On the one road
December 31, 2010good old days.
Like many clubs, Cootehill Celtic's think-tank has seen many faces come and go over the years. Its turnover in personnel has been Microsoft-esque.
However, for over 40 years John Fay has been a constant at the heart of the club. A man for all seasons and a trustee to boot.
The Campstown resident has proven a great servant to Cavan County Board down the years too and up until six years ago was part of the furniture.
From 1967 'till 2004, he served out roles on Cavan GAA's Fixtures Committee and, later, the county board's Games Administration Committee.
For the last six years he has taken a significant step back and, though still a commited gael, is no longer a member of either club or county hierarchy.
Reflecting on his long number of years of involvement with the GAA as both an administrator and spectator, John is a mine of knowledge and views.
Re-winding the tape, he digs into his bank of memories and fingers some highlights from some five decades of seeing action on and off the field.
It's a measure of the spread of his interest in Gaelic football that he fingers a Higher Education Sigerson Cup game as a top, top game in his lexicon.
"It was a college game at Breffni Park back in the late 'fifties," he responds when asked to name the best game of football he ever witnessed.
"UCD were playing in the Sigerson Cup and I remember Jimmy Carolan from Laragh was playing for them. It was a great game of football.
"Sigerson Cup had a much higher profile then than it does now and big crowds went to see the likes of PJ Duke playing in the matches."
Not one to look at times past through rose tinted glasses, John, nonetheless, is wont to give us a sizeable and pretty positive window on the past.
He recalls a senior challenge game in the old meadow (located near Errigal, off the town's Cavan road) when Ballybay Pearse Brothers came calling.
"There was 100 pounds taken at the gate that day in '53 which was a lot of money considering that the admission fee was only a shilling.
"There was so many there the crowd had to be held back with a rope around the pitch. It was probably the second best match I ever saw.
There was a return match in Ballybay with another big crowd. It was March and the games were the whole talk in the area for a long time."
The 'fifties was a halcyon period for the Celts with local legends like Brian Gallagher, Arthur McCabe, the Coyle bros and James McEnroe starring.
Cootehill kicked off a glorious period for the hoops by winning the junior championship in '52. Just what the doctor ordered as the recession bit in.
The recession which coloured the landscape in the Ireland of the 'fifties draws comparison from John with current economic woes.
He recalls the time when such notable local footballers as Pascal McGuinness, Jim Guiney and Paddy Duffy all emigrated and were lost to the Celts.
Football, a half a century ago was, it seemed, much more than a game. It was, literally, the only game in town and everyone turned to it, job or no job.
"Outside of school or work, it was all we had to do to occupy ourselves," John explains. I remember the buzz in the area in '52 was something else.
"There wasn't the same intensity in terms of the training the players did but they were always working on keeping themselves fit.
"You'd see groups of them gathering in the centre of the town at the weekends and going for long walks out the Monaghan road after mass.
"There was very little if any training during the winter months but they were naturally fit from their work and were all well able to play against the best.
"There was a great spirit among the players; great camaraderie and they all played for each other and there was a great pride in the jersey."
Cootehill Celtic haven't come close to copying the brillantly successful times of the 'fifties which saw them secure three SFC titles (1953 '54 '55).
In addition to the aforementioned '52 junior title triumph, the Celts never had it so good. John can't identify what has gone wrong but has his views:
"I'm not a fan of all this training during the winter and on into the spring. Years ago there'd be no real training 'till the first round of the championship.
"They might have a couple of trial matches and a couple of challenge matches but not this thing of weeks and weeks of training before the summer.
"I think the football was better back in the 'fifties. There were better players at club level then than now and the games were more exciting.
"Pat Clarke of Bailieboro, the Gallaghers, James McEnroe, Paddy Coyle, Gerry Curran and Gerry Keyes were the best club footballers I saw."
Of all Cootehill's successes, John - not surprisingly - picks out the Celts' inaugural SFC triumph in '53 as the most memorable of the lot.
He recalls how Cootehill were the "younger and fitter team" against a Cornafean side who featured Seamus Morris and John Kelly in that '53 final.
"We had bigger, better men up the middle of the field too," John opines. "They were all great footballers and could look after themselves too."
Great footballers pock-marked Cootehill Celtic's patch in the 'fifties like confetti at a wedding in those times. A certain cheeky Charlie among them.
John remarks how Cootehill's most famous son, Charlie Gallagher, was only 15 when he featured on the 1954 SFC-winning Cootehill team.
"He wasn't 16 'till the following Christmas," John says. "Apart from having all the skills, Charlie had to know how to handle himself on the field too."
Inveigled into throwing in his lot at administration level with the Celts by the late Kevin Carney, John - a brother of former Cootehill star of the 'sixties Tommy Fay - is in no doubt that the players of old would be easily accomodated on the teams of the present.
"Those men from the 'fifties would walk onto the current Cavan senior team," he declares in no-nonsense fashion.
"The players now can play hot and cold. One day he'd shine and the next day you'd be looking out for him again and you wouldn't think he was there.
"You'd wonder whether some of these fellas really want to play with the county. Some of them haven't some any interest in joining the county panel.
"I think it should be like years ago that if someone didn't make himself available for the county team, he'd get a suspension for the year.
"I can't understand a player not wanting to play for Cavan. They should be proud to get the chance to wear the jersey.
"If he didn't come up with a good reason as to he wasn't making himself available, he should be suspended and someone else approached instead."
John fully appreciates the level of commitment given by those wholehearted county players and he wonders are we asking too much of them.
He recalls, after attending a meeting in Cavan a few years back, bumping into a Cavan senior player who was preparing to head back to Dublin.
"It was winter time and around eleven o'clock at night and he was just leaving the (Cavan) town to go back to Dublin where he was at college.
"I know you'd find it easy enough to say that such and such a fella these days wouldn't die for the jersey but there are some very commited players.
"I think a lot of them have been asked to play too much football over the years. I think they get too much football at underage level.
"It's time enough to ask a fella to play competitive football when he's 14; they've enough pressure with their studies and sometimes from parents.
"There's so much football for them at juvenile level nowadays that by the time they're 22 a lot of them are fed up with football or are burned out."
Getting fingers burned at bingo was a one time a concern of John's for he recalls when the Celts tentatively dipped their feet into hosting the game.
He remembers how, in 1968, Tommy Gilroy, Tommy Hughes and Jim McDonnell from the Cavan Gaels club visited Cootehill Celtic's brains trust.
"They (the Gaels) came over and advised us about setting up bingo in '68. They said that if things went badly, the club could be down 500 pounds.
"But Tom Farrell, Kevin Carney and Sean Gallagher put up the money as a guarantee and we went ahead with it and luckily it took off.
"I was sad to see it finish up a couple of years ago but the crowds weren't going to it in the numbers that you'd need to make it a success."
Looking ahead, John believes that success on the club and county front at premier level can only be achieved by hard work at underage level.
He is convinced that success at minor level is necessary for a rich bounty to be reaped at senior level in both club and county arenas.
"Cavan Gaels were beaten in the senior final this year but look how many championships they've won over the last dozen years.
"Those titles have been won 'cause they've been producing so many good and successful underage teams.
"I think there's a lesson there for all clubs to learn. You need to have strength in depth in your club by bringing through proven players from underage."
Words to the wise.
Getting there
All success is relative of course and for Kenny Connolly, Cootehill's achievement in reaching the 2010 U14 Roinn E Championship final was top notch.
For the silverware-starved Monaghan-border crew, the frequency with which it books a place in county finals is sadly rarer than the sound of the corncrake which sort of underpins Connolly's thinking:
"If someone at the start of the year had said to me that we would reach the under 14 county final, I'd have been happy, most definitely," he says.
"To my mind, we made progress at under 14 level despite the fact that things didn't go our way in the final against Arva.
"You have to do the best with the hand you're dealt with and I think the players did well to get to the final, especially considering that only five of the team will be overage for 2011."
Even so, it all looked as if a rich tapestry was emerging in the final last September as the young Hoops hit the ground running.
They steamed into a 0-5 to 0-0 lead after only 11 minutes and were still four points to the good at the end of the first quarter.
That cushioned lead survived to half-time with Arva trailing by 1-4 to 1-9 but that's when the wheels fairly flew off the Cootehill wagon as the Celts failed to score for the remainder of the second half, going onto lose by 1-9 to 3-12.
Hats off though to the talented and razor-keen Cootehill Celtic squad who lined out against Arva in the U14 Roinn E Championship final:
Josh Reilly; Keelan McCarville, Jason Halton; Gearoid McDonald, Dylan Rooney; Dermie Connolly (0-1, free), Tomas McCullagh (0-1); Lee Rooney (0-1), Shane Sexton; Caoimhin Carney (0-3), Sean O'Connor (1-3).
On reflection, Kenny says in such a final of fluctuating fortunes, mistakes made on both sides of the white line proved fatal:
"As a mentor I'd have to put my hand up and say there were some moves that could have been made but weren't.
"And then we had chances for goals that we didn't put away but I wouldn't say fitness was a problem even though they finished the stronger.
"I honestly don't think the best team won the final. They were the bigger team and came back after a poor start but I felt we should have won it."
As to what he would bring to the table if afforded a magic wand, Kenny unhesitatingly declares "more scoring forwards."
Kenny says he can understand just why 39 other clubs may feel that Cootehill just aren't doing enough with regard to their underage coaching.
Sometimes perception is everything and other clubs see that the trophy cabinet in Cootehill is probably the most bare of all clubs in the county over the course of the last 40 years or thereabouts.
"It might look like we're not doing much coaching from the outside but that's not the case at all as anyone in the club would tell you.
"We've been knocking on the door on a few occasions over the years but underage football is so unpredictable and it's hard to know how youngsters are going to perform from one day to the next.
"Between our under 14 squads of 2009 and 2010, I think the work that's been done with them will show in the years to come.
"I'd be very surprised if at least ten players from those two panels combined don't go on and make an impression at senior level for the club."
Looking at the future while trying to learn from the past, Kenny believes that it's crucial that the chain that binds the various underage teams together isn't broken, going forward.
Structures need to be maintained, year-on-year, he contends so that an element of continuity is ever-present throughout the grades.
"To my mind, there should be a 'hand-over' period whereby the outgoing manager of, for instance, the under 14s remains a part of the new team-management for a few weeks or so.
"In the same way, the new, intending manager should be part of the outgoing management team for the last few weeks of their campaign.
"In that way, the players would get to know the new manager for some time before the season starts and the manager would have an early chance to get to know his players."
Watch this space!
Hurling consolidates roots
Hurling's roots in the Cootehill area were further nourished over the course of the past year with the club's under 14s and under 16s competing in both Cavan and Monaghan county leagues.
As preparation for fixtures in Cavan at the latter end of the year, the Celts' under 14s and 16s took part in the Monaghan leagues, playing all their games away from home in an agreed arrangement with the Monaghan county board.
It was the club's under 12s though who got the season underway on a high note with a well-merited 4-5 to 4-0 win over hosts Woodford Gaels in Ballyconnell in early April.
Drawing on players from Cootehill, Drumgoon and Kill, the Hoops carved out the club's first ever win - at any grade - over the west Cavan side since the reformation of the game in Cootehill in 2004 after overturning a 0-3 to 3-0 half-time deficit.
Cootehill Celtic U12s ( v Woodford Gaels): Cathal Bannon; Jessie Holland, Diarmaid Carney, Kelan Smith, Eoin Hannigan, Conall Farrell, Padraig Jackson, Colm Shalvey, Killian Delaney, Paul McCullagh, Cian McCarney, Shane Clerkin, Oisin McDonald, Conor O'Reilly, Rory Bass, Dean Kinkade, Mark Moffett, Ben McIntyre, Niall Clerkin, Lorcan Drew, Killian McGahan.
Thereafter the team later recorded a win over Ballymachugh but lost out narrowly to Mullahoran in the later series of games.
In addition, the panel took part in various county board-organised blitzes during the year participated in a number of challenge games.
The major part of the 2010 under 12 panel also featured in the U13 blitzes run by the county board at Breffni Park's 3G facility in October/November.
Meanwhile the under 14s also made history by becoming the first team from the club to record a victory over Mullahoran at any level when they won the semi-final duel between the sides by 5-2 to 2-4 at Breffni Park.
The history-making Cootehill Celtic team was as follows:
Alex Hamilton; Dermie Connolly, Fintan Roche, James McKitterick, Caoimhin Carney (1-1), Ryan Craddock, Ryan Rogers, Stephen Shalvey, Enda Shalvey (1-1), Aaron Cosgrove (2-0).
Subs used; Darren Lavery, Odhran Reilly, Jason Halton, Conall Farrell, Fiachra Hughes, Sam Foy, Johnny McKay (1-0).
Sadly there was to be no fairytale story for the under 14s as they lost out by 0-6 to 5-6 to raging hot favourites Woodford Gaels in the final at Killygarry last March.
Superior physical strength allied to a clinical eye for goal proved a potent cocktail for Woodford Gaels but even their most partisan supporters would scarcely argue with the theory that their 15 point winning margin was grossly flattering.
Fact is, Cootehill matched the raging hot favourites score for score in the first half but tiredness plus the undoubted power and class of their opponents came to the fore in a big way in the final quarter of the match.
Going into the game, Cootehill had doubts over influential players, Ryan Craddock (flu), Aaron Cosgrove (groin) and Jason Halton (ankle) but after holding their opponents - fresh from winning the Ulster league - to a 2-3 to 0-5 interval lead were subsequently worn down by the physical superiority and experience of the west Cavan side.
Cootehill Celtic (v Woodford Gaels) 2009 Cavan U14 Hurling League final:
Alex Hamilton; Aaron Cosgrove, Fintan Roche, Dermie Connolly, James McKitterick, Caoimhin Carney (0-3), Ryan Craddock (0-1), Ryan Rogers, Odhran Reilly, Stephen Shalvey, Enda Shalvey (0-2), Conal Farrell.
Subs used; Fiachra Hughes; Darren Lavery, Stephen McCooey, Jonathan McKay; Jason Halton.
The club's under 14 squad proceeded to give a good account of themselves in the Monaghan league before losing out to eventual winners St. Phelims in the county Feile na nGael semi-final.
Meanwhile the club's 'senior' team, i.e under 16s, impressed in both the Monaghan and Cavan leagues.
In the former, they showed their intent by beating hosts Monaghan Harps by 6-7 to 4-7 in their opening round of the league with the following line-out:
Alex Hamilton; Brian Crowe, Aaron Cosgrove (1-1), Fintan Roche, James McKitterick, Paul McMahon, John Carney (0-4), Ryan Rodgers (4-1), Enda Shalvey, Joseph Freeman, Odhran Reilly (1-0), Fiachra Hughes (0-1).
The team continued to show immense promise and actually reached the semi-finals of the competition only to lose out to Clontibret.
A lot of the same squad featured on the club's under 15 side which competed in the blitzes run off at the 3G facility in October/November.
And their performances in the under 16 Cavan League in November further highlighted their potential.
Pointedly, training for boys between 5-8 years kicked off in the spring of 2010 to augment the club's hitherto policy of revving up the production line with training for under 10s.
At the hurling committee's 2010 AGM, the following were elected; Chairperson - Michael O'Hea; Vice-Chairperson - Kevin Carney; Secretary - Jimmy McBride; Treasurer - Kenny Connolly; Club Liason Officer - Gary Kiernan; PRO - Kevin Carney; County Board Reps - Jimmy McBride and Mickey Roche; Kit Officer - Mickey Roche. Tweet
