Sean Donnelly has been one of Arva's best footballers over the last ten years and more. He is confident that by the year-end, he'll have a second JFC medal on his sideboard. There is a coterie of footballers in Cavan who ply their skills at club level while all the time hovering on the fringes of county recognition. When the Cavan senior team beavered away under the watchful eye of Val Andrews a handful of years ago, Arva's Sean Donnelly was one high-profile 'club footballer' who came in from the shadows, waved adieu to the fringes, to co-occupy centre stage in Cavan football circles. Like many another, Donnelly just couldn't quite give the county scene his all. It wasn't that he hadn't a sufficient passion for the game, an appropriate degree of ambition or pride in his county. "I opted out because of the time that you had to give over to it and the overall level of committmentt that was expected. It was as simple as that," Sean confirms. Even football fans with nothing more than just an inkling of the county football scene would doubtless understand where the fervent clubman is coming from. After all, how many self-employed people ever make it as regular, resident members of successful inter-county teams? As for the self-employed Arva butcher, well he's all but forgotten about such questions at this stage. "The county scene is not something I think about any more. It was good to play alongside the likes of Dermot McCabe against teams like Donegal and Derry in the Ulster championship but that was six years ago and I'm not so sure that I could recover the form and the fitness that I had back then. " Still, at 28 many people familiar with our man Donnelly's wholehearted endeavours in the blue and white of Arva wouldn't be totally surprised if he worked his way into Eamon Coleman's plans in the next year or two. "Funny enough, at the start of last year, I was as fit as I ever was but then I got an injury which set me back but hopefully I'll have no such problems this year. " Sean is determined, more than hopeful, that Arva can erase the memory of last year, a year in which, he says, Arva greatly underachieved. And never let it be said that the seasoned Arva campaigner isn't prepared to put his neck on the block. "We can win the Junior championship this year, definitely. We had five or six fellas on the Cormore Gaels team that beat Cavan Gaels to win the under 21 championship last year and that was a great boost for the club. At times Cormore had to play without their big names, like Gerald Pierson and Mark McKeever, and still won so it shows just how well the Arva lads on the team played in that campaign. " Donnelly's enthusiasm and optimism is understandable. Certainly the experience and football nous that the likes of himself, Damien Maguire and Dessie Dobson bring to Arva is generously complimented by the youthful exhuberance, confidence and speed of such talents as Alan Barry, Gavin Doyle, David Bouchier, Pat Murtagh, Dermot McGlade and Danny McEntee, to name but a few of the starlets in the Arva camp right now. Sean is confident that Arva can go the distance in the blue riband competition this season, partly because he believes "there isn't a lot between any of the teams - there's nothing in it," adds Sean, a JFC medallist in 1993 and twice a Division 3A winner. And, again, because of the rising young talent within his midst. "The fellas playing under 21 have that winning mentality and they're used to winning. Us older fellas have the hunger and the appetite and we're fed up not winning anything. " Sean is mindful, nonetheless, of how Arva blew it last year. He remembers how the team sprinted into a 0-5 to 0-0 lead against Munterconnacht in the championship but allowed themselves to be hauled back and eventually beaten. Then there was the clash with champions-elect Lavey. Arva gave the would-be kingpins a right going over in the first 20 minutes but then almost went into reverse and lost out again. "Those were two hard lessons and we have to learn from them to make sure that we get things right for the upcoming championship. Last year, when teams came back at us, we were inclined to drop the heads and lose our direction. I think a wee bit of inexperience might have cost us too and the fact that we didn't have that killer instinct or the knock-out punch when it was most needed. We had the teams that beat us on the rack but let them survive and go on and beat us on the day." Interestingly Arva's conquerors didn't actually create that big of an impression in Sean's mind at that time. "I didn't fancy Munterconnacht or Lavey to do anything last year. Kildallan or Shercock were the teams I thought would be the ones to beat," he admits. Pointedly, he insists that losing out to the team (Lavey) that eventually made it all the way to the winner's rostrum was no consolation whatsoever and a source of no solace. "It was probably worse because when all the dust had settled at the end of the year, we knew that we were every bit as good as Lavey and that there was really only a kick of the ball between us last year. " Despite the grave disappointment of what transpired in 2003, Sean is adamant that it won't be difficult for the blues to get the bit between their teeth again once the new season gets into full flight. "Mel (Bouchier) has taken us over for this year and he'll do a good job. He's well respected within the club, has a good head on his shoulders and the lads will respect him," the attacker 'cum midfielder informs us. A key member of Arva's first team since making his debut at full-back against Mountnugent in a 1991 Junior championship quarter-final defeat, Sean reckons that the current Arva squad boasts enough talent and strength in depth to beat the best of the rest at junior level in 2004. "People involved in the club for a long time now will tell you that some of the football we played last year was some of the best stuff they'd seen for a long time. " That said, Arva did flatter to deceive in the league also. "True. We were beaten by Crosserlough in Kilnaleck in the quarter-finals and that was disappointing, even though they must have had at least seven or eight senior players in action that day. But, in fairness, we didn't achieve what we could have in either the championship or the league. We had set high targets at the start of the year and one of them was getting to the championship final and even though a lot of teams wouldn't have fancied us to do that, we had confidence in our own ability." Ahead of the 2004 league and championship season, Sean believes that Arva need to concentrate their efforts on being more consistent. "In fairness, the injuries we picked up last year didn't help us. Oliver Miney broke his wrist, Dessie Dobson hurt his ankle and I pulled a hamstring which kept me out for four or five weeks. Injuries never come at a good time but the ones we had last year were hard to get over. " But the spirit is willing and the flesh is strong in Arva, Sean suggests, and all the rest of the contenders at JFC level had better watch out. And if the boys in blue do happen to hit the jackpot in 2004, the gaels in nearby Gowna, Cornafean, Dromard, Carrigallen and Colmcille will scarcely begrudge Donnelly and co. But who are likely to be the big-hitters in the coming year? "You have to say Kildallan will be back there gunning for the title while Killeshandra, under Stephen King, can't be ruled out." Roll on the Summer! 'First U12 title in 30 years' 2003 has being a mixed bag of successes and failures on the playing field with many successes off the playing field. 2003 will be remembered as the year that the first U12 title was won in 30 years, the year that the club received £72,000 from the Dept., of Arts, Tourism & Sport under the National Lottery, the year that back to back victories for our U21 players who were members of the Cormore Gaels winning team. 2003 was the year that our long awaited new development began, it was also the year that £50,000 was donated to St. Luke's Hospital, Dublin after a very successful 20K Breffni Challenge. Club Secretary Cormac O'Donnell comments and says that 'nowadays the running of a club involves a lot of work with all communication being conducted through email. 2003 was an exciting year for Arva with many achievements. The executive have been very pleased with the steady progress that is being made particularly in relation to our underage players. "Cormac continues by paying tribute to the underage committee who successfully set out at the beginning of the year to win the U12 title. By the middle of June our U12 team had captured the title and this gave a renewed confidence to our club". The club have a great underage set up under Cyril Sheridan as Chairman, Willie Ward as Secretary and Michael Ellis as Treasurer. The joint team managers were Cyril Sheridan and Brian Ellis who never asked of anything from the senior club. They got on with the business and the young lads responded to the challenge producing many fine and memorable performances. The club are also indebted to all the parents especially the mothers who helped out in bringing the lads to matches and supporting our efforts and without them our task would be impossible. The night the cup came home to Arva will be remembered for a long time to come where they were given a huge welcome. It coincided with the going away function for the special Olympians from Washington and Oregon in the USA. It was a great night says Cormac when our local heroes met with the special Olympians. The club are fortunate to have Vincent Mulvey as Principal of the local St. Mary's National School and also to have Maeve Rehill and Edel O'Reilly as teachers. They encourage the children to play all sports especially football, hurling and handball. The club have taken part in the coaching scheme organised by the County Board. Under the scheme former Cavan star Gabriel Kelly spends two hours in the school per week coaching the children. Unfortunately Gabriel retired in June but was replaced by Caroline Crowe who has brought her own magical touch. The club Secretary says that the club are very happy with our underage set up. It is in excellent hands and in fact the executive have had no problems with it thanks to Brian, Cyril, Willie &and Michael. Once again in 2003 Arva's U16, minors and U21's joined forces with Gowna to form Cormore Gaels. Unfortunately the U16 and minor teams did not figure at all in the various competitions, the U21 team captured the U21 championship again in 2003 to make it back to back victories. They beat Mullahoran, and Erne Gaels, an amalgamation of Kildallon, Belturbet and Drumlane, and the favourites Cavan Gaels in the final. Arva contributed seven players to the team, all of them playing their part in ensuring that the title returned to Cormore Gaels, players such as Gavin Doyle, David Bouchier, Alan Barry, Patrick Murtagh, Danny McEntee, Dermot McGalde and Niall Fox to name just a few. Cormac who doubles up as Secretary of Cormore Gaels, and joined by fellow Clubman Michael Ellis as Treasurer and Martin McKeever from Gowna as chairman, pays tribute to the team manager Terry Harte and his selectors John Gormley, Martin McKeever, Michael English and Seamus McCabe. As 2004 beckons, our eyes are firmly focussed on the triple. On the senior front, it has to be said that the club were very disappointed with the performance of our Junior and Reserve teams. We thought that at the beginning of the year that 2003 was going to be a big year for the club in terms of our senior teams. However, it must be said that both the Chairman Eamon Gray and myself asked the players to give 100% commitment to training and to playing in 2003. The players responded magnificently with over 30 players turning up for training in the month of January. This continued well into August and certainly the club were very proud of the players. They responded well to the team manager Seamus McKeon and his selectors John Hamilton, John Gormley and Padraig McEntee. The team management put in place a training schedule that involved organising challenge games to ensure that the team were ready for the championship. Unfortunately our hopes were dashed in our first championship outfit against Munterconnaught in Kingspan Breffni Park. The team started out well registering a five point lead in the first half. However, in the second half Munterconnaught staged a comeback to win by one point. This effectively ruined our chances of qualifying for the quarter finals as it meant that we needed to win our second game against Lavey. Unfortunately Lavey were too strong for us on the day and they went on to be eventual winners of the championship. When started out at the beginning of 2003 as a year that promised much but delivered very little in terms of winning silverware and we were disappointed for the players after the commitment they had given during the year. Unfortunately our reserve team did not figure in the championship. While the championship was a big disappointment for us says Cormac, our Junior team reached the quarter finals of the league but were narrowly beaten by Crosserlough. Our Reserve team finished in second place in the league also. Arva are very fortunate to have fresh talent coming along. The fact that our club are involved in Cormore Gaels enabled our young players to experience winning at U21 level. This has given them the confidence and the vigour to continue on that road. Our U21 Players are well supported by the club's more experienced players like Philip Brady, Sean Donnelly, Jim Giblin and Darragh Fox. During 2003 the club submitted an application to the sports Capital grants Dept. of Arts Tourism and Sport. The club have for the last number of years had being contemplating building new ladies and disabled toilets as well as a referee's room. 2003 saw the beginning of the new ladies club, it was a way of getting the job started. In early July, I received a call from the Dept informing me that the club had being allocated £72,000. This was fantastic news and widely greeted by all the members. Work immediately got under way and the development will be completed in early 2004." says Cormac. Once again, the club was delighted to be associated with the fund raising efforts for St. Luke's Hospital. This year as in the previous two years Philip Brady organised a unique 20K Challenge from Cavan to Arva. £50,000 was raised for St. Luke's hospital Dublin. This was another fantastic achievement for Philip Brady, who has given a number of years to fundraise for St. Luke's. It has also thanks to Philip raised the profile of Arva and our club. Over the last three years Philip has raised over £150,000 for St. Luke's Hospital, a fantastic achievement says Cormac "Every household in the country is affected by Cancer and if the money raised helps just one family then the efforts of Philip will be well worth it". Unfortunately Arva have not fully participated in Scor in the last few years except only in the ballad section where they reached the semi final of Ulster in 2003. However after the club organised the alternative Rose of Arva, it appears that there is a lot of talent in Arva, as Club Secretary Cormac says, we will be looking forward eagerly to 2004 after many fine oscar winning performances at the show. The club hope to fully take part in the Scor competition in 2004. Tweet

Most Read Stories