For the third successive year, Brownstown narrowly avoided relegation to the intermediate grade. Club chairman Paddy Melligan believes that things can only improve in the year ahead. The hurlers of Brownstown are fast becoming known as the supreme escapologists of the Westmeath senior hurling championship. Having retained their senior status at the expense of St. Oliver Plunkett's and Ringtown in 1999 and 2000 respectively, the once mighty blue and whites performed another Houdini-like escape last season by defeating St. Brigid's in a tension-filled relegation play-off. While Brownstown will be relieved to have consolidated their position among the county's hurling elite, they will, at the same time, realise that they cannot continue dicing with relegation. Last year, the Archerstown-based outfit proved the whipping boys of Division 1 of the senior championship, losing all three of their games to Castletown-Geoghegan, Castlepollard and Clonkill. Their failure to pick up any championship points condemned them to a relegation play-off meeting with St. Brigid's. In the event, Brownstown triumphed by six points and it was the Dalystown side who made the drop instead. "We were very relieved to have stayed up," says Brownstown chairman Paddy Melligan. "We have been living dangerously over the past number of years and last year was no different. We're stuck in a rut at the moment and not until greater commitment is given to training will we get out of it," he adds. Brownstown had hoped that the years of struggle were behind them as they geared up for last season's campaign. The appointment of the high-profile Gerry Kirwan as manager, coupled with the under 21 'B' championship success of the previous year, seemed to suggest that Brownstown could turn over a new leaf. Training was well attended in the early part of the year but then the foot-and-mouth crisis put the brakes on everything. "The foot-and-mouth scare was the worse thing that could have happened to us," Paddy opines. "Gerry Kirwan had been getting a good response from everyone until that happened. Training was postponed for a few weeks but when it resumed, the attendances were well down and Gerry wasn't prepared to put up with that." Kirwan had departed the scene before Brownstown opened their championship campaign against Castlepollard. Johnny Murphy and Seamus Reilly took over the training duties but weren't able to prevent the blue and whites from enduring another disappointing season. "Johnny and Seamus were fully committed but unfortunately, the same cannot be said for all the players. It's a problem we've had at this club for the past seven or eight years and we've almost been relegated because of it. "We have a lot of players based away from home but I wouldn't like to use that as an excuse. Other clubs are in a similar situation and it hasn't stopped them from doing well." The tone for the season was set when Brownstown lost to Castlepollard by 1-14 to 0-9 in their championship opener on May 27. The writing was on the wall for the Meath-border outfit at the end of the first quarter when they trailed by 0-0 to 0-4. Veteran Pat Clancy eventually got Brownstown off the mark but they were 0-4 to 0-7 in arrears at the interval. Whatever hopes Brownstown had of clawing back the deficit were effectively dashed seven minutes after the restart when Kevin Brazil scored the only goal. Johnny McGuinness, Ollie Henry, Dara Brady and Clancy managed further points for Brownstown but they could have few complaints about the final outcome. The blue and whites slumped to their second defeat on June 19 at Clonkill when they succumbed to Castletown-Geoghegan on a 1-5 to 2-8 scoreline. Played in a downpour, this game always looked like going Castletown's way. Goals from Alan Mangan and Keith Gorry were hammerblows from which Brownstown never recovered. The dreaded relegation play-off became a reality for Brownstown following their 2-7 to 1-19 defeat to Clonkill in their final group game. The county champions-elect had built up a decent lead early on but Brownstown stuck to their task and were just two points adrift, 1-5 to 1-7, early in the second half. However, Clonkill upped the tempo thereafter to run out comfortable winners. Brownstown's reliance on Pat Clancy for scores was never more in evidence than in this game. The former county star accounted for all but one point of his side's tally. Brownstown were pitted against St. Brigid's in the relegation play-off on July 13. Like Brownstown, St. Brigid's had failed to garner any points from their three outings in Division 2. A real dogfight was in prospect. The north county side enjoyed the better of the first half exchanges with a goal from Eamonn Murphy helping them to establish a 1-7 to 0-4 lead at the interval. On the restart, Michael Carley scored a goal to bring the Dalystown men back into contention. Only three points separated the teams with less than a quarter of an hour remaining but Brownstown had the stronger finish. Pat Clancy, Barry Davis and Clancy again tagged on scores to give the blue and whites a 1-12 to 1-6 victory and ensure them of senior status for another year. Despite their failure to win a game in the group stages of the championship, Melligan takes comfort from the fact that Brownstown weren't overrun by any team. "The one good thing that came out of the year was that we were reasonably competitive in all of our games. None of our opponents can say that they had it all their own way against us in what was a very tough group. In saying that, a club of our tradition should be aiming much higher." Brownstown didn't have much to shout about at underage level either, although the minors did contest the 'B' championship final against Delvin. Played at Archerstown on December 2, the final was evenly contested until the final quarter when Delvin found an extra gear. First half goals from David Dolan and Mark Smith had ensured that Brownstown had everything to play for at half-time. Three points divided the sides at the end of the third quarter but Delvin finished powerfully to run out winners on a 4-9 to 2-4 scoreline. Looking ahead to this year's senior championship, Melligan is of the opinion that things can only get better for Brownstown. He takes encouragement from the young talent Brownstown has at its disposal and Clonmellon's growing population, which he hopes the club can tap in to. "While we still have a long way to go before we can get back to the stage we were at 10 or 15 years ago, I think the outlook is good. We have quite a few nice young players coming through and hopefully we can get a few more out of Clonmellon which is growing all the time. "We're just about hanging onto senior status at the moment but I'm optimistic that we can turn the corner. If the commitment to training was greater, we could improve by 50 per cent. When you see what Cullion achieved last year, anything is possible." Tweet

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