On the 25th anniversary of their last outright success in the Meath Intermediate Football Championship Nobber failed to lift the Mattie McDonnell Cup, bowing out at the semi-final stage for the second year in a row. By Noel Coogan. After winning the JFC title in 2002, Nobber have made their presence felt in the higher grade. They did not make it through to the knockout stages of the IFC in 2002 but got to the penultimate round in each of the next two years only to lose to Wolfe Tones and Syddan. In the second of the IFC semi-finals Nobber looked to be well on the way to the final when leading by seven points in the second quarter. For a while it looked as if Brian Farrell would virtually beat their neighbours in green and yellow on his own, indeed the county full forward has been the 'main man' for the black and ambers in the last few campaigns. Perhaps Nobber depend too much on Farrell and he was troubled by injury at the start of the 2005 season. His involvement in the opening Group B outing against Oldcastle at Kells was restricted to an appearance as a substitute in the second half. He scored a goal after joining the action and with Martin Curtis and Brendan Heffernan sending over late points, a 1-10 to 1-5 victory was recorded over the former seniors. Thomas McCormack sent over five points as a quarter-final win of the previous year was repeated with Philip McEntee, Andrew O'Brien, Paul Clarke and Curtis most impressive in the winning start. A 1-8 to 0-13 defeat by Donaghmore/Ashbourne in the second round was a setback but then came a success over another senior side of the recent past, Ballivor, who were beaten by 2-7 to 0-11 at Martry. In that game Brian Farrell showed glimpses of the form which would light up Croke Park a few weeks later. Farrell sent over six points in the first half to boost his side to a 0-7 to 0-5 interval lead and then in the second half he went past three opponents before blasting in a brilliant goal. There was another setback for Nobber in the fourth round with Carnaross edging them out by the minimum margin in a high scoring encounter. As in the clash with Syddan later in the campaign, Nobber let a big lead slip in this outing. The side in black and amber was ahead by 3-7 to 1-6 at the break and had increased the advantage to ten points (3-12 to 1-8) at one stage in the second half. Brian Farrell scored 1-6 and there were goals from Martin Curtis and Sean Carolan before Carnaross reeled off 2-4 without reply. The large divisions means that a team can lose two or three times and remain in contention for the title. Nobber finished up in third place in the group with nine points, behind Carnaross and Castletown. In round five there was a 0-8 each draw with Castletown in a Tuesday evening clash at Syddan. Nobber started well with three pointed frees from Brian Farrell in the opening eight minutes but the men in green and white led buy 0-5 to 0-4 at the break. Nobber regained control in the second half with Jackie Maguire, Gordon Weldon and Farrell (two) sending over points before they conceded two late scores and the win. But victories in the next two games clinched a place in the last eight. The clash with Drumree at Bective was a bit of a push over, finishing 1-15 to 0-3 with Andrew Hayes taking the scoring honours with 1-5 in the second period. Nobber were involved in another north county local derby when taken on by Drumconrath at Meath Hill and that one ended in their favour, winning very narrowly by 1-9 to 1-8. Brian Farrell sent over eight points and three late white flags from their top scorer ensured a place in the quarter-finals where they outpointed Gaeil Colmcille by 0-11 to 0-6. The north Meath black and ambers also had two managers during the campaign with Louthman Jim Clifford stepping aside before the quarter-final stage to be replaced by former Dunderry player and coach Sean Kelly. The IFC in Meath can often be relied on more for entertaining matches than its senior 'big brother' and Nobber's 'semi' clash with Syddan was one of the best in the county in 2005. Gordon Weldon netted the first goal, taking a pass from Brian Farrell and shooting to the net eight minutes into that game. There was little between the neighbours until Farrell struck for two goals, after 20 and 21 minutes. That left the scores 3-2 to 0-4 and Nobber looked to be on the way to the decider. They were still seven points to the good when Seamus Heffernan punched over the bar after 24 minutes. It was closer at 3-3 to 0-9 at the break and Nobber could only add three points in the second half. They lost the lead 11 minutes after the restart and points from Andrew Hayes (two) and Alan Farrell were not enough to keep them in the title hunt. Nobber should again be one of the main contenders for the IFC title in 2006. The club's only outright success in that grade was gained in 1980 when the club came up from being a humble junior B outfit to challenge strongly for senior honours. Curiously they jumped from junior B to intermediate ranks in three years without winning a championship. Two years after being beaten in the Division 2 FC (another name for junior B) decider by Gaeil Colmcille they lost out to Curraha in the 1976 JFC final but gained promotion both times. They suffered another final defeat when losing to Dunshaughlin in the 1977 IFC decider but made rich amends three years later when after getting the better of neighbours Kilmainhamwood at the penultimate hurdle they defeated Bohermeen-Martry side Harps by 1-8 to 0-8 to take the title. The triumphant team of 25 years ago was spearheaded by the club's best ever footballer, Gerry McEntee, and included other notables like P. J. O'Halloran, a member of the Meath team in the '70s, Jim O'Reilly, Shane and Larry McEntee and Dudley Farrell, a well-known coach these days and father of current wearers of the black and amber Brian and Alan. After leading by 0-5 to 0-3 at the break, Nobber went into a 1-6 to 0-3 advantage five minutes after the restart with James Bradley punching in the goal which separated the sides at the end. Harps then got the deficit down to the minimum but Nobber finished strongly with Gerry McEntee sending over his fourth point and substitute Ger Carolan completing the scoring The Nobber team which won the Meath IFC title in 1980 was: John Gorman; Tom O'Reilly, Jim O'Reilly, Shane McEntee; Gerry McGivney, Sean Doherty, Edward Cassidy; Dudley Farrell, Larry McEntee; James Bradley, Gerry McEntee, P. J. O'Halloran; Tom Lambe, Ronan Halpin, John O'Reilly. Subs - Ger Carolan for John O'Reilly, Pat McEntee for Larry McEntee, Pat O'Reilly, Jimmy McEntee, Larry McGivney, Sean Lambe, Kieran Carolan, Joe O'Reilly, Joe McEntee, Hilary Carty, Michael Monaghan, Sean Carolan. P. J. O'Halloran was also a selector along with Dudley Farrell senior and Pat Proudfoot, who was also the trainer. Nobber went on to contest semi-finals of the SFC in 1983, '86 and '89 as well as winning the Feis Cup in 1983 with a final victory over Skryne. Off the pitch the Nobber club is making a big drive to improve their playing facilities with a 'Lord Mayor' competition raising funds to purchase a field adjacent to the present pitch which was officially opened with a Meath v Cavan challenge game in August 1993. It is planned to develop the new land into a playing and training area for underage footballers. Three club members, Eugene Cassidy, Paul Lanney and Thomas Tierney, were involved in fund-raising with a golf classic, a race night and a big draw among the ventures. The latter coincided with the 25th anniversary dinner for the 1980 players. Dudley Farrell was the winning captain 25 years ago and, looking back, he regrets that Nobber did not go on to win the Keegan Cup. "We reached three semi-finals but with a little bit of luck we could have won out in one of those years," he said. Of course, Dudley would love to see Nobber lift a second IFC title and he is very hopeful that the Mattie McDonnell Cup can be captured soon. "The present team is mainly a bunch of good young players who can improve and also there are other talented players on the way up. I think they can win inside the next two years," he said. The current crop of Nobber footballers have given their supporters very good value and a return to senior ranks looks imminent. They will again be one of the favourites for the IFC in 2006 and could well deliver next autumn. U12's land league crown As if the continued improvement of the adult footballers in Nobber was not enough, the club are also making huge strides at underage level. The level of commitment to juveniles was evident this year as the U12 side landed the Division 3A FL crown at the end of June. Moynalty was the scene for the 2-13 to 0-5 success over Carnaross as goals from James Halpin and Paul Meade laid the foundation for the competition win. Moynalty started brightly but once the young Nobber lads got to grip with the game there was only ever going to be one winner. Halpin's goal helped the village boys to a 1-6 to 0-3 half time advantage and the second half saw the eventual champions continue to press as they ran out deserving winners. The side that clinched the U12 Division 3A FL was: K Casserly, P Cassidy, L Halpin, C Cassidy, E Fagan, P Meade 1-0, D Cassidy, I Brady, F McEntee 0-4, A Casey, J Halpin 1-5, S O'Brien, J Donoghue 0-1, D Shiels 0-3, D Lanney. Tweet

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