Captain Gary Rigney receiving the U-16 County Championship Trophy from Ollie Daly, Offaly Bord na nÓg

Having beaten St. Broughans in the Under16 league final in Cappincur on May 24th this year, a double looked possible for a new enthusiastic and spirited under 16 football squad from Ferbane/Belmont.

Losing to Tubber/Ballycumber in the opening round of the championship, An abandoned semi-final against Shamrocks, a drawn final on 16th October in which they had lead by 4 points in the closing stages did not deter this Under 16 team and only re-inforced their committment to winning this years championship.

Foggy Clara at noon was the venue once again for the county final replay which was well attended by supporters from both clubs. Ballycumber/Tubber opened the scoring as early as the second minute with a point from play, just as they did in the drawn match two weeks earlier. In that match they went on to register a 3 point lead before Ferbane/Belmont eventually got on the scoreboard. However, this time it was Ferbane/Belmont who seized the initiative and a point from full-forward Danny Cooney a minute later followed by a converted free from Dermot Daly on 4 minutes gave Ferbane/Belmont an early advantage. Ballycumber/Tubber levelled matters in the 10th minute but it was Daly again who punished them again from the 21 yard line for needless fouling on the roaming Oisin Kenny. Daly pointed again in the 12th minute with another fine point from play. Disaster struck a minute later when the Ballycumber corner-forward was fouled in the square and the referee awarded a penalty. This was expertly converted placed low and hard to the bottom right-hand corner of the net giving no chance to Shane Nally in the ferbane goal. Danny Cooney and Dermot Daly (free) again repaired the damage with a point each on 17 and 20 minutes. Ballycumber managed another point on the 22nd minute to level things up again. Just before half-tiime, a high speculative delivery into the Ballycumber square was seized on by the outstanding midfielder Colin Egan who crashed the ball high into the Ballycumber net. This gave Ferbane/Belmont the edge going into the half-time break leading 1-6 to 1-3.

Ballycumber/Tubber started the second half in determined fashion. Moving their centre-half back Brian Kelly to midfield started to pay dividends immediately and they were rewarded with a point straight from the restart. Johnny Fleming kick-started the Ferbane/Belmont response with a point after three minutes to restore the 3-point advantage, Dermot Daly extended that lead to 4 points with an excellent point a minute later. Ballycumber/Tubber took control of the game at this stage and registered three unanswered points on the 6th , 8th and 9th minutes to leave just the minimum scores between the teams.

This only seemed to inspire the lads from Ferbane/Belmont and it was Johnny Fleming who started the response scoring an excellent individual point on 13 minutes. They succeeded in keeping the ball in the Ballycumber half of the field and points from Oisin Kenny on 14 minutes, Colin Egan on 17 and another from Dermot Daly on 26 restored daylight once again. It was Johnny Fleming who finished off a fine individual performance with Ferbane/Belmont's final point in the 27th minute. Ballycumber/Tubber had the last say of the proceedings with a consolation point right on full-time.

The final whistle was met with great scenes of jubilation from the Ferbane/Belmont contingent and the very popular captain Gary Rigney received the 'Faithful Fans of Los Angeles' trophy from Ollie Daly, Games Development Officer, Offaly Bord na nÓg.

A superb team effort was the main factor in this championship victory. Right from the goalkeeper Shane Nally who had his usual solid game, the stout full-back line of John Devery who had one of his best games in a Ferbane jersey, a strong and determined Ronan Egan and resilient VIncent Rohan gave nothing away for the full hour's football. The half back line of Padraig Curley, Captain Gary Rigney and David Cox contributed enormously with their attacking style of play and in the way in which they quickly closed down a very fast and skillful Ballycumber half-forward line. The pairing of Derek Kenny and Colin Egan who have played in midfield throughout the league and championship this year worked very hard and covered every inch of the soft clara pitch to thwart the advances of their opponents. Colin Egan was rewarded for his efforts with 1-1 to his name. A superior half-forward line of Mark Egan, Oisin Kenny and Stephen Greer who was carrying an injury consistently bemused the Ballycumber half-backs with their running and passing game getting the ball to the full-forward line at the earliest opportunity. And it was indeed this full-forward line who stole the show on the day. Dermot Daly, Danny Cooney and John Fleming tallied a collective 12 points with 9 of those from open play. An exciting trio whose unselfish distribution and running of the ball paved the way for a memorable victory.

Congratulations to the full Under16 squad on a remarkable year and especially to the management team of George Digan, John Kelly, KP Egan, Eamon Cooney and Eddie Nally.

Team:

1.Shane Nally 2. John Devery 3. Ronan Egan 4. Vincent Rohan 5.Padraig Curley 6. Gary Rigney 7. David Cox 8. Colin Egan(1-1) 9. Derek Kenny 10 Mark Egan 11. Oisin Kenny(0-1) 12. Stephen Greer 13. Dermot Daly(0-6 3F)14.Danny Cooney(0-3) 15. John Fleming(0-3) Subs: Joe Kenny, Sean Heffernan, David Murray, Conor Kelly, JamieLee Cooney, Eamon Cooney, Robin Melia, Sean Maher, Fergal Egan, Declan Rohan, Ronan Cassidy

The victorious Ferbane/Belmont U-16's having completed League and Cup double for 2004

The starting 15 and team management.

Full squad and managers for 2004