can only get better. Our big problem at the moment is that we don't have enough players between the ages of 20 and 30. Most of them are still in their teens and the rest of us are the wrong side of 30," Gallagher explains. With key players such as Michael Carley, Pat Hayes and Maurice Molloy all bowing out after last year's campaign, Eamonn admits that a great deal of responsibility will be placed on St. Brigid's young brigade in the coming season. "It's asking a lot of the younger lads to show more leadership than they are already showing, but I would have a lot of confidence in them," he says. "The likes of Seamus and Dermot Faulkner, Philip Sheridan, Thomas and Mick Geraghty and Thomas Giles have proven themselves to be excellent leaders at underage level and now they must do the same for the intermediate team. "Even though we were poor last year, I'm convinced that we are good enough to reach the knock-out stages. When we get to a semi-final or final, we are generally very difficult to beat, but getting there is often the hardest part." A former goalkeeper with the Tyrrellspass footballers, Gallagher is regarded as one of St. Brigid's greatest players. He was a regular at corner forward on the county team from 1981 to '90, during which time Westmeath defeated some of the major powers in the game. Since retiring from the inter-county scene, he has trained a number of clubs, including Brownstown, Ringtown and Turin. However, he has always remained loyal to St. Brigid's and nothing would give him more pleasure than to finish his playing career with the Dalystown club back in the senior grade. The St. Brigid's team which captured the minor 'B' championship crown was: David Wright; Shane Gleeson, John Peppard; Michael Malone, Dermot Faulkner, Aaron Gavin; Trevor John Gonoud, Thomas Geraghty; James Troy, Drew Morgan, Robbie Kenny; David Glennon, Andy Devine. Subs used: Darragh O'Connor and Paul Kehoe. The under 12 team which contested the county 'B' final against Raharney was: Niall Brady; Cathal Coyle, Stephen Quinn, Ronan Flanagan; Brendan Keegan, Sean Deegan, Jake Byrne; Kevin Loughrey, Paul Carey; Barry Murtagh, Eoin Gorman, Jimmy Gonoud; Conor Slevin, Cathal Coyne, Paul Rabbitte. Sub used: Ben Gavin. Tweet

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