Arva can reflect on the 2002 season with a tremendous degree of satisfaction. The club made notable strides on a number of fronts and its hard-working members have every reason to look ahead to the forthcoming term with confidence anew. By comparison with recent years, 2002 was an exceptionally good season for Arva.. Seamus McKeon from Aughnacliffe took over as manager and brought the first team through the group phase of the junior football championship into the knock-out stage. He also guided the second team to the final of the reserve championship, wherein they were beaten by Mullahoran. Despite this defeat, Arva are very proud of the team and its achievement in making the 'last two'. All in all, the performances of both teams represent a good start under the new manager and Arva can build upon that progress in '03. They say that 'Charity Begins At Home' and this is a philosophy that is certainly honoured in Arva. During the season, the club organised a highly successful charity match which raised over 50,000 euro for St Luke's Hospital. This is a gesture the club can be rightly proud of, and they have every reason to be smiling inwardly as they reflect on an eventful and fulfilling 2002 innings. Arva also enjoyed a decent year at underage level. Club secretary Cormac O'Donnell notes: "We have a very good underage set-up and a strong committee headed by Cyril Sheridan, Brian Ellis, Willie Ward and Michael Ellis. They are the driving force behind our endeavours at underage level and the young lads have responded to the challenge, producing some great performances. The club is also very grateful to all the mothers who helped out in bringing lads to matches and supporting our efforts over the year. Without their assistance and co-operation, our task would be impossible." Arva fielded its own team at U12; and their U14s played with Gowna; while the U16s, minors and U21s joined up with Gowna under the banner of Cormore Gaels. The Arva U12s reached the semi-final of the Roinn D league before losing narrowly to Shannon Gaels. There were a lot of positives to be gleaned from that defeat, as Cormac notes: "We were more than happy with their display in the semi-final. Shannon Gaels had beaten them convincingly in the first round but their performance in the semi-final was a good measure of how much they improved over the year." With Arva being such a small club, they only had a few under 14s last year and these represented Gowna, who reached the semi-final of their league. "Three of our players were on that team. They conducted themselves well and did us proud," says Cormac. "It was a good year compared to other ones and we can see a lot of light at the end of the tunnel. There's a good crop of young lads coming along and that has to augur well for our future." Part of this success can be attributed to the work being done at St Mary's National School, Arva under the watchful eye of the Principal, Vincent Mulvey. As is customary in the county, the club makes a contribution to the County Board to organise coaching at the school for two hours a week under the coaching scheme. To that end, former county player and manager Gabriel Kelly puts the future stars of Arva GFC through their paces. As stated earlier, Arva's U16s, minors and U21s join forces with Gowna to form Cormore Gaels. This arrangement works very well for both clubs and the amalgamation is extensively sponsored by the following local businesses: Niall Brady, Gerry Ellis & Sons, Cyril Sheridan, The Breffni Arms Hotel, Enda Boylan and Timmy Fitzpatrick. The Cormore Gaels U16s lost to St Josephs in the first round of the championship. Meanwhile, Arva had eight representatives on the minor panel that went all the way to the county minor A final only to be pipped by Cavan Gaels on the big day. And the under 21s beat Kingscourt Gaels in the county final on Sunday December 15th. "We had nine on that panel, so we've very happy with the Cormore Gaels set-up," says Cormac who doubles up as secretary of the amalgamation club, while Arva treasurer Michael Ellis acts as treasurer. Gowna's Seamus McCabe is chairman. Arva's first team made a big impression in the 2002 JFC, storming to the quarter-finals and raising quite a few eyebrows in the process. "We're generally very happy with the way it turned out this year. Training went very well from the beginning of the year and we had over 30 lads turning up regularly under the new management structure of Seamus McKeon and selectors Padraig Conneely and Padraig McEntee. "Training started in mid-January and the attitude was very good. The junior league came along and for some reason we just didn't do that well. But the preparations were very much geared towards the championship and that approach worked as we won our first three group games [against Mullahoran, Mountnugent and Maghera] and then drew with Kildallan, having already qualified for the quarter-finals before that final game." In the quarter-final, Arva were narrowly beaten by Templeport. Says Cormac: "While we were disappointed with that result, the club executive was very happy with the team's performance both in the quarter-final and throughout the championship. It was a big improvement on recent years and has set us up nicely for 2003." The club secretary continues: "We also had an excellent run in the reserve championship. We have a great crop of young lads involved and they got to the final and were unlucky to lose narrowly to Mullahoran in Ballinagh. It was an encouraging effort. "We really are looking forward to 2003 with renewed confidence and there's a great atmosphere in the club now because of the fairly successful year we had." Greatly enhancing that atmosphere was the club's hugely successful charity match - an interprovincial extravaganza involving former county great from all over the country. Organisation for this spectacular started on Good Friday, March 29th and the game went ahead on August Bank Holiday Saturday (3rd). In the highly-entertaining clash, an Ulster/Connacht selection (managed by Brian McEniff) took on a Leinster/Munster selection (managed by Gerry McEntee). Over 50,000 euro was raised for St Luke's Hospital in Dublin, Ireland's premier hospital for cancer care, cure and control. The novel charity event was the brainchild of Philip N Brady, who led the organising committee. Players and members of the Arva club played a big role in ensuring that the game was such a massive success. Players who took part included Pat Spillane, Colm O'Rourke, John McDermott and Tommy Dowd from Meath, Liam Tierney and Dessie Barry from Longford, as well as four Arva clubmen who played for Cavan: Niall O'Donnell, Mel Bouchier, Sean Kiernan and Martin Sheridan. After the match, a monster auction (for all types of football memorabilia) was held in the Breffni Arms Hotel. All things considered, it truly was a hectic year for Arva. In November, they also held a club re-union for the 1962 team and members of the committee that re-formed the club 40 years ago. The 1972 side that won the intermediate championship was also recognised at the event. A most enjoyable night was had by all, with a great turn-out from both teams showing up to renew old acquaintances and reminisce about those golden days of yore. A great deal of development work was also carried out on Arva's Cully Park home in preparation for the charity match. "The fact that we were hosting the match gave us the perfect excuse to do some much-needed work on the park. We were motivated to make the improvements and we went out and did it. We put up new nets and added an electronic scoreboard, which was generously sponsored by the publicans of the town." Arva were particularly well represented in 2002 by a wonderful crop of exceptional young talent, including Dermot McGlade, Alan Barry, David Bouchier, Danny McEntee, Niall Fox and Gavin Doyle to name but a few. These were perfectly complemented by the clubs more experienced performers Sean Donnelly (captain), Philip Brady, John Smith and Darragh Fox to give the team a great balance. David Bouchier played for the Cavan U16s who reached the Fr. Manning Cup final. Dermot McGlade represented his club and county in the U17 International Rules test series against Australia and also featured on the Cavan minor team which lost narrowly to eventual Ulster and All-Ireland champions Derry. The local Moyne Community School won the All-Ireland B Colleges title, with as many as five Arva players on board: Dermot McGlade, Shane McEntee, Patrick Murtagh, Dean Harrington and Alan Barry all contributed handsomely to the historic achievement. And there you have it: a year to remember for the proud gaels of Arva . . . and every reason to suspect that there's plenty more where that came from! Tweet

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