Knockbride's underage pedigree is being embellished year in, year out and 2006 saw more silverware come their way (in that department). It's fast approaching ten years since Knockbride claimed under 16 championship and minor league trophies and Terence McCabe believes that it's high time that another brace of similarly high-profile county titles were bagged. As someone who has proven himself to be far from backward in coming forward to promote the underage brigade in Knockbride, local gaels will tell you that McCabe will do his damndest to reap such a rich crop of success in due course. Back then such would-be now proven senior club players as John Tierney, Seamus O'Brien, Adrian Rogers and Ronan Keaskin proved their mettle at county finals level. Terence is aiming to help steer the Knockbride squad which conquered the best of the rest at Under 14 Roinn D League level to similar heights in the coming years. Along with Jimmy Maguire, Hugo Reilly and Michael Traynor, Terence worked the oracle last year and helped sustain the winning run of the Class of 2005. "Over the last couple of years the same squad of players won the Under 13 championship in 2003 and 2004 so we had high hopes for them last year," Terence explains. "They've a never-say-die attitude about them and the fightback they produced against Munterconnacht sort of summed up their attitude and their will-to-win." With a good goalkeeper, a strong spine and skilful forwards, Knockbride's under 14s of 2005 had a lot going for themselves - as if their opponents didn't already know it. Knockbride's all-conquering bunch always were the bookies' favourites to go the distance in Roinn D and, as always, the bookies got their odds spot-on in the end. "Given their record at under 13 level and the ability in the camp and their ambition, we knew they were going to be there or thereabouts when push came to shove. "The only disappointing thing last year was our result in the Roinn C championship against the champions Lavey when we lost out to them in the quarter-final after a replay. "We went to Gowna earlier and beat them and felt that the lads were handling the step up really well and still riding high on the back of the league win," Terence adds. It's clear Knockbride's starlets had the winning feeling and were desperate to retain it and Terence admits the squad took winning of the league very much in their stride. He reckons that 2003 saw the squad come of age when they reached the under 12 decider only to come back stronger to claim the under 13 Roinn championship in 2004. "I think their confidence has been high since 2003 and it has even increased since as they've improved as footballers and won more medals," says the qualified fitter. "We entered the Feile na nGael competition which gave them confidence because they did very well against a lot of Roinn A teams and got an idea of how good they were. "Playing in Feile also helped them get used to playing on a full size pitch and in 15-aside matches which, to be honest, took them a bit of time to get used to. "The lads had been used to playing 11-aside and you could tell it took them a bit of time to get used to not having the extra space up front and the extra time on the ball." Reflecting on the squad's winning run, Terence says the enthusiasm and genuine interest the players have in learning the game is one of their most positive characteristics. "No, there's no whip needed to get them to train and another good thing is that they all get on well together and there's no real individual stars - it's more of a team. "I suppose the club is lucky in that this particular crop of players have come along at the same time and are all the same age - that makes things a lot easier." Easier or not, the work still has to be done and the think-tank behind Knockbride's latest set of county title winners have certainly rolled up their sleeves in that regard. Terence explains how the emphasis at team training was mostly on ball-work and in improving their general level of skills and their awareness of each other's position. Of course, it also helps when 'the football is in them' and in that respect, it is worth noting that some 70 percent of the panel would have come from GAA renowned families. Attendances at training from the start of the year were, as Terence points out, of the kind that is normally associated with a team fingered by many as likely champions. The east Cavan youngsters began their competitive season in the league as they meant to proceed but their first display was arguably their best, Terence opines. "I'd say they impressed most of all in the first game against Butlersbridge where they really had to work hard and were maybe a bit lucky in the end to win out. "They got a bit of the rub of the green against Butlersbridge and they had to hang in there and fight hard to beat them or allow them get a draw. "Against Ballymachugh, it was a different story because even though they were poor on the night, they played badly but were never in danger of losing the game." Knockbride proved to be the best team in their section of the Under 14 league by some distance, even without the services of the talented Nigel Farrelly for the semi-final. The final pitted the would-be winners against their erstwhile conquerors Kildallan in what was a repeat of their earlier tussle which saw Kildallan win by two points. In hindsight, Terence believes that the defeat to Kildallan was no bad thing as it woke Knockbride up to the realisation that they couldn't take any team for granted. "The pitch was a bit on the small side in Ballyconnell and it didn't really suit our lads but by being beaten, they got the kick in the backside that they probably needed then. "In fairness, we missed a lot of scores and Kildallan deserved to win but, in the end, once we reached the final that match didn't count because we were back at Breffni." And didn't the young red and blacks just thrive at headquarters with their experience of the ground and their penchant for producing their best stuff there doing just the trick. Knockbride got off to a flyer and never really looked back with a brace of goals from Niall McCabe and Kevin McCabe (the latter Terence's son) igniting their challenge. And, true to form, the Knockbride youngsters never let up thereafter, showing the resolve and ambition to make it a joyous and significant day for the east Cavan club. So will we be hearing much more of the squad in the coming years? "I hope so," answers the outgoing joint-treasurer of Knockbride's juvenile committee. "I've a feeling they will stick at it because they seem to have the hunger and the ambition to want to win more medals, especially at a higher level. "I'd be fairly confident that they'll give a good account of themselves at under 16 level this year." But Knockbride's winning season didn't end there. In mid-October the club's underage girls triumphed in the Under 14 A Championship final with a convincing 3-6 to 0-3 victory over Mullahoran. In skipping to their facile win, the club made it a treble, adding to the league and Feile titles won earlier in the year. Two goals from Daena Clerkin and one from Aileen Cosgrave served to seal victory for the red and greens in what was an exciting decider. Emma Scanlon had earlier gotten the winners-elect off to a good start with the opening point of the afternoon and then another point by the same player in the 17th minute put further pressure on the match underdogs. A third point from the same player in the 20th minute proceeded to ease the east Cavan side into a hard-earned 0-3 to 0-1 interval lead. Knockbride were made to work hard to stay in front on the restart as Mullahoran raised the ante. Two Mullahoran points demanded a response and the in-form Scanlon duly delivered with a fine brace. There was three points separating the sides with some eight minutes when Knockbride stepped on the gas to decide the issue. Daena Clerkin twice broke through the Mullahoran defence in the final five minutes before Aileen Cosgrave closed the scoring with a super goal in injury time. Knockbride; M Dolan; D Smith, L Regan, C Smith, C Regan, D McIntyre, M Argue, N Clarke, G Reilly, E Scanlon, A Cosgrave, S Argue, D Clerkin. Subs; Claire Murray, Danielle Farrell. Tweet

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