Arva have been building up a head of steam at underage level for a handful of years now. The club's trophy cabinet was duly added to in 2010.

Talk about third time lucky held no resonance down Arva way in 2010. For the club's blue and white underage brigade, it was more like a case of fifth time lucky!
The club had lost out in their four previous underage county finals before finally burying their hoodoo last summer with a 7-12 to 5-2 victory over Shercock in the U13 Roinn E League decider.

It was a victory as emphatic as it was classy, controlled and composed. Shercock gallantly fought against the tide but the image of the wee Dutch boy and the damn coloured the evening's fare.
The writing was on the wall for all-comers in the competition from very early on as Arva steamrolled their way past one opponent after another.

The Arva management team of John Hamilton, Brian Ellis and Lisa Magarahan had their charges in fine fettle and gunning for a monkey that just had to be hoisted from the club's back.
"We knew we had a lot of talented players to work with but having played in four finals in the past three years and lost everyone of them, it was really crucial that we started winning," the aforementioned Hamilton explained.
"It's hard to know how much youngsters that age are effected psychologically by constantly coming so close but not getting there but, as coaches, we were definitely conscious of the need to go to Breffni and win a final."

Twice weekly training sessions and a raft of challenge games helped to hone the innate skills of the Class of 2010 over the course of the season.
Despite the fact that only three of the players were exactly 13, the team oozed maturity and confidence and was replete with fellas who had been in finals since they began as a group at the age of nine.
As things panned out, Arva cruised into the last four of the competition where they met Mountnugent, a team fancied to go the distance.

"We played some great football in the semi-final and we had to because they had a few strong players and it turned into a bit of a battle before we beat them fairly convincingly in the end."
The final itself proved to be a bit of a mis-match even if the blues' 16 point winning margin was a tad unkind to Shercock.
That said, the winners-elect had rung the changes before Shercock managed to substantially eat into Arva's cushioned lead with a face-saving 5-1 tally inside the final ten minutes.

In truth, there was substance in abundance as well as style on show in the final in Drumalee with their collective efforts fully complementing some individual star turns.
Arva proved their class over the hour and re-inforced the fact that they were the untouchables in Roinn E in 2010.
They controlled the game for all but those feet-off-the-gas final ten minutes and played some mature football way beyond their tender years.
Arva set out their stall quickly and goals from Ben Cooney and one from Oisin Sheridan made it 3-0 to 0-0 inside the opening seven minutes.

By the end of the first quarter, Arva - defending the dressing room end of the pitch and helped by a slight breeze - led by 4-1 to 0-0 - and it wasn't until the 17th minute that Shercock opened their account.
Controlling the exchanges in and around midfield through the combined efforts of Ryan Magarahan, Tristan Noak Hoffman and Shane Hamilton, Arva continued to pile forward in search of easy street while at the other end Cian O'Hara was in thou-shalt-not-pass mode.

Livewire Danny Ellis added to Shercock's misery in the 31st minute when he fly-kicked the ball to the Shercock net to help steer his side into a 5-6 to 0-1 interval lead.
Arva's Ben Cooney and Ryan Magarahan - the latter a particularly fine effort - goaled thereafter to make it 7-10 to 0-1 with eight minutes left to play.

To their eternal credit, Shercock fought to the finish but Arva were not to be denied their epochal triumph.
"They deserved their medals," team-mentor Hamilton confirms. ""Even though we hadn't a big panel, the lads have a lot of football in them and are all good ball players and I was confident they had it in them to go the distance. How they do from here on is up to them."

Arva (U13 Roinn E League final):
Cian O'Hara; Finbar McAvinnue, Mickey Cully; Rory Mulligan, Cormac McCabe; Ryan Magarahan (1-4), Tristan Noak Hoffman; Ben Cooney (3-1), Shane Hamilton (1-6); Danny Ellis (1-0), Oisin Sheridan (1-1)
Subs used; Charlie Conneely; Emmett Brady; Robert Lynch; Thomas Lee.
Character, self-belief and will-to-win are the three characteristics team-mentor Brian Ellis uses to describe the Arva U14 team that scooped the 2010 Roinn E Championship title.
In careering to an exciting 3-12 to 1-9 victory over Cootehill Celtic in the final at Kingspan/Breffni Park, Arva made a near-Lazarus like recovery to bag the spoils.

"A lot of those fellas who beat Cootehill were beaten in a sprinking of finals over the past few years and they just got fed up of losing," the aforementioned Ellis opines.
"The lads had all the skills and the fitness but you have to win the ball and against Cootehill they showed tremendous heart and determination.
"There was a great work ethic in the team and that was another of the foundation stones for their eventual championship win.
"Everyone in the final stood up and were counted with every fella putting everything into the tackle and their hard work paid off in the end."

Certainly not even the most blinkered Cootehill supporter could argue that Arva weren't the better team in skipping their way to a 3-12 to 1-9 victory.
In perfect playing conditions, Arva looked punch-drunk early on, falling 0-0 to 0-5 in arrears after only 11 minutes of play as Cootehill hit the ground running.
However for all their individual talents, the Celts were eventually forced to give way to Arva's greater division of labour all over the field, more solid defence and superior punch up front.
Arva were the more powerful, better balanced side and, crucially, looked like scoring every time they worked the ball into the last third of the field.

In their first meaningful attack, the eventual winners hit the jackpot with Danny Conneely goaling after good work by Danny Ellis in the 13th minute.
To their credit, Arva's management team made a number of positional changes and tactical manoeuvres which also helped their team's cause greatly after Cootehill went 0-7 to 1-0 in front at the quarter-hour mark.
With the positional changes in place, Arva grew visibly in confidence and Shane Hamilton pointed to reduce Cootehill's lead to three points, 0-8 to 1-2, after 21 minutes.

Five minutes later Cootehill bagged a goal but Arva gave notice of their intention to push the game right to the wire by getting on top in the dying minutes of the first half.
Only a last-ditch piece of defending prevented Arva's Raymond Magarahan from goaling moments before the interval.
Trailing by 1-4 to 1-9 at the start of the second half, Arva's goal lived a charmed life in the opening couple of minutes but amazingly, it would be another 13 minutes before Cootehill managed to launch another attack as Arva hoovered up ball after ball around the middle.

Arva made tracks for the winner's enclosure in a big way in the 37th minute when Raymond Magarahan goaled to cut Cootehill's lead to 1-9 to 2-4.
In the 41st minute, the same player pointed and then 40 seconds later Shane Hamilton tapped over a free to put Arva in front, 2-7 to 1-9, for the first time in the game.

From there to the finish, Arva were well cemented in the driving seat with Cootehill's defence unable to stymie Arva's powerful runs forward as Arva stretched their lead to a goal with nine minutes left to play.
There was simply no stopping Arva and a sweet move in the 57th minute involving four players and culminating in a picture-perfect point from Shane Hamilton summed up the blues' superior conviction, composure and will-to-win.
Like all good champions, Arva finished with a flourish with Bernard Brady galloping up field to crash home an icing-on-the-cake goal on the hour mark.

"Losing out to Drumalee in the league semi-final was what we described as an ambush but, in hindsight, it was a result that drove the lads on to beat them in the semi-final of the championship and to beat Cootehill in the final," long-time coach Ellis remarks.
"I think the goal we got around the quarter hour mark in the final was crucial because it got us into the game and stopped the rot plus kept us in touch at half-time.
"I genuinely felt we hadn't a weak player on the team and for some of them to get their hands on their first county medal was just great.
"I'd be hopeful that once they're looked after and encouraged they will go on now and be in line for more county titles in the years ahead."

Arva (Roinn E
Championship final):
Ciaran Hepton; Bernard Brady (1-0), Enda Gormley; Finbar McAvinnue, Cormac McCabe; Ryan Magarahan (0-2, one '45), Raymond Magarhan (1-3); Danny Conneely (1-1), Oisin Sheridan; Danny Ellis, Shane Hamilton (0-5, three frees).
Subs used; Tristan Noak Hoffman (0-1); Ben Cooney. Tweet

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