Back in the late 1930s, a young Arva man burst onto the local, provincial and national gaelic football scenes with a resounding bang. Within a few fleeting years, Harry Bouchier rewrote the record books and helped the Breffni County to unprecedented success. While his playing career was cut short by a vocation to the priesthood, Fr Harry is rightly remembered as a true Cavan GAA legend, writes Gerry Robinson. The late '30s were very exciting times for Cavan football. The colleges scene was abuzz, with St Patrick's emerging as the undisputed lords of all they surveyed in Ulster and the Breffni Blues captured a first-ever All-Ireland minor football championship on the back of an unprecedented three-in-a-row of MacRory Cups. It was the era of Harry Bouchier. In his prime, Harry Bouchier from Arva was as fine a footballer as the county has produced. He may have enjoyed a relatively brief playing career, but what an illustrious one it was. Father Harry was, quite simply, one of the most exciting footballers of his generation and his youthful exuberance (coupled with frightening talent) was instrumental in seeing Cavan achieve astonishing underage success. With Harry on board, St Patrick's College and the Cavan minors scaled new peaks. The Pats dominated Ulster colleges football for three years, backboned by the class and sheer quality of two men in particularly - No.6 JJ O'Reilly and No.11 H Bouchier. In 1935, the MacRory Cup (Ulster senior colleges) was played on a championship basis for the first time and St Patrick's College, Cavan took full advantage of the new format to win the coveted title (also for the first time), beating Monaghan CBS in the final at Breffni Park on a scoreline of 7-11 to 0-0. The following year, they retained their crown with a 3-3 to 1-7 defeat of St Patrick's, Armagh in the decider in Monaghan. In 1937, the Cavan school made it three-in-a-row, defeating St Mary's, Dundalk in the final by 2-6 to 1-6. To date, this remains the only time that St Patrick's have scooped three MacRorys on the trot - a stunning achievement. Nineteen-thirty-seven was an astonishing year for Harry Bouchier. As well as his third MacRory Cup medal, he was also on the college-inspired Cavan side that beat Wexford by 1-11 to 1-5 in the All-Ireland MFC final (having easily beaten Armagh in the Ulster final). He also won an All-Ireland colleges medal with Ulster - a huge honour at the time - as well as a county SFC with Cornafean. Due to his vocation and subsequent devotion to the priesthood, Harry's career was brief, but what an impact he made within a few years! "I always wanted to be a priest from a very early age. I put everything into my football early on because I knew my football days wouldn't last very long." What does the octogenarian Father Harry remember about the earliest days of his GAA career? "I won a county medal with Arva minors in 1935 when we played Cavan Slashers in the final. I remember they got a penalty late on and our goalkeeper cleared out and Mickey Cully went in to face the kick, but they scored anyway. We were five or six points down but still won." Colleges football soon took centrestage, as history was created in remarkable fashion: "We had a great run in Pats under Fr McEniff. We won our first ever MacRory Cup in 1935 and seven of us were on the Ulster team at the end of the season. The interprovincial colleges competition was a massive thing at the time, but we lost to Munster in the first round." Harry was a key man for St Patrick's and Ulster again in 1936, captained the former to a second MacRory. In the interprovincial, Ulster (with five or six Cavan men on board) beat Munster before drawing with Leinster in the All-Ireland final in Cavan. However, they lost the replay in Drogheda "on a shocking windy day". The mighty John Joe O'Reilly was captain of Ulster in 1937 as Connacht were defeated in the All-Ireland final in Roscommon. "We beat them by 3-8 to 2-5. I'll always remember that because it was my last chance of winning an All-Ireland with Ulster Colleges." Cavan also won their first minor All-Ireland that year (having made the senior breakthrough in 1933). "We beat Wexford in the final, and Galway in the semi-final on the same day our seniors drew with Mayo," Fr Harry notes. With three years of Ulster Colleges and four years' MacRory to his credit, Harry was undoubtedly the most experienced and influential player on that groundbreaking Cavan minor side. Happy with his lot, the Arva man quips: "I had a good run. The colleges were very important at the time and it was great to win two All-Irelands in the one year. Those were great times and they've stayed with me ever since. I was very lucky to pack so much into a few years. It's an honour to have three MacRory Cup medals. I'd say there were about ten of us from the college, including subs, on the minor team in '37." While the likes of Barney Cully and JP O'Reilly went on to play for the county seniors with distinction, Harry's calling was elsewhere - God had whispered in his ear. He studied for the priesthood at Oscott (Birmingham) from September 7 1937 until his ordination in Cavan Cathedral on June 20 1943. As a parish priest, he was based in four different parishes in Birmingham, including a lengthy stint in St Thomas Moore, Sheldon. Harry's dedication to the priesthood was beyond question. He was the first ever student released from a seminary for a football match (the All-Ireland minor final took place 19 days after he had begun his studies at Oscott), and returned before the medal presentations took place. For the 1937 All-Ireland minor final, Harry had a roving commission, which was very unusual at the time. Speed was his forte and he used this to great effect. He never developed a swelled head because he knew all along that his career would be short. For three years, Harry had the honour of training in direct opposition to the great John Joe, and he gave as good as he got. Legend has it that John Joe was unbeatable in the air, but Harry has the beating of him on the ground! "I'm now in my 86th year and I can look back on a great life from every point of view. I wouldn't change any of it. I loved being a priest and I enjoyed the football. Looking back, I rejoice in it now." Club Review After 12 years as County Board PRO Barney stepped down from the prestigious post at this year's convention. It wasn't an easy decision for Barney but due to work commitments with the award winning Cully's Bakery it was a decision he had to make. Barney had good foundations before he took up the PRO job, he served as club secretary for 18 years and came from an illustrious family with a deep history in the GAA. Barney has always been immediately recognisable on the sideline of Cavan games over the last 12 years, the famous blue and white stripped woolly hat for those cold National League games or sitting on the bench for the heated championship battles. There were many up and downs for the Cavan teams during Barney's tenure but none could come close to the jubilations in 1997 when Cavan lifted the Ulster title after so many years. Barney has had many admirers of his PRO work. This was recognised when he was awarded the Ulster GAA Writers Communications Award in 1995. Barney has already received special presentations from Cavan Supporters Club in Dublin and the Cavan GAA Media awards in the last two months. What the County Board have lost in Barney the Arva club will gain as Barney plans to be active in his local clubs affairs. On the Adult playing fields it was not a year that will go down in the clubs history. The teams finished mid-table in Divisions 3 and 3a. In the Junior championship the team lost their first group game to eventual finalists Redhills. When the JFC resumed in July the team was unbeaten in their four remaining group games, beating Mountnugent and MunterConnaught, drawing with Killeshandra and Corlough. Arva met champions elect Butlersbridge in the quarterfinal on a hot day in Ballinagh. Butlersbridge were to produce their best performance of the year to that point and the team were no match for them. Despite this the team are looking forward to the new season with confidence, they have a number of talented players who have tasted success with Cormore with both Dermot McGlade and Shane Bouchier playing with county underage teams and with a core of experienced players it would be silly to write of the Blues this year. On the underage front the U14 team reached the final of the Dromard Tournament, the quarter-final of the u14 league and the semi-final of the u13 championship. The Ladies Club had a very successful year. This was only their second year in existence. The 9-aside teams were crowned Division 4 league champions in August. The final was a fiercely contested game versus Cootehill and was a great advertisement for Ladies football. The 13-aside team also got to the final against a Crosserlough/Ballymachugh amalgamation in Cornafean, the team were short a few of their key players were eventually beaten narrowly. In the championship the team made it to semi final. Great credit is due to the players, management and committee and everything points to a successful 2005. Of the field the club were as usual very active. Once again they organised the Breffni 20k under the guidance on Philip Brady. Over €40,000 was presented to St Lukes Hospital that was again one of the biggest fundraisers for the hospital in Ireland. In October we were the first club in Co. Cavan to host the increasingly popular fundraiser 'Want To Be A Thousandaire' which was a great success. The Club also completed the building of new ladies/gents/disabled toilets with a referee's room along with refurbishing the existing dressing rooms. Tweet

Most Read Stories