Eleven barren years at underage level had taken its toll on morale and confidence within the ranks of Cootehill Celtic GAA. But then last October came the breakthrough as juvenile club chairperson Bernie Walsh happily recalls. Kevin Carney reports As 2003 gathered pace, self-belief among the players in Cootehill at all levels at the club needed bolstering, especially after the premier team's exit from the intermediate championship at the hands of Laragh United. Cue the club's hugely promising Under 14 crew. With the sort of hunger spawned by a brace of final defeats in previous times, the latest promising panel to come off the Cootehill conveyor belt fairly stole the show for the hoops in the past year. Imbued with an ambition and determination redolent of great Cootehill teams of the past, the Stevie McMullen-captained squad fairly stamped their mark on the past season. In romping to victory in the Under 14 Roinn B Championship last October, Cootehill's young guns have certainly given all belonging to the hoops a great sense of hope and optimism for the future well-being of the club. The club's hard-working juvenile club chairperson Bernie Walsh definitely believes that the success last autumn in casting aside the monkey of successive failures over the years at underage level meant an awful lot to the seasoned gaels in Cootehill. "To see grown men cry at the end of the final just showed what the win meant to them. "Winning the final meant that the club had won its first underage title in 11 years and the relief and happiness that that brought had to be seen to be believed," explained Bernie as she reflected on Cootehill's 1-14 to 0-15 win over Laragh United in the final at Kingspan/Breffni Park on October 19th last. Fulsome in the part played by the Under 14 management team of Martin McMullen, Paul Sherlock, John Farrelly and Seamus Halton, the outgoing juvenile club chairperson is convinced that the players and mentors only got the reward they deserved in bagging the spoils on that glorious day at headquarters. "Everyone was so committed during the year and they worked terrificly hard to achieve success. "There was a great determination among everybody. "The fact that the same group of fellas had lost out in the Under 12 league and championship finals a couple of years ago and the Under 14 Roinn B league final earlier in the year made them really geared up to lifting the cup and all credit to them for doing just that." Bernie acknowledges that the competition faced by the Cootehill youngsters was "really tough", but insists that the dedication shown by the Celts from the start of the year meant that it was "always going to take a good team to beat them." "For most of the year, the boys trained a couple of nights during the week and then they normally had a challenge match on the Saturday or Sunday. "They were very keen right from the start and although, just like at any club, a couple of disciplinary problems did arise, they were sorted out quickly and everyone was focussed on making up for the disappointments of the previous years. "I think the lads showed all year just how disciplined they were. "They played football at all times and there was no retaliation and no complaints if a fella was taken off during a match. "The boys played as a team, stuck together and developed a great sense of teamwork over the year." Needless to say, the would-be champions had showed quite a bit of promise as the 2003 season gathered pace and victory in the club's own Tommy Fay Memorial tournament earlier in the summer suggested that the hoops were on the right track. "We knew the boys were good enough, that the team was very strong right up through the middle and that they wouldn't lack for experience. "We were just hoping that we'd get that bit of luck at the right time that would make all the difference," explains Bernie who has been living in Cootehill since 1984 and whose son Liam was a key member of the all-conquering Cootehill squad. And with everything needed by the team-management duly put in place by Bernie and the rest of her colleagues on the juvenile committee, no stone was left unturned by those on and off the sideline to put in train a winning surge into the winners' enclosure. "A huge amount of work went into getting everything right for the team but there's a lot of good people doing a lot of good work at juvenile level in Cootehill and all that work paid off with the win over Laragh," the Bailieboro-born administrator reminds us. Sister of Cavan Camogie Board PRO Philip McDonald and brother also of current Bailieboro Shamrocks treasurer Paddy McDonald, the popular Cavan General Hospital-based nurse says that everyone clued into the under 14 championship scenario in Cootehill felt that the club's victory over Redhills in the championship semi-final was a major boost. "We weren't sure at the start of the year how far the boys would go but after beating Redhills in the semi-final, we felt optimistic that we were going to lift the cup at last. "Having said that, we took nothing for granted because we knew we'd be up against it in playing Laragh." And, as things turned out, pre-match expectations pertaining to the final between the Celts and Laragh United would conform to type. The match was destined to go all the way to the wire - at least that's the way those at the coalface in both camps anticipated. Such forecasts proved spot-on as the town team survived a late rally from their opponents to ease across the finishing line in pole position in one of the most exciting encounters seen at headquarters in 2003. Both teams proved themselves to be well-matched and the fact that at the final whistle it was a case of 15 scores apiece spoke volumes in this regard. Significantly though, it was Cootehill who stole a march on their opponents at crucial times when managing, on two separate occasions, to engineer some clear water between the sides. "I thought the way our fellas stuck to their task and didn't drop their heads at any stage was magnificent. They never looked like giving up," Bernie reflects. Indeed, the Celts never-say-die spirit helped establish a distinct pattern in the game with Laragh having to regularly come back off the ropes to fight their way back into contention for the spoils. In what was a great advertisement for juvenile football in Cavan, the hoops had a dream start to the match which immediately put Laragh on the backfoot. Cootehill simply flew from the blocks and careered into a none-too flattering 0-4 to 0-0 lead after eight minutes with Stevie McMullen playing a captains role in grabbing the first two of those early points. By the 14th minute however, lively Laragh had drawn level at 0-5 apiece and the fans knew that the destination of the spoils weren't going to be decided until the long whistle. "After such a good start, our boys could have lost a bit of confidence but they didn't allow themselves to be rattled," Bernie - a junior championship medallist (1976) with Bailieboro camogie club - recalls. As things panned out, Gary Markeys goal for Cootehill in the 28th minute, after Cathal McCabes effort had rebounded high off the upright, helped make amends for the scorers disappointment some nine minutes earlier when he had a goalwiped out for a square-ball infringement. "I think Gary's goal was vital because you could see the way it lifted the team," Bernie adds. Later in the match, the tigerish Cootehill number 14 had another similar attempt ruled out shortly after half-time as did his impressive colleague Joshua Hayes just three minutes later. However with Markeys goal acting as the meat in the sandwich of fine points by McMullen and Hayes, Cootehill stormed their way to the front on the run-up to half-time. Amazingly, from being the odd point in 15 down by the 23rd minute, Cootehill went in cock-a-hoop at the break on the back of a 1-10 to 0-9 lead. Now playing towards the town end of the pitch, Celts proceeded to increase their lead to six points within three minutes of the restart with points by Mark Mullen and Cathal McCabe. Laragh nibbled away at Cootehills lead and four points in quick succession left just a goal, 0-14 to 1-14, between the sides with nine minutes remaining. Laragh continued to drive forward but in the end, Cootehill proved suitably resolute under the cosh and deservedly hung on to triumph by 1-14 to 0-15. The days of Cootehill being the bridesmaid at underage level were finally ended. Hunger, it is said, is the best sauce of all and on October 19th last, Cootehills talented under 14 squad certainly showed the sort of appetite common to all champions. So what can we expect of these fellas in the coming years? "Well already three of them have been training with the Cavan under 15 development squad and with the addition of the best of the bunch from under 14 level in 2004 linking up with the present under 14 squad, I'd be optimistic that 2005 could see us winning the under 16 title. "We'd love to see more of the parents coming out though and supporting the kids because it makes a big difference to them. It would be great for the club if the panel of players that beat Laragh in the final were able to go on and bring even more honour back to the club. "The players definitely have the ambition and with the right encouragement from their parents and the club, I believe they can collect another couple of cups at underage level over the next few years," Bernie concludes. Tweet

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