St Pat's look to rediscover the glory days

On Tuesday of last week St Patrick's Classical School, Navan chalked up another victory in the Leinster Post Primary Schools’ Bro Bosco Cup quarter-final. They defeated a formidable Clane Community School side in Dunganny, 3-8 to 1-11, and by doing so earned a semi-final joust with Colaiste Choilm Tullamore on Friday 2nd February.

There was a time when St Pat's would be strong favourites on an annual basis to win the provincial crown if not the All-Ireland itself. Now all that has changed somewhat, the new reality perhaps a reflection of how Meath's standing in Gaelic football's Order of Merit has dropped like a stone in a well over the past decade or so.

The last time St Pat's won a Leinster title was in 2013 when they defeated St Mary's, Edenderry, 1-12 to 2-7. The last time they even got to a Leinster semi-final was in 2018.

The Navan school won the All-Ireland title, the coveted Hogan Cup, in 2000, 2001 and 2004 and were defeated in the 1991, 2006 and 2013 deciders. Right now the school seems a long way off from reaching those lofty heights once more although there are certainly grounds for optimism with the current team.

Against Clane St Pat's were at times top-notch, conjuring up fast-paced, football. They created a host of chances with Andrew Gormley bagging two goals, Billy Smyth one. At other times, especially in the last quarter when they faced into the breeze, they struggled.

The St Pat's team is managed by three teachers in the school - Shane O'Rourke, Lorcan Burns and Joey Coogan. Shane is the son of former St Pat's principal and manager Colm, Lorcan is the nephew of former Armagh player and GAA President-in-waiting Jarlath Burns while Joey was part of the squad defeated in the 2006 All-Ireland final by Abbey CBS from Down (as was Shane O'Rourke).

As friends and colleagues the three young men work well together but they know too there is room to improve ahead of the Tullamore game.

"We had 29 shots during the game and only 11 scores, that's definitely an area we have to work on but nine times out of 10 the lads would have taken those chances, just whatever it was on the day it went against us and Clane are a very good side," said Coogan afterwards.

"Last year St Pat's won the Leinster title at u-17 level and we were with some of the players when they won a North Leinster and lost a Leinster in that age group so we have been with them in some capacity over the last number of years. They are a great group, really keen to learn. They really want to do well and improve and that has made it a very enjoyable campaign for all of us."

Why St Pat's haven't won a Leinster SFC A title since 2013 - and an All-Ireland in 20 years - is open to conjecture but without doubt the college football landscape has become a lot more testing and challenging.

"What we have found in St Pat's is that a lot of schools have compulsory TY so when we are coming up against a lot of schools their teams consist of mostly 19-year-olds where as our lads are missing out on that year," adds Coogan.

"We, as a consequence, would be fielding 17 and 18 year olds so for us that probably has been a big challenge.

"Then arguably in previous years when we were going well the likes of Simonstown, O'Mahonys, Walterstown, Skryne were going well, they were all Div 1 teams and we used also get guys coming in from Wolfe Tones, Nobber or from Castletown but we are losing a lot of those lads to O'Carolan College in Nobber. A few things like that could be factors in why we have fallen back a wee bit.

"You could probably track our decline to Meath's decline but it's not for the want of trying in our schools, there are loads of teachers in Meath schools doing great work."

Another reason is the fact that other schools in Leinster have grown stronger and stronger.

"Quality has gone up massively. Six or seven teams have realistic ambitions of winning it every year now. The only disappointment for me is that only one school in Meath is represented in the A competition but if you look at Westmeath, Kildare, Wexford, Offaly or Laois they all have two or three teams, some even more in the A level. That's an area we could improve on in Meath but there's not much anybody can do about except the schools themselves."

For now St Pat's will look to fly the flag once more and look to rediscover the glory days.

The St Pat's panel is: James Norris (Seneschalstown); Fionn McHale (Dunderry), Sean McLoughlin (Dunderry), Tadgh Murray (St Ultan's); Oisin O'Neill (Dunderry), Matthew Kealy (Slane), James Donnelly (Bective); Darren O'Brien (Seneschalstown), David Donnelly (Bective); Fionnan O'Connor (Walterstown), Cian Commons (Seneschalstown), Harry Cahill (Dunsany); Andrew Gormley (Gaeil Colmcille), Billy Smyth (Skryne), Conor Donohoe (Skryne), Oisin O'Hare (Syddan), Daniel Gavigan (Rathkenny), Ben Clarke (Dunderry), Jamie Duffy (Dunderry), Diarmuid O Bric (O'Mahonys), MacKenzie Doyle (Simonstown), Jack McDonnell (Seneschalstown), Senan Duffy (Slane), Conor Finnegan (St Ultan's), Alex Casserly (St Ultan's), Sean Reilly (Seneschalstown), Liam Dillon (Seneschalstown), Cormac Nugent (O'Mahonys), Aran Carey (Seneschalstown), Sean Betson (O'Mahonys).