In 2008, Lacken completed a senior camogie championship/league double for the third consecutive year. Captain Linda Crowe doesn't anticipate the club's run ending soon either. Meanwhile on the county front, Cavan's Under 14 and Under 16 squads celebrated provincial title triumphs over the past year. For a long time, Linda Crowe and her Lacken team-mates could scarcely imagine Castletara being toppled from their perch as camogie kingpins in Cavan. Blue riband title victories came Castletara's way as often the appearance of dandelions on an unkempt lawn. It seemed there was no stopping them. Then 2006 came around. "2006 was the breakthrough year for us and we really haven't looked back since," Linda explains. "I think we were runners-up in the championship on something like six occasions. "But it was our appetite to turn things around that drove us on and fortunately our day did come and things have just been brillant for us ever since." So brillant in fact that Lacken have been doing a 'Castletara' on their opponents for the past three years, hoovering up league and championship titles for fun. Re-winding the tape three years, Linda reckons Lacken came of age on the back of some careful and meticulous nurturing of talent by two separate management teams. Firstly there was the influence of Galway man Michael Carr who knocked some of the rough edges from Lacken's play and added to the players' bank of skills. Then Martin Craig from Westmeath came along and instilled a new, more positive mindset which had the words 'winning mentality' stitched into the players' psyche. "Between the two fellas, our skills improved a lot and we brought on board the kind of self-belief that we were missing when we came up against Castletara," Linda recalls. "For a lot of years, we just didn't believe that we could beat them (Castletara) but that changed with the success of 2006 and that piece has been in the jigsaw ever since." As one of the most experienced players on Lacken's premier team, Linda is well equipped to assess the transformation in her club's fortunes at the highest level in the county. She concedes the current team is arguably at its peak right now and the manner of its triumphs in the championship and league finals this year suggest they are a class apart. In the championship final last July, Lacken whipped the Ballinagh/Lacken combination by 2-11 to 0-3 in a terrific show of strength at Kingspan/Breffni Park. Interestingly, team captain Crowe insists that few in the Lacken camp could have envisaged at half-time that such a chasm would exist between the sides at the death. "At half-time there was only a goal between us," the Mullingar Hospital-based Medical Scientist reflects. Their backs stuck like glue to us in the first half and it was a difficult game. "But then in the first five minutes or so after half-time we scored 1-4 and that seemed to set us up for the win and put them up against the ropes for the rest of the match. "It was an amazing display by us in the second half; there's no way we would have thought at half-time that we'd end up winning by such a huge margin in the end." Winning the league title thereafter in October by beating erstwhile bogey team Castletara by 1-13 to 1-4 in the final served to cement Lacken's ongoing supremecy in Cavan. "I acted as cheerleader for the team that day," the personable 28-year old quips. "It's much easier to play in a final than watch it. You could tell Castletara were really up for it. "It was anyone's game at half-time but the girls were determined to make it another double and really pulled out the stops in the second half." Prior to the league success, Lacken had set their sights on proving themselves amongst their peers in Ulster but, sadly, the squad fell short of achieving their target. "I think our success in 2007 was a great launching pad for us in 2008; winning the Ulster intermediate shield competition gave us a lot of confidence and added to our determination. "We really wanted to have a go at stepping up from the Shield competition this year so winning the championship was our main goal from the start of the year and then Ulster." Crack Derry side Kilrea proved best (1-15 to 3-5) against Lacken at Crowe Park in late September in what was an absorbing Ulster Intermediate quarter-final tie. "The girls were unlucky on the day. It was one of the team's best games of the year but things didn't go our way. I'd say tiredness had a lot to do with our defeat." Can Lacken maintain their dominance for at least another year? "If we can bring on another few of the younger girls and everyone from the 2008 panel sticks together, I don't see why not. "A lot depends on the strength of the panel in any given year but hopefully we'll be just as strong in the coming year. We'll not want to lose our titles too easily." Castletara; Ballinagh/Laragh; you've been warned! Ulster U14 and U16 titles secured Cavan Camogie Board's plans the future received a huge boost during the past year when the U14 and U16 Breffni girls romped to a unique double success in Ulster. Never before has the county secured both aforementioned titles, back-to-back. To trace the genesis of such an historic achievement, one must go back to 2006. In that year, Cavan made it known to Cumann Camogaiochta na nGael in Croke Park their wish to be part of the new U14 Development Squad initiative being put in train at that time. A panel of 33 girls were brought together in county Cavan and a nine week training programme was instigated under the guidance of Marie Brady, Marie Collins and Michelle Dunne. The girls took to the challenge of improving their skills and representing their county with great zest and fervour and the county board was suitably impressed. That panel later morphed into a fully-fledged Under 14 county squad which was formally launched in March last year. The words building and blocks echoed across Breffni-land. The Under 14 squad's first competitive outing saw them take part in an Ulster Development Blitz in Owenbeg in Derry on August 18th 2007 and duly claim the Shield. In the blitz, Cavan competed against Donegal, Tyrone, Derry (B) and Monaghan before going on to beat a vaunted Monaghan team in the tournament final by a distance. The tournament was all the more successful from Cavan's perspective by dint of the fact that the blues went into the tournament very much with the tag underdogs firmly attached. Things just got better and better thereafter for the Cavan youngsters as they approached the provincial championship with no little confidence and plenty of hope in their hearts. The squad enhanced their growing reputation by reaching the semi-final where they came up against a Monaghan side hell bent on proving that their defeat in Derry was a once-off. The meeting of the next-door neighbours proved to be an absorbing affair with Cavan once again proving the masters which paved the way for a place in the provincial decider. Ahead of the decider, the omens were good for the Cavan side. They won the toss for choice of venue and so faced the might of Tyrone in the well-appointed Drumlane venue. As things panned out, Cavan's skill and determination proved too potent a concoction for the O'Neill County and, in front of a large, appreciative support, Cavan won in some comfort. With quite a number of the all-conquering squad fit and able to compete at under 16 level, the county board decided to make a bid for under 16 provincial honours. Good decision. The U16 Championship got underway in March with Cavan once again not expected to make much of an impression against the more established, experienced county squads. Cavan reached the provincial final where they went head-to-head on Saturday, March 16th with a very fancied Armagh side in opposition. Viewed as one of the top sides in the province, Armagh were expected to have things very much their own way on the day but that's not how things worked out in the end. On the day, Cavan's grit and determination was such that Armagh were unable to outplay the match underdogs and an upset was marked on the cards from a long way out. Eventually Cavan's superiority saw them win by seven points, 4-7 to 3-3 which wasn't in the least bit flattering. It seems the new season cannot come quickly enough for camogie enthusiasts in the Breffni county. Tweet

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