The club's adults might have had a year to forget, but the Bective under 14s managed to preserve some level of pride by completing a league and championship double, in the process becoming the first Bective side to win an underage championship. Roscommon native Manus Tiernan was one of five men over the side, and he was delighted by the success. After the near misses of '99, when Bective reached the semi-finals of the intermediate championship before succumbing to eventual winners Syddan, 2000 brought one of the worst summers in memory for the south Navan club. They could never recover from a series of demoralising early defeats, managing only one championship victory on the way to relegation to junior ranks just three short years after promotion. Rathkenny were the other side to become embroiled in the relegation dogfight, but an unexpected victory in their final group game against perennial championship favourites St Patrick's condemned Bective to relegation. The fact that St Pat's went on to win the title by beating Ballivor in the final only served to rub salt in Bective's wounds, but in truth they could have no-one to blame but themselves. New amalgamation Na Fianna, junior champions St Paul's and south Meath side Donaghmore/Ashbourne provided the opposition in the middle section of the championship, and one victory from any of those games could have changed the whole complexion of the summer. But they emerged pointless from that series of four-pointers, a sequence that went a long way towards sealing relegation for the junior champions of '97. With morale at a low ebb, it was unsurprising that subsequent league results didn't detail any improvement in form, and relegation to Division 4 of the All County 'A' league quickly followed as well. But in a bleak year for Bective as a whole, there was one shining light, one beacon of encouragement to all. The club has made a conscious effort to foster underage football over the past few years, and there were definite signs of progress before this year's group of under 14s took that to a new level. Bective had never before won a championship at underage level, the Division 3 minor league success of 1995 representing the principal achievement in the club's 36-year history. After a fine campaign in '99, when they reached the under 14 final with a relatively young side, expectations were high going into this year. As Manus Tiernan, the former Roscommon under 21 centre back who took charge of the panel's training sessions, points out, the difficult thing with underage players is not getting the best out of them, but keeping them interested. A number of years ago Bective's record at underage level was less than envious, but with a lot of work in recent times that has improved greatly. "Sometimes young lads get very disillusioned if things aren't going well," he says, "so it's always a lot easier to get them interested when they have a good chance of winning. And over the past few years, through the efforts of a number of very dedicated people, we have become very competitive in all underage grades up to under 16. The club really needs a few more people to help out at under 17 on, because it's too hard for one person to do on their own. And it's such an important time for a player; there are a lot of distractions for lads from the age of 16 or so on, so it's hard to keep their interest up." If the current rate of progress is sustained, there is every chance that the club will be competitive at all underage grades in the future. The impressive manner in which the under 14s maintained an unbeaten spell through the league and championship this year definitely bodes well for the future. It was Manus Tiernan's second year involved in the training of the team, but he is keen to stress the contribution of his fellow selectors and the commitment of the players to the success of the side. "It's a real team effort," he says. "There were five lads involved with the under 14 team this year, and we needed that number to organise everything properly. Dessie O'Brien, Gerry Keating, Vino Keating and Jim Sullivan were the other four, and they all put in great time to help the team get where it did." At the beginning of the year, there was great hope that the current under 14 side could win the Division 4 league title. Bective have been waiting patiently on the doorstep of underage glory for three years now, repeatedly hammering on the knocker. Two years ago, they reached the under 12 final with a team consisting of players that would all be eligible for under 14 this year. Last year both the under 13s and under 14s made it to their respective deciders, but neither side was able to clear the final challenge. So, taking everything into account, were the expectations high at the beginning of the year? "I suppose they were high enough," says Manus, "because of how well the teams had done in the couple of years before, and because we still had most of those players available; we only lost about five or six of the under 14 team from last year. We went through the league winning most of our matches comfortably, and beat Moynalvey with a bit to spare in the final." The score in that final was 7-9 to 0-0, a fair reflection of Bective's total dominance in the game. Indeed, only one side - Boardsmill - managed to score against them through the entire competition, a record that speaks volumes for Bective's sustained excellence through the campaign. The championship, though, was always destined to be a tougher proposition. And the principal obstacle facing the side would be over-confidence - they could not afford to underestimate any team, as the standard in an all-county Division 3 championship would always be better than in a Division 4 South league. Moynalty provided the opposition in the first round, and Bective very nearly slipped up in the slippery conditions, relying on a late point to grind out the victory. If nothing else, that match showed the selectors that their side could win tight battles as well as turn on the style in open games. That mental strength was needed by the time they reached the last four of the championship. Tiernan takes up the story. "We were drawn to play Nobber in the semi-final, and that was always going to be a tight game. We won the Division 4 South in the league and they won Division 4 North, so we knew it'd be a really hard game to win. "It was a brilliant game, very close, and it was really end to end stuff. We got a couple of points ahead, but they finished strongly and we just held on in the end by a point or two. We had a fair idea that would be the hardest game we'd have, because we were to face Dunderry in the final, and we'd already played them three times during the year. "Going into the final, I knew that if we played as well as we could play, then we'd win. But you never know how young lads are going to react. But in the end they handled it brilliantly. It was close until half-time, but we started to control things in the second half and won fairly well in the end. Hopefully we can keep them all interested over the next few years, and go close to more titles. It was great to be with the first ever side to win an underage championship for Bective, to be part of a bit of history." Manus was very nearly a part of a different kind of history with his native Roscommon 18 years ago. The Rosses already had an enviable record in under 21 football, having claimed two All-Ireland titles since the competition was inaugurated in 1964. Only Cork and Kerry had been more successful. In 1982, Roscommon reached another decider, with Tiernan manning the centre half back position. Unfortunately, they fell by just three points (0-8 to 0-5) to a Donegal side that included future All-Ireland senior winners Anthony Molloy, Martin McHugh, Donal Reid, Matt Gallagher and Joyce McMullan. Tweet

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