Another Underage title for Superb Arva

20^th September 2010

Cootehill Celtic        1- 09               Arva       3- 12

Arva held Cootehill scoreless in the second half as they secured the U14 Roinn E Championship title with a determined display in a cracking final at Kingspan Breffni Park.

The Blues paced themselves to perfection as they recovered from comatose beginnings to add to their Under 13 title success scoped earlier this year.

In perfect playing conditions, Arva looked punch-drunk early on, failing 0-0 to 0-5 in arrears after only 11 minutes of play as Cootehill hit the ground running. With Jason Halton in commanding form at the back, Dermie Connolly lording things at midfield and Caomhin Carney and Sean O'Connor on fire up front, Cootehill held all the aces at that juncture.

However for all their individual talents, the Celts were eventually forced to give way to Arva's greater division of labour all over the field, more solid defence and superior punch up front. Arva were the more powerful, better balanced side and, crucially, looked like scoring every time they worked the ball into the last third of the field.

In their first meaningful attack, the eventful winners hit the jackpot with Danny Conneely gaoling after good work by Danny Ellis in the 13th minute. To their credit, Arva's management team made a number of positional changes and tactical manoeuvres which also helped their team's cause greatly.

For instance, when Cootehill went 0 -7 to 1 -0 in front at the quarter hour mark, Arva's think tank took decisive action by relocating young Conneely onto Cootehill's principal ball winner Connolly.

Then in the second half, Arva's mentors had Raymond Magarahan teaming up with Conneely to snuff out Cootehill's dominance from the kick out. Later the introduction of Under 13 ace Tristan Noak Hoffman to police Cootehill danger man Caomihin Carney also helped worked the oracle for Arva.

In fairness, Carney and co. up front were forced to live on scraps of possession in the second half as Arva's Cormac McCabe, the Magarahan cousins and Danny Conneely combined to almost totally dominate the central area of the pitch. That said, Cootehill did let their opponents off the hook by spurning four goal chances either side of the interval. The Hoops' first such chance came in the 19th minute when Seán O'Connor seemed to set an opening goal for Cootehill but as he delayed in pulling the trigger, Bernard Brady made a crucial tackle to save the day for Arva.

Arva caused their own scare two minutes later when Cootehill keeper Josh Reilly had to push the ball away for a '45 after Raymond Magarahan let fly on goal. The chasing team grew visibly in confidence and when Shane Hamilton pointed to reduce Cootehill's lead to three points, 0-8 to 1-2, after 21 minutes, one sensed that Cootehill needed to bag a goal to give them more breathing space. That goal duly arrived when Caoimhín Carney's precise pass put Sean O'Connor through and the number 7 fairly blasted the ball to the Arva net with 26 minutes on the clock.

Three minutes later, Arva got a crucial let-off when the aforementioned O'Connor fired against the post and in the follow-up Shane Sexton added to Cootehill's head-in-hands show by hitting the upright. Thereafter, Arva gave notice of their intention to push the game right to the wire by getting on top in the dying minutes of the first half. Only a last-ditch piece of defending by Dylan Rooney prevented Arva's Raymond Magarahan from goaling moments before the interval.

Leading by 1-9 to 1-4 at the start of the second half, Cootehill leaped from the starting blocks but Caomihín Carney shaved the post on two occasions inside the opening two minutes of the second half. Amazingly, it would be another 13 minutes before Cootehill managed to launch another attack as Arva hovered up ball after ball around the middle, leaving the Cootehill full-forward line to rely on a very irregular and a poor quality version at that.

Arva made tracks for the winner's enclosure in a big way in the 37th minute when Raymond Magarahan goaled to cut Cootehill's lead to 1-9 to 2-4. In the 41st minute, the same player pointed and then 40 seconds later Shane Hamilton tapped over a free to put Arva in front, 2-7 to 1-9, for the first time in the game.

From there to the finish, Arva were well cemented in the driving seat with Cootehill's defence unable to stymie Arva's powerful runs forward. With nine minutes left to play, Arva were 2-9 to 1-9 in front and eight minutes later after their last attack, Cootehill edged forward but Cootehill's Caoimhín Carney's soccer-type effort was saved on the ground by keeper Hepton.

At the other end of the field, nearly everything Arva touched turned to gold as their greater division of labour left Cootehill chasing shadows at times in their own half of the half. There was simply no stopping Arva and a sweet move in the 57th minute involving four players and culminating in a picture-prefect point from Shane Hamilton summed up the blues' superior conviction, composure and will-to-win.

Like all good champions, Arva finished with a flourish with Bernard Brady galloping up field to crash home an icing-on-the-cake goal on the hour mark.

Cootehill Celtic: Josh Reilly; Keelan McCarville, Jason Halton; Gearóid McDonald, Dylan Rooney; Dermie Connolly (0-1, one free), Tomas McCullagh (0-1); Lee Rooney (0-1), Shane Sexton; Caoimhín Carney (0-3), Sean O'Connor (1-3).

Arva: Ciaran Hepton; Bernard Brady (1-0), Enda Gormley; Finbarr McAvinnue, Cormac McCabe; Ryan Magarahan (0-2, one '45), Raymond Magarahan (1-3); Danny Conneely (1-1), Oisin Sheridan; Danny Ellis, Shane Hamilton (0-5, three frees).
Subs Used: Tristan Noak Hoffman (0-1); Ben Cooney.