Knockbride's latest success at underage level bodes well for the emergence of a new crop of starlets. Under 16 joint team-manager Dermot O'Brien looks back on 2002 with understandable fondness. As 2003 starts most of the focus among club members in Knockbride may be about their wish to see their premier team make a concerted bid for senior championship honours come high Summer. Certainly in that respect, most of the rest of the clubs in the county would, like Knockbride gaels themselves, will be surprised if Eamonn McEneaney's charges don't make a bold charge for the blue riband cup. Come what may, the east Cavan crew will keep beavering away at all other levels in a positive attempt at forging a winning pedigree throughout the various grades. Yesterday's underage players are, after all, tommorrow's seniors. And judging by the quality being ushered up through the underage ranks in Knockbride over recent years, the club's senior team is set to be replenished right and proper in no time at all. Take last year's quality under 16 squad, for instance. From that very grade not so long ago emerged such present-day football luminaries as Michael, Larry and Peter Reilly, Raphael Rogers, Ronan Keaskin, John Tierney, senior countymen all plus, of course, severals more the equal of the best around the club scene in Cavan. Will the Knockbride seniors realise their potential and win the Cavan SFC title in 2002? Will the club win back-to-back under 16 titles, more to the point, or crack open some celebratory refreshment on foot of success at minor level in the year ahead? Joint team-manager Dermot O'Brien is one gael in Knockbride who has every faith in the ability of last year's group of under 16 players to come good again, sooner rather than later. Interestingly though, Dermot, along with joint-manager Niall Reilly and in association with most of those at the business-end of things at underage level in Knockbride were of the belief that silverware in 2003 might have come from a different source. "At the start of the year most people in the club would have thought the minor team had the best chance of all of getting to a final or maybe winning it. " But it wasn't long before we all saw how strong and how determined the under sixteens were although the team had to work very hard the whole way through the competition, right from the very first game to the final with Mountnugent." Dermot admits that considering that the Knockbride under 16s of 2002 had won the Under 14 Roinn D title two years hence, there was that bit of pressure on himself and Niall (Reilly) to produce the goods last year. However the team itself and the team-management went into the Under 16 Championship with little knowledge of the quality of the teams they were due to face. Earlier they had acquitted themselves reasonably well in the league, drawing with Killinkere and Mountnugent. "We didn't do too badly in the league but we were still disappointed. "We were that bit more determined to put things right though when the championship came around," Dermot explains. Still there was that level of ignorance about the opposition. West Cavan side Shannon Gaels, for instance, were rooted in Division 3B while Knockbride were deposited in 3A. Neither had met before the championship. Knockbride's opening game in the campaign saw them actually pitted against the aforementioned Gaels at the well-appointed Butlersbridge venue. In such a knock-out competition, there was to be no room for error. What transpired was one hell of a game of football and some brilliant football by both sides. After an ultra-competitive game, Knockbride triumphed by 4-5 to 1-13 in a proverbial thriller. So what is Dermot's abiding memory of that tie? "We were leading up until about ten minutes to go but then they scored six or seven points without reply. "To be honest, we were hanging on for dear life and I don't know if we would have won it if they (Shannon Gaels) were given another five minutes to turn things around," explains Dermot, fulsome in his praise of joint-manager Niall Reilly's work during the campaign. Reflecting further on the Shannon Gaels clash, Dermot says that in many ways Knockbride were their own worst enemies on the day. "I'd say the lads went into that game with their sleeves rolled up but after a great start and after they had built up a good lead, they seemed to get over-confident and adopt a complacent attitude. We were well ahead at half-time. " I think it was 3-2 to 0-4 by that stage. Darren Clarke had scored three good goals and maybe the players had got it into their heads that the job was done and dusted but as it turned out, that was far from the case." And so the post-mortems within the Knockbride camp carried on for a lot longer than it took the players to leave the dressing-rooms in Butlersbridge. "Myself and Niall (Reilly) weren't happy with the way the fellas allowed Shannon Gaels come back at us so strongly in the second half. "In fairness, I think the game was a real eye-opener for the players as well. We had a major talk with them and made sure that they understood that winning the championship was going to be no cakewalk. "After the Shannon Gaels game, we went back to the drawing board a bit and changed things around in training. "We decided to increase the number of training sessions and to make the sessions harder because with the game being 11-aside, we felt that a lot of our lads needed to improve their fitness to last the pace. "A good few of them tired noticeably in the last ten minutes against Shannon Gaels. Some of them would collect the ball in the half-back line and go on a big solo. But by the end of the match, they were out on their feet." And the O'Brien/Reilly verbals appeared to work the oracle. From there on, there was an acceptance among the Knockbride players that they had to be fit, totally focussed and consistent in their play if the ultimate prize was to be garnered. Then came the clash with Lacken Celtic, another team with the label 'unknown quantity' adhered to their jerseys. "Going into the Lacken game we did hear a bit about them. We heard they were physically very strong. "We made sure the lads knew that a repeat of the last 20 minutes they had against Shannon Gaels wouldn't do this time around." But Lacken Celtic were overcome. This time the Knockbride display was much more consistent and the team's passage through to a meeting with Mountnugent was secured. And what of their final opponents? "I went to see Mountnugent play Munterconnacht in the other semi-final and I was impressed by them. "We knew things were going to be very close between us and them." Too true. The final was on October 12th at Kingspan/Breffni Park and was destined to finish 1-7 to 0-10 with the green and reds getting the only goal of the game through Damien Farrelly in the first half, at the end of which Knockbride led by 1-3 to 0-3. Thereafter Knockbride had to defend stoutly to keep their noses in front but late in the game, Mountnugent took a two point lead and it looked curtains for the would-be champions. However Knockbride finished with a flourish and after a series of attacks, Phelim O'Brien eventually found the range with two match-saving efforts. "The first game was a really close shave but we shouldn't have made it so hard for ourselves. "We got the goal and then went four points in front. Again we let our form slip at a vital stage in the second half. "That's what we were inclined to do throughout the championship. Our one big consolation was that, in our minds, Mountnugent had hit hard the first day and hit us with their best shot. "We felt that they couldn't possibly play much better than they had in the drawn game. That said, we were glad that Aoghan McBreen was in such great form, otherwise we wouldn't have got a second bite of the cherry at all. He made a few crucial saves. " The replay took place two weeks later, again at headquarters. This time around, Knockbride got it spot-on in triumphing by 1-8 to 2-4. Again it was a very competitive match. Amazingly, few chances were created or taken in the first half, at the end of which points by Damien Farrelly and Phelim O'Brien helped Knockbride secure a 0-2 to 0-1 lead. Things livened up quite considerably on the restart though. Not for the first time, Knockbride 'keeper Aodhan McBreen 'earned his spurs with a particularly classy save early on. Although both defences remained on top for the most part, Knockbride managed to knock over further points from Martin O'Reilly and two from Phelim O'Brien. And soon later came arguably the most crucial score of the game when, in the 22nd minute, a long clearance from defence was chased by Martin O'Reilly who flicked it onto Brendan Carolan who promptly dispatched it to the roof of the Mountnugent net for a cracking goal. Knockbride were well on top at this juncture and Brendan Carolan was unlucky with a great effort from a sideline kick. Mountnugent launched a last gasp fightback and with five minutes remaining in the game found the Knockbride net and although they later recorded another major and a point, the resolute Knockbride lads held firm to secure a dramatic one point victory. "The replay was definitely our best display of the year. You could say that the lads learned a lot of lessons on their way to the final and in the drawn game itself. It was great that everything worked out well in the end," Dermot concludes. The following Knockbride players featured in the final replay win over Mountnugent; Aodhan McBreen; Patrick O'Reilly, Peter O'Reilly, Eamonn Carolan, Ronan O'Reilly, Damien Farrelly, Martin O'Reilly, Kevin Carolan, Phelim O'Brien, Brendan Carolan, Darren Clarke. Subs; Padraig Clarke, Ronan O'Connell, David McCabe, Finbar Carolan. Tweet

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