2002 saw Gowna upset the odds and clinch a senior championship and league double. Chairman Philip O'Reilly was suitably enamoured by how things went. Kevin Carney reports It's post-AGM time at Gowna and outgoing club chairman Philip O'Reilly in a rubbing the hands in a metaphorical sort of way. There was little chance that the man was going to be ousted after all. Having overseen the capture of the club's seventh blue riband title and another league title to boot, the genial club official was entitled to feel that the club had a good 2002. "Any year you win a senior championship is a good year and you'd have to say last year was a very successful one for Gowna football club. Winning the title in 2002 was probably as important as our first title win in '88. A lot of people had written us and maybe even some of our supporters felt our chances weren't that good after the semi-finals. It's great the way things worked out for us though." Winding the tape back, Philip acknowledges that the would-be champions didn't exactly set the world alight in the early stages of the competition. "We were pacing ourselves," he quips. That said, Gowna got out of jail, big-time when beating Crosserlough by 0-13 to 1-9 in the opening match in their SFC group at Breffni Park. Gowna didn't play well but grabbed both points principally because Crosserlough lacked the belief in themselves to go on and take advantage of a second half double whammy which Gowna suffered in a two minute spell when they conceded a shock goal and then had left-full back Bernard Soroghan dismissed for a second bookable offence with six minutes left of normal time. Gowna played in fits and starts but opened smartly enough. Returned exile Sean Pierson made good a woeful attempt by the Crosserlough defence to clear their line by gathering the breaking ball and feeding Dessie Brady for the opening point of the game after 4 minutes. On a perfect evening for football - no wind, dry sod - Gowna operated with young speedsters Mark McKeever and Gerald Pierson as a two man full-forward line. It was all-square by the 18th minute, 0-3 apiece but thereafter Crosserlough showed themselves to be really 'up for it and ended a very satisfying opening moiety by firing over three unanswered points to ease into a 0-6 to 0-4 lead at the interval. Still, Gowna always oozed that bit of additional class, especially up front where nearly everything McKeever and Pierson had a hand in turned to gold for Gowna. Lucky for Gowna, the black and amber brigade failed to score from the 36th minute to the 53rd minute. In that time, Gowna fired over five unanswered points, including a fine effort from centre-back Ciaran Brady in the 49th minute. Amazingly, Crosserlough, even helped by the dismissal of Gowna's Soraghan, failed to maintain any sort of momentum and even though Enda Reilly had the last point of the game with two minutes left, Gowna, thanks to two earlier points from Gerald Pierson, managed to keep their necks in front to ease home with just a single point to spare. "We didn't play that well but it was good to get the win under our belts," the club chairman explains. Thereafter Gowna's 1-14 to 0-5 victory over Killinkere, their second from three starts in the five team group, wasn't too impressive either given that they recorded 16 wides over the hour. "Again the win was all that counted," Philip reminds us. As things transpired, a Dermot McCabe goal in the opening minute saw the 2000 champions off to a perfect start and thereafter a brace of frees each from the former All-Star and his county colleague Gerard Pierson helped catapult the Gowna men into a 1-8 to 0-3 cushioned lead at the interval. Killinkere offered only token resistance to Gowna in the second half with Dermot McCabe having things very much his own way in compiling a 1-5 personal tally with the aforementioned Pierson eventually helping himself to four points in all, including two frees. Others to impress for the winners were Fergal Hartin, Paddy Brady and Mark McKeever who once again found the target with an excellent second half point. A shock later lay in store for the green and reds at Killeshandra when Belturbet overcame them by 4-7 to 1-10 scoreline in a game reckoned to have been the best of the SFC at that juncture. Ironically things looked to be sticking to the script by the interval though as Gowna eased into a 0-8 to 1-3 lead but on the restart matters became too close for comfort when county star Jason Reilly bagged a brace of goals in the 53rd and 55th minutes to leave Eamon Coleman's charges with some work to do to stay in the championship. Just three minutes after the restart Gowna found themselves trailing by 0-8 to 2-3 but they seemed to grab a liveline when Mark McKeever burst through to score a fine solo goal in the 51st minute. However Coleman's charges struggled thereafter in their attempts to consolidate their burgeoning comeback. Points from Gerard Pierson and Fergal Hartin promised much for Gowna but, in the end, they were hesitant in the last third of the field and that, ultimately, proved their undoing. "We were naturally disappointed to lose to Belturbet but it wasn't the end of the line for us either. Belturbet played well on the day and took their chances in front of goal. If anything the defeat helped us as it gave the lads a bit of a wake-up call," adds Philip, fulsome in his praise of the part played by Tony Dunne in assisting the Derryman during the year. Weeks later and Eamon Coleman's charges went into the semi-final against Kingscourt at Kingspan/Breffni Park as raging hot favourites but a sluggish and anaemic first half display did serve to cast grave question marks nonetheless over their potential to regain the crown. However, in the end, second-half opportunist strikes by Niall Madden and Gerard Pierson in the 7th and 11th minutes respectively put enough clear water between the sides to allow Gowna to comfortably steer their way to a 3-7 to 0-8 win. The first half was all about Kingscourt playing an unshamed game of containment and it surprisingly worked for the most part in the first half as they managed to bottle up or smother messrs. Gerard Pierson (top scorer with 1-4) and Dermot McCabe by doubling up on them when the pair gained possession. However, Kingscourt's containment policy was a high-risk game right from the off and in the 19th minute, their luck ran out. Gerard Pierson took a 30 metre free from under the stand and placed all-alone colleague Patrick Brady loitering with intent on the 'forty. Brady's effort dropped invitingly on the edge of the box where Dermot McCabe rose to fist, overhead, to the net. McCabe's goal left Kingscourt trailing by 0-1 to 1-2 and facing a game of catch-up they never looked like winning. Significantly five of the six Gowna forwards who started made the scoresheet. Sean Pierson turned and twisted 40 yards from the scoreboard end of the ground before feeding the supporting Patrick Brady who passed to Dermot McCabe. In an instant McCabe fisted the ball across the square where young Madden stretched to fist the ball to the net. Gerard Pierson's goal was a classic solo effort with the number 15 getting out in front of his marker, turning then bearing in on goal before blasting the ball from four metres into the Kingscourt net. Seldom, if ever before, have reigning champions been so comprehensively blown out of the water in a Cavan senior football final as Cavan Gaels were in being thrashed by 1-17 to 0-8 by Gowna at Kingspan/Breffni Park last October. For the third final in a row, Gowna found the net while keeping a clean sheet. In a evenly-fought and fraught first half only Gerald Pierson (12) and Dermot McCabe (24, 27) scored from play. Gowna finished a workmanlike first half 0-6 to 0-5 in front and, psychologically, that was important. Thereafter under Queensbury Rules, the game would have been stopped by referee Henry a long time before super-sub Sean Pierson applied the coup de grace with a goal seconds before the final whistle sounded. With county midfielder Cathal Collins having to drop back to pick up Dermot McCabe on the edge of the square following Darren Rabbitt's dismissal six minutes after the restart, Cavan Gaels' tenors foothold at midfield all but disappeared. The new champions' superior movement and combination was exemplified in the cameo which led to the only goal of the game. Dermot McCabe's floated delivery forward was met by the ever-alert Dessie Brady. In a flash Brady fisted the ball across the square to Gerard Pierson. Finding his way blocked, the man of the match fisted the ball to Sean Pierson and in a flash, the Gaels net was bulging. Gowna's physical superiority, greater experience and scalpel-like precision in front of goal destroyed the title-holders and raging match favourites. Touted as past their sell-by date, the performances of Bernard Morris, Ciaran, Dessie and Joe Brady formed the foundation for Gowna's shock win. Interestingly the popular Gowna chairman claims the team's county final win represented Gowna's best ever display during Eamon Coleman's reign while praising the decision to play Ciaran Brady at centre-forward. "I thought Ciaran's workrate and experience on the '40 had a big bearing on the way we wore them down. Overall though, we showed that our preparations were first class and the lads were totally focussed on regaining the title." On the question of Gowna having to ensure they 'used' their extra-man to good effect, the club's delighted chairman said he had no worries in that department. "There's so much experience in the side that I knew we'd handle the situation in the right manner and that having a player extra wouldn't backfire on us. "This win was probably as important as our first title win in '88. A lot of people had written us and maybe even some of our supporters felt our chances weren't that good after the semi-finals. It's great the way things worked out for us though. After the way things went for us in 2001, the lads really wanted to beat Cavan Gaels." The following is the all-conquering Gowna team, and subs, that did the business against Cavan Gaels in the 2002 SFC decider; Ronan Bannon; Gavin Harten, Fergal Hartin, Bernard Soroghan; Cathaldus Hartin, Joe Brady, Christy Madden; Bernard Morris, Patrick Brady; Mark McKeever, Ciaran Brady, Niall Madden; Ciaran Fitzpatrick (0-2), Dermot McCabe (0-8, five frees), Gerard Pierson (0-6, four frees). Subs; Dessie Brady (0-1) for Cathaldus Hartin (inj); Sean Pierson (1-0) for Ciaran Fitzpatrick; Damien Duignan for Joe Brady; Weeks later and the double was clinched with the Longford-border side leading from pillar to post to beat Kingscourt Stars by 1-12 to 1-10. The game was an entertaining contest and some of the best passages of football seen all year were woven into the hour's football by both sides. A goal by Mark McKeever's after just three minutes did much to undermine Kingscourt's chances of securing an all-too rare league title. The goal came about after a Kingscourt attack disintegrated on the Gowna half-back line. The ball was worked down the right wing and after a clever passage of inter-passing, 18 year-old McKeever cut through the heart of the Stars defence to blast the ball to the net. Later points from Niall Madden (2nd min), Dermot McCabe (8th and 11th, the former a trademark long-range effort) and then a hat-trick of unanswered points by Gerald Pierson between the 12th and 16th minutes gave Gowna some early breathing space. Pierson was another five-star man over the hour. The wing-wizard gave both Thomas Pierce and Kieran Smith a torrid time of it but then again the ace marksman was almost spoiled for good ball, most of which was directed to him in pin-point style by Mark McKeever, Dermot McCabe and Bernard Morris. Gowna oozed confidence and had match-winners by the half-dozen. Messrs. Hartin, McKeever, McCabe, Morris and Pierson stood out like veritable lighthouses on the seashore. Gowna made the most of their chances in front of goal as half-time approached. Kingscourt weren't allowed to consolidate the boost lent to them by Smith's cracking goal. Instead, points by Mark McKeever and Gerald Pierson (free) saw Gowna recover to lead by 1-9 to 1-4 at the interval. Kingscourt continued to shade matters in the possession stakes and duly out-scored Gowna in the first 15 minutes of the second half with points from play by Alan Clarke (6th) and Philip Smith (7th and 12th mins) marking a stirring repost by the town team. Gowna began to come under more and more pressure but a ten minute purple spell from open play for Kingscourt failed to yield any return on the scoreboard - procrastination and dogged Gowna defence being their downfall. Gowna weren't afflicted to the same degree but they could still heave a sigh of relief when Dermot McCabe literally pointed the way for them to the winners' enclosure with a finely judged insurance point four minutes from time. "We played as well as we did all year in the league final and that made the victory all the sweeter even if the league was never a priority with us. Even though the lads didn't do any training for the league final, they showed the kind of appetite that we have come to expect of them. Kingscourt might have been fitter but our lads still managed to finish strongly to take the title," Philip concludes. Gowna's league title-winning players included; Ronan Bannon; Gearoid O'Reilly, Fergal Hartin, Bernard Soroghan; Christy Madden, Joe Brady, Mark McKeever (1-1); Dermot McCabe (0-4), Bernard Morris; Ciaran Fitzpatrick, Ciaran Brady, Niall Madden (0-2); Dessie Brady, Gerald Pierson (0-5), Damian Duignan. Sub; Willie Stephens for Ciaran Fitzpatrick. Tweet

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