Cork U21 Football Captain Colm O’Neill announced as the

2009 Cadbury Hero of the Future

19th May 2009: Current All-Ireland U21 football winning captain, Colm O’Neill, has been named as the 2009 Cadbury Hero of the Future at an awards ceremony in the Player’s Lounge in Croke Park. Colm 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, Senior Brand Manager Cadbury Ireland.

15 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 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 Hero selected at the Cadbury GAA Football U21 Final in Portlaoise on May 4th 2009.

Colm, who plays his club football with Ballyclough, was named as a Cadbury Hero of the Match for his performance against Waterford in the Munster semi final. Colm captained the winning Cork side all the way to final where a last minute goal saw them defeat a very strong Down side and was presented with the Clarke cup by GAA president Christy Cooney. Colm was crowned the overall Cadbury Hero of the Future, as voted by members of the public on www.cadburygaau21.com and an expert judging panel, which included senior Kildare footballer Dermot Early, former Dublin manager Paul Caffrey and TG4 journalist Michael O’Domhnaill.

Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael Criostóir Ó Cuana said, “Colm’s award crowns what has been a fantastic year for the Cork U21 football team and anyone who was lucky enough to be present at O’Moore Park for their dramatic final win over Down was treated to an excellent spectacle that underlined the importance of this competition to followers of Gaelic Games. I congratulate Cadbury on five years of sponsorship for this championship and acknowledge their commitment to this grade, which is evidenced in the Hero of the Future Scheme.”