Swanlinbar created a wee bit of history last July when the club won its first ever Roinn B underage title. Team-manager Roly Curran is only too pleased to reflect back on the momentous occasion. Swanlinbar's Under 14 crew in 2002 went where no other underage team representing the club careered before and one can almost detect the buzz there is in the juvenile section of the club to this day. But securing watershed victories at underage level is only a means to an end, stalwart gaels at the west Cavan club attest. Long-time underage mentor Roly Curran believes that eyeing the landscape well down the road is the best policy of all. Celebrating the good times in the present is all well and good but a longer view of things must be courted. "We've been doing consistently well at underage level over the last few years but the hard work needs to continue. The under 10s, 12s and 14s of yesterday and today are the seniors of tomorrow and it's important to keep the assembly line of talent running. In about four years time, the lads who were competing at under 12 level only four years ago will be competing for places on the club's senior team" Roly declares. And, of course, club mentors right across Breffni land will be nodding in total agreement. Roly and his similarly-minded peers on the coaching front are all singing of the one hymn sheet, without a doubt. And, in truth, Roly didn't get Swad to where they are in the pecking order of underage football in Cavan without looking ahead and planning for the season(s) ahead. After all, all belonged to the club would quickly remind a body that the Roinn B League success at Under 14 level in 2002 was merely following on from similar triumphs at Under 12 and Under 13 levels in successive seasons. "Practically all of the lads who picked up medals last Summer would have county medals from their days at under 12 and under 13," Roly confirms. A hat-trick of medals at any grade in any sport is good going in anyone's language and Roly doesn't begin to play down the achievement of Swad's young guns. He is just intent on reminding all and sundry down Fermanagh way that taking one's eye off the ball can undo much of the good approach work. Still, there is no hiding the joy and sense of pride which Roly felt, and still feels, regarding Swad's success in securing the club's historic title last year. "It was a great achievement, there's absolutely no doubt about that and the lads deserved their success. "They have great ambition and are extremely easy to manage. Despite winning the Under 12 Roinn D title and Under 13 Roinn C title in recent years, they were as enthusiastic and as hungry as ever last year and they got their just reward." And the strengths of the all-conquering panel? "It would be both difficult and unfair of me to name individuals but, in all honesty, the team was a good all-round, well-balanced side containing lots of good footballers. "While in previous years we might have had to rely on a few excellent players to pull us through, the under 14s in 2002 contained no passengers. " It was a real team effort and the players knew what winning was all about and that was important." So experience was a key aspect of Swad's make-up. Roly maintains that their winning pedigree made them a fearless, confident lot too. Swad's fifth title in three years was in the pipeline as Spring time came and went. But did the team-manager believe that his charges were actually going to add another notch to their belt? "I felt that they were the best bunch of underage lads that have been about the club over the last ten years or so - maybe at any time but there was never any question of anyone in Swad thinking that it was just a matter of waving a magic wand and the cup would be coming our way. " But I thought they had a good chance of being there or thereabouts. I expected the likes of Belturbet and Ballinagh to be strong but I knew that if we played to our potential, it would take a very good team to beat us." And so it proved. Just like the star-spangled Swad underage teams of yesterday which included current star seniors such as Robert Prior plus Kevin and Damien Prior and Adrian McGoldrick, the Class of 2002 showed their rich potential in good measure. Roly's admiration of his charges from the time he took them under his wing at under 10 level would be increased by year-end. "All the credit goes to the lads themselves. They're exceptionally well-mannered. They do everything you ask of them. A lot of credit has to go too to the school principal Declan Maguire who has been a big influence on the lads. " Winning the mini-series a couple of years ago and having four of the lads play in Croke Park gave everyone a boost in recent years." Going through the league unbeaten meant that Swad's campaign went like the proverbial dream. Overcoming the likes of Drumlane, Ballinagh, and drawing with Belturbet (initially) emphasised Swad's pedigree. So did Roly feel everything was going to plan as the year progressed? "At the start of the year I thought the lads would do pretty well but I wasn't sure that they'd go the distance though. But as one win followed another win, you could see the lads' confidence levels growing. "Then after we won the semi-final quite comfortably against Kill, I felt that the lads had settled into a winning frame of mind and were just reaching their peak." Squad preparations which didn't kick off 'till well into March due to the adverse weather conditions would ultimately land Swad with the glittering prize. Fitness levels were honed to the last and the early season stamina work in particular would prove crucial. But with such a long, drawn-out campaign, how did the team-management of Roly and Gerry McKiernan succeed in keeping the lads on the boil? "We kept reminding them of the significance of winning the club's first Roinn B title and that it was in their hands because we reckoned they had the ability to make it a hat-trick of titles for themselves." By mid-July only a Cootehill Celtic crew stood between Swad and an epoch-making result. Kingspan/Breffni Park was the venue for the 15-a aside final. Ominously Swad found that they could only muster the bare 15 and one sub. "Things would have got really interesting if we had picked up a couple of injuries," Roly reflects. The blue and whites needn't have worried. They came out of the blocks in flying form and hardly let their feet off the pedals thereafter. Their dream start saw them attack right from the throw-in. Roly's son Michael sent a long ball into Eoin Curran and in a flash the Cootehill net bulged. And then with just four minutes played, the west Cavan side struck gold again. This time Mark Cunningham showed great awareness and opportunism to react when a dangerous centre was fisted down in the square to follow in on the rebound and fire home unerringly. And when Christopher Curran (also Roly's son) converted a free to put the champions-elect 2-1 to 0-0 ahead, the writing appeared in block capitals on the metaphorical wall. It was 12 minutes before Cootehill opened their account. Although the Celts proceeded to find their feet, stout defence by Swad kept them at bay and soon Mark Cunningham shot three points to help catapult his side into a 2-5 to 0-1 lead with 20 minutes played. "It was just the start we wanted but it would have been easy for the lads to have become complacent. Fair play to them though, they didn't let up. We had emphasised to them all year the need to keep going as hard and as long as possible and they adopted that tactic to a tee," explains Roly who won a JFC medal with Swad in 1985 but who hung up his boots in 1994. Still, the north Cavan side hung in there and grabbed a morale-boosting goal but a point by Gearoid McKiernan steadied the Swad ship. Moments later came Swad's vital third goal when the aforementioned McKiernan did brilliantly to block an attempted clearance before passing to the on-running Christopher Curran who shot to the roof of the net to help Swad to a 3-7 to 1-2 interval lead. The would-be winners proceeded to comfortably consolidate their advantage in the second half even though a second Cootehill goal ten minutes into the half kept Swad on their toes. A further Cootehill goal almost had the alarm bells ringing but Swad then produced the killer blow when Eoin Curran got on the end of a long free to notch his second goal of the game. And like all good champions, Swad finished with a flourish with Michael Curran firing over two points to seal an emphatic 5-12 to 4-4 victory. The all-conquering Swad Under 14 Roinn B League side that defeated Cootehill Celtic in last July's decider was as follows; L. McKiernan; C. Martin, N. McGovern, A. Gilheany; P. McManus, C. McAvitty, A. McGoldrick; M. Curran, R. Maher; C. Curran, M. Cunningham, S. O'Brien; E. Curran, G. McKiernan, M. Cunningham. Tweet

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