2008 proved to be a lucrative year for young prodigy Barry Watters on both the club and inter-county stage. A senior championship debut for Cavan in May was backed up by a junior championship triumph with Drung in October, and the versatile 20-year-old is now looking forward to another season full of ambition before the decade's turn. When Drung suffered relegation to junior status at the end of 2007, the future of their bright young star Barry Watters was about as clear as mud. After shining in the blue and white for Cavan's minor over the past 12 months, question marks loomed over whether or not Drung's ace outfielder, who would be playing his club football among bottom teams in the county, was to "make it" on the inter-county scene. What a difference a year makes. A few weeks after Drung's demotion to the basement, Watters received a call into Donal Keogan's senior panel for a challenge game with Fermanagh at Breffni Park before Cavan's McKenna Cup campaign got underway. The Denn man had an inkling about Watters, a player who could offer him versatility in both defence and attack, and in the second-half of the Breffni boys' test against the Ernesiders the then 19-year-old from Bunnoe didn't disappoint. "Just before the McKenna Cup last year I got a call in for the challenge game against Fermanagh and I came on in the second-half and did alright," said Watters. "I was quite surprised, I didn't think I would have got called in that early just after coming out of minor. It was a big surprise, but definitely a welcome one from my point of view. "All the lads there were great to get on with and at that time there was a young enough group coming into the panel, with the likes of myself, Rory Dunne and Martin Reilly." Watters would go on to impress at half-back during Cavan's McKenna Cup trail, which led them all the way to the semi-final where they lost out to Down, but by the end of it all the likes of newcomers Watters, Rory Dunne and John McCutcheon were making all the right noises and had firmly staked their claim to be on the Breffni panel for the National Football League. Watters was glad to even make the cut, but a clearly chuffed Keogan was eager to explore the player's talents and handed the teenager his senior league debut in Cavan's Division Two opener against Armagh in Crossmaglen. Lining-out at right half-back, Watters had put in another strong display, chipping in a superb point for good measure, but Cavan would somehow come out on the wrong side of the result after leading by five points at half-time. Tony Kernan's late free that chilly afternoon would hand the Breffni County a defeat that would, ultimately, set the tone for the rest of their season. Crushing losses to neighbours Monaghan and Meath followed and had their consequences, with Watters being dropped for Cork's visit to Breffni Park in March. "It was a big objective for us to try and stay safe in Division Two," insisted Watters. "The preparations were good and we were there or there abouts in most of the matches, except the Monaghan match, but we just couldn't seem to get the wins. "We got together before the Cork match and by then everyone had realised that we just needed to win fairly soon if we were going to have any chance of staying up in Division Two." In what would turn out to be Cavan's most memorable night of 2008, Watters started on the bench against the Rebels, watching while the likes Dermot McCabe and Sean Johnston tore through the previous year's All-Ireland finalists, but it was no walkover by any means. Struggling in sectors at the back, Cavan introduced Watters to the fray early on to try and help steady the ship, and the young Drung man played his part in helping the home side pick up their first two league points of the year with a 0-13 to 0-12 victory over the would-be Munster champions. "It was a workmanlike performance," explained Watters. "Everyone pulled together for that match and we grinded it out in the end." After losing their first three matches, Cavan dreamed of escaping the drop when they travelled to Mullingar to take on Westmeath the following Sunday, but 18 wides from the Breffni front spelled out relegation to Division Three before a late defeat to Roscommon sealed the deal. After that, a very positive Watters insisted that the only thing Cavan could focus on was their Ulster preliminary bout with Antrim just over a month later. "Everyone just kind of put their heads down after that and said there was nothing you could do about it," he explained. "It was time to get on with the championship, everyone was looking forward to that day and getting out there in the summer and playing matches when you want to be playing matches." Cavan had four weeks to try and salvage something from their season, and while Watters was assured by this stage that any chance of league success, either with Cavan or Drung, was out of the picture, the adaptable blonde knew there was more out there, with two championships just around the corner. Wild notions whirled around the Breffni County as to what six players Donal Keogan was going to lead with to try and exploit a feeble Antrim defence, and come May 18th Watters would find himself very much in the deep end against the Saffrons up in Casement Park. After impressing with his county and DCU's freshers all winter long wearing the low digits on his back, Keogan chose Watters at left half-forward, instructing the youngster to use his devastating pace to pierce through on goal, while also helping out his fellow defenders against an unpredictable Antrim attack. To no real surprise, the plan had worked like a charm and Cavan came away from Belfast with a 1-19 to 1-14 victory to boast, setting them up for a home quarter-final date with Armagh the following month. "We knew it (the Antrim game) would be a tough match," reflected Watters," but just getting a win under our belts was the most important thing. Everyone upped there game because it was championship, as every footballer does, anyone who plays football always looks forward to championship games and wants to up there game." As for Armagh, Cavan's new mister versatile felt that home advantage along with the previous performance against the Orchard County were two things very much working in Cavan's favour going into the mouth-watering provincial clash. "We were confident having home advantage against them, especially after giving them a good game in the first game of the league," Watters stated. "We knew they'd be hard beat, but we knew we could give them a good game, and I think we did, but we just didn't have the scoring power on the day just to compete with them at that end." Watters was drafted back into the wing back position, as Cavan took more caution against a side on route for their seventh Anglo-Celt Cup in 10 years, but it seemed nothing could save them from defeat on that clear June afternoon in Breffni Park. Armagh ran out four-point victors on the day, which, in plain truth, could have been a much wider margin had it not been for Watters' club mate James Reilly denying the Orchard arsenal on three separate occasions over the 70 minutes. With that Cavan's Ulster ambitions were over for another season and if they were to get themselves back into the mix on the All-Ireland platform they'd have do it the hard way - through the backdoor. The Breffni men had picked Kieran McGeeney's Kildare out of the hat, and it was a draw that Watters felt suited his county to advance. "We were looking forward to it," he revealed. "They weren't going all that well either and we felt confident. "I mean we hadn't played that bad against Armagh, we just didn't take the opportunities that we had and we knew it would be a big test as well having to travel down to Newbridge as well, but there was a real feeling that we could get the win there." Cavan would deploy four Under 21s to the starting line-up against the Lilywhites at St Conleth's Park, including Watters at left-half back, who now had 140 minutes of inter-county championship football behind him. The visitors got off to a shaky start, conceding 10 points in the first-half to leave them trailing by four at the interval. Paul Brady's goal brought Cavan right back into things early on in the resumption and scores from Dermot McCabe and Sean Johnston saw them take a two-point lead heading towards injury-time. It looked as tough Cavan were about to take their place in the second round of the qualifiers only for James Kavanagh to strike to the Cavan net in the added on minutes and send Donal Keogan's side crashing out of the All-Ireland championship. "I feel as if we should have won that game, definitely," said Watters. "After coming back at them in the second-half and getting ahead in the last few minutes by two points, then in the last kick of the game they got a goal. "We felt hard done by at the end of it and it was a fairly tough loss to take. It was the last kick and we didn't even get a chance at the other end afterwards to level it because the full-time whistle was sounded when James took the kick-out, which made it all worse," he added. Watters, like the rest of the players, had learned a harsh lesson that day. With a split second's lapse of concentration, Cavan's season was over. The days after saw Donal Keogan tender his resignation to the Cavan County Board, but for Watters this story was to have a happy ending. Two weeks' later Drung got their county junior championship campaign off to a flying start by overcoming the stiff challenge of Butlersbridge, before ousting Munterconnaught and Shercock in the weeks ahead to book their place in a county final against Mountnugent. While the underdogs' front man David Givney tried to steal the show on that bright October afternoon, it was Watters that turned in the 'Man of the Match' performance, which helped Drung seal an immediate return to intermediate ranks in the county. From centre-forward, Watters displayed many of his attributes, acting as playmaker, drawing several frees in scoreable positions and notching a point of his own in a 1-12 to 0-8 win for the Bunnoe men at Breffni Park. Now Watters' sights are firmly set on the intermediate championship with his club for '09, and as for Cavan he is looking forward to the season ahead under the new managership of Tommy Carr. "We are all fairly delighted with it (Carr's appointment) now," said Watters. "It's good to get someone new in and some fresh ideas in and get the setup changed and see how we can get on this year. "They are going well so far, I think. Training is going good and we done well in the McKenna Cup in the last two matches, so hopefully we can go places." Knowing Watters' aim, he's bound to be not too far off the mark. Tweet

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