Inarguably the best ladies team in Cavan in recent years, the good and the great footballers of Knockbride established themselves as the finest senior side in Ulster in 2003. Knockbride's shooting stars in 2003 were mostly drawn from the ladies' ranks. And, in that respect, the club's premier team excelled themselves in nicking the limelight among their peers with their brilliant provincial title triumph. Last year's intermediate top team expected to have to roll up their sleeves in 2003 in their attempts to be the best of the bunch at senior county level. However, as time would tell, the green and reds were able to steamroll their way to the county title without ever reaching top gear as team-manager Ciaran McCabe explains: "We had only the one league game which wasn't the best preparation for a challenge for championship honours but everything worked out alright at the end. "Our only real tough game was against Lurgan/Cuchulainns when they held us to a draw the first day. "But we knew they'd push us all the way because Lurgan would have been regarded as the second best team in the county anyway and Cuchulainns could count on a couple of county players." As things panned out, Knockbride got a bit of a fright in the teams' initial meeting despite easing themselves into a three point interval lead. It was a see-saw affair thereafter in the second half though. "It was real end-to-end stuff, great football and you never knew what way the game was going to turn," McCabe recalls. But a week later the script was seen to hold good with the champions-elect beating the amalgam in the replay in Kingscourt. The semi-final draw paired them with another amalgam, Cormore Gaels (Arva/Gowna) and once again class shone through with Knockbride winning by more than a handful of points. The final pitted Knockbride with rank outsiders LA Gaels, alias, Lacken/Arva. Things went very much to script at Kingspan/Breffni Park as the vaunted Knockbride side overwhelmed their opponents in a pretty much anti-climatic, first ever, Cavan senior ladies football championship final. In what was a classic case of the cream rising to the top, Knockbride had all the winning strokes and while the Lacken/Arva combination gave it their all, they were simply out-classed on the day and eventually lost out by 2-6 to 9-15. In this respect, a special word must go to the winners' most classiest ace in the pack, Emma Clarke, who finished with a personal tally of 5-7 en route to picking up her trophy as player of the match. The 2002 Ulster intermediate champions showed a lot of their craft and skill in the first half after getting a jolt after just two minutes when Carmel Smith pointed for the underdogs. But, significantly, that was the only time the amalgam was to lead thereafter as Knockbride hit back with interest with Elaine Costin, Emma Clarke and Claire Murtagh combining to put Aishling Traynor through for a goal in the third minute. Two minutes later, Knockbride bagged their second major when a Carmel McCabe delivery was collected by Claire Murtagh and in a flash the LA net was bulging again. From there to the interval, Knocbride largely dictated the pace of the game with their opponents relying in the main on inflicting damage from pacy counter-attacks. LA worked hard to retain a foothold in the game and in the 16th minute they got a useful leg-up when Lisa Mulligan converted a penalty, after Teresa Magauran was fouled to leave them trailing by double scores, 1-1 to 2-2. The tide looked like turning minutes later when the aforementioned Mulligan reduced Knockbride's lead to just a goal after converting a free. Sadly for the Lacken/Arva combination, that was as good as it got for them as, no matter how much they fought for possession, they couldn't find the inventiveness or penetration necessary in the last third of the field to hurt Knockbride. Faced with a gritty defence, eager-beaver midfield and a skilful and tremendously potent forward line, LA Gael saw their title hopes implode in the final ten minutes as Knockbride upped several gears. A powerful run and a finish to match by Elaine Costin in the 22nd minute marked Knockbride's third goal of the game and a real launching pad for them on their way to a convincing victory. While LA Gaels attempted to stymie Knockbride's seemingly inexorable march to yet another county title, Clare Smith was unlucky when her well-driven shot was saved by stand-in Knockbride 'keeper Alva Clarke. Still the match underdogs got a boost when Lisa Mulligan set up Rosie Mulligan for a point in the 23rd minute, that score was their last 'till the 35th minute. Knockbride proceeded to take the game by the scruff of the neck and another goal by the livewire Costin in the 32st minute helped propel the winners-elect into a 4-8 to 1-2 lead. Any notion that LA Gaels supporters may have harboured of a Larazus-like comeback imploded less than three minutes later when Emma Clarke sidestepped her marker before slotting home Knockbride's fifth goal in the fifth minute. Two further goals by ace targetwoman Emma Clarke in the fifth and seventh minutes fairly ended the game as a contest. LA Gaels were, by now, left with a huge damage-limitation exercise but their 2-4 to 6-9 deficit just kept increasing as Knockbride determinedly went about turning the screw. Another brace of goals by Emma Clarke (9th and 16th) sandwiched a major also by Claire Murtagh (14th) as Knockbride went into overdrive. Not content with bagging goals, Knockbride tagged on points too with gay abandon with Aisling Traynor and Elaine Costin (two) catapulting Knockbride into a 9-14 to 2-4 lead after 25 minutes. From there to the finish, it was a matter of coasting home for Knockbride. Winning a county title had seldom, if ever, been easier for Knockbride. A subsequent clash with Down champions Castlewellan presented 'unknown' opponents in unchartered territory for the newly-crowned Cavan champions. The day itself produced an unreal type of game as a gusting wind played havoc with attempts by both teams to demonstrate their true abilities. "It was a lovely, bright day but the wind made the game into a bit of a farce. "We had the backing of the wind in the first half and led by 1-9 to no-score at half-time but they came back at us strongly in the second half and got to within two points. "That was as close as they got though because we played some great stuff in the last ten minutes, scoring six points without reply to run out 1-15 to 3-4 winners," Ciaran recalls. And so to the Ulster final and a crack at crack Tyrone side Carrickmore, a team gunning for a four-in-a-row of Ulster senior ladies club titles. For Ciaran and co. the Carrickmore challenge was always going to be a major eye-opener, win, lose or draw and a veritable barometer of how far the team had travelled over the last few years. "We knew a bit about Carrickmore, that they had a good full-forward and a good centre-forward but we had a good full-back and a good centre-back. The plan was to have Nuala Rogers play in front of their full-forward line and to have Margaret Donohoe operating around midfield. "We felt that if we could stay with them up until the last 15 minutes or so, we'd have a great chance because our fitness would show through. "The panel trained for three evenings a week for most of the year and had a game on Sunday too and so fitness was never going to be a problem. "We knew they were odds-on favourites to win but the girls showed a tremendous will-to-win. "The tactic was to play the ball long into Emma (Clarke) and have Elaine (Costin) running off her for the breaks and that worked well. "The win over Carrickmore was probably their best performance of the year and I don't think anyone who saw the final could have argued that we weren't the better team on the day," Ciaran opines. In what turned out to be a titanic tussle in the first week of November, Knockbride's ladies football made history by scooping Cavan's first senior provincial title with a well-merited 3-7 to 1-12 win over the Tyrone champions. The Cavan champions displayed immense skill and spirit to overcome the match favourites in a game which proved a tremendous advertisement for the game in Ulster. Knockbride had to pull out all the stops to achieve their success though with the gamble of playing the injury-troubled Emma Clarke fortunately paying off. "I wasn't sure before the game whether to risk Emma but she wanted to play and that was good for us." It was a point from the aforementioned Clarke on the stroke of half-time which supplemented a goal by the same player and a later one by Elaine Costin which helped ease the Cavan champions to a 2-4 to 1-5 interval lead. Thereafter the Knockbride came under immense strain by a determined Carrickmore challenge but just when defeat seemed to be staring the east Cavan side in the face, Elaine Costin burst through to fire in a last gasp, match-winning goal. Knockbride went onto meet Meath champions Senechalstown in the All-Ireland semi-final two weeks later at Canningstown but a 2-4 to 3-17 defeat wasn't what the doctor ordered. "They were a class apart on the day, no question about it. Having said that, for the first ten minutes we outplayed them. "But then we let in a couple of slack goals which left us trailing by eleven points at half-time. "The girls didn't give up after that and we could nearly have scored four goals towards the end because of the chances we created but it wasn't to be. "The team will learn from the experience of playing against such a team and they'll be all the better for it." In the weeks following the defeat to Senechalstown, the Knockbride club proceeded to secure county titles at junior, under 16 and senior (league). Seems like the east Cavan outfit are in for the long haul! The following is the Knockbride team, subs and scorers, that featured in the historic win over Carrickmore; Deirdre Dolan, Mairead Smith, Emma Treanor (Capt), Louise McCabe, Eimear Dolan, Joanne McNally, Anne Hand, Carmel McCabe, Claire Murtagh, Nuala Rogers, Aisling Treanor (0-2), Elaine Costin (2-1), Arlene Clarke, Emma Clarke (1-4), Margaret Donohoe. Subs used - Aisling Clarke for A Hand; Lisa McCabe for M Donohoe. Tweet

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