Kevin Downes, Cavan Hurler of the Year for 2002, symbolises the bright, exciting future of the small ball game in Cavan. Kevin Carney reports. I didn't deserve it. There were others who I felt should have won the award but, having said that, I was pleasantly surprised and honoured when I discovered I had been chosen as the hurler of the year." A teenage tearaway among Cavan's burgeoning band of impressive young hurlers, Kevin Downes displays a refreshing degree of modesty as he reflects on his selection as Cavan's Hurler of the Year for 2002. Kevin says his latest trophy is "up there with the very best of those that I've won so far." The fact that the family sideboard is well and truly stocked with the glittering prizes already is neither here nor there. There may be a couple of All-Ireland handball mementos there too plus a half-dozen Ulster handball medals, a brace of Cavan SFC winners' medals and a similar volume of Cavan Under 21 football medals, a hat-trick of minor football championship medals and . . . .but there's always room for such a personalised award. There is, after all, a special ring to a Player of the Year award whatever the sport. A player's player on the field of play, no one is surprised when Kevin fingers clubmate Conor Rabbitte as someone he believes ought to have been honoured for his efforts over the course of the past year. Conor's day will surely come but young Downes has a special talent for making the small ball talk and, for now at least, he's universally regarded as Cavan hurling's best, brightest player. Of the three major games he has concentrated on to date, i.e. hurling, Gaelic football and handball, Kevin surprises no one when he cites hurling as his preferred code. "I much prefer hurling. It's a lot more skilful, faster and you always seem to be more involved in the game. As a forward especially, you're a lot more involved in the game when you're playing hurling and you're not so dependent on other players to bring you into the game," Kevin explains. A versatile player who revels in the scoring opportunities that being sited close to the goal presents or who comes into his own given the freedom of a midfield role (his preferred slot), Kevin says that 2002 was his best and Cavan hurling's best year for a long time. "The fact that we won the Ulster Under 21 Hurling Shield final and had a great run with the seniors made last year very satisfying and very enjoyable. Beating Fermanagh in the first round was a great boost to us. "Even though they had hammered us in 2001, we were quietly confident that we'd give them a far better game of it. It was great that we managed to beat them but a disappointing after that that we were edged out by Down in the semi-final, after a replay, but at least we got that far. " I think we missed the boat in the drawn game at Breffni Park when we missed a few good scoring chances and allowed their top forward, Jerome McCrickard, too much room and time to keep them in it. And then in the replay, we had a disastrous start and left ourselves with an awful lot to do. "We battled hard though in the second half and had their lead down to three points at one stage. But they managed to hold out and that was that." Kevin explains that he has always had a gra for the ancient game. His father Tom hails from near Kilkee in County Clare and has been a great influence over him; always encouraging him and advising him when appropriate. Kevin has shown himself to be a good listener too. Just the sort of enthusiast that any manager would be glad to have on his side, the Cavan Gaels starlet and St. Joseph's Mullahoran senior hurler was one of the star performers for both Cavan Under 21 and senior hurling teams in 2002. His displays for the successful underage team were particularly outstanding and his contribution to the team's all-conquering Shield campaign cannot be over-estimated. The quicksilver forward cum attacking midfielder's performance against Tyrone, for instance, in the Shield semi-final was out of the top drawer. Cavan overcame the O'Neill County by 1-10 to 0-4 in the semi-final with Kevin the top points scorer on the day for the Breffni Blues. Kevin was once again the team's top scorer with seven points in the subsequent final against near-neighbours Monaghan at Clones in mid-July. The decider was as dramatic as it was significant for Cavan with a sensational injury time goal by right-half forward Michael Murphy (Cavan Gaels) securing a 1-9 to 1-7 win for Downes and co. In what was an action-packed game throughout, Cavan edged the first half exchanges to lead at the interval by two points, 0-6 to 0-4. The Tom Walsh-trained side got off to a fine start when after some fine passing, Paul Sheridan slotted over a good point. Three minutes later our man Downes raced forward to lash over another fine point. Monaghan responded to the challenge in gutsy style and broke through for a quick-fire brace of points only for Barry Smith to power through for the lead point again for Cavan. The 'away' team began to dominate the exchanges at that juncture and a great point from Kevin in the 19th minute and another one from the same player two minutes later extended Cavan's lead to a useful three point margin. Monaghan again rose to the challenge and fired over a brace of points over the course of the next eight minutes. Cue Downes again. A free from the wing-wizard steadied the ship and provided his side with a two point lead at the interval. And the Bolton Street-based Mechanical Engineering student started the second half where he left off the first by coverting two frees in quick succession to leave Cavan 0-8 to 0-4 to the good. Thereafter though the game swung like a proverbial pendulum and thanks in part to a shock goal in the 9th minute of the second half, Monaghan were on level terms almost midway through the second half. The white and blues then grabbed the lead for the first time in the game in the 17th minute. The pressure was now really on Cavan, especially when a Maurice McKenna free in the 19th minute put Monaghan two points clear and looking well poised for victory. "We just went for broke at that stage and threw everything forward. We had to show a lot of character and determination to get out of jail and we did just that," Kevin recalls. Indeed. A point from Kevin with two minutes left on the clock was encouraging and then with time almost up, the aforementioned Murphy gained possession and fired the sliotar through a nest of Monaghan defenders and into the net for a wonderful, match-winning score. The spoils were all Cavan's. The small band of Cavan supporters present at St. Tiarnach's Park did their best to rally their favourites; it was just a pity that not more fans were present to see team-captain Joe Donohoe (Mullahoran) raise the Shield at the close of play. "Maybe if we can add to the success we achieved in 2002, more GAA followers will begin to support hurling in the county. We're definitely making progress and it would be nice if we could attract a few more supporters to our games in the coming year." Significantly the 19-year-old ace marksman expects the county to shake up the status quo at under 21 and senior levels again in the coming year. He believes the county board is full-square behind the cause of hurling and, perhaps unlike years ago, their support goes a lot further than just lip service. "The county board looked after us very well last year and provided us with tracksuits. "Our manager, Tom Walsh, has been excellent too. He is great for creating team spirit and getting everyone on board and committed. "He always comes up with the goods when there's anything we need to get from the county board or sponsors. I think like the rest of us, Tom realises that we're not that far off the pace in terms of mixing it with the really big teams in Ulster. "Tom knows better than most the sort of hurling talent there is in the county. We had a great under 16 team that went all the way to an All-Ireland final. That created a great buzz in hurling circles in Cavan at that time," Kevin opines. And while Kevin says that he can envisage Cavan being good enough to compete favourably with the likes of Antrim, Down and Derry in the next 5-10 years, he reckons that an appropriate club structure needs to be put into place sooner rather than later to ensure that hurling in Cavan remains on the right track. "There's only the one club, Mullahoran, in the county and that's far from ideal. The club has to travel to Monaghan all the time to get some competition which is a pity. "It would be great if other adult clubs were to be established elsewhere in the county so that a Cavan league could get up and running. "There used to be other senior teams in Cootehill, Bailieboro, Killeshandra, Cavan town and Cootehill as well as Woodford Gaels and that's the sort of numbers of clubs you need to bring about a good panel of players." Fulsome in his praise of the ongoing work being done by disciples of the game like Tom Mortell and Tommy Sheridan, Kevin is optimistic that the game of hurling can continue to thrive, especially with so much good work being done at underage level in the county. He insists though that on the personal front, he will continue to operate on as many sporting fronts as time allows him. Kevin loves Gaelic games and would not like to put his Gaelic football and handball interests to one side. And his hopes for 2003? "If the coming year is as good as 2002 was, I'll be very happy." Tweet

Most Read Stories