The St Furseys U14s made plenty of noise in 2004, winning a league and championship double as well as competing impressively in the All-Ireland Feile competition in Tyrone in July. The club also won a third successive county U13 league title. With players of such high calibre in the Haggardstown/Blackrock pipeline, the future of Geraldines appears to be in safe hands. Wee County 2004 reflects on a memorable year through the eyes of former Monaghan footballer and proud Furseys juvenile mentor Eamon McEneaney. Geraldines, who celebrated their Centenary Year in 2004, have every reason to be excited about the future. The juvenile wing of the club, St Furseys, enjoyed an exceptional 2004, particularly at U14 level, and the parish of Haggardstown/Blackrock is blessed with a swelling reservoir of emergent young talent. Furseys beat St Bridgets by 3-7 to 0-5 in the final of the 2004 Louth U14 football championship at Castlebellingham on Thursday June 24 to take the county title for the first time in the club's history. The first half of the final was a low-scoring affair and the winners actually trailed by a point at the short whistle, 0-3 to 0-2. However, two goals within the space of as many minutes just after the restart turned the game emphatically in Furseys' favour. Johnny Breen got both his team's first-half scores. The Haggardstown side took on Tiernan Hand as a half time substitute and within two minutes the corner forward had the ball in the net, after gathering possession from Breen. Barry Hamilton fired the second goal two minutes later and suddenly the winners led by five. Lifted by the three-pointers, St Furseys went on to dominate the second half and Barry Hamilton, who finished the game with 2-2, popped up with the third and final goal of an entertaining decider. Not content with one major title, the Furseys boys made it a famous double when they beat Na Piarsaigh in a scintillating U14 league final on Monday night, July 26. Incredibly, the county champions won that particular showdown on a scoreline of 5-13 to 5-12 after extra time. This was without doubt one of the most enjoyable juvenile deciders played in the Wee County in recent years. In between lifting the championship and league trophies, St Furseys also had the distinction of representing Louth in the All-Ireland Feile na nOg competition This took place in County Tyrone over the weekend of July 2-4. (The Furseys had won the right to represent their county in this prestigious national U14 championship by winning the 2003 Louth U13 competition.) The Wee County representatives played extremely well and were decidedly unfortunate not to become the fourth Wee County team to get out of their group in the history of Feile (the three teams to have achieved this feat are Ardee, Gaels, and St Furseys themselves, in 1992, when they actually went on to win the All-Ireland). However, after winning their first two games, the lads came unstuck in their third and final group outing. The team and mentors headed off to Augher on the Friday morning and it was Augher who provided opposition in the first group game, which St Furseys won by 3-7 to 0-3. They also won their second match, against Loughmacrory, also from Tyrone, on the Saturday morning, 6-6 to 0-3. This set up a group decider against Patrick Sarsfields from Antrim, on Saturday afternoon, with the winners guaranteed a semi-final spot. This time the northern opponents proved too strong, 3-2 to 2-2. The dream was over but the St Furseys lads had done their club and county proud. The teams were level on 1-1 apiece at half time and swapped goals early in the second half. Furseys then got the upper hand but hit four successive wides before Sarsfields broke upfield for the killer goal. Barry Hamilton (2) and Johnny Breen got the goals in the first game, while Hamilton and Jim McEneaney excelled in the win over Loughmacrory. Johnny Breen netted both goals in the final. The panel of players who travelled to Feile was: Connor Murray, Sean Watters, Patrick Hoey, Kevin Pepper, Tomas Cotter, Michael Rogers, Paidi O Gallchoir, Jason Mok, Christopher Dalton, Shane O'Hanlon, Jim McEneaney, Johnny Breen, Tiernan Hand, James Craven, Barry Hamilton, Ryan Keenan, Stephen Breen, Stephen Reidy, Justin Brayden, John McLoughlin, James O'Neill, Paul Molloy, Cormac McAdam, Paul Sharkey. The team mentors were Eamon McEneaney, Seamie Breen, Padraig Hamill, John Pepper and Eamon Tunney. Two-thousand-and-four was the second successive year that St Furseys represented Louth at Feile na nOg, a statistic which in itself gives a fair indication of the level of progress the club is making at juvenile level. Reflecting on the year, Eamon McEneaney notes: "The boys did really well to win the league and championship double. It was a great year for them, and the same team also won the U13 competition towards the end of 2003, beating Na Piarsaigh in the final in mid-November." So what was the objective for the team going into '04? "The target was simply to win the U14 championship, because Furseys had never won it before. We achieved that by degrees…" The first game against Na Piarsaigh at Rock Road was a repeat of the 2003 U13 final and St Furseys prevailed by 4-7 to 1-5. They then beat Gaels in a one-sided match to qualify for a semi-final clash with Roche. In the last four, the Greens hit top form to eliminate the Roche representatives on a scoreline of 6-5 to 1-5. St Bridgets provided final day opposition and were duly defeated, 3-7 to 0-5. With history made, Furseys set their sights on winning the league. They topped their group with seven straight wins, before beating fourth-placed Young Irelands by 2-6 to 0-7 at the semi-final stage. Familiar foes Na Piarsaigh provided stern opposition in the league decider. The game was an absolute cracker and both teams played some magnificent football. Neither side deserved to lose but ultimately it was the Haggardstown/Blackrock boys who came out on top by a single point, 5-13 to 5-12 after extra time. The whopping scoreline says it all. Thus, double-winning Furseys finished their domestic campaign with a 100% record in all competitions. Their manager says: "When any team wins all its games, it has been a very good year, because you'll always have some close matches along the way and the character of the team will be tested. "We won the championship final the week before heading off to the Feile and that sent us off on a good platform. After winning our first two games against the two Tyrone teams, we played a strong Sarsfields team from Antrim. We were level midway through the second half but had four wides in a row before they broke upfield for a goal. There was no way back. The Feile matches are only 15 minutes each half and when you concede a goal it's very difficult to recover. "If we'd got ahead at that stage, we'd have beaten them. I think that game took a lot out of Sarsfields because they lost their next game to Bray, who went on to win it. We were a little disappointed because we were familiar with many of the Bray lads from playing against Wicklow Development Squad teams and I think we could've had the beating of them." While the players were disappointed, they had played well and could be happy with their performances over the two days. They could quite easily have gone on to win the competition out, but didn't take their chances and will learn from that. In fact, they put the experience to good use within a matter of weeks, as Eamon explains: "They definitely learned from the experience. They fought back from nine points behind in the U14 league final. That's not easy for a juvenile team and they showed great character. They were determined not to lose, though, and it's all part of the learning process. This team still hasn't lost a game in Louth…" How important is this particular team to the future well-being of Geraldines? Are these U14s already being earmarked as a senior side in the making? "They're a very good juvenile side. That they haven't been beaten at any level is a measure of the way they work for one another and play as a team at all times. The team ahead of them is fairly good too and there are two very good sides coming behind them. The adult club should have a bright future if it can bring all those lads through," says Eamon. The former Monaghan player/manager has been living in the parish of Haggardstown/Blackrock for the past 14 years and has become heavily involved in the juvenile club. He had two sons playing with the Furseys, at U14 and U12 levels respectively in 2004. Eamon also managed the Louth U14 Development Squad team in 2004, in conjunction with his co-mentors Johnny McDonnell, Niall Lambert and Gerry Reynolds. The Furseys had a decent representation on that particular team, also. Regarding the long-term future of Geraldines, Eamon is encouraged but by no means complacent: "I would hope there is a good future awaiting the club. The challenge is to bring all these lads through to play minor and then senior football with the club, but that won't be easy with all the other distractions. "But we have identified the fact that we need to work with the juveniles and have worked with them. We have great mentors involved with all the teams from minor level down, so the kids are getting all the right attention. There is a tremendous effort going in and hopefully the club will reap the rewards of that." Is a county minor championship on the agenda within the short-term future? "We would hope that the present U16 team will do well in minor and we also have two or three other teams coming along, including the 2004 U14s, who should challenge for honours. The club has been working towards getting teams playing at Division One level in all grades and we have achieved that, so we're happy all in all. We are confident that there is a four- or five-year supply of players coming through and we should have the makings of a good team down the line." * St Furseys U13s went on to make it a truly historic year for the club by winning their third successive Louth county league, beating Oliver Plunketts by 5-7 to 3-7 in the final in Collon on Saturday October 16. Furseys will now go on to represent the Wee County at Feile for a third year in a row. Tweet

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