Not content with securing their first ever Owen Cup success in 2003, Latton's senior footballers made history on the double last year when they retained their title. Kevin Carney reports. Talk to any pundit in the county right now and the chances are that all bar none of them have Latton down as one of the short-odds favourites to land the Senior Football Championship title in 2005. Beaten finalists in 2003, beaten semi-finalists in 2004. Talk about knocking on doors. So getting their hands on the Mick Duffy Cup is what will concentrate the minds of the Latton player most of all in the coming year. Or will it? What about completing a hat-trick of Owen Ward Cup successes? Has to be a temptation, but why not the double of championship and league next year! After al,l the O'Raghillys have been fond of breaking new ground of late. In 2003, the white and blues made history by winning the Division One senior league title for the first time in the club's history. History then went and repeated itself last November when rising star Bernard O'Brien sent over the clinching point in the final against Truagh. Hindsight a great thing, of course, but perhaps we might have guessed the 2003 Owen Ward Cup holders were hell bent on holding onto their prized piece of silverware. Certainly they let it be known from the very first round of the competition that they meant business. In walloping visitors Sean McDermotts by 1-17 to 0-8 in the last week of March, Latton posted notice of their intention to go the distance once again. The win over the Threemilehouse side was most notable for the positioning of Kevin Hughes at midfield. Hughes responded to his relocation by popping over four points over the hour. Latton continued on their merry ways at the peleton of the Credit Union SFL with a 0-13 to 0-5 victory at home over would-be SFC champions Magheracloone keeping them on track for the retention of their title. But then a timely reminder of the nature of the competition facing them when they went under by 0-12 to 1-11 to 'Blayney Faughs. With three games played and four points on the board by the end of April, the would-be league champions lay, on their own, in fifth place, two points behind joint leaders Magheracloone and Truagh. A draw with Inniskeen then followed before the team overleaped Clontibret in the league with a comfortable win. There was still a lot of work to do and a lot of jockeying for positions in the table by the end of May with Latton suffering a surprise defeat to Aghabog. Still with eight games played, the O'Raghillys still sat pretty atop the league table with eleven points garnered from eight games, one ahead of a chasing pack of 'Blayney, Magheracloone, Clontibret and Truagh. Following the break for championship action, Latton again tasted defeat when, despite a nine points haul by Hugh McElroy, Carrick won by 1-10 to 0-12. By the end of July, Latton remained well placed to book a place in the last four of the competition, lying in fourth place on fifteen points from twelve games played. Losing to 'Blayney thereafter at St. Mary's Park by 0-10 to 2-6 on September 18th just served to keep the pot boiling. The temperature increased again when, in the first week of October, the O'Raghillys travelled to St. Mellan's Park and beat hosts Truagh by the minimum margin, 1-11 to 3-4 in a cracking tie which hoisted Latton up into second place on 21 points from 16 games, just one point behind leaders Magheracloone. A week later and a comprehensive 2-14 to 1-3 win over Aghabog and a place in the top four was secured, joining Magheracloone, Truagh and Clontibret in the race for the title. The draw for the semi-finals pitted Latton against Clontibret in a match that was played on the last Sunday in October at the O'Raghillys ground. In what was a tough, evenly-contested affair, the homesters proved good value for their eventual 0-9 to 0-7 victory. It was a very competitive encounter all through with very little separating the sides over the hour. Points were swapped with monotonous regularity right from the opening whistle with Finbarr Fitzpatrick and Eoin Duffy's consecutive points in the 10th and 11th minute giving the would-be champions a two point lead for the first time in the match. However, true to form, that two point lead was short lived as Clontibret hit back with a free to leave just the minimum between the sides yet again. Latton, despite the promptings of John O'Brien, Kevin Hughes and Hugh McElroy in particular, laboured a bit to translate their fine defensive work and impressive approach work into scores and some poor wides were recorded as the second half got underway. Latton found themselves on the backfoot for extended periods in the second half as Clontibret's greater physical presence began to tell. Latton actually trailed going into the final quarter but the introduction of the youthful Bernard O'Brien to the attack served to rejuvenate Latton up front. However the increasing tension was soon manifest in the dismissal of Clontibret's John Paul Mone and Dermot O'Brien of Latton as tempers boiled over. Clontibret then went two points ahead and things looked shaky for the Latton lads with ten minutes remaining in the game. However when the going got tough, the tough really got going and in the last five minutes, Latton really pulled out all the stops to come up with the winning scores. A point apiece by Bernard O'Brien and Hugh McElroy succeeded in gaining parity for the Latton men and when Aidan Farmer powered his way forward in the 28th minute to land another score, Clontibret were on the slippery slope. Latton retained their momentum right to the death and a fine finish by Hugh McElroy proved to be the insurance point, leaving the O'Raghillys 0-9 to 0-7 winners and just one step away from defending their title. The final saw Latton cross swords with Truagh Gaels in Clontibret. The decider wasn't one for the faint hearted with a lot of the exchanges being of the hard-hitting, uncompromising sort. Played in very good conditions, Gerry Connolly's men had to be in a sleeves-rolled-up mode right from the beginning with 'keeper Sean Farmer called into action after only three minutes, pulling off a terrific save. After they conceded the opening point of the game, Latton showed good cohesion and purpose in their play to fire over three unanswered points from Eoin Duffy, Aidan Farmer and Hugh McElroy. The action was non-stop and rampaged from one end of the field to the other with one side, and then the other, threatening to break loose only to be reeled back in. It was unsurprising that the sides were locked together at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter saw Latton really make their mark. With Aidan Farmer in really top form and John O'Brien marshalling matters at the rear, Latton pushed forward in menacing fashion time and time again. However their marksmanship left something to be desired and the team only managed to notch two points, via Finbarr Fitzpatrick and Hugh McElroy, before half-time. Leading by 0-5 to 0-3 on the restart, Latton posted notice of their intentions to stay in front 'til the bitter end when Kevin Hughes extended their lead to three points after just two minutes. But Truagh showed themselves to be worthy finalists and they pulled their deficit back to the minimum at the three-quarter hour mark. Two minutes into the last quarter, it was all square as Truagh knocked over the leveller. Less than two minutes later though the drama quotient increased significantly when Eoin Duffy found the target. The tempo of the game continued to soar with each ferocious tackle. Attacks followed attack but both defences were in a 'thou shalt not pass' frame of mind and stalemate was the order of the day for an extended period. Then two minutes into added-on time, Latton stormed up field and sent substitute Bernard O'Brien in on goal. O'Brien proved to be the right man in the right place with his sweetly struck effort serving to seal the spoils for the champions. History had repeated itself. A treble of league titles in 2005? Maybe the Duffy Cup is in the pipeline. Roll on a new season is surely the clarion call from the Latton club. The following are the Latton players, and scorers, who did duty against Truagh in the 2004 Owen Ward Cup final; Sean Farmer; Hughie Lennon, Ruairi Ward, Edmond Lennon; Kieran Lennon, John O'Brien, Francis Coyle; Kevin Hughes (0-1), Aidan Farmer (0-1); Stephen Fitzpatrick, Finbar Fitzpatrick (0-2), Eoin Duffy; Hugh McElroy (0-2), Martin Duffy, David Lennon. Subs used; Bernard O'Brien (0-1), Patrick Shannon, Martin O'Brien. Betting on Bernard With more awards to his name than could earnestly be listed in one sitting, it appears as if it can only be all downhill from here on in for Latton teenager Bernard O'Brien. But we sincerely hope not. The term 'rising star' may indeed be overused in a sporting context but, without doubt, such a term is most appropriate in describing Latton's Bernard O'Brien. In terms of potential and proven ability in the worlds of Gaelic football and hurling, few of his peers can even attempt to measure up to his achievements to date. The list of credits to his name reads like a biographical index from some GAA legend and yet the Monaghan maestro is still a teenager. Three years after being afforded the distinction of being voted the juvenile hurler of the year in Monaghan, he was awarded the 2004 Young Player of the Year award in hurling. During the past year he had the honour of being part of the Ireland U-21 shinty team that played, and beat, Scotland last October. He was the first, and youngest, player to represent Ireland at both codes, hurling and football, in the same year. In addition, the now 18-year old Belfast-based student boasts the rare distinction of having achieved back-to-back college All-Star awards in both the primary Gaelic games. Those closest to him guess that Bernard scooped five prestigious awards in 2004 but he himself isn't counting. Thankfully though he's keen enough to rewind the tape and view the past year with a little less awe than the rest of us. For starters, Bernard recalls his dual All-Star presentation just into the New Year when he also received the Tenants Ulster GAA Writers merit award for January. One month later he was into some hard training for the Irish International Rules team who had a date with their Aussie counterparts down under last April. For company, he had fellow Monaghan players James Ward (Magheracloone) and Ciaran Hughes (Castleblayney). "It was great playing for Ireland. We were really tuned into it. "The three of us had benefited a lot from being involved a couple of times a month in the training carried out up at Ballinascreen by Tony Scullion of Derry and Paul Callaghan from Donegal. "Playing against the other provinces at Ballymun Kickhams' ground was very good preparation and it was good that eleven of us from Ulster eventually made it into the Ireland squad by the time March came along." And what an experience it proved to be in the antipodes for Latton's Irish corner-forward and the rest of the tourists under the supervision of team-manager Hugh Kenny (Wicklow) and trainer Adrian Hassett (Galway). "It was an incredible two weeks in Brisbane and Melbourne and then Perth. "We did well to win the first test with a bit to spare. "It was probably the game I remember most because it was played in front of around 43,000 spectators in the Gabba Stadium in Brisbane. "It's a fantastic arena, at least on a par with Clones if not exactly up to Croke Park standards. "Our International Rules match was the warm-up match for the AFL game between Collingwood and Brisbane, two great rivals, which came afterwards. "Australia won the second which set it up nicely for the third and final test which, thankfully, we won." Any rough stuff? "No, each of the three games was clean. I don't think there was anything sly about the Aussies we played; they weren't into the off-the-ball stuff or late tackles or anything like that." And his role in the team? "Basically to fill into the spaces created by the rest of the forwards or try and make space for one of the other lads. "I had a sort of a roving role which meant a lot of hard work. " It was fast and furious and hard enough to get a mark," Bernard assures us. The trip to Australia is something Bernard swears he'll never forget. The matches, the craic and the friends he met on the tour combined to make the trip special. So which game, the Australian or Irish, would he prefer to play on a consistent basis? "I still prefer the Gaelic. It's more free-flowing and it's a game where you can show a greater degree of skill in terms of foot and hand passing. "Aussie Rules is a bit more catch and kick. Even if I got an offer to play in Australia, I don't think I'd consider it. "The AFL doesn't appeal to me but I like the International Rules game though." Even if you were offered some 500,000 dollars to link up with Setanta O hAilpin and his 'ilk down under? "Well that would be something that I'd seriously have to consider. "I love sport and that kind of money would obviously weigh heavily with me in coming to a decision. "To be playing sport on a full-time basis and to get paid good money would be fantastic- no doubt about it." Interestingly even though he hasn't even started his senior inter-county career, Bernard doesn't envisage a time when the GAA will be paying players to play Gaelic football or hurling. He thinks that counties or clubs just couldn't afford the games to go professional. "If it did go professional, you'd see a lot of players hopping from one county to another and a lot of the rivalry which is at the core of the GAA would slowly disappear. " I think it would get to a stage whereby some players would be more interested in collecting a wage than playing for their counties." Bernard was excellently schooled in the rudiments of academia plus Gaelic football and hurling while a student at St. Pat's Keady. He had his innate interest in Gaelic games well and truly honed and a bagful of underage medals won at school and with the O' Raghallaighs helped motivate him to improve and fire his ambition and hunger to win even further. Fellas on the club scene like Finbarr Fitzpatrick, Kevin Hughes and his own brother Ronan (22) were fellas to look up to as he emerged up through the hurling and football ranks in Latton. "One of the main men who contributed to my development as a hurler was Gerry Murphy who coached me from under 15 right up until Under 21 level, a man of great enthusiasm for the sport as well as a fantastic motivator. "Mick Hannon and Mickey Byrne were also heavily involved in my underage coaching as well. "Then there was our long-time hurling mentor at the club, local Garda Gerry Naughton, who is from Galway." Soon Bernard was doing the dual thing in a big way with fellow dualists like Chris McEntee, David Lennon and Niall Traynor lending him their experience and advice. Meanwhile at school, Stewartstown, Co. Tyrone native Damian McConville was doing his best to smooth the rough edges from his hurling game in particular and succeeded as Bernard helped himself to Forester and Gallagher Cup medals with the Keady school. Bernard impressed so much during the past 12 months that he was again rewarded with an All-Star colleges football award for 2004, having been the first student from St. Pat's to earn such a prestigious accolade when he was selected in 2003. Earlier a corresponding hurling gong was collected from top-notch coaches Val Kane (Down) and Art McRory (Tyrone). Of course, even for one so young, there have been some notable disappointments so far. For instance, in his senior championship debut season just gone by, the angst suffered in losing out to Scotstown in last Summer's county SFC semi-final is still almost tangible. "I think we'd possibly have done a bit better than Scotstown against Magheracloone in the final if we had made it that far. "We met Magheracloone in the second round of the championship and only lost by a goal. I'd say it would have been a much closer affair in the final had we been there," Benard opines. Fulsome in his praise for the work put in with Latton seniors by team-manager Gerry Connolly, young O'Brien says that if highly experienced and valuable clubmen like Kevin Hughes, Martin Duffy and Finbarr Fitzpatrick can keep their shoulders to the wheel for another couple of seasons, Lattton will eventually hit the jackpot and win Monaghan's blue riband title. Currently studying Radiography in Jordanstown University, Bernard has a whole host of experience playing for his school and county at every underage level and he's collected many's the medal, including an All-Ireland Special Minor hurling medal. He may yet win a Ryan Cup or Sigerson Cup with Jordanstown too but, most of all, he'd love it, just love it if he could scale the heights with the O Raghallaighs. "That's a big ambition of mine," Bernard admits. And who knows but that next year's yearbook may well have a story or two to relate on that score! Tweet

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