Kingscourt GAA enjoyed a bumper year of success at underage football in 2005, leaving all and sundry looking to a bright future. Former Kingscourt Stars and Cavan ace Pat Faulkner is convinced that the former long-time county kingpins are on the right path to recapturing their erstwhile lustre. The popular self-employed butcher was at the coalface as the club annexed the Under 14 Roinn Roinn A League and Championship titles last Summer and for good measure the under 16s captured county honours as well. The Under 14 Roinn A league title was captured in mid-June thanks to a win over Mullahoran while months later the young Stars overcame Castletara to make it a delightful double while a comprehensive victory over Mullahoran in October for the under 16s made 2005 a year to remember for the east Cavan club. Kingscourt's winning roll at underage level in 2005 began with the annexation of the Roinn A under 14 league title in mid-June when the Stars recorded an impressive 2-13 to 1-7 victory over Mullahoran at sun-kissed Kingspan/Breffni Park. The writing was on the wall for the Dreadnoughts from early on in the game as the outstanding Joe Dillon bagged the opening point after just 80 seconds. Playing towards the town end of the field, Kingscourt led by 1-2 to 0-0 after eight minutes with Brendan Farrelly's goal cementing Kingscourt's early ascendancy. Later two points by Dillon and a goal from the same player in the 21st minute hinted at a rout. Mullahoran dug deep and barely hung in there as they went in at the interval trailing by 0-2 to 2-5. Kingscourt proceeded to add to their opponents' misery on the restart with two excellent points by Kevin Rogers and one from young Dillon to leave the Stars leading by 13 points just eight minutes into the second half. Kingscourt continued to hold a vice-like grip on the match with the relieving clearances of Barry Reilly keeping the Dreadnoughts at bay while at the other end of the field, the long-range pointing ability of Paul Woods stood out. Mullahoran battled gamely to the end and scored a late consolation goal but Kingscourt sauntered home past the winning post and not at all flattered by their nine point winning margin. Kingscourt's title-winning troupe lined out as follows; James Farrelly; Shane Smith, Padraic Clarke, Aidan Smith; Darren McCabe (0-1), Michael Flood, Thomas Rogers; Barry Reilly (0-1), Brendan Farrelly (1-0); Niall Roe, Gerry O'Sullivan, Eugene Smith ((0-2); Kevin Rogers (0-3), Paul Woods (0-3), Joe Dillon (1-4). Subs used; Ruairi O'Rourke, Finian Farrell, Terry Reilly, Noel Rooney, Paul Lennon. Reacting to the Stars' league triumph, team mentor Faulkner (aided by Peter McKeon and Dr. John McMahon) said it was pleasing to beat Mullahoran because the league had been the team's number one target at the outset. "We made the league our priority so it was good to beat the rest of the teams and show that we were probably the most consistent team over the year. "Once we got past Bailieboro in the semi-final, we were fairly confident that we'd take the title but the lads still had to do the business in the final. "The players took nothing for granted and fair play to them, they kept their concentration to the end and I don't think anyone would argue with the result. " It probably wasn't a great final but winning the game was all we were concerned with and once we built up a good lead by half-time, I thought we were almost there. "It was good to be able to give five of the subs a run-out because everyone of them put in a good commitment during the year." And four months later, it was celebration time again when the Stars defeated Castletara by 5-7 to 4-6 in the Under 14 Roinn A Championship decider, again at headquarters. Two early goals added to a devastating third-quarter display which yielded them 2-3 without reply served to propel Faulkner's side to a well-merited and impressive victory which copper-fastened a tremendous championship and league double for the squad. "We were much stronger in the corner positions and once we got our noses in front, I felt the lads weren't going to throw it away," the Kingscourt team-manager declared. Pointedly, Pat believes that the hard work that has been done at underage level in Kingscourt over a number of years now is giving the club a healthy hue. "Winning the couple of titles at under level and also the under 16 title this summer is a great boost to the club and reflects the coaching that has been done for the last few years. "The club went through a fair lull in terms of success for a right few years but there's a lot of potential there at the minute and we'll see how they get on in the years to come," the much decorated Faulkner enthused. In a championship final which had a lot to recommend itself the issue looked destined to go all the way to the wire but once Kingscourt engineered some clear water between themselves and Castletara at the start of the second half, there was simply no catching them. The game got off to a whirlwind start with the eventual winners racing into a 2-1 to 0-1 lead just nine minutes of play. "When you get that sort of start, you really have to build on it but we were disappointed that we allowed them to hit back with their own couple of goals," the Kingscourt boss reflected. Castletara were hit for six in the space of two minutes with a brace of goals rocking them firmly back on their heels. The first arrived in the 7th minute when livewire corner-forward Joe Dillon nipped in to fist a Paul Woods shot which fell short of the target past the stranded Darragh Prior in the Castletara goal. Prior and co. had scarcely time to circle the wagons when the Stars struck for another major with young Woods again being the provider for Kevin Rogers to tap home from close range. But in a game that was always destined to to the wire, Castletara proceeded to roll up their sleeves and by the end of the first quarter, the teams were on level terms, 2-1 apiece. Trailing by 2-3 to 2-4 on the restart, Kingscourt exploded from the starting blocks and a 1-2 tally inside the opening three minutes threatened to turn the game completely on its head. Gerry Sullivan contributed 1-1 of that tally with the diminutive Joe Dillon setting him up with vision and skill for his goal. A great long-range effort by the brilliant Barry Reilly a young player who we will hear much more about cemented the Stars turbo-charged opening to the second half. "All year we've been a very good second half team and we really flew from the traps in the first ten minutes of the second half which was just as well because of the way Ballyhaise came back at us late on," Pat opined. Sure enough Castletara kept their shape after Kingscourt's early second half blast and slowly but surely got their bearings. But such was the tigerishness of the Kingscourt defenders that the damage caused by Castletara's tendency to over-elaborate and try to decorate their play in the last third compounded the difficulties of the green and yellows. Kingscourt were inspired at times at the back with a brilliant blockdown by Michael Flood on Cian Tierney's goal-bound effort in the 9th minute a case in point. For their part, Kingscourt demonstrated a guillotine-like sharpness at times and that was never more in evidence than in the 12th minute. Kingscourt moved up the field along the right hand wing with great cleverness and speed and when Gerry Sullivan's low, hard drive flashed across the Castletara goalmouth, goal-poacher supreme Joe Dillon was on hand to skillfully sidefoot the ball into the net. Dillon's major propelled the Stars into a 4-6 to 2-4 lead and left them on the winning path. Castletara continued to gain a fair percentage of possession but their frontmen were more often than not out-fought and out-foxed for the incoming deliveries. It was to be Kingscourt's day though and deservedly so. Significantly, the team's trainer isn't prepared to guarantee that more silverware was in the pipeline in the years to come. "You never know," the 1984 Ulster JFC medallist proffers. "There's a bit of potential in the squad but there's a difference between winning things at under 14 level and progressing to win things at minor level. "It's not easy to keep young fellas focussed on their football once they come to their teenage years but we'll try our best." Kingscourt Stars (Under 14 Roinn Championship v Castletara); James Farrelly; Aidan Smith, Michael Flood, Cian McArdle; Darren McCabe, Thomas Rogers, Niall Roe; Barry Reilly (0-2), Brendan Farrelly; Ruairi O'Rourke, Gerry Sullivan (1-1), Eugene Smith (0-1); Kevin Rogers (1-0), Paul Woods (1-0), Joe Dillon (2-3). Subs used; Pauric Clarke and Shane Smith Meanwhile in what was a very exciting and competitive Division 2 U-16 championship final in late October at the Kingspan-Breffni Park venue, Kingscourt's young guns defeated Ballinagh on a scoreline of 2-12 to 2-10. The final was on a knife-edge right down to the final whistle, as a game Ballinagh side did everything they could to pull the fat from the fire. But Kingscourt were in hugely determined mode on the day and they held out for a deserved success in front of a very large attendance. The Stars started the game in dramatic fashion and in the opening two minutes they had the ball in the Ballinagh net for a tonic score with leading light Barry Reilly on target. Kingscourt remained on the forefoot as the half progressed and after Ballinagh had tagged on a couple of points they again hit their opponents' jugular. A swift Stars' attack ended with Ballinagh conceding a penalty and Joseph Farrelly duly converted to catapult the would-be winners into a healthy 2-1 to 0-3 lead. Ballinagh again came back with a brace of points but Barry Reilly replied in kind to leave Kingscourt ahead by 2-5 to 0-5 with 22 minutes on the clock. However the chasing team rocked the Stars thereafter with two goals in the space of two minutes to cut Kingscourt's lead at the interval to the minimum, 2-6 to 2-5. Kingscourt Stars started the second-half in determined fashion and increased their lead with two points on the trot to go ahead by three points. But Ballinagh came fighting back and with the game entering the final quarter they had reduced the leeway to a single point. Kingscourt looked to have the game in the bag when they went ahead again by three points and then four courtesy of a neat effort from Shane McKeon. Ballinagh then threw caution to the wind as they tried to rescue the game from the fire and, as a consequence, Kingscourt had chances to kill the game but the Ballinagh 'keeper made two excellent saves to keep his side in the game. At the other end of the field the action was no less frenetic but although Ballinagh notched the final two points of the game it wasn't enough to deny the Stars a deserved title win. The victorious Under 16 Kingscourt Stars squad was; Darragh McKenna; Philip Tinnelly, Aidan Cunningham (capt), Ciaran Smith; Cian Farrelly, Colm Smith, Shane Gray; Joseph Farrelly (1-0), Barry Tully; Sean Farrelly, Shane McKeon (0-1), James Russell (0-2); Barry Reilly (1-6), Wayne McIntyre (0-1), Daryl Martin (0-3). Subs used; Jack McCormack and Michael Flood Tweet

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