2009 saw Cavan ladies go through their first year without silverware in four years. In that time Ulster junior and intermediate football crowns as well as a National Football League title were all secured to keep this talented bunch firmly climbing up the ladder. Last year they were left empty handed but did manage to retain their Division Two status, which was 'Part One' of their objectives for the last year of the decade.
However, reconstruction of the Suzuki National Football Leagues means that Cavan are in a newly formatted Division Three, with their first game against arch rivals Fermanagh on February 7 at Kingspan Breffni Park. Such a fixture could not have possibly given Cavan a stronger impetus to start their new season with, as over the last recent years these two neighbouring teams have developed somewhat of a healthy rivalry.
In 2008, both counties were promoted from the third tier and squared off against one another in their opening game in Division Two of the NFL the following year on February 1st at St Aidan's Park, Bawnboy.
Hugh Donnelly, who succeeded Gowna man Eamon Lynch, approached the 2009 league opened with caution by leaving attacking duo Aisling Doonan and Roisin O'Keefe on the bench in case of emergency. The Tyrone man's plan proved to pay-off with dividends.
After trailing by three points at the interval due to the concession of a late first-half goal, Cavan introduced Doonan and O'Keefe to the game minutes into the restart and the pair, along with Bronagh Sheridan's winning point in the 59th minute, went along way to overturning the deficit for Cavan and helping them towards a victory which granted them a priceless pair of points to start their new life in Division Two.
With two points in the bag, Donnelly's charges travelled north to Downpatrick two weeks later to take on Down, where a 6-12 to 3-9 defeat would be suffered at the hands of the Mourne women, who were in relentless form over the hour. The manner of the defeat had caught Cavan by surprise but, crucially, heads didn't drop afterwards and the players regained their focus over the following seven days before welcoming Longford to Kingspan Breffni Park.
By the end of the month the Breffni women had got their league campaign back on track after downing Longford by 0-12 to 1-5 in a convincing performance, which saw Bronagh Sheridan, Aisling Doonan and Donna English all put in five-star performances, contributing 0-8 of their team's final tally.
After an even start, Cavan pulled 0-5 to 0-2 clear on the 20 minute mark when Sheridan, Doonan and Caitriona Leddy all raised the umpire's white flag. Cavan took in a three-point lead at the break, but just minutes into the restart Alice Magan's goal levelled the game for the visitors.
Longford then edged a point in front but, to their credit, Cavan put there foot on the throttle thereafter and never looked back as their talented forwards hit the fore, with Sheridan (0-2), Doonan, Roisin O'Keefe and Sharon Cassidy all pointed to give Cavan their second win and all but assure their team's league safety for the following year.
For their final league game, Cavan travelled to Navan, where a win would have given them a chance of reaching the league semi-finals and had them within a shout of promotion.
However, after finishing on the wrong side of a 3-6 to 0-12 result at Pairc Tailteann it was the Royals who finished joint top with Down to advance, while Cavan remained safe with four points ahead of Fermanagh, who finished with zero points to their name.
With the league's conclusion, Cavan upped the ante in training in the weeks after ahead of their hunt for provincial and national silverware in the summer months. The first test came when Donnelly's welcomed Fermanagh for the second time, this time to Kingspan Breffni Park in late June, when the first round of the All-Ireland intermediate championship would be contested.
In a game where Cavan kicked a disappointing amount of their possession wide, only a late Bronagh Sheridan free rescued a draw or the Blues after conceding a soft goal in each half, full-time score 0-12 to 2-6.
A week later and Cavan's whole All-Ireland campaign would hinge on their meeting with Clare at First Ulsters Park in Ballyconnell. The Banner women were one of the sides fancied to win the competition out from the start, but looked to have met their match when they travelled to the border town as Donnelly's team put it up to them. With the game in the melting pot, Cavan looked to have had their passage to the knock-out stages confirmed but for Clare to stage a late blitz and pip their opponents by 2-12 to 2-11 come the full-time whistle.
A 3-21 to 1-3 mauling of Wexford in Farmleigh at the end of July couldn't even salvage second place for Cavan, as a draw between Clare and Fermanagh a week later saw the pair advance in the knock-out stages at the Breffni women's expense and eventually go on to contest the final at Croke Park, which Clare would win by 3-10 to 0-11.
In the meantime, Cavan had fallen to Fermanagh for the first time in their season on July 9 on the Ulster final stage.
In another thrilling bout between these two teams, it was Cavan who were made to suffer the heart-break of defeat after extra-time on a 3-12 to 3-8 score-line, which saw the Breffni women lose out on the title, which they first won in Clones in 2007, for the second year in-a-row.
Having lead by three points deep into injury-time at the end of normal time, Cavan's hopes were dashed when Fermanagh captain Kyla McManus buried a goal past Christine McCutcheon to send the match into extra-time. The Ernesiders tore into Cavan in the second period of extra-time, with Caroline Little a constant torn in the Breffni County's side, as Hugh Donnelly's team, who had been the better side up until that point, slipped to a devastating defeat.
Not many can argue that luck is something which has seemed to have totally deserted this Cavan team in recent years, particularly when it comes to the All-Ireland championship.
However, when things are freshened up, they can often change for the better. New manager Adrian McGovern from the Templeport will certainly be hoping that that's the case anyway as the 2010 season unravels.
McGovern succeeds Hugh Donnelly, who was forced to step down from the post due to work commitments, coached his native club up from the junior ranks to becoming a force in the top tier of ladies club football in the Cavan and has watched players like Aisling Doonan and Sharon Cassidy prosper in the blue jersey, as well as the green, in the meantime. His appointment to the Cavan ladies hot seat was confirmed in early December, after an interview process with the county board
"I've been following the Cavan ladies team for the last number of years because we (Templeport) would have always have had a good number of girls in on the county panel ourselves," said McGovern.
"The job came up for this year and my own club put me forward to go for it. I went through interviews for the job along with three other candidates and, thankfully, I got it."
The Bawnboy man wasted little time in setting-up his backroom team. Cornafean's Caroline Crowe, Sean Feeney (Killeshandra) and Aidan Reilly (Inny Gaels) have been all brought in to try and help steer Cavan ladies towards what will hopefully be a successful year on the national front.
"We met before Christmas and got a new panel set up and brought in some new fresh blood to the team. We started training on January 3rd," he explained.
"Numbers the first day were up on 35 and we've been training ever since through the bad weather conditions and everything. We've had over 20 out every night since the first session. Despite the fact that a lot of our players are doing exams, training is going very, very well. Their attitude is great and they're a great bunch of lassies that are willing to work and are very keen."
As for the season gone past for Cavan ladies, McGovern believes that rotten luck had a lot to do with why the Breffni women were unsuccessful in their quest for silverware. He also had some words of praise for his predecessor.
"They were very unlucky," he claimed. "There was a kick of a ball in almost every match that they had lost. They were unfortunate and didn't really get the rub of the green at all.
Hugh Donnelly was a great manager for them last year, but due to work commitments he had to pull out of it."
So, how will things change for the better? McGovern hopes that his 16 years of experience in ladies football, along with a real sense of belief being installed by the team management, can help to guide Cavan's unquestionable talent to glory in 2010. Players of the calibre of Aisling Doonan, Bronagh Sheridan, Donna English and Ailish Cornyn only come along once every so often. Therefore their new manager pulls no punches over what his team's aim will be whilst he has players like these at his disposal.
"The main objective is to win the All-Ireland intermediate championship," he puts it simply.
"We're trying to be very positive in everything we do. There has been encouragement the whole way. At the end of the day, all we can do is encourage the girls and try and get the best out of them and that's a lot of what coaching is about."
One thing is for certain. It needs to be a case of all hands on deck if Cavan are to go one better than they did in '09, as this summer they will embark on a championship group that reads; Fermanagh, Donegal, Westmeath, London, and, all going well, should be confident of progression to the knock-out stages. From there, who's to say what this team are capable. Only time will tell. Tweet

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