St. Fintan's/Multyfarnham may have had the ignominy of being the only team not to win a game in last year's junior football championship, but this failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the club's hard-working juvenile coaches, according to underage coordinator Sean Kelly. Faced with an uncertain future a few years ago, St. Fintan's/Multyfarnham decided that the only way forward was to place a strong emphasis on underage coaching. This decision has led to a dramatic increase in playing numbers and a buoyant underage structure overall, but it will take more time for the club to reap the benefits at adult level. "From a situation where we had less than 10 underage players in Multy seven or eight years ago, we now have upwards on 80," St. Fintan's/Multyfarnham underage coordinator Sean Kelly proudly states. "We fielded teams at under 8, 10, 12 and 14 level last year and will field at under 16 level as well this year. We won't be able to put out a minor team for another year or two. However, the junior team will continue to cater for players in this age group, and they've got the Inny Gaels amalgamation as well. "We're delighted with the progress at our end and it's good to see that progress is being made by the people in Streete as well. Their numbers are a lot smaller than ours, but they're working hard with what they've got and have training every Friday night for their under 8s and 10s. Hopefully in a few years' time, when these young players begin to filter through, we'll be more competitive at adult level. That's the aim, anyway." Multyfarnham's most successful underage team in 2006 was the under 10s, who defeated Delvin to land the North Westmeath 'A' title. "They were our pride and joy, going through the year unbeaten," Sean explains. The under 12s also enjoyed a successful campaign, reaching the league final which ended in a draw with Killucan. En route to the final, they beat strong opposition in St. Loman's, Bunbrosna, Rosemount and Kilbeggan Shamrocks. And despite finishing the season empty-handed, the performances of the under 8 and 14 sides were a source of further encouragement. Players between the ages of 10 and 14 competed in Multyfarnham's own Frank Mullaniff Cup over a six-week period last summer. This competition proved to be a resounding success with the spoils eventually going to the Maroon team. Afterwards, Pat Mullaniff, brother of the late Frank Mullaniff, presented the cup to the winning captain, Paul Donohue. To add to the sense of occasion, Westmeath football star Dessie Dolan paid a visit to Multyfarnham where he signed autographs and presented medals to the players. The participants in the 2006 Frank Mullaniff Cup were - Green team: David Moran, Darrie Rodgers, Aaron Orme, Ciaran McCabe, Rory Hogan, Peter Murtagh, Dylan Maxwell, Jamie Finnan, Mark Reynolds, Aisling Boyhan, Vicky Kane, Shane Kelleher, Lorna McGovern, Keith Maxwell, Ivan McGivney. White team: Brendan Saunders, Brian Duignan, Simon McGovern, James Pierce, Paul Kelly, Daniel Loughrey, James Greene, Colm Hogan, Gary Burke, Adam Brennan, Therese Lynch, Lesley Murtagh, Christine Donohue, Catriona Murtagh, Damien Bronkheart. Gold team: Brendan Lynch, Brian Kidd, Lorcan Savage, Anthony Kelly, James Murtagh, Ian McGovern, Steven Donohue, Matthew Pierce, Alex O Broin, Declan Orme, Chloe Kelly, Niamh Greene, Stephanie Reynolds, Tara Kelleher, Robert Lohan. Maroon team: Paul Donohue, James Kidd, Brendan Burke, Danny Newman, Niall Feerick, Pauric Moran, Clarion Keogh, Patrick Mooney, Ciaran McGovern, Tony McKay, Moyna Grubb, Julie McLoughlin, Anthony McGivney, Dawn Saunders and Caoimhe Dunne. Not to be outdone by the older players, the Multy under 8s played a match among themselves which ended in a draw. Team A was: Thomas McGivney, Andrew Hogan, Mark Finnerty, Shane McDonald, Dylan Wright, James Drumm, Jack Moran, Martin Fagan, Brendan McCarthy, Cridian O Mhuricu, William Maye, Ryan Brennnan, Ben Pantry, Adam Dunne, Sabina McLoughlin, Roisin Fagan and Conor Finnan. Team B was: Robert Connolly, Michael Moran, Mark Menton, Daniel Cox, Eoin Fagan, Christopher Feerick, Ciaran Bawle, Adam Loughrey, Andrew Finnerty, Heiner von Bunau, Luke Conway, Max Brennan, Eoin O Mhuricu, Liam Tyas, Rian Kelleher, Thomas Drumm, Ailish Greene, Ruairi Fagan and Sinead McCarthy. Sean is fulsome in his praise of the many coaches who have played their part in Multy's underage revival. He is also grateful to Paul Smith of Derravaragh Holiday Park and Darren O'Brien of Pinnacle Developments for their continued sponsorship of the various underage teams. The following management teams have been appointed for the coming year - under 8s: Nuala Moran, Anne-Marie Fagan and Philomena McCarthy; under 10s: David Kelly, Frank Conway and Seamie Ward; under 12s: Peter Murtagh and Gary Loughrey; under 14s: Sean Kelly and Jim Maher; under 16s: John Moran, John Nugent and Tony O'Neill. St. Fintan's/Multyfarnham were proud to be represented on last year's county minor football panel by Max Brady. An up-and-coming forward, Max was joined by club colleagues Stephen Moran, Henry Reilly and Emmet Feerick on the Inny Gaels team that lost the minor 'premier' championship final to St. Patrick's. The north county amalgam went into the decider as hot favourites following their 2-11 to 1-3 demolition of Mullingar Shamrocks in the semi-final, but St. Patrick's upset the odds to win by 4-7 to 2-6. 2006 was another disappointing year for the St. Fintan's/Multyfarnham junior team who were defeated in all six of their championship outings. However, the decision of highly-rated trainer Des Doolin to remain with them for another season would suggest that better times lie ahead. "Dessie wouldn't have agreed to come back if he didn't see potential in the team. Most of the players are very young and they will only get better. While we may not have won a championship match last year, we're not despondent. We realise that with a bit of luck, we could have won three or four games and qualified for the knock-out stages," Kelly says. The Streete/Multy combination will look back, in particular, on the games against Delvin, Ballycomoyle and Loughnavalley as the ones that got away. In their championship opener against Delvin, the dismissal of two players proved costly as they succumbed to a 1-6 to 1-8 defeat. A Lee Ward goal after eight minutes had helped St. Fintan's/Multy to a 1-3 to 0-4 interval lead, but Delvin were level within six minutes of the restart and went on to secure victory courtesy of midfielder Darren McHugh's fisted goal. After suffering a second loss to Milltown (1-5 to 2-7), St. Fintan's/Multy put up another brave performance against Ballycomoyle but were always playing catch-up after Derek Cheevers swooped for an early goal. Des Doolin's charges rallied in the second half with scores from David Kelly, Max Brady and Leroy Casserly, but Ballycomoyle held on for a 1-9 to 0-9 victory. St. Fintan's/Multy were level on 1-3 each with Loughnavalley at half-time in their next championship outing, but once again it proved to be a case of 'so near and yet so far' as Loughnavalley emerged winners by 1-9 to 2-5. The north county outfit had only pride to play for when they faced St. Paul's and Caulry in their remaining games in the round-robin series, and it showed as they were well beaten in both. Despite lacking confidence, Sean feels that St. Fintan's/Multyfarnham have it in them to reach the knock-out stages of this year's junior championship. "If we could get one win early on, our season could take off. We're probably short one or two players at the moment to be championship contenders, but I believe the team is good enough to reach the semi-finals," he concludes. Tweet

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