For more years than your average gael in Cavan can remember, Crosserlough's Pauric Lynch has been starring for the black and ambers. Last year he collected yet another medal for his troubles. Though he was entitled to take umbrage at the inaccuracy of the match report, Pauric Lynch reflects back on it all with typical humour. In the very twilight of his football career, the former Cavan senior player takes it all in his big, loping stride. Going on 36 now, the black and amber stalwart has suffered more of the infamous slings and arrows that the big ball game can throw at you than most of the current Crosserlough seniors put together. As such, an error by an innocent hack in reporting Crosserlough's Reserve League Division Two final victory over Drumalee last September lies well down his pecking order of slights rendered. "The reporter from the Celt put our goal down to Damien (Leddy) but I got the final touch to the ball before it went into the net. We sorted that out in the pub afterwards. We had a good night after the match," Lynch quips. Lynch is a proud footballer as well as being a gifted and brave one. He is proud of the fact that in 2002 Crosserlough got their hands on a piece of silverware and regardless of how others may rate the club's Reserve League Division Two title success, the team's elder lemon squeezes plenty of satisfaction from the triumph. "It was good to have something to show off at the end of the year. No matter what you win, the club gets a boost from it. "It's always nice to have a bit of silverware on the table by the end of the year." And the value of a competition that is so often run down and scoffed at, especially by those clubs who never come within an ass's roar of winning it? "I think it's a worthwhile competition. It gives a lot of the adult players a run of games that they mightn't otherwise get. "From our point of view, it helps keep the lads who don't get a game with the senior team some interest during the year. "It helps give us a chance to win something as well!" Indeed the self-same Lynch is someone who has played at the highest level for his county and who has been part of mainstream senior affairs at the Kilnaleck-based club for more years than the average gael in Cavan can rightly remember. He has every reason to welcome the addition of another medal onto his sideboard. For, in truth, premier senior honours have been all too scarce around the Lynch household down the years for one reason or another. For such a talented and committed player, he hasn't quite reaped the volume of silverware he ought to have done. But why? "I suppose we just never had enough good players at the same time to go the distance. " We always seemed to come up against a better-balanced team when push came to shove or else we underperformed in a key game. "There was always just a piece or two missing in the jigsaw." In this latter respect, Pauric recalls how expectations within the club were at an all-time high during his time with the club back in 1996 when the senior team reached the 1996 Senior Football Championship semi-final. Victories over Ballyhaise, Cuchullains and a fiercely competitive draw against defending champions Bailieboro in the final game of the group matches saw team captain Lynch and his colleagues go on and beat Cavan Gaels in the quarter-final. The semi-final draw saw the black and ambers pitted against old rivals Mullahoran. Cue our man Lynch. A splendid goal by the then countyman gave Crosserlough the ideal start but that was as good as it got for the former county kingpins as Mullahoran came roaring back to nip in front and stay there. The Crosserlough club took a long time to get over that semi-final defeat but not as long as it took to get over the untimely deaths of Under 12 player Kieran Gaffney and club president Kevin Brady. For his part, Pauric has always adopted the attitude that the importance of Gaelic football in life should be put in perspective. He is not bitter about not having amassed the sort of volume of silverware netted by the likes of, for instance, Gowna. Nor has he engineered a chip on his shoulder about the injury which so blighted his career. Regarded as one of the most incisive, skilful forwards in Cavan football during the nineties, the strapping six-foot plus attacker never truly realised his potential as a burgeoning county senior due to a niggling knee injury which plagued him for years, and still does. "I had cruciate ligament trouble in my knee. I got it operated on in '94 while I was playing with the county senior team. " I hurt in when playing for Cavan against Leitrim at the opening of the pitch in Butlersbridge and it never really cleared up. "Eventually athritus set in and I wasn't fit to train as much as I wanted to from there on," Pauric explains. The affable Crosserlough clubman declined the temptation to chuck the football in altogether though. He soldiered on, playing as often for his beloved club as his knee would allow him. Unfortunately though, the same calibre of lads that were around the Kilnaleck clubhouse back in the mid-nineties just couldn't be found. "The teams we had around the early to mid-nineties was probably the best we had in my time. "We got to championship semi-finals and finals but never managed to make the breakthrough. "I remember we went close a couple of times but Kingscourt beat us one year and then Gowna another year," Pauric recalls. But just as his playing days are drawing to a close, Pauric is happy to reflect on what was at least some measure of consolation for the Crosserlough club last year. The club's 1-9 to 1-5 victory over Drumalee was warmly welcomed by the faithful and the title triumph keeps up the club's quite remarkable run of successes at Junior B and reserve levels. "The club has won a fair few cups at adult level other than senior over the last few years which has helped keep morale in the club fairly high," Pauric confirms. The seasoned campaigner also confirms that he was more than pleased to be able to help propel the club to the Reserve League Division Two title, even if he only lined out for the second team at the very end of the season. A hard-earned victory over Drumgoon in the semi-final paved the way for the meeting with the Lilywhites in Ballinagh on September 14th last. "The game against Drumgoon could have went either way but we got a crucial goal just at the right time and that helped get us through," Pauric remembers. The final itself was equally hard-fought but, in the end, the greater experience rendered the Crosserlough team by Pauric and others such as Brian Lynch and Philip Smith made a sizeable difference, especially after Drumalee threatened to speed their way past the finishing post after notching a goal within two minutes of the throw-in. "They looked really up for it in the first half but we got through for a few points that helped keep us in touch and I remember there was only a couple of points in it at half-time which didn't leave us in too bad a position." Crosserlough's position improved dramatically just six minutes into the second half when Damien Leddy's lofted effort wafted its way towards the Drumalee goal where it was nudged on by Pauric for a very timely goal. Lynch's goal (he was to finish up with a personal tally of 1-3) gave his side a 1-4 to 1-3 lead and was, ultimately, the game's most crucial score as the goalscorer admits: "I think the goal turned the game on its head - no matter who scored it!" And although Crosserlough's Adrian Leggett was unluckily dismissed shortly afterwards, Crosserlough managed to add on points from Paraic and Aidan Boyle to stave off Drumalee's challenge. So can Crosserlough take things on from here and add some silverware at senior level in the coming year? "There's a hell of a difference in winning a reserve league and winning the senior championship and it's difficult to know how the young fellas who are coming through now will perform in the senior championship over the next while. "But we're starting to get a couple more players on the county minor and under 21 teams and that's a good sign anyway." And will he himself stick around to lend his experience to the younger lads for another year or two? "I enjoyed playing the few games last year even though I did hardly any training. But we'll see how things go." Football fans countywide will be hoping they haven't seen the last of Pauric Lynch on the football field. Where optimism springs eternal Brian Smith was one of the most efficient PROs in Cavan last year . . . and that's official! And the good news is that the Crosserlough stalwart is in place for at least another year. Brian Smith jests that it was the weekly sterling cheque that served to entice him to stay on as PRO of Crosserlough GAA for at least another year. While notwithstanding the fact that Gaelic games has been awash with money for various projects and various individuals for some time now, administration affairs is still very much shrouded in amateurism at the Kilnaleck GAA bulwark. Certainly the business of acting as Public Relations Officer for the famed black and ambers is absolutely a non-profit making one. Brian and the rest of his colleagues on the club's executive committee can attest to that. No, like thousands of other good PROs scattered throughout the country, the Drumloman, Kilnaleck resident shoulders the responsibility of keeping the Crosserlough club to the forefront of cultural matters in county Cavan. He does so on a purely voluntary basis, without reward and, basically, for the love of club and games. Brian has just put on his PRO hat for the second successive year. And while he was pleased to be able to report on the club's successful run to reserve league glory in 2002, he's hoping to fry bigger fish by the end of this year. "It would be great to be able to report on some big wins in the senior championship. The lads will be going all out to go the distance this year and if they don't win the championship, maybe they'll make it to the semi-final or final or at least win the league," Brian enthuses. One suspects that the rest of the county would hardly begrudge Crosserlough a belated return to the top of the mountain in Cavan football circles. In truth, the club has been out of the winners' enclosure longer than is healthy for football in the county. And while their absolute domination of senior football in the county - on their way to amassing a record seven-in-a-row - during the mid-sixties to early seventies may not exactly have helped the Breffni Blues cause, a senior championship title success now for Crosserlough could only assist the development and advancement of football in the drumlin county. "I was only a young fella when the club won the last couple of their seven-in-a-row titles in '71 and '72 but I remember there was a great buzz about the parish and the whole community was football mad. "The problem around then though was that a lot of people in the club and in the wider community began to expect the club to keep winning the championship. "At the end of that run, supporters were taking the titles for granted. "I suppose a lot of the teams who have come and gone since over the years suffered a bit from all that kind of expectation from older supporters," Brian opines. What's the chances of a similarily successful Crosserlough team coming on stream then? "I don't know about that. I doubt if we'll ever see any team in Cavan win so many back-to-back championships in Cavan. "Times have changed. Like winning the All-Ireland, it takes an almighty effort for a team to defend its title once never mind a half-a-dozen times." And so the hunt for the club's first blue riband title since 1973 continues unabated.Feel sure that any white smoke that appears on the horizon will be quickly signalled by Crosserlough's hard-working PRO. But, in common with so many other shrewd observers of the football scene around Kilnaleck, Brian feels that the current Crosserlough senior panel needs a bit more self-belief to work the oracle. The players need just one major slice of luck or inspired run to finally shake the monkey off the club's back - a monkey that first appeared the moment the celebrations following on from the aforementioned '73 success died down. "The current fellas have a great attitude, there's been great turnouts at training from the start of the season and everyone's very enthusiastic. Gerry O'Rourke is back in charge and the players have responded well to him so hopefully this will be our year," adds Brian who hung up his boots some ten years ago, thankful that at least he had under 14, minor, under 21 and Junior B medals on the sideboard to show for his efforts. Without question, there's little doubt but that Crosserlough have the resources to make a potent bid for the top honours in 2003. Brian informs us that over 70 adult players have been registered to play football this year and, once again, the black and ambers will be one of the very few clubs who'll be fielding three adult teams this year. Unfortunately, he says, the club didn't get the green light to compete in the Junior A championship in 2003. "It was a pity that a lot of the other junior clubs objected. "We felt that we needed to put in a team in the junior championship to enable a lot of our players to improve their game. "It helps to play a higher quality of football and with no disrespect to the teams who play in the Junior B championship, we won that a few times over the years and we felt that the Junior A championship would present a much greater challenge for upwards on 30 of our players. "But the junior clubs made their decision and we have to live with what they voted for." Despite the fact that underage title successes haven't exactly smothered the landscape around Kilnaleck in recent years, Brian maintains the club's minor team from 2002 includes a number of players who'll be in contention for places on the senior team in the not too distant future. "They're very keen and easily managed," Brian declares. As for the perceived major gulf between the Gowna and Cavan Gaels of this world and the chasing pack, Brian, for his part, doesn't believe that there's a significant difference in quality between the so-called top two and the best of the rest. "They're definitely the two teams the rest, including ourselves, have to beat this year but we only lost to a point in the championship against Gowna last year and they went on and beat the Gaels. "We're just three or four players short of being a championship-winning team at the moment but on our day and with a bit of luck the current players would put it up to the best of them. "We reached the semi-final of the championship in 2001 but lost out to Gowna but I think we have improved since then and maybe we could go one step further this year and get to the final and who knows after that." Crosserlough is still one of the top clubs in Cavan then? "Definitely. We're in the top four or five every year and either make it to the league final or semi-final. We're not that far off the pace but the championship does get harder to win every year, there's no doubt about that. "It's a matter of us making the breakthrough, with a league title for instance, and then taking it on from there. You can't beat winning a bit of silverware to keep fellas interested and keen. "They say that winning is a habit but it's hard to break a losing habit too." Brian talks up his club at every opportunity and delighted in heading down to Dingle in Kerry at the start of the year along with the senior players for the Paidi O Se tournament. "It was a great way to get the pre-season work up and running. "The lads really enjoyed the trip and they were a credit to the club when they were down there. "It's a great place to get the spirit going and even though we lost out to An Gaeltacht, I think the trip was very worthwhile and everyone enjoyed themselves." Enjoy is the operative word, it seems, in Brian's lexicon. He admits that if he didn't glean some enjoyment from his work with Crosserlough GAA, he wouldn't be doing the job of PRO. He maintains that it's important to keep football matters in perspective. And while he believes that the current Crosserlough team is fast approaching its peak, he insists that the world won't come to an end if the hoops don't clinch the senior championship title this year. "It's not do or die for the team or the club this year. "It won't be a last ditch effort next Summer to win the championship but it'll be disappointing if the lads under-achieve and don't do themselves justice. " I'm optimistic that things will come right for the seniors. You have to be optimistic." Words to the wise indeed. Tweet

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