When driving past a field where the gates are painted in the Seneschalstown colours one instantly knows it is belonging to the Finnegans.
As a family they have given a lot to the club and this is perfectly shown by Paul.
A vital member of the Keegan Cup winning team of 1994 as a corner back Paul also holds a Division 1 League medal from 1992 as well as two Feis Cups.
In the latter days of his career Paul turned from gamekeeper to poacher and lined out in the forwards for the Junior B team.
After hanging up his boots he has turned his attention to coaching in the juvenile section while he is always available to help out with pitch maintenance.
Last year Paul displayed another talent of his when wowing the crown with his dancing ability as he and his partner Roslyn Nolan won the very first Seneschalstown SCD.
SENESCHALSTOWN BORN AND BRED
A SFC medal winner with Seneschalstown in 1994, Paul Finnegan looks back on his playing days with the Seneschalstown outfit and detailed his current involvement with the club’s underage section.
Back in 1994, Seneschalstown bridged a 22 year gap when collecting their second Meath SFC title with a final victory over Skryne.
The late Eddie Finnegan held a notable distinction as he was a selector for the club’s 1972 and ’94 victories.
Although the 0-11 to 1-5 ’72 final win over Navan O’Mahonys represented the club’s first ever title, he probably gleaned more satisfaction second time around as his son Paul was a member of the winning team.
Finnegan junior lined out at right corner-back for the 1-11 to 0-12 win over the Tara men.
“We just about got over the line thanks to Podgie Coyle’s goal,” recalled Paul who marked Hugh Monaghan in the decider.
“We went on to reach the Leinster Club SFC final but were beaten by a point by Kilmacud Crokes who went on to win the All-Ireland.
“We probably had the winning of that game but there was a mix-up in attack when Mattie (McCabe) and Podgie went for the same ball and neither of them got it. When we get together that does be the slagging anyway!
“They (Kilmacud) were very strong but we drew one of our games early on and we improved with every game after that. It was unfortunate that we came up short in the final.”
With players of the calibre of Colm Coyle, Graham Geraghty, Mattie McCabe, Kevin Macken and Podgie Coyle, to name but a few, it is, perhaps, surprising to look back now and realise that team had just one SFC title to show for their efforts.
At the same time, it is probably fair to say that the race for the Keegan Cup was a lot more competitive back then with other clubs such as Navan O’Mahonys and Skryne equally as strong.
“The club scene was very competitive. We were beaten in the final in ’92 by Skryne and reached the semi-final stages the year after winning the championship.”
Events outside of Seneschalstown’s control conspired to deny them a third Meath SFC success in 1996.
As a result of the fall-out from the infamous brawl during the early stages of the All-Ireland SFC final replay against Mayo, the Seneschalstown outfit lined out to play Kilmainhamwood in the county showpiece minus the services of the suspended Geraghty and Colm Coyle.
It is a futile exercise wondering what might have been but it can be stated with some degree of confidence that Seneschalstown would have provided a much more difficult proposition for a young ‘Wood outfit had the pair been available.
Meanwhile, in recent years, the current crop of Seneschalstown players have done the club proud by claiming two Keegan Cup crowns in the space of three years.
“Considering it took the club from 1972 to ’94 to win two championships it is some achievement to win two in such a short space of time,” Paul acknowledged.
“The current team is basically the same set of players and I’d be confident that there is, at least, another championship win left in them.”
Seneschalstown’s bid for a fifth Keegan Cup success came a cropper at the semi-final stage this year when they, somewhat surprisingly, fell to Wolfe Tones on a scoreline of 1-13 to 0-11.
“They had a great win against Summerhill in the quarter-final. They were very hungry that day but appeared to be a bit flat against the Tones.
“The Tones were more up for it in the semi-final but the same thing happened them in the final against O’Mahonys.
With the recent win in the u21 championship and the minors getting to a division final the future looks good for Seneschalstown football.
Paul broke onto the Seneschalstown senior team in 1991 and his medal collection also includes two Feis Cup medals (1992/’94) and a Division 1 league medal (’92).
Always a corner-back when in his prime, he moved up to the forwards with the club’s Junior B team late on his career before hanging up the boots three years ago.
Nowadays, when his day’s work with the family company Eddie Finnegan & Sons Potato growers is done, the 43 year old channels all his efforts into coaching at underage level with the club.
He was manager of the Under 14s that captured the Summer League title at Moynalvey’s expense this year. Paul’s sons, Eoin and Cathal, lined out a centre-forward and corner-forward respectively on the victorious team.
His other two children Eamon and Orla also play with the juveniles. Eamon lines out for the u 8 while Orla plays with the u11 girls
Incidentally, his brother Joe looks after the club’s under 12s with whom his son Darragh plays.
“The underage is going very well in the club at the moment I have to say. In fairness it can be hard to compete with the town teams at the younger age groups but the gap narrows as they get older.
“It’s all about the grading. Meath Juvenile secretary Anthony Monaghan did a very good job this year. The Divisions were fairly even. If I thought we could compete I’d have a go at the higher divisions.”
Paul’s former team-mate Alan Geraghty acted as a selector with him this year while ex-Meath star Mattie McCabe also gave a helping hand at times. He enjoys his involvement with the juvenile teams but added that it can be time consuming.
“You work hard all year with two training sessions during the week and games at the weekend. It requires a big commitment from players and mentors. You need to pick a team with who you can work with and who can take over when you’re unavailable.
“Brian Sheridan was with us at the start of the year before he got called up to the Meath squad. Davy Byrne was also helping out but he got a new job down the country.
“We’d hope to recruit more senior players to get involved next year. That is the policy of the club. Youngsters look up to the senior players.”
As Paul was making his way up through the underage ranks in Seneschalstown there was no shortage of role models to look up to.
When I was going to Meath games you’d always look up to Coyler and Mattie. They were from the club and they were great times following the 1987/88 team.It’s the same as everything else in that you only really appreciate them the more now what they are gone.”
Gone but never forgotten. A return to the glory days of Meath football will only be possible if Paul and all the underage mentors in the county’s clubs keep up the good work at grassroots level.
This article has been reproduced with thanks to The Royal County Yearbook published by the Lynn Group
