THE future is bright for the Cavan Ladies footballers following their All-Ireland minor A victory over Kerry last weekend. For the first time ever, the Breffni County have got their hands on an All-Ireland ‘A’ crown.

The foundations of the success were built last season, with the u-16 girls claiming All-Ireland glory. Taking the minor silver home is another stepping stone towards senior level, where Cavan are building a team fit to compete once again.

Taking home the cup after a hectic encounter with the Kingdom was the stuff of dreams for manager Gerry Charters, who was involved with the senior side this year as well.

“This group of girls, we would have been involved with them two years ago and we set up a development squad and we knew there was something special about these girls,” said Charters. “We watched them for a while, between school and college football and everything.

“They’re a great bunch of girls. It’s brilliant for them, they’ve put in a lot of work and we’ve only given them a wee bit of direction. The girls themselves have put in a lot of work and a lot of sacrifice in between work, holidays and all that.

“They won the 16s last year and they’ve done it back-to-back again this year and that’s the first minor title. It’s as good as a senior All-Ireland in Cavan at the moment.

“Our seniors are in transition with new management and a completely new panel this year, so hopefully the future and down the line, maybe the next three or four years, these girls will come through they should be able to compete at the highest level.”

>body2text<Looking ahead to the future and how this All-Ireland title could impact at senior level, Charters added: “A lot of these girls will be playing senior with the clubs and that anyway, so this is nothing new to them. It’s brilliant for the county going forward.

“I’ve been involved with plenty of minor teams before and we got to All-Ireland semi-finals and then we were beaten and then a lot of them girls dropped off after that. It’s trying to make that transition now from 18 years of age to senior level and that’s the big thing.”

On the game itself, Cavan were cruising at the half time break, leading by seven-points but a quickfire 2-2 from the opposition brought Kerry right back into the game. Cavan had enough to see it out and three was eventually the difference at the end.

“We were coasting, we got a goal just before half time and it was brilliant coming into the dressing rooms. We weren’t confident but we’re happy. I did warn them that Kerry would get a purple patch and would come at us, and they did.

“They got two goals in the space of three or four minutes on the home straight coming into the second half and you’re just thinking…is this going to be gone for us? But one good thing, they got a goal, and we were down to field and got a point.

“That just kept the scoreboard ticking over. Any time they got a major score like that, we were able to get a point and that was, that was a big thing too, we just didn’t panic. The full-time whistle was brilliant.

“I cried, because it’s a long time and we’re such a passionate football county it was just brilliant. Brilliant for the girls to put in such an effort, it was great; you couldn’t put it into words. I don’t know how you’d explain it, it’s fabulous.”