Underage football coach Sean Crothers is a proud member of the Currin GFC fraternity. His work on behalf of the club is synonymous with cementing its future well-being. Narrow misses by the club's junior and minor footballers in 2008 made it an archetypal case of 'so near and yet so far' for gaels around Scotshouse, Connons and Drum. Of course, some of Currin's finest young footballers did taste glory, in tandem with Aghabog, at under 16 level but, as they say, 'sin sceal eile'. As one of Monaghan's oldest clubs, Currin Sons of St. Patrick holds a special place in the Oriel County GAA family. People like Sean Crothers are endeavouring to keep it that way. Local gaels like Crothers who live adjacent to the club's base in Scotshouse and its environs recognise that tradition counts for nothing if the future isn't looked after. What better way to provide for the future well-being of a club then that to nurture success at underage level and perhaps bag an under 16 title or something similar on your tod? As the leading light behind the coaching of Currin under 12s over the past year, Sean can be likened to an operative in a factory who's position at the start of the assembly line. Way back in the spring team-manager Crothers was determined that all squad members would enjoy the experience and want to stick with the cause for the duration of the season: "We got the training going in February with a few training sessions but then it was good for the players to get a run-out shortly after that against Oram in a challenge," Sean enthuses. "Players like to take part in training but, more importantly for them, they like to get playing a game and they were disappointed our first round game in Aghabog ruled out." 2008 marked the 40th anniversary of Currin's annexation of the McCaldin Shield and the 30th anniversary of the completion of the area's inaugural housing scheme. Currin's re-launch of their under twelves also comes ten years after the development of new grounds and clubrooms. The past year was a momentous one for the club's juveniles. The Currin club's return to the U12 grade heralded not so much an overwhelming degree of expectation as a measure of renewed hope for the future. "We didn't win any matches but the youngsters done rightly overall, coming close to beating our neighbours Aghabog in what was a fairly even game. "The numbers were good and the players will benefit from having their first year under their best. In 2009 they'll be more experienced and more skilful. "The year worked out well. We had expected maybe 19 or 20 (children) but we finished the year with 42 turning up for training. "Our objective was to get out as many youngsters as we could to train but the numbers that eventually turned up exceeded anything near what we thought (would attend training). "Before the league season, we thought we might have to ask to play nine-a-side instead of the 11-aside but we didn't have to ask teams anything of the sort. "Nearly all of the current squad will be eligible to play under 12 next year - apart from one strong girl we have - so that's something to look forward to as well. "Having said that, ten of the squad are girls which means that we'll need to replace them as the team progresses up through the higher age groups." In the best tradition of sporting cliches' hope springs eternal in small clubs like Currin and the numbers of 6-12 year olds who attended Currin's coaching sessions was a great boost. For his part Sean fervently hopes his squad of 42 will reap a rich dividend over the course of the coming seasons, now that they have been introduced to the club and the game. "We didn't have an Under 12 team for the last four years or so but this year's squad played a right few games and we feel they got a good bit of craic and enjoyment from them. "Basically our aim was to give them all football, try and improve their skills and have them enjoying the sport so that they'd like to come back and train and play again next year." Making the most of limited resources has been the name of the game down the years at Currin and these times offer no less of a challenge in that regard. As of yet no great harvest from the development of some 60 houses in the area has been forthcoming. Youngsters in that neck of the woods are thin on the ground so far. The club laboured to register sufficient numbers at under 13 and under 15 levels and only about a half-dozen under 14s were rounded-up but the work goes on unabated. In 2007 the club amalgamated at Under 16 level with Eire Og and in the past year with Aghabog (to great success as mentioned earlier). In truth the numbers game has been the only game in town down Currin way for longer than most local gaels can rightly remember. "None of the players this year played any competitive football before so it was all a bit new to them," Crothers, a Cawley Cup winner (1989) with Currin, explains. Crothers worked closely this year with team-selectors Danny McCarney, Paudie McQuaid, Declan Smyth and Peter Boyle in looking after the Currin Under 12s. The children were put through their paces in a fun way from the tail end of last February to the end of October (under floodlights) and enthusiasm among the players never waned. According to 45-year old Crothers - Currin's Youth Officer - the good and the great footballers among those 42 children were model students of the Gaelic game. "They were all very keen to learn and they enjoyed the training we had on a Wednesday evening and hopefully, down the line, they'll develop into good enough footballers. "We concentrated on teaching them the rules of the game, doing simple drills and exercises that they found interesting, and it was a good sign that in October they didn't want to quit!" High hopes then for the group he helped oversee in the past year? "Like every other group of players, we have a mix of those who are physically stronger than others and some who have more ability than others so we'll have to see how it goes. "Some of them are already showing a good bit of potential but it's a case of whether we have enough good material that'll decide what kind of seasons we have." Sean and the other Currin underage mentors depend on maximising the numbers that come on stream at Scotshouse National School, Connons N.S and, to a lesser extent, Drum. But with a number of children native to Currin opting to go to schools north of the border such as Aghadrumsee and Newtownbutler, the numbers game is invariably difficult to win. Ensuring that those children attending schools located outside of the club's direct catchment area give their allegience to Currin GFC is a huge challenge, Crothers explains. "Of course, it's great to see children playing football whereever they are but it would be great if every child in our area played with Currin," the former McKeown Cup winner adds. "We need to have as many of the youngsters as possible in Currin playing with the club so we can be confident of fielding teams at under 16 and minor levels in the future when girls won't be part of the equation." Delighted by the success enjoyed by the Currin Under 16 players (in tandemwith Aghabog this year) Crothers says the local minors also performed admirably. "They just missed out in the league 'cause if they had beaten Doohamlet they would have gotten into the semi-finals. They ended up losing two play-offs. "There's a fair bit of talent coming up through the ranks with the under 16s and minors and you won't find the time going before those fellas are able to play for the juniors." Tweet

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