Royal County looks back on a year when Nobber defied the odds and won their second ever U14 league title. The exploits of the Nobber U14 football team captured the imagination of the entire village this summer when a string of wonderful performances landed them the highly-coveted Division 4 North Meath league title. It was a victory borne out of skill, determination and flair as Larry McEntee's young side defeated all before them in real swashbuckling style. What made the success all the more remarkable was the limited resources the management had to choose from. They only had a panel of some 23 players, half of which were U12 and six of those were still U10. Despite having such a young team, Nobber began the season with an away game at St Brigid's and returned home with two points following a comfortable victory. The next game saw them pitted against competition favourites Moynalty. This was to be the team's only league defeat of the year as they went under to a strong Moynalty outfit after a thrilling contest. Nobber got back on winning ways when they accounted for Slane to put them back in contention before further victories over Kilmainhamwood, Carnaross and St Mary's (who conceded the points) catapulted them to the top of the table and earned them a semi-final spot. The league format in operation in the county, Larry explains, saw Nobber - the second placed team - playing Carnaross who finished third in one semi-final while group winners Moynalty met Kilmainhamwood in the other semi-final. Nobber produced another fine display to record their second victory over Carnaross in the space of a few weeks to reach the final and Moynalty, as expected, easily accounted for Kilmainhamwood to join them there. After suffering a narrow defeat to Moynalty earlier in the campaign, Nobber went in to the final as complete underdogs. Manager Larry McEntee and his selectors approached the game in a positive frame of mind, hoping that their team would perform to the best of their ability and wouldn't be overawed by the occasion. The preparations had been thorough and the players knew they were good enough to cause an upset. Both sides began rather tentatively with defences generally on top. Nobber were, however, very threatening going forward and they were rewarded when one blistering move resulted in a goal by full forward Conor Halpin. They also added three points while restricting Moynalty to a single score - a well-taken goal - to lead at the interval on a scoreline of 1-3 to 1-0. The second half began in whirlwind fashion for Nobber. They took up where they had left off in the first period and tagged on a further three points in the opening stages of the second half to lead by six points. Then the decisive score of the game arrived when impressive forward Conor Halpin stole through to grab his second goal which effectively ended the game as a contest. Moynalty, to their credit, never gave in and continued exerting pressure but as they piled players forward in search of a morale-boosting goal, Nobber launched a lightening counter attack which resulted in a third goal, scored this time by midfielder Barry Lanney. Moynalty did gain some consolation near the end when they scored 1-2 without reply to give them hope. And as the game entered lost time they were awarded a penalty which, if converted, would have put just four points between the teams. But the charge was halted when the penalty was brilliantly saved by Nobber custodian Gerard Campbell before the referee finally brought the game to an end, sparking off scenes of great celebrations among the large Nobber contingent present. The youngster had done the village proud, maximising their resources cleverly against a physically stronger Moynalty team. It was a thoroughly deserving success and one much sought after by the club. As stated earlier, the resources in Nobber are very limited. Larry revealed that there is only a small pool of players to choose from and this number is dwindling every year. Despite the existence of the 'Celtic Tiger' in Ireland, there hasn't been a single new residential house built in the parish of Nobber for the past five years. In the local primary school they lost a teacher last year because of declining numbers and it has now been reduced to a four teacher school. In sixth class, for example, there are only three boys - with only one of these eligible to play for Nobber - while only one new boy started in the school from the parish of Nobber this September. At this rate, Larry agrees, it is difficult to see Nobber being able to continue fielding teams in the future. This is one of the reasons why the club cherished this U14 success so much. Titles, Larry concludes, don't come too often though they'll be working even harder next year, not only to survive, but to add to this success. The Nobber team which won the league title was as follows: Gerard Campbell, Christopher Kellett, Sarah Hayes, Colin Clarke, Michael O'Halloran, Alan Farrell, Edward Clarke, Barry Lanney (1-0), Andrew O'Brien, Barry Hutchinson (0-3), Jason Smith, Barry McEntee, Kevin Smith (0-2), Conor Halpin (2-1), John Byrne. Subs: Conor McGivney, Jamie Owens, Grainne Weldon, Aodhan McEntee, Patrick O'Reilly, Richard Shields, Conor Carty, Brian Meade, Dwayne Lynch. Tweet

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