Providing a vital link between Laragh's most recent successful underage sides and its current crop of young talent, Gary Robbins - through his endeavour, foresight and organisational skills - helped bring juvenile football in Laragh to a new dimension in 2001. A concerted effort to get things off the ground at underage level is beginning to pay off for Laragh Utd. While 2001 was a thoroughly forgettable year at adult level, Laragh can look back on the progress made with the club's younger talent with more than a hint of pride. For the first time in a long time, Laragh have got their underage arm up and running effectively again. The innovative and imaginative work currently being invested at this level is crucial and should provide the club with a solid foundation upon which to build a successful future. Certainly, advancement at underage level is the most positive thing that can be gleaned from Laragh's 2001 season. The U16s got into a winning habit and the minors also found a level of consistency that had long since been forgotten in the Laragh/Stradone area. Philip Devine was the catalyst behind the whole movement - it was he who germinated the idea of enlisting some current adult players to help with preparing the youngsters in an attempt to breath new life into underage football in the area. It worked. Nobody will deny that '01 was a bad year for the seniors, who were relegated to intermediate level, but the progress made at underage level negates this disappointment. A professional outlook has been introduced to underage fare. A better structure is in place and there's a great harmony about the whole juvenile set-up, a nice bond between players and mentors. Gary Robbins has been instrumental in this development. The 24-year-old junior goalkeeper may not admit it himself, but he was the main driving force behind the achievements of 2001, demonstrating a keen resolve to drag underage football in Laragh off its knees . . . and carrying it through. He reflects on how the whole thing started to take some semblance of shape: "There were about four or five of us living at home who play on the junior/senior teams, with the rest of the lads mainly based in Dublin. Philip [Devine] approached us and asked if we'd do something for the underage part of the club. Philip himself had done so much for us as underage players over the years that there was only ever going to be one answer. "I spoke to Liam Carolan, another man who did an awful lot for myself and many other Laragh players at underage level through the years. Liam is an inspiration within the club and I sought his advice. He gave me a great deal of encouragement and was instrumental in my agreeing to take the job on. His advice was priceless and we'd never have had the success we did without his input. "Anyway, Philip basically asked me to take on one of the underage teams of my choice. His original idea was to bring me in to work alongside other coaches but I said I'd prefer to bring a few lads in with me and do all the work ourselves, which is what we did. "I asked David Smith, who's the same age as myself and plays on the senior team, to come along and he was very supportive. We also brought in Liam Johnston, who had experience with the county minors and under 21s, and he knew more about training techniques and methods and helped us approach things more professionally. "We all came up through the ranks ourselves and played on successful underage teams, so the young lads looked up to us. We provided a link to those days and we weren't that much older than them so they could relate to us." Gary, David and Liam took over the U16s. "First of all, we had a meeting amongst ourselves and we went through a list of the players we'd have available to us to assess our prospects. In late January [2001], we called a players' meeting. We appealed to every eligible player in the parish to attend - even those who hadn't played for years - and the response was amazing. The lads saw that we were only young men ourselves and we hit it off with them straight away." As working environments go, it was close to ideal. "These were players who'd never even won a game at any level on their own pitch here in Stradone. They saw in us a few lads who'd been reasonably successful at under 16 level, getting to a couple of finals, and they looked up to us and wanted to learn from us. Their attitude was excellent. "Stradone/Laragh is a big parish, but it's a sparsely populated area. Still, we had about 25 lads out at training every night, which was pretty much everybody available to us and we were delighted with that." Eventually, the new season got underway. There was a hitherto unseen positivity in the air and an eerie sense of anticipation as the Laragh U16s took to the field for the first time. "Our first game was at home in Stradone and a huge crowd turned up. Many of them probably expected to see us fall flat on our faces but the lads did the business and we won. It was a great achievement for a group of players who'd never won a game before and they went on to finish third in their division." This was progress indeed. Laragh were moving in the right direction. Gary Robbins continues: "It all generated a great deal of interest. When Martin Smith, who had been a selector with the minors for the previous couple of years, saw us going for it, he followed our example. He took the minor team himself and brought in Thomas Rudden as coach. We worked alongside them and also obtained a degree of respectability at minor level. "All in all, between the five of us, we had a good system going at minor and under 16 levels. The only problem was that we had very few actual minor players - most of them were really under 16s." For the 2002 season, Gary and his colleagues will take charge of the same group of players again, this time at minor level. As minor team managers, they hope to throw down the gauntlet yet again and to continue developing what is proving a promising group of players. "Tommy Costello, who's juvenile Chairman, and the rest of the committee, were keen for us to move on with this team, to work with them, bring them along, and get them out to senior training as well in so much as is possible. "The progress they made has given the club a real lift and it's important for us to continue nurturing this talent and to keep the momentum going. For the first time in a number of years, we have a decent crop of players coming along who can supplement the first team. We've managed to build some bridges within the club. These lads won four games last year and they can now play with a confidence and belief that they never had before. "There's no reason why a large number of them can't go on to be good senior players. When we were underage, the tail-end of the good Laragh team that had played for Cavan and won senior championships was still there and naturally we were intimidated by the reputations of those players and found it difficult to move on to adult team training. But the current lads should have no such problems - we have already made a connection with them and we've shown them that it's not a step they should be afraid to take." It's uplifting to see Laragh - despite the fact that they've lost their senior status - going into 2002 in a positive frame of mind: "The key for the first team this year is to have a successful league campaign," notes Gary. "We need to get some consistency back into the play and to try to get the young lads ready for the step-up to junior and senior football. "I'd also be optimistic about our prospects in the intermediate championship but our main priority has to be to start blending some of the club's young talent into the team." Laragh Utd's under 16s and minors clearly showed the rest of the club the way forward in '01. They demonstrated remarkable togetherness and loyalty to the cause and helped rekindle club spirit. The support they received from committee and backroom level made this possible. The players were made feel important. A fundraising table quiz was held in The Cross Lounge in Stradone during the summer and the young lads were all invited to participate, to help themselves. Money was raised towards a kit. Conway Electrical rowed in and sponsored training tops and tracksuits. Morale was excellent. The young lads were given something to believe in, something to belong to. They had pride in their club and developed a keen loyalty and determination. The attitude of this new breed will determine Laragh Utd's success or otherwise in future years. The seeds have been sown... Tweet

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