St. Loman's suffered just two competitive defeats in 2002, but it still wasn't enough to see them dislodge Garrycastle as the top club in the county. Star midfielder Vinny Gavin isn't without hope, though. More than anyone, St. Loman's have reason to curse Garrycastle's emergence as the leading football club in the county. For it's likely that the promising Mullingar club would have ended their long wait for a senior championship success by now were it not for Martin McCabe's side. Over the past two years, St. Loman's have seen their championship dreams dashed at the penultimate round stage by their fierce Athlone rivals. In 2001, they lost after a replay; last year the width of the crossbar separated the teams. "They have been a real stumbling block for us," acknowledges St. Loman's star midfielder Vinny Gavin. "Garrycastle have become very strong over the past two years which we have found out to our cost. We have come very close to beating them, but this hasn't happened yet. I think we've a team that's good enough to win two or three championships, but we'll have to beat Garrycastle first," he adds. Under former Cavan and Sligo manager PJ Carroll, St. Loman's lost just two competitive games last season. But they still had to give second best to Garrycastle in the league and championship. There was some consolation to be gained late in the year, however, when they defeated championship finalists Castledaly by a point to retain the Feis Cup. "Retaining the Feis Cup was a big achievement," says Gavin, who is regarded by many as the best club player in the county. "It would have been terrible to finish the year empty-handed when you consider how consistent we were in all competitions. The only two games we lost were to Castledaly and Garrycastle in the championship. In the league, we won all our games with the exception of those against Castledaly, Tyrrellspass and Garrycastle which ended in draws." St. Loman's got their championship campaign off to the best possible start when they defeated 1999 champions Tyrrellspass by 0-14 to 0-12 on May 19. The Mullingar side appeared to be in serious trouble when they trailed by 0-0 to 0-4 early on, but inspired by Gavin, they battled back onto level terms, 0-6 each, at the interval. The sides remained locked together until Gavin and substitute Niall McGurran landed late points to give St. Loman's an excellent victory. PJ Carroll's side earned their second brace of points when the accounted for The Downs by 0-11 to 0-5 on June 10. With Kenny McKinley and Colin Whyte in fine scoring form, St. Loman's led by 0-6 to 0-2 at the break. The Downs reduced the deficit to three points on the restart, but the blue and whites never lost control with further scores from Gavin, Whyte and McKinley putting the seal on a comfortable win. St. Loman's should have made it three wins from three against Athlone two weeks later, but an injury-time goal from Neil Dolan earned the Shannonsiders a share of the spoils on a 1-12 to 3-6 scoreline. Goals from Paul Martin and Colin Whyte had propelled the Mullingar side into a 2-3 to 0-5 lead at half-time and when Niall McGurran added a third in the 39th minute, the game looked over as a contest. But Athlone refused to throw in the towel and snatched an unlikely draw with virtually the last kick of the game. In what was undoubtedly their poorest performance of the year, St. Loman's slumped to a 2-1 to 0-11 defeat to Castledaly in round four at Cusack Park. Even allowing for the fact that they were short a number of regulars, St. Loman's would still have been expected to rack up more than three scores. Castledaly led by 0-6 to 1-1 at the interval and, while Vinny Gavin scored a second St. Loman's goal following the change of ends, they never looked capable of making up the deficit. St. Loman's now needed to beat relegation-threatened Moate All-Whites in their final outing of the league section to be sure of qualification for the knockout stages. In the event, the Mullingar side had things very much their own way, running out comfortable 0-11 to 0-3 winners. Coralstown/Kinnegad provided the opposition for St. Loman's in the quarter-final on August 18. The blue and whites raced into a 0-5 to 0-2 lead, but a goal from Eamonn Fleming after 21 minutes brought Coralstown/Kinnegad back onto level terms. However, Kenny McKinley goaled for St. Loman's five minutes later to help them to a 1-6 to 1-3 lead at the break. The Mullingar side maintained their advantage in the second half to secure a 1-10 to 1-6 victory. St. Loman's title challenge was ended on September 1 when they succumbed to Garrycastle by 2-9 to 0-12 at Cusack Park. Goals from Gary Dolan and Justin McAteer helped the champions to a 2-4 to 0-7 interval lead, but St. Loman's stuck to their task and were desperately unlucky to see Kenny Lyons' piledriver smack off Cathal Mullin's crossbar eight minutes after the restart. That miss proved to be something of a turning point as Garrycastle regained their composure to book their place in the final. With their championship interests ended, St. Loman's turned their attention to retaining the Feis Cup. They once again qualified for the final where they renewed rivalries with Castledaly. The final was played at Castledaly on December 14 and, following a cracking contest, the town side triumphed by 0-11 to 1-7. Favoured by the breeze in the first half, St. Loman's took a 0-7 to 1-2 lead into the interval. A third quarter scoring burst, which yielded points from Gavin (two) and Whyte, had the visitors perched nicely on a 0-10 to 1-3 lead. When Castledaly fought back, Kieran Kilmurray replied with a point to restore St. Loman's three-point cushion. In the closing stages, JP Casey slotted over two frees, but St. Loman's held firm for the narrowest of victories. "That was one of the best games we were involved in last year. It's a pity it wasn't played a bit earlier in the year, though, when there would have been more interest shown in it," Gavin notes. 2002 was a quiet year on the underage front by St. Loman's high standards. The under 14s drew with St. Michael's in the 'premier' championship final, but the title was eventually awarded to the amalgamation side after St. Loman's claimed they had received no formal notification about the date of the replay. Following that disappointment, the team regrouped to claim the under 14 club title with a 2-7 to 1-4 victory over Athlone under lights at Tubberclair in December. Looking ahead to this year's championship, county panelist Gavin is convinced that St. Loman's have a panel strong enough to land the big prize. But he feels that the players will have to work harder than ever in order for that to happen. "We know ourselves that we are within touching distance. We have the players, but we're still looking for that little bit extra to take us over the finishing line. I think our big weakness last year was that we had a tendency to fade out of games. If we can get into the habit of playing for the full 60 minutes, we'll be much more difficult to beat," he concludes. Tweet

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