BOHER CELTIC FEB 98

BOHER CELTIC 1/2/98:




Dermot O'Riordan founded Boher Celtic in 1974 and his enthusiasm is as great

as ever. The name Boher was taken from the local Boher Ash crossroads. Andrew

Neenan was another who helped the club find its feet in the early days.



They won promotion in a few years but, as a third division team, had a couple

of great runs in the AOH Cup and reached the quarter-finals twice. Dermot

remembers stirring games against Greenmount Rangers (which Boher won) and a

quarter-final tie at home to St Mary's when a huge crowd attended.



Dermot finds a tremendous interest among the kids of the area: "I could put a

notice up in the shop and have a team down in the field tomorrow. We have

plenty of raw talent. I have some great lads but they could do with a spot of

professional coaching which is not available. I don't have enough time

myself".



O'Riordan runs a busy farm but still finds the time to manage the Under 17

team and also looks after three other underage teams who take part in local

competitions. Besides, he helps junior manager Joe Daly and indeed has played

on the odd occasion recently.



He is delighted with the Under 17s though concerned that "they froze in their

two big games" this season. One was in the Imperial Hotel League Cup semi-

final against Everton where they were pipped after extra time and the other

was in the FAI Cup against highly rated Leeds.



But Dermot, as ever, is not down-hearted after those setbacks: "They are a

great bunch and most of them are underage next season". Wouldn't it nice if

Boher's 25th anniversary was marked by winning their first underage trophy.

Keep up the good work, Dermot.



Boher's honours: 1978/79 - beat the Liam McMahon managed Fermoy team in the

final of the Second Division League Cup on Fermoy's newly opened ground;

1900/91 - lost to Corkbeg in the final of the Saxone Cup; 1991/2 - won the

AUL 2A league (Knocknaheeny Celtic finished second) and beat Ballincollig

Athletic in the final of the President's Cup.