Thirty years ago Owenie McKiernan was elected Secretary of Shannon Gaels. At the years end he was honoured with the 2007 Clubman of the Year award. Where sport is concerned in the Blacklion, Glangevlin and Dowra areas of west Cavan, football is still the only game in town. When Shannon Gaels' 2007 Clubman of the Year award winner Owenie McKiernan was growing up between Dowra and Drumshambo, "there was nothing else to do." Owenie has ploughed a lot of furrows for and on behalf of the Gaels and the honour afforded him by his fellow club members was right and proper . . .and greatly appreciated. "I was shocked to get it," Owenie explains, "and very surprised but very honoured at the same time," says the long-time clubman of his award. Owenie is one of the old guard at Shannon Gaels in that he was there at the Valley Hall in 1978 for the meeting called by Fr. Noel McIntyre to re-establish the club. At that meeting, Owenie was elected to serve the Gaels in the capacity of Secretary and he was proud to be on board when the club won the Cavan Junior C championship in '79. Owenie remained on in the hot seat for a number of years even though he admits that "it was a struggle at times to keep the club going, especially without our own field to play on." All over the years, Owenie has been almost an ever-present at the coalface at Shannon Gaels and, as a member of the 2007 parent committee, he shared in the heartbreak and joy that the season brought. He is understandably proud of the fact that Shannon Gaels has grown and developed over the years to the point where it has a very firm foundation nowadays. "I think the early days of the club were the hardest," he opines. "We have a big development ongoing at the moment and that's a good healthy sign for our club." Owenie is looking forward to April 27th when development he speaks about will be officially recognised by a match involving Cavan seniors and top opposition. By then two new Prunty pitches will be on parade (including a training pitch) and state-of-the-art fencing to complement the existing top-rank facilities of dressing-rooms etc. By next April too, Owenie expresses the hope that the black and ambers will be well on the way to making up for their agonising defeat to Killeshandra in the 2007 JFC final. "We haven't that much ground to make up. There's not a lot between most of the sides at junior and we needn't be afraid of the likes of Shercock or Mountnugent this year," he says. Owenie is one of those clubmen who tends to look at his club's season in the round and, in that respect, he quickly identifies a distinct silver lining in the club's 2007 season. "Things are going well for the club and we're always there or thereabouts in the junior but the under 14s win was probably even more important than us getting to the junior final. "The under 16s did very well too so the fact that the underage went so well last year is a great sign for the future of the club," Owenie concludes. Certainly Shannon Gaels look to have a really fine bunch of under 14s on their hands with their showing in their county final tilt in '07 a real eye-opener for partisan and neutral observers alike. As things panned out in the final, four unanswered points in the final five minutes of the second half proved all-important as the Gaels saw off (2-13 to 2-8) the gutsy challenge of Ballymachugh to finish on top after what was a thrilling Roinn C Under 14 Championship decider at Kingspan/Breffni Park last October. In a game which saw a question mark hang over the destination of the spoils throughout the game, the west Cavan team's greater stamina plus their greater division of labour in grabbing the necessary scores went a long way to deciding the issue in favour of the Gaels. The game was as exciting as it was closely-contested and it was only Shannon Gaels' final flourish which separated the teams at the death. In a whirlwind opening to the tie, a penalty conversion by strapping midfielder Nevin O'Donnell in the 5th minute helped propel the Gaels into the driving seat but, predictably, Ballymachugh hit back in double-quick time with a terrific soccer-type goal less than 90 seconds later. Thereafer top class defending by the likes of Stephen McManus and Aaron O'Hara frustrated the increasingly confident Ballymachugh side time and time again. Eventually a goal in the 22nd minute put Shannon Gaels on the backfoot and behind by 1-3 to 2-2 approaching half-time. It was all-action stuff and while Ballymachugh continued to cause problems, it was the eventual champions who had the last laugh in the first half. Fine work by Niall Walsh saw him shake off the attentions of two less than textbook challenges on the half-hour before he fired in a left foot shot which, added to by a Nevin O'Donnell free, helped ease the Gaels into a 2-5 to 2-2 interval lead. The third quarter saw Shannon Gaels with an extra spring in their step and in that period, they out-scored their opponents by four to one with a paticularly fine point by Conor McCaffrey highlighting a renewed determination by the leaders. Leading by 2-9 to 2-3 entering the final 15 minutes, Shannon Gaels really rolled up their sleeves to stave off a gutsy comeback by Ballymachugh who seemed to get their second wind, however belatedly. The green and yellow brigade hit four points on the trot without reply between the 45th and 51st minutes to turn a five points deficit into a one point game. However the Gaels showed great resolve, drive and ambition to prevent Ballymachugh adding to their tally thereafter. The west Cavan lads drove for the winning post with renewed vigour and vitality and got their due reward. The Gaels hit four without reply with the influential Nevin O'Donnell bagging three of them and Niall Walsh completing his side's match-winning stream of scores. The following Shannon Gaels crew did their club proud in the county final: Liam Reilly; Stephen McManus, Aaron O'Hara; Cathal Dolan, Olivia McGovern, Niall Corrigan; Nevin O'Donnell (1-5), Liam McManus; Niall McGrath, Patrick McAuley (0-1), Niall Walsh (1-3);Conor McCaffrey (0-4), Aoife Dolan. "The fact that the under 14s won the day after our juniors lost the county final was a great pick-me-up for the club," Owenie confirms. "Everyone in the club was naturally down about losing yet another junior final so the under 14 was very important in keeping morale up at that time. "It's was a great result and a great credit to the players and everyone at the club who have worked so hard over the last few years in developing the youngsters. "I'd have to say too that the way Martin Sexton (Cavan Gaels) refereed the under 14 final was terrific, as good as I've seen and he deserves a lot of praise for his performance that day." Fulsome in his praise of the leadership and hands-on policy of current club chairperson (and junior team-manager) Tom Reilly, the Ballinaglera native should recognise good refereeing when he sees it for he's been there, done that as a man-in-black. Back in the 'eighties, Owenie refereed a whole host of matches across the Breffni county even if his patch was mostly centered on Cornafean, Templeport, Kildallan etc. He has been an avid gael all his life and he recalls the first time he travelled to see Cavan compete in the Ulster SFC final: "It was in 1961 when Con Smith scored 1-6 against Down in Clones but Cavan still lost out." And what of football in Cavan these days? How does he rate the county side in 2008? "To be honest, I've lost all fate in Cavan and I don't go to very many games now," he says quite unequivocally. "In fairness, Cavan have been unlucky at minor level over recent years because a couple of the teams that beat them in the Ulster championship, Down and Tyrone, both went on to win the All-Ireland minor championship. "There's no magic wand though and Cavan will have to start winning minor championships if they're to build a winning team at senior level in the next few years. "They need to get a few big strong players on the team too; fellas like Stephen King and Damien O'Reilly. Too many of the present team are too light and too small." One wonders has Shannon Gaels got the mix right? "We'll see how this year goes. Last year we reached the championship final and in the league we were unlucky not to make the play-offs so we're not far away. "Hopefully we'll win the championship this year and getting promotion out of division three would be a big thing as well," concludes Owenie. Tweet

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