Gaeil Fhánada delighted to finally end 25-year U-21 championship famine  

Gaeil Fhánada ended a quarter of a century of U-21 football heartbreak with Saturday’s U-21 D championship final win over Bundoran in Pairc MacDiarmada, in Lifford.

Four points separated the sides at the finish with Gaeil Fhánada emerging 3-6 to 1-8 deserving winners. The club had last won at U-21 level back in 2000, in the U-21 B, having also won the U-21 B the year before too. 

READ NEXT: Gaeil Fhanada crowned inaugural winners of U-21 D championship 

Aidan McAteer, the Gaeil Fhánada manager, was a member of the back-to-back winning team of 1999 and 2000. 

And he was naturally delighted the club had finally ended the 25-year-long U-21 barren harvest after barren harvest down the years.

“We’ve had a lot of disappointment at U-21 down the years, losing out in the latter stages a number of times,” said the Gaeil Fhánada boss. 

“It is good for the players, and it is also good for the club going forward because it will hopefully give the players the confidence to go on and build on that success in the years to come in senior football. 

“It is easier, especially for a club like Gaeil Fhánada, to hold on to players if they are winning titles. 

“And that particularly applies to this group of lads. I was astounded when I got them together for the first time to learn they had not won a league or a championship at any level right up through the age groups. 

“Hopefully, this success will give them the confidence and belief to go on and build on it into the future. 

“I explained to them the last night at training that our 1999/2000 winning team came from a minor C championship team that we had won a few years beforehand.

“So hopefully this win here today will have laid the foundation for further success for this group of players down the road.” 

Gaeil Fhanada led Saturday’s final 2-5 to 0-3 at half-time. Daibhid Lynch and Conor Heraghty scored the goals. 

And they stretched that advantage out to 11 points early in the second half after Caolan McElwaine netted their third goal to effectively seal the win. 

Bundoran did battle to the end and outscored champions 1-5 to 0-1 in the last quarter to trim the lead back to four points.

Gaeil Fhánada’s back-to-back U-21B championship triumphs of 1999 and 2000 were over Glenfin and Carndonagh. 

In 1999, they were 0-13 to 0-7 final winners over Glenfin and in 2000, they ran out 1-15 to 0-7 winners over Carndonagh.