Since minor level, Padraic O'Reilly's star has been well on the rise through achievements which haven't been mirrored by many others in the game in this county.
Being the backbone of St Pat's Rannafast Cup success in 2003, led to a call up to the Irish Under 17 squad which travelled to Australia for two International Rules tests. At the tender age of 21, the man better known as 'Podge' captained his native Ballinagh to a long-awaited county intermediate championship win, which was to be followed by a historic Ulster triumph - O'Reilly picked up the 'Man of the Match' award in both finals and went on to be named Cavan's 'Intermediate Player of the Year'.
That was 2007. Now, three years on, O'Reilly has been made well aware of the fact that Gaelic football, as well as sport in general, isn't always going to deliver you the happy times.
Last year, Cavan endured a horrendous season which saw them lose out on a first Ulster final place in eight-long years to the province's traditional minnows, while Ballinagh suffered demotion from the senior ranks after waiting what seemed like an eternity to get back to the top flight of Cavan club football. O'Reilly was deeply involved in both teams' fortunes in '09, and as part of a team he doesn't hesitate to admit that he played his part in some poor performances.
"Our big problem last year was inconsistency," admitted O'Reilly. "We were getting both the good and the bad and I don't know why that was. I wish I did."
That, in many ways, sums up what went wrong with Tommy Carr's Cavan during 2009. Being able to put in Grade A performances against Down and Fermanagh when the chips were well and truly down, but suffering shocking defeats to the likes of Tipperary and Antrim, where any hint of the same kind of Breffni performance was completely absent.
When Cavan embarked on their 2009 campaign the targets set for the players by the new management were to gain promotion from Division Three and play five games in the All-Ireland SFC, according to O'Reilly. After a decent McKenna Cup campaign, which included wins over Armagh and Antrim but a defeat to Queen's, Carr's team took to their first task when they travelled to Longford on February 1.
"Everyone was optimistic. Tommy's appointment helped to bring a bit of experience. He was a household name and I think the players were happy with the appointment. He'd done it before as a player and a manager, so we were looking forward to working under him," O'Reilly claimed.
"In our first match (against Longford) we were comfortably the better team but conceded three bad goals and ended up losing a game which we should have won. The next day against Tipperary, I think a wee bit of complacency crept in and we were beaten by a hungrier side that day."
Two games into their competitive season and questions were already being asked of the players and management involved with the Cavan squad. Both games were expected to be straightforward wins, but on both occasions the Blues were left empty-handed and knew that anything other than a win against Down at Newry would leave them facing an uphill battle for league safety.
Excellent performances from Cian Mackey and Sean Johnston up front saw Cavan record victory at Pairc Esler and a home win against Limerick the following weekend saw Carr's men lift themselves out of the relegation zone in Division Three.
"We beat Down in Newry and that was a real boost for us," O'Reilly explained. "It was a good team performance and we carried that momentum with us into the Limerick game, which we won at Breffni Park."
A shock defeat in Tullamore against Offaly was responded to via a 0-14 to 0-6 thumping of Roscommon the next day out, before Cavan went to Drogheda with their safety effectively secured and lost to a Louth side battling to avoid relegation.
Although disappointing, O'Reilly knew that Cavan's NFL campaign was nothing to dwell on too much. From mid-April onwards all of the players' focus turned sharply towards their Ulster SFC quarter-final with Fermanagh on June 6 at Kingspan Breffni Park.
"Preparations were good going into the Fermanagh game," he said. "We had a chance to look at them (against Down) and I think that was a bit of an advantage for us. We knew about them and we knew they had brought (Ryan) Carson into the team and that he was going to be one of the main men they looked towards for scores.
"There wasn't really pressure on us, because a lot of our lads feel at home when they play at Breffni Park. Unfortunately, expectations in Cavan have become so low in recent years that I don't think the players feel any pressure going into games."
O'Reilly lined-out at left half-back against the Ernesiders, starting on Daryl Keenan, who would be withdrawn by Malachy O'Rourke and replaced by Mark Murphy, who the Ballinagh defender also kept quiet. O'Reilly himself was substituted in the closing stages with exhaustion after running himself into the ground in trying to cover every blade of grass for his team's cause. He would receive an ovation from the Breffni support upon making way for Rory Dunne.
"It was a tough game and one which was very tiring," he recalled. "Fermanagh attack in numbers and they try and run teams off the field. There were a few lads that stood out for us that day, but overall it was a good team performance and everyone did their bit."
Come the full-time whistle, Cavan would finish on the right side of a 0-13 to 1-9 result and while the talk afterwards had been of a young team proving their doubters wrong, the former Ballinagh skipper brushes aside any such notion.
"I still think that one match doesn't make your season. You see a lot of managers coming out after games and saying that 'we proved the doubters wrong', but I believe to really do that you need to have a good full season behind you and then maybe back that up with another one.
"The win over Fermanagh definitely brought a feel good factor back though," he stated.
Cavan approached their provincial semi-final meeting with Antrim, who had stunned Donegal in the previous round, with confidence. Like in the build-up to the Fermanagh game, O'Reilly explained that the preparations had been good, spirits were high and everything that could have been done was done before the team's clash with the Saffrons at St Tiernach's Park.
So, does he know where it all went wrong for Cavan in Clones, where they fell to Liam Bradley's charges and squandered their chance of an Ulster SFC final appearance?
"We started off good but missed some early chances," O'Reilly calmly put it.
"Antrim are a young fit team that rely on confidence. They grew into that match and if we had have put them on the back foot early on instead, who knows what would have happened, but it was a flat performance from us.
"Everyone was gutted afterwards. The dressing room was dead. The bus home was dead. We knew we didn't deserve to win the game."
Carr and his players came in for considerable criticism after the loss to Antrim, with supporters bitterly disappointed in the team's performance over the 70 minutes. In the days after, the All-Ireland SFC qualifiers' draw would throw up a trip south to Aughrim for Cavan, where it was largely thought the Breffni men could redeem themselves.
As he usually is, the 23-year-old was both cautious but confident ahead of the journey to south Wicklow.
"I was always a believer that Cavan do better in the qualifiers against the bigger teams and Aughrim is always a tough place to go and try and get a result.
"In the first-half I didn't think we had done that badly. Then there was a ten-minute spell in the second-half where they took a three-point lead. We knew that scores were going to be hard to come by up there and in fairness they defended excellently," said the Dublin-based accountant.
A second defeat in the space of four weeks spelled the end of Cavan's season and in the months ahead O'Reilly would be made to endure more bad times, when Ballinagh made the drop back down to intermediate status after losing the SFC relegation final to Crosserlough after a replay.
Now O'Reilly hopes he can again get his hands on the intermediate championship crown with his club and also enjoy an improved season with his county in 2010, when his leadership from the back and reading of the game will be needed most by both Ballinagh and Cavan.
"To get promoted will be the hope in Division Three and to improve on our performances of last year. The Fermanagh game isn't exactly around the corner either, so we'll have between now and then to be prepared for it when it comes.
"All the younger lads from last year are a year older and maybe that bit stronger now. It's also the first year without the '97 lads, so hopefully some of the new editions and re-editions to the squad will be able to give us a boost, because there are still players involved that have been there and have the experience," O'Reilly concluded. Tweet

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