Two-thousand-and-four was an exceptional year for the Meath U14 development squad, who matured both as footballers and as young men. 'Royal County 2004' caught up with Richie Cahill and Pat Coyle, who between them formed one half of the management team. The Meath U14 footballers benefited from the presence of a strong four-man management combo in 2004. Richie Cahill (Wolfe Tones), Pat Coyle (Curraha), Brendan Darby (Ballinabrackey) and Liam McPartland (Oldcastle) took charge of team affairs, and promptly set about their task of instilling discipline and footballing ability. It was a successful year on both counts, as this crop of under 14s did themselves, their clubs and their counties proud. It was Richie Cahill's first year with the county U14s and the Wolfe Tones clubman is very positive in his assessment of how the season panned out. Original trials were held early in the year. Up to 200 youngsters passed through the hands of the mentors before a final panel of 54 players was settled upon, representing most clubs in the county. Training commenced in April. The objective was to keep this whole development squad together for the full term, and this was achieved. The squad trained right through into October and a presentation night was held on Wednesday November 3. Though Croke Park insists that the competitive nature of U14 football should be toned down, there are still games to be played and the lads take great pride in playing for their counties. Thus, there will always be a certain competitive element involved when intercounty teams - regardless of age - take to the pitch. Would we really have it any other way? To this end, the Meath U14s enjoyed some competitive outings in 2004, particularly against neighbours Louth. "We played a good few competitive fixtures," Richie explains. "The aim of the Leinster league is to develop the game in a non-competitive way. We brought an 'A' team and a 'B' team and we played against the likes of Westmeath, Offaly and Kildare. We did well in that." The Royal County U14s were also involved in a couple of tournaments, including the Tuft Cup and Shield, which are run by Louth, mainly at the Geraldines pitch in Haggardstown. The Royals reached the final of the main competition and won the Shield. The Offaly Tournament is a one-day event in which Meath competed against Laois, Kildare and the hosts. The Wolfe Tones club, meanwhile, runs the Fr Bannon Cup, and Meath overcame Kildare and Louth to win that out. Richie agrees that it was a very good year in general: "The lads did well, winning the Offaly Tournament, the Fr Bannon Cup and the Tuft Shield. They also got to the final of the Tuft Cup and won all their games in the Leinster league, so all in all they acquitted themselves very well. They did themselves and the county proud." The Offaly Tournament took place in Gracefield on August 7. Meath beat Laois by 3-9 to 0-5 and followed up with a 6-8 to 0-8 defeat of Kildare before securing a thrilling 4-9 to 4-6 victory over Offaly in the final. Paddy Kenny was the winning captain. The Fr Bannon Cup was played on September 11. Meath beat Kildare by 2-7 to 0-6 to book their place in the final, wherein they overcame Louth, 0-9 to 0-3. Brian McGrane was captain for that particular competition. Overall, the squad developed extremely well. Discipline was a key consideration and was foremost in the management team's list of objectives. Efforts on this front bore fruit as they players behaved themselves impeccably all year. Training took place weekly, mainly behind Pairc Tailteann, though the Gibbstown and Simonstown venues were also used. How was training approached? "At that age, they are all naturally fit and you wouldn't be doing any strength training yet, so we concentrated on ball work. We trained once a week and kept records of all the sessions and these were very impressive. Attendances were excellent and the lads were very proud to be playing for Meath. Many of them never missed a single session." Where does this team go now? "There will be trials for the U15s next year," says Richie. "Just because a player was on the U14 squad, that doesn't mean they'll walk onto the U15 squad, so everyone will be in with a chance again. It's very hard to say just how good they are because these guys are still developing. A number of them certainly have the quality and we could be looking at a lot of county minors in four years' time. "But Croke Park doesn't want competitive games at this level, even though the games are played in a competitive spirit anyway. The match against Louth in the Fr Bannon Cup was very competitive because our lads wanted to overturn the Tuft Cup final defeat, which they succeeded in doing. "We saw a lot of good footballers at U14 level in 2004 but we are aware that there are others who were left out and who could still come in, while some who were there last year might not make it." Richie is confident that the core of the team - some ten or twelve players at least - will make it if they look after themselves. However, he stresses that there are many hurdles ahead. "It's as good a start as they will get, but it's just a start and there's a long, long way to go. "The year was highly successful in that the discipline of the team was 100% on and off the field of play. The lads represented their county and they didn't let their county down. They improved a lot football-wise and the culture within the group was very good. There were no cliques and they operated as a unit. They developed as footballers and as men." Richie's fellow selector Pat Coyle, who was also in his first term with the county U14s, is in complete agreement: "They did themselves proud. We got them all together and instilling discipline was top of our list of priorities. We then looked at the football side of it after that. There were some great characters in the squad and they did very well. "It can be very hard to get 50 young lads to gel together and develop as a team, but they were a group and that was it. We were more than happy with the way they bonded together. There was a great spirit amongst the lads. A few more lads will come into the reckoning and a few will slip out, but we could pick out a very strong panel of 30 at the moment who could distinguish themselves in any company. "There was a bit of sadness at the presentation night because we were breaking up, but we had a good year and most of the same lads will be back together next year, with a new management team and a fresh impetus." The year flew by, as the Meath U14s put together a string of impressive results: "We kicked off with a challenge against Westmeath in Dunshaughlin. We then played in the Leinster development league, winning all our games, and went on to retain the Offaly Tournament. "We made sure they all got plenty of football because the main aim is to develop them as players. I'd say that between 150 and 170 players went through our hands since the start of the year, and we'd hope they all benefited from the experience, even if they didn't make the final cut. "Every club was asked to send four of their best players at U14 level. We discovered that some of them were better in different positions and the switches should be of benefit to their clubs as well in the long term. It's all very positive. "From a personal point of view, it was great to go on and work with a team at county level. It was a big step but it went well and was very worthwhile. We put a lot of work into it and so did the players. It was very enjoyable." Panel: Mark Battersby, Ben Baxter, Paul Callaghan, Cairn Clusker, Mark Coffey, Kevin Collier, Mark Collins, Padraig Curran, Stephen Dawson, Daragh Deveroux, David Farrell, Paddy Gilsenan, Tommy Johnson, James Kellegher, Paddy Kenny, Cathal Lawlor, Anthony Lynch, Daniel Martain, Donal McCarthy, Brian McGrane, Colm McLoughlin, Cian McPartland, Micheal Newman, John Power, Timmy Reilly, Shane Rennicks, Daniel Skelly, Andrew Whearty, Andrew Tormey, David Moran, Stephen Darby, Derek Doran, Jack Grant, Eanna Harrington, Gary McGovern, Aengus McLoughlin, Stephen O'Brien, Jamie Owens, Daragh Smyth, Marcus Bailey, Stephen Carey, Patrick Coakley, Phelim Cunningham, Nicky Judge, Garry Carney, Eoin McMahon, Darragh Molly, Mark Smullan. Tweet

Most Read Stories