Justin Makes ‘Cadbury 15’

Wednesday 17.11.2010

Club

Cadbury, proud sponsor of the Cadbury GAA U21 Football Championship today announced the selection of the best fifteen U21 footballers between 2005 and 2010, as voted by the fans. Cadbury also announced its sixth year of GAA Scholarships and the latest third level institution to be added to the programme. Since the introduction of the Scholarship programme, Cadbury have awarded over €50,000 to third level students from 18 counties across the country.

The ‘Cadbury 15’ :

Brian Fox (Tipperary)
Fintan Goold (Cork)
Daniel Goulding (Cork)
Pearce Hanley (Mayo)
Keith Higgins (Mayo)
Paul McComiskey (Down)
Justin McMahon (Tyrone)
Michael Murphy (Donegal)
Rory O’Carroll (Dublin)                                   
David O’Gara (Roscommon)
Colm O’Neill (Cork)
Aidan O’Shea (Mayo)
Tom Parsons (Mayo)
Brendan Quigley (Laois)
Killian Young (Kerry)

At the beginning of this year’s U21 championship, Cadbury asked GAA supporters from all across Ireland to vote for the best fifteen players at U21 grade from 2005-2010. Supporters were asked to log onto Cadbury’s dedicated football website www.cadburygaau21.com where all of the Cadbury ‘Hero of the Match’ winners from 2005 to 2010 are listed. The public also had the option to propose any player from outside this list as long as they had represented their county at U21 level between 2005 and 2010.

The voting closed the day of the Senior All-Ireland Final and the fifteen players with the highest amount of votes make up the ‘Cadbury 15’. With almost 1,500 votes cast for 92 players from across all of Ireland the competition for places was intense right up to the final whistle. Each of the provinces is represented with the players in the ‘Cadbury 15’ spread across ten counties.

Recently crowned Senior All-Ireland champions Cork, have three players on the team, all of whom were involved in this year’s senior team’s heroics. Cork have been the most successful U21 team since the beginning of the Cadbury sponsorship winning the All-Ireland twice. 2008 U21 All-Ireland champions Kerry have a single representative on the team, while Tipperary who finally won the U21 Munster title for the first time this year also have a player on the team.

Mayo are represented four times, having won an All-Ireland title and four Connacht titles in a row during the Cadbury sponsorship. Roscommon who bridged a ten year gap to claim the Connacht crown this year are also represented.

Down who won two Ulster titles in a row and appeared in the 2009 All-Ireland final are represented with one player. Current Ulster champions Donegal also have a player on the team, having reclaimed the Ulster title for the first time in 15 years. Tyrone who last claimed Ulster U21 honours in 2006 are the third and final Ulster County to have a player on the team.

Leinster have the least amount of players on the ‘Cadbury 15’ with 2010 All-Ireland champions Dublin and 2007 Leinster champions Laois  the only counties to get a look in.

Commenting on today’s announcement, Shane Guest, Senior Brand Manager, Cadbury Ireland said. “This is Cadbury Ireland’s sixth year as sponsor of the U-21 Football Championship and we remain fully committed to supporting GAA in Ireland. I am delighted to say that the Championship continues to go from strength to strength and initiatives such as the Cadbury 15 serve to remind us all of the depth of footballing talent which features so prominently at this grade. It is no surprise that every single one of the Cadbury 15 has gone on to represent their county at senior level.  In addition the Cadbury Scholarships programme is another successful initiative which allows us to support these U21 players and their hard work, skill, passion and dedication in pursuit of sporting excellence.”

Cadbury are entering into their sixth year of the Cadbury Scholarship programme. Since the beginning of the Cadbury sponsorship, Cadbury have awarded scholarships to the value of €53,500 to support the dedication and skill of 52 talented young players from a variety of third level institutions.  The programme, which has been extended this year to include Dublin Institute of Technology, brings to nine the number of third level institutions benefiting from Cadbury support. Dublin Institute of Technology now joins NUI Galway, University of Limerick, University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University, University College Cork, Cork Institute of Technology and Jordanstown campus of the University of Ulster as third level institutions to benefit from the Cadbury Scholarship initiative.