For years it was said that Cavan football needed vibrant teams to emerge from St. Pat's. Well, in 2002, one such outfit duly emerged. Considering the college hasn't won the Rannafast Cup that often, the team that won the cup this time around must rank as one of the best the college has produced at under 16 level over the years." In reviewing the fantastic achievement of the St. Pat's under 16s last year, staff member at the college J.J. O'Reilly doesn't begin to play down either the quality of the players concerned or the significance of their success. A popular and well-known personality at the coalface of underage football affairs at the famed Cavan place of academic and football excellence, the Cavan Gaels clubman is fulsome in his praise of the work put in by team-manager Ray Cullivan (whose son Raymond manned one of the midfield berths) and fellow selector Fr. John Gilhooley. "They worked terrificly hard with the players all year. No stone was left unturned and the players were never going to lack for fitness or sound advice," J.J. confirms. But considering how the prophets of doom had a field day in inscribing football's tombstone at the college following the cessation of boarding facilities there in 1999, one wonders just how things were turned around in 2002? Just how did some of the best examples of young football talent in Cavan combine to land St. Pats' sixth Rannafast Cup title? In truth, the St. Pat's think-tank knew that they had a "reasonably talented" panel of footballers at their disposal when the 2002 season kicked-off. Now, as then, they don't pretend though to have been totally convinced though of the squad's ability to go where their predecessors of 1945, 72, 74, 76 and 79 went in lifting the prized piece of silverware. But the Class of 2002 would indeed follow such football luminaries from the past as Pauric Martin (Templeport), Ray Cullivan (Laragh Utd), Donal Donohoe (Laragh Utd), Mel Bouchier (Arva) of the '74 side; Barry Tierney (Ballyhaise), Fionan McDonagh (Laragh Utd), Michael Faulkner (Kingscourt) of the '76 team; James Cole (Ramor Utd), Derek McDonnell (Ramor Utd), John Brady (Laragh Utd) of the 79 side. "A lot of good players were on those past teams and teams further back down the line but the current ones are a good bunch too and hopefully a lot of them will go on to bigger and better things at county level," J.J. enthuses. The famed college came good last year in the competition (under 16 and a half) after seeing their chances of getting near the silverware dashed in the previous two years at the quarter-final stage. In their 2002 campaign, the Cavan starlets played four games in the qualifying rounds of the competition, suffering just a single defeat at the hands of Magherafelt in the opening round. After the setback against the Derry teenagers, the Cavan lads showed a marked improvement in their games thereafter, forcing draws with Saint Macartans (Monaghan) and Omagh CBS. St. Pat's then saw their penultimate game in their series of games in the group end with a fine win over St. Patrick's College, Armagh. Including in its ranks many of the 2002 Cavan squad who reached the Fr. Manning Cup final, the St. Pat's outfit went into their final game in the league section against a strong Abbey C.B.S (Newry) side at Tyholland in early October knowing that either a win or a draw would be enough to secure a quarter-final berth. And the desired result was duly achieved, albeit with no little hardship along the way. Minus three important players (due to club commitments), the side also lined out without the injured Ciaran Owens and things got worse before they got better five minutes into the game when defender Ladde Morganroth had to retire with an injured hand. However, like true champions, St. Pat's rolled up their sleeves and produced a magnificent wholehearted performance to dominate the early stages of the game, held their own in the middle part of the game and then produced a flourish at the death to seal their passage through to the last four. And yet in the very early minutes of the game, it looked as if the Gods weren't going to look too favourably on Cavan's cause with the crossbar denying St. Pat's a goal on two occasions. Still, St. Pat's maintained their momentum to go on and secure a 0-9 to 1-3 interval lead. St. Pat's continued to dominate the second half during which time the vital breakthrough arrived ten minutes into the second half when Cathal Donohoe scored a fine goal. Abbey proved outstanding competitors though and scored a goal also with some ten minutes left to play. That was as good as it got for them though as St. Pat's rallied the storm to notch vital points through Liam Martin, Raymond Cullivan and Barry Kiernan. From there to the long-whistle, it was a game St. Pat's never looked like throwing away. A semi-final place was duly booked on foot of a 1-14 to 2-7 scoreline. St. Pat's had succeeded in reaching their first semi-final since they last won the competition in 1979. A little bit more ground in recovering their erstwhile lustre was made later the same month when St. Pat's recorded a 1-12 to 1-9 victory over St. Colman's, Newry in a titanic battle in Truagh. The Down lads went into the game as the hot favourites having been unbeaten in their section and winning their quarter-final against Omagh CBS in convincing fashion. However the Cavan lads showed the greater hunger on the day and despite conceding 1-1 inside the first four minutes gradually settled down to play some wonderful football after Raymond Cullivan opened the team's account with a point after seven minutes. St. Pat's gave as good as they got for the rest of the first half and points from Finbar Jordan, Ali Pickett and Barry Kiernan helped the blue and yellows to regain vital ground. And even though 'Colman's began the second half in sprightly fashion, a well-taken goal by Darren Kelly in the 10th minute and some excellent free-taking by Ali Pickett eventually proved just too much for the Newry side to come to terms with even though the Cavan lads found themselves on the backfoot in the final, dying minutes of the game. And so to the final and a head-to-head with St. Pat's, Dungannon. Played at Monaghan Harps' ground at Rooskey in late October, the game was a cracking affair but both teams showed plenty signs of nerves early on with the Cavan lads edging into a 0-2 to 0-1 lead after eight minutes, thanks to a Darren Kelly point. Dungannon came back to gain the lead three minutes later but Cavan grew stronger as the half progressed and a hat-trick of points by Ali Pickett helped ease Cavan into a 0-5 to 0-3 interval lead. The Cullivan-managed crew picked things up in the second half with points from Darren Kelly and Ali Pickett. Dungannon then got through for their own scores and with 14 minutes played, Cavan's lead was cut to just two points. Ali Pickett later added a further point as the exchanges threatened to get over-heated such was the intensity of the battle. But then Dungannon pointed to leave the minimum between the sides and as the pressure mounted on the Cavan defence, a number of shots for goal by the Tyrone lads were blocked by desperate Cavan defending. The inevitable happened though and the Dungannon lads hit the target, on the double, to sneak into the lead. With just one minute left in the game, the would-be champions were awarded a free and with all the coolness of an All-Ireland medallist, Ali Pickett picked his spot to rifle over the equaliser. There then followed two-ten minute periods of extra-time. At the end of the first half, Cavan led by 0-10 to 0-9 but within 30 seconds of the restart, Dungannon were on level terms. However in the 3rd minute, Ali Pickett once again was unerring from the dead-ball to give Cavan a 0-11 to 0-10 lead. And as legs on both sides tired rapidly, that's the way things stayed 'till the long whistle. Cavan celebrations in the heart of Monaghan signalled the ending of a long barren spell for the proud Cavan college. The following players all featured in the college's title-winning run in 2002; Paul Mohan (Drumalee) - A safe pair of hands whose ability as a shot-saver paid off at crucial stages of the college's campaign. Khalid Hussain (Drumalee) - A good reader of the game and is very seldom beaten for possession in the close-quarter exchanges. Enda McCormick (Drumalee) - Dominates his area and composed in possession. Cormac Fitzpatrick (Drumlane) - Brilliant at covering off and his distribution is first class also. Lasse Morgenrath (Templeport) - A strong running defender and a born winner. Padraig O'Reilly (Ballinagh) - A high-fielding player who just loves driving forward at pace. Finbar Jordan (Lavey) - Likes nothing better than overlapping in support of his forwards. John O'Reilly (Cavan Gaels) - Played a captain's part throughout the campaign. A tower of strength at midfield. Raymond Cullivan (Laragh United) - An excellent midfielder. Son of the team-manager, he invariably makes excellent use of the ball. Darren Kelly (Drumlane) - Chipped in with some vital scores during the team's winning campaign. Ali Pickett (Ballyhaise) - A very skilful forward who is wont to run at the heart of opposing defences. Ciaran Owens (Killeshandra) - A good team player who provided numerous 'assists' during the year. Cathal Donohoe (Drung) - Pacy and a player whose incisive runs often caused panic at the business end of the field. Thomas Kenny (Cavan Gaels) - Linked well with his team-mates and an intelligent footballer. Barry Kiernan (Ballymachugh) - A very promising player who showed a great ability to bring other players into the game. Liam Martin (Kildallan) - A natural forward who can score with both feet. Sean McKiernan (Killeshandra) - A hard-working player and skilful to boot. Joe Dunne (Cavan Gaels) - A tenacious player who was played in the games in the lead-up to the final. Conor McMahon (Redhills) - Wholehearted defender who featured in the early rounds of the competition. Fergal Slowey (Ballyhaise) - A pacy, experienced defender who recovered from injury to come on in the final. Stephen McHugh (Killygarry) - A speedy, skilful forward who also featured in the early rounds of the competition. Gary Sheridan (Killeshandra) - Never let the team down when called upon. Determined and a good tackler. The remaining members of the victorious St. Pat's panel in 2002 were; Timmy Looney (Drumalee), Conor Brides (Redhills), Michael Walsh (Redhills), Michael Goldrick (Drumalee), Paul Urbanski (Ballinagh), Terry Smith (Ballinagh). Tweet

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