St. Joseph's failed to build on the progress of 2000 last year, losing to Bunbrosna in the junior championship semi-final. Long-serving full back Darren McCormack remains upbeat, though, citing the club's rich crop of young talent as the key to junior championship success. Following their appearances in the junior championship and Junior Cup finals in 2000, expectations were high for St. Joseph's last season. They comfortably qualified for the championship semi-final but a three-point defeat to eventual champions Bunbrosna means that another year of junior football awaits them. The quest for junior championship glory has become something of an obsession for St. Joseph's in recent years, with semi-final and final appearances no longer capable of satisfying ambitions. Supporters demand a breakthrough and long-serving full back Darren McCormack believes they are entitled to it. "Even though we are still a young club, I think we should have won a junior championship by now," he says. "We've been qualifying for semi-finals nearly every year and we were in the final two years ago. But supporters are no longer happy with that. They want to see us win a junior championship and it's about time that happened." Despite failing to build on the progress made in 2000, Darren claims that last season wasn't a disappointment for St. Joseph's. With key players Ronan McDonnell and Andrew McCormack abroad, he felt that it was always going to be a difficult year. "Without the two lads, we knew it was going to be difficult. They are very important players to us and without them, it was asking a lot of us to do as well as the previous year." The absence of McDonnell and McCormack provided younger players with the opportunity to make their mark and Darren believes they will have benefited enormously from the experience gained. "The really positive thing to come out of the year was how well the younger lads performed. Between the junior and junior 'B' teams, I would say that roughly eight or nine new players were blooded. "We are lucky to have so many good young players coming through at the moment and they can only make the junior team stronger. When we do win a junior championship, I'm sure that there will be a good sprinkling of these players." Under the management of Ballinagore man Jim Mahon, St. Joseph's qualified for the semi-final of last year's championship without too much bother. Their record was: won five, drew one and lost two. They opened their championship campaign against Bunbrosna at Ballynacargy on April 14. The Streamstown-based side made most of the early running and were 0-7 to 0-2 in front at the interval. On the resumption, however, they came under extreme pressure and were relieved to have held out for a 0-9 to 0-7 victory. Six days later, St. Joseph's met championship favourites Caulry at Ballymore. Caulry scored an early goal but St. Joseph's recovered quickly and, thanks to goals from Ronan McDonnell and Darren Pettit, had established a 2-3 to 1-5 lead at half-time. Jim Mahon's side continued to keep their noses in front throughout most of the second half but a late goal from Caulry levelled the scoring. The full-time score was 3-7 apiece. St. Joseph's made it three wins from three when they demolished St. Fintan's/Multyfarnham on a 4-21 to 0-5 scoreline at Tyrrellspass on May 6. But they suffered a setback a week later when Milltown, who had just come down from the intermediate grade, inflicted a 1-6 to 2-10 defeat on them. St. Joseph's shipped another bodyblow at Shandonagh on July 8 when they were pipped by surprise packets Loughnavalley on a 1-8 to 2-6 scoreline. The pressure was now on to regain winning ways and the green and golds did just that when they defeated St. Paul's by 1-11 to 0-7 at Springfield on August 18. A 0-8 to 0-6 victory over Delvin in their final game of the league section assured St. Joseph's of their semi-final spot. The semi-final took place at Cusack Park on September 22 with St. Joseph's renewing rivalries with Bunbrosna. Apart from their earlier win in the championship, St. Joseph's had also defeated Bunbrosna in the league so there was added pressure on them to succeed. Bunbrosna got off to the best possible start, with Peter Tormey scoring an early goal. But St. Joseph's soon settled and a goal by Declan Nannery had them in front at the end of the first quarter. Aidan Finnan levelled for Bunbrosna before a marvellous St. Joseph's move was finished to the net by Aidan Lennon. The county goalkeeper had an outstanding first half and was the main reason why St. Joseph's took a 2-4 to 1-4 lead into the interval. Having captalized on most of the chances that came their way in the first half, St. Joseph's were confident of completing the task in the second 30 minutes. But Bunbrosna had other ideas and had restored parity within 10 minutes of the restart. Neil Keegan, Fergus McCormack and Sean Lynam tried hard to kick-start St. Joseph's but Bunbrosna had taken a stranglehold on the game and copperfastened a deserved 1-11 to 2-5 victory with late points from Finian Newman, Peter Tormey and Barry Brennan. That St. Joseph's only managed one further point in that second half highlights just how dominant Bunbrosna were. "We felt all along that Bunbrosna would be the team to beat in the championship," McCormack says. "They were in a junior final four years ago and had been regarded as a coming team. They have some excellent young players and they were that bit stronger than us in the second half. In saying that, it was very disappointing to have scored only one point over 30 minutes." This season, Durrow man Matt Geraghty will train the team with Jim Mahon now in charge of Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall. Geraghty boasts an impressive cv, having guided both Ballinagore and Kilbeggan to junior championship honours over the past two decades. "Matt has come in and he has got a good response from everyone. He enjoyed great success with our neighbours in Ballinagore and Kilbeggan and hopefully he can achieve the same with us. "Our aim is to win every game, whether it's in the championship, league or Junior Cup. Obviously, the championship is the big one but we'd also like to get promotion from Division 4. "It promises to be a very competitive championship with the likes of Milltown, St. Paul's and Caulry all fancying their chances. But if we can get Ronan (McDonnell) and Andrew (McCormack) back, and the younger players can keep improving, we might just make the breakthrough this time," he concludes. The St. Joseph's team which lost to Bunbrosna in the junior championship semi-final was: Andrew Meares; Neil Keegan, Darren McCormack, Pat McCormack; Brendan Slevin, Fergus McCormack, James Slevin; Aidan Lennon (1-3), Sean Lynam; Declan Nannery (1-0), Jason Rabbitte, Damien Lynam (0-1); Declan McCormack, Darren Pettit, Eddie Scally (0-1). Subs used: Daire Lynam, Alan McDonnell, Michael Larrigy and Kieran Keegan. Tweet

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