For the first time in many years, Gowna as a football club failed to make it to the latter stages of a Cavan senior football championship. While the pragmatists at the club would see the shifting sands of time beginning to come into play, with many of their famous players now reaching the end of their careers, they feel, it is inevitable, that there will be less glorious days ahead. The 2007 season saw Gowna reach the final of the senior football championship and while they lost out to Cavan Gaels, in the end the spirited performance, especially after the loss of their talisman, Dermot McCabe, spoke volumes of the pride among the younger generation of Gowna players. A true test of nerve was faced this season as Gowna faced the ultimate test of their transition when they went into a tough relegation battle to see if they remained in the Cavan SFC. While Dermot McCabe was superb on the night, other, younger players rose to the occasion as they outgunned, out-committed and outplayed a determined Belturbet team to secure their place in the pecking order of Cavan championship football. When you listen to their straight-talking chairman, Sean McGahern, he leaves little doubt to the listener, as to his belief in the club that has brought so much honour not only to their own area but also to the county of Cavan as a whole. "Of course we have to accept that time marches on and with that solid fact faced we know that players like Bernard Morris, Ciaran, Dessie, Laurance and Joe Brady are difficult to replace. Their contribution to the club was immense and helped formulate the winning formula of the past . We were still fortunate enough that a number of other players like the Hartin brothers, Fergal and Gavin, Bernard Soroghan and Christy Madden continued to soldier on in the Gowna cause over the past year. Their influence and experience helped chart a course of survival for the younger players through the choppy waters of senior football," said Sean. "It is my steadfast belief that as a club, while we may be in transition, we are not without resources. When you look at the composition of the panel you recognize that we have at our disposal some of the most talented young players in the county. Indeed we have an abundance of experience in this group. Quite a few of them have already won senior football championship medals and it is now their time to take over the mantle of leaders and help us make a return to the top echelons of Cavan football. "We have present county panelists, Mark McKeever and Gerald Pierson. While Gerald was out through most of the season with a chronic leg injury, he seems to have made good progress and no doubt will be back both for the club and the county in 2009. We also hope to see the return of Patrick Brady, who has been sidelined over the past number of years with a back problem but hopefully he will have recovered to help Gowna in the coming season. Some of our young players like Ciaran Fitzpatrick, Gearoid O'Reilly, Nial Madden, Cathaldus Hartin and Emmet Madden all were playing members of the team that won the last club championship back in 2002. In Mark McKeever, we have not only a committed Cavan and Gowna player but a player who has the potential to inspire and lead us back to the top. Mark was afforded the honour of captaining Cavan senior team during 2008. So when you take a realistic look at what we have at our disposal we should be able to weather this period of change. As I have already mentioned, many of our younger players have all tasted championship success and no doubt will be ambitious enough to try and elevate Gowna back into the top flight. "At the club, we may have felt that the 2008 season was not one of our best" stated the club chairman. While failing to make excuses, Sean feels that while the composition of the team is now undergoing a metamorphosis, a number of external factors did little to help in the smooth change over. "We are presently building new dressing-rooms and for most of the season, we were consigned to togging out in an old railway carriage. It really was not conducive to fostering morale, especially during the long wet season we endured. Credit must be afforded to our team manager, Mick McCormack whose diligent approach never faltered even in adversity. Mick along with his selectors of Laurance Brady and Kevin Madden worked with great commitment to ensure that while we lost out in our championship quest we did not suffer the ignominy of being relegated to the Intermediate football championship. We produced the old Gowna commitment when it was most needed in our relegation battle against Belturbet Rory O'Moores. The Rory's displayed some great skill and drive in the first half but a stalwart performance by Dermot McCabe at midfield ensured that the Belturbet side did not get out of touch. A refreshing approach to the second-half saw an energized Gowna side and with Nial Madden causing all sorts of problems for the Rorys the inevitable result was on the card. A concerted drive from the entire team saw them dominate the second half, indeed only allowing Belturbet register their first score of that period in the last three minutes of the game." While the Gowna chairman was disappointed with the way things went for the senior team during the 2008 season, he holds out great hope for the future of the club. "Without going over the same ground again, that we are in a transition, and we may not be in a position to challenge for the top honour of championship football presently, it is my belief that the club has indeed a bright future ahead of it. As I already said our young players like McKeever, Pierson, Paddy Brady, the Madden brothers, Willie Stephens, Ronan Bannon, Cathaldus Hartin, and Gearoid Reilly will soon have the mantle of 'veterans' as the younger generation are now coming on stream. Over the last eighteen months, we have introduced some new exciting young talent in the Briody brothers, Shane and Colin, Ciaran Brady junior, and David Hyland, who has been outstanding at minor level and looks to have a bright future ahead of him. We also have a number of very talented young U16 players in Andrew Dewert, Shane Harten and James Madden. Shane is son of former Gowna stalwart Terry while James is a son of P. J. Madden. In Andrew Dewert, I feel we have the next Mark McKeever. Andrew is extremely talented and no doubt will be pushing for a place on the senior side in the not too distant future. The above three players were instrumental in helping the club's U16's overcome a very strong Lavey side in their final. With both the U16s and minors making it to their respective finals, the club is still in a position to contest finals at underage level which augurs well for the future," stated a determined and confident club official. Sean also said that he would like to point out that while he was confident for the future, he would like to pay tribute to the seasoned campaigners who have worked selflessly for the good of football in Gowna. "This is something to me that has epitomized the true nature of the Gowna club. We have players of the calibre of the Hartin brothers, Fergal and Gavin, who have been outstanding servants to Gowna football club as also have Christy Madden and Bernard Soroghan. They have helped and hopefully will continue to do so for the next few seasons to give their support on the playing fields to help guide our club back to a winning position in the pecking order of Cavan football. It would be remiss of me not to mention the immense contribution of Dermot McCabe throughout his entire playing career. Dermot's prowess as a footballer is well documented at national level with his displays in the Cavan jersey over his career. However, he has produced some Herculean displays throughout his playing career at the club. Throughout his many years involvement with Gowna, he was always willing to give it a go regardless of what kind of injury he carried. His performance throughout the relegation battles, especially against Belturbet, went a long way to ensure that we as a club continued in the premier championship competition in the Breffni county. No doubt, Dermot, will be encouraged by new Cavan team manager, Tommy Carr to give it another go. I feel that with players of the 'old' calibre and an infusion of the younger set of players, we can give the Cavan football scene another true test. I look forward to the coming seasons with belief, commitment and hope for the Gowna club," stated a determined and proud Gowna chairman. Sean also said that he would like to extend his gratitude to his secretary, Seamus McCabe and also to the assistant secretary, Eileen Morris both of whom have worked tirelessly for the good of the Gowna club. Minors lose out Despite scoring an impressive 1-11, Gowna's minor team had to give way to Knockbride in this Division 3 championship final played under lights at Our Lady of Lourdes Park, Mullahoran. Having come into this final on the back of an impressive run where they had lost no games, Gowna found themselves under pressure from the start of this final. While Gowna opened the scoring through Derek McGahern, it was the winners that tagged on four answered points in the opening ten minutes. The inspirational David Hyland reduced the arrears to two points. While holding dominance at midfield, Gowna failed to capitalize on this superiority with poor finishing. The sides exchanged scores as the half came to a close with Knockbride holding a two point lead 0-8 to 0-6 at the break. Gowna started the second half in dominant fashion led by the powerful performance of David Hyland who had the teams on level terms with two well taken points. Kelvin Kelly put Gowna in front and when it looked as if they might be on the road to victory, Knockbride struck with a well taken goal to give them a two point advantage. With just eight minutes of time remaining Hyland converted a superb point to help put his side back in contention. Knockbride substitute, Nigel Farrelly, put paid to Gowna's hopes of comeback when he swiftly reacted to a goalmouth melee to fist the ball to the back of the Gowna net. Just as Gowna was registering the shock of this second goal, up popped Farrelly again to side foot his side's third goal and the score to put this game beyond the reach of Gowna. With time almost up, Gowna had a penalty converted by Hyland who had scored a personal tally of 1-7 of the Gowna scoreline of 1-11. Gowna: Ciaran Donohoe, David Philips, Paul Madden, Padraig Bannon, Paul McGahern, Daniel Reilly, David Hyland (1-7), James Madden, T. J. Fitzpatrick, Derek McGahern (0-1), Shane Harten, Kelvin Kelly (0-2), Damien Halton. Tweet

Most Read Stories