Na Gaeil were the toast of Dundalk and the entire Wee County when they defeated fellow town side Clan Na Gael by 1-8 to 0-8 at Dowdallshill on Sunday September 29th to capture the 2002 Louth U16 football championship. Gerry Robinson catches up with Niall Lambert who managed the winning team in conjunction with Andrew McQuaid. While the form of The Ramparts club's first team was certainly nothing to write home about in the season gone by, Dundalk Gaels' brilliant U16 Class of '02 more than made amends with a superb county championship winning campaign. The U16 grade was as competitive as ever, but Na Gaeil went all the way thanks to a magnificent campaign that produced memorable wins over St Josephs on July 31st (2-9 to 0-6) and St Marys (4-10 to 0-2) on August 19th, both away from home, before Cooley Kickhams were taken in the semi-final (0-13 to 1-6) to set up an all-Dundalk decider against the Clans. The Gaels' joint-mentor Niall Lambert takes the story up: "There were probably four stand-out teams in the under 16 grade last year - Newtown Blues, Cooley Kickhams, Clan Na Gael and ourselves. There wouldn't have been much between any of us and it was a very competitive age group so we were obviously delighted to win the championship. "The Blues and the Clans had some outstanding players while Robert Carney from Cooley was - in my opinion - the outstanding U16 player in the county over the year. This is a great win for the club but it leaves me asking the question 'Are the necessary structures in place to develop these players further?' Remember these are potential intercounty footballers and the structure of football in the county at the moment - with no U17 football and a poorly organised U21 competition - means there's a massive fall-off between U16 and adult levels. This is a great team but I am genuinely worried for them and I hope the County Board is prepared to take action and re-structure things in order to protect these players . . . and I'm not just talking about players from the Gaels but from every club in the county." Against the backdrop of Dundalk Gaels' disappointing relegation to intermediate level, the 2002 U16 win came as a huge boost, simultaneously softening the blow and giving club followers something to shout about. Niall is quick to emphasise, however, that there is no pressure on the current U16 crop and that the buck will not stop with them to salvage the club's future: "We won the minor championship in '97 and got to a semi-final in '98, yet four years later our first team is back to intermediate. That proves that good underage teams don't necessarily guarantee adult success. There's a huge gap and the structures simply aren't there in the county to ensure a smooth transition. There should be an U17 league and competitive U21 football in Louth. The fall-off is unbelievable. "Young fellas need structures. They need direction and they need games. Having played minor and under 21 football for the county myself, I know only too well that the incentives aren't there. There is so much football to be played from U13 up to U16 level and then the games get less and less frequent. Naturally, players will lose interest..." Niall Lambert enjoyed a distinguished playing career himself. A former Dundalk CBS prodigy, he played in the county intermediate final against Geraldines in 1979 at the age of 16 and represented the Gaels right through to '99. A versatile performer equally at home in defence or attack, he won a junior championship in 1986, intermediate medals in 1987 and '91 and was on the Gaels team that lost the 1992 senior county final to Clans after a replay. The Gaels clubman also won a Leinster U21 medal with Louth in 1981. Niall started working within the underage wing of Na Gaeil circa 1994/95. He has nurtured the group of players that captured the 2002 U16 title from U10 level through. "I started off with an U10 team from the Glenmuir/Hill Street area [Dublin Road] and then we took in some lads from the Carrick Road at U12 level (players are also drawn from Ardee Road and Avenue Road). Andrew McQuaid joined me looking after team affairs at U14 level and we've taken the team through from there." They've met with considerable success along the way too. An U14 B championship and all-county U14 league were captured in 2000, as was an U15 all-county league in 2001. Niall and Andrew also had the U16 team (including seven or eight of the 2002 players) in 2001 and they reached a Division Three league final. So, the potential was clearly there and Niall was quietly optimistic: "I knew we were in there with a very good chance but I also knew there were a couple of other teams who were equally as good as us. You need to get the breaks and a little bit of luck and we got it in the final when the Clans missed a few chances. "I was delighted to win it - particularly for the players themselves. They are a good team and they play as a team. They have great character and I've no doubt that as many as eight or ten of that side could go on to play senior for the club. "They're very keen and I have the utmost confidence in them. They all want to play football and they have great team spirit. There's a sense of purpose about them and they're a very easy bunch of lads to handle. They are top quality and their prospects are very good." The real strength of the team is its quality in depth. Every player was evenly matched and from the goalkeeper right through to the No18 and No19 jersey, they were all very capable and willing footballers with little or nothing between them. Of course, like in any team, there were a few exceptional performers. The likes of Louth Development Squad trio Derek Crilly, David Moley and goalkeeper Stephen Faulkner as well as full back Ciaran Fee stood out in 2002 but none of the rest of the players were far behind - everyone shouldered an equal share of responsibility. In short, it was a classic team effort. With these lads almost ready to emerge, what does the future hold for the recently-demoted Gaels first team? "We still have a huge number of really talented players at adult level," Niall points out. "It's a mystery how we managed to get ourselves relegated . . . we are the perennial under-achievers. But there are a lot of great players there who have an awful lot to offer. The lads coming through now can supplement the likes of David Coleman, Martin Harvey and Peter McGinnity and we could end up with an exceptional team. Hopefully, in two or three years we will have something special to offer. But certainly the lads coming through now do not represent our last resort - we have plenty of very good adult footballers in the club all ready." Niall and Andrew will guide Na Gaeil's fortunes at minor level for the next two years. "We'll have four or five really good footballers next year so I'm hopeful that we'll at least be competitive. I think next year's team has developed better than some of the other clubs and may have made ground on many of them. "We'll be favourites for the minor championship in two years, but we won't be taking anything for granted. The Clans won the U14 in 2000 and 2001 and have a strong base to build from. Cooley have also been strong at U14 and U16 level recently and they also have room to improve - they could mature better and overtake us. We have some great talent but I know and the players know that they won't get anything easy." Niall sees himself as a Louth man first and foremost and a Gaels man after that. His concerns expressed in this article are for football in the county, not in the town of Dundalk. He strives to see structures put in place that will be beneficial to every club and every player in the county - and therefore to Louth GAA itself. Having played in two Leinster under 21 finals, he says that his ultimate goal is to see Louth in a Leinster senior final. It's imperative, he insists, that players - from every club - are looked after, nurtured, and developed so that they can come through with the best possible chance of achieving this objective. Efforts are being made and the fruits of these endeavours are beginning to show (Just look at what Dundalk Schools and Louth's minors achieved in 2002 and the work that's going into the county's Development Squads) but it could all be in vain unless the structures in the county are further improved. According to Niall, the situation whereby Dundalk Gaels' U21 team played four matches in eight months in 2002 is simply not good enough. And, you know something, he's right! As well as helping Na Gaeil scoop the county U16 championship last year, Niall Lambert also went into business. He now runs two mortgage brokerages - under the banner of O'Callaghan Mortgage Services - at Kennedy Road in Navan and Roden Place in Dundalk. One can't help but wonder did he put his house on the Dundalk Gaels under 16s in 2002! Dundalk Gaels, 2002 Louth U16 Football Champions: Stephen Faulkner, John Sharkey, Kieran Fee, Sean McCaffrey, Stephen Murphy, David Moley (0-1), Gerard Malone, Kealan Long, Derek Crilly (0-5), Alan Nelson, Jonathan Lynch (1-0), Jamie Faulkner (0-1), David Taaffe, Liam MaCaffrey, Niall Edlin (0-1). Subs David Hughes, Kevin McArdle, Ian McSorley. Tweet

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