Speak Out

We want you to select who you think have been the best 15 players of the last 5 years of the Cadbury GAA U21 Championship. Vote today and select the 15 Cadbury Champions 2005 – 2010.

News update: 2010 Heroes of the Future added for selection. Who do you think should make the ‘Cadbury 15’?

http://www.cadburygaau21.com/cadbury-15.php

2nd June 2010: Dublin footballer Rory O’Carroll has been named as the 2010 Cadbury Hero of the Future at an awards ceremony in the Player’s Lounge in Croke Park. Rory has been honoured in recognition of his passion, excellence and commitment to the sport and was presented with his Cadbury Hero of the Future Award by Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael Criostóir Ó Cuana and Shane Guest from Cadbury Ireland. Rory was a key member of the Dublin Under-21 team which won a hard fought final against Donegal in Cavan on May 1st, and is also a member of the Dublin Senior panel which will open their campaign against Wexford on Sunday week.
In total 14 footballers were shortlisted as part of the ‘Cadbury Hero of the Future’ initiative which ran in tandem with the Championship to highlight the achievements of individuals for outstanding teamwork, passion and performance on the field. A Cadbury Hero of the Match award was presented to a player at each provincial semi-final, each provincial final and the national semi-finals with the last Cadbury Hero of the Match selected at the Cadbury GAA Football U21 All Ireland Final in Cavan on May 1st 2010.
Rory, who plays his club football with Kilmacud Crokes, was named as a Cadbury Hero of the Match for his performance against Donegal in the All Ireland Final. The judging panel which consisted of senior Kildare footballer Dermot Earley, former Dublin manager Paul Caffrey and TG4 journalist Michael O’Domhnaill, gave serious consideration to the public vote which saw over 5,000 votes cast on cadburygaau21.com and Donegal’s Michael Murphy and Carlow’s Brendan Murphy finishing neck and neck, but ultimately Rory O’Carroll’s heroic performances in both the semi-final against Roscommon and the final against Donegal, where he faced two of the Ireland’s most talented footballers meant he edged the competition out in the end.
Speaking on behalf of all the Cadbury Hero of the Future judges Micheál O’Domhnaill said “Rory was part of a very hard working Dublin team, where the accolades were shared between the players. Rory epitomised that will to win. He was the man who marked the key players, and he did this in a low key but highly effective manner. Often we overlook what the backs do, because the forwards are the ones who get the scores. But in this instance, by a whisker, we’ve voted Rory O’Carroll as the 2010 Cadbury Hero of the Future.”
As the overall winner Rory received a specially commissioned bronze award, and a holiday voucher to the value of €1,000. In addition to this, Rory’s club, Kilmacud Crokes, also received a grant of €1,000 as did the Dublin County Board. This year Cadbury once again supplied each of the 14 Hero’s of the Match a training kit for their club. Dublin Manager Jim Gavin was also presented with an award to mark Dublin’s achievement in winning the 2010 Cadbury GAA U21 Football Championship.

The online public vote for the 2010 Cadbury Hero of the Future Award has now closed. The public vote will now be taken into consideration by the Judges for their final decision and the 2010 Cadbury Hero of the Future will be announced next week. Stay tuned for details.

Huge thanks to all those who voted for their Hero

Who will be the 2010 Cadbury Hero of the Future?

The ‘Cadbury Hero of the Future’ award is part of Cadbury’s continued sponsorship of the under 21 football championship, highlighting the achievements of individuals for outstanding teamwork, passion and performance on the field. Former winners include Keith Higgins - Mayo (2006), Fintan Goold - Cork (2007) Killian Young - Kerry (2008), and Colm O’Neill - Cork (2009). Who will it be this year?

A ‘Hero of the Match’ Award is presented to 15 players, selected based on their performance, from the provincial semi-finals stage through to the All-Ireland final. The winners of the ‘Cadbury Hero of the Match’ awarded during the Championship are shortlisted for the overall ‘Hero of the Future’ award. Due to Donegal ace Michael Murphy receiving two awards, there are 14 players on the shortlist this year.

Kildare senior footballer, Dermot Earley, TG4’s Michael O Domhnaill and former Dublin Manager Paul Caffery adjudicate the competition and determine who the overall winner will be, taking the public vote into consideration, so click on the link below and have your say today!

http://www.cadburygaau21.com/vote/

This year’s list of nominees is made of players from nine different counties with All-Ireland champions Dublin having the highest number of nominees (Dean Rock, Rory O’Carroll & Nicky Devereux)

Donegal and Dublin battled it out in front of nearly 8,500 people in the Cadbury U21 All-Ireland Final on Saturday evening. In an exciting and enthralling encounter, it went down to the last kick of the game before it was decided. With Donegal trailing by two points and with two minutes remaining, Michael Murphy came out the field and caught the kick out brilliantly. He was fouled and took the free kick quickly into Cillian Morrison who was also fouled to give Donegal a penalty, a minute into injury time. Up stepped Donegal’s Senior Star, Michael Murphy who sent the keeper the wrong way with a powerful strike, only to see it rebound off the crossbar and with the ball landing back in play ‘Cadbury Hero of the Match’ winner Rory O’Carroll then fisted it to safety.

It was a close game throughout with both teams dominating at different times, Donegal got off to the better start racing into a two point lead but then the Dubs came roaring back and scored five points in a row to leave the score at 6 points to 2 with Dean Rock showing great accuracy up front and Nicky Devereux impressing from wing back. Donegal then got back on top, with Dermot Molloy getting a lovely score from a free. Murphy and O’Carroll were having a great dual and the full back was doing a very good job in keeping Murphy quiet but the Donegal star got the better of O’Carroll just before the break but ended up shooting just wide. However directly from the next kick out Donegal did get a goal. Murphy pulled out to the wing and with lots of space for McLoone to come through the middle, he played a deft one two with Morrison and buried the ball in the back of the net. Donegal then went in leading by a point at half time.

Within a minute of the restart, Dublin had levelled the scores through Mark Coughlan, but scores from Murphy and Morrison edged Donegal back in front. With 15 minutes remaining, Gary Sweeney made the most of a mistake in the Donegal defense to score a good goal to give Dublin the lead. This was the first goal Donegal had conceded in the Championship and would prove to be the decisive score of the second half. Dermot Molloy brought the scores level at 1-07 a piece with 10 minutes to play. Dublin began to get on top and only some wayward shooting kept Donegal in the game, but they did manage to go two points ahead entering injury time. Donegal had the chance to win it in the closing moments but Dublin held out to claim their first U21 All-Ireland since 2003.

Dublin 1-10 Donegal 1-08

Win tickets to the Cadbury GAA All Ireland Final on Saturday, just answer the question below. Don’t forget to include your contact details!

Question:

Donegal and Dublin get set to contest this year’s Cadbury U21 All Ireland Final this weekend. But what team has won it twice in the last five years?

First 5 correct answers get two tickets each for Saturdays final.

Please include your name, a contact number and your email address. Competition closes by 12 noon Wednesday 28th April.

And then there were two…
Donegal and Dublin will contest the Cadbury U21 Final on Saturday the 1st of May at 19.00 in Breffni Park, Cavan. Donegal beat Munster Champions Tipperary on a score line of 0-12 to 0-04, while Dublin defeated the Connacht champions Roscommon 2-10 to 0-08. Dublin last tasted All-Ireland success in the U21 grade in 2003 when they defeated Ulster opposition in the final (Tyrone). Donegal have to look back alot further as it was 1987 when Donegal last claimed the U21 title when they beat Kerry after a replay. We want your views, opinions and predictions?

This evening’s games in the Cadbury Ulster Championship have been cancelled due to bad weather conditions and have been re-fixed for this Saturday at 2 o clock in the same venues.

The first 3 comments supporting their county from Connacht will win two free tickets to the Sligo v Roscommon match on Saturday evening. Be sure and leave your name and address!

The first 3 comments supporting their county from Leinster will win two free tickets to the Dublin v Westmeath game on Sunday. Be sure and leave your name and address!