Cavan footballer Jonathan Crowe is well used to the sight of Ronan Kiernan in the opposing corner when neighbours Crosserlough and Denn do derby battle. However, away from the playing field, the club rivals work together as part of the same team at Wallace Contracting. It's one of the keenest rivalries in the Breffni County: Crosserlough V Denn. The neighbours and arch-rivals have had more than their fair share of meetings in recent years and there's every chance they'll cross paths again in the 2008 SFC. Such an occasion would bring county man Jonathan Crowe face to face with Denn midfielder Ronan Kiernan - a good workmate of his at Wallace Contracting, the Carlow-headquartered residential construction/refurbishment company with a strong presence in the greater Dublin area (including counties Meath, Wicklow, Kildare etc.). Jonathan has been a site engineer with the company since October 2006. At the time of writing, he was active on a project in Bray; next stop Dalkey. Ronan has been with Wallace nine years and is contracts manager. He commutes to work from his base in Delvin, County Westmeath, but remains very much a part of the Denn club he's represented all his life. The former is enjoying Cavan's preparations for the 2008 Ulster championship: "It's going fairly well at the minute. We've tried out a lot of new players and training has been good. You go out every year to do the best you can and you take each game as it comes. This year will be no different. "It's a question of team-building during the league. There's a big difference in the quality of teams we're up against this year and that should do us the world of good. We'll be aiming to pull out a few results and turn a few heads." Is there a feeling that Cavan didn't quite do themselves justice in 2007? "We were a little unlucky in the drawn game with Down and didn't do ourselves justice the second day. It could have been different if we'd won that game and got on a run." '07 was the Crosserlough man's first year with the county seniors and it was a big step-up in terms of preparations. Standards were a lot higher; training was tougher and more demanding; but he enjoyed the experience thoroughly. "Playing for Cavan was something I always aimed for. Every young player in the county aspires to get to the highest possible level and I feel honoured to pull on the Cavan jersey." Can this current crop garner an Anglo-Celt Cup inside the next two to three years? "I think so. I think it's there for us - and there's no reason why we can't do it in 2008. Donal has introduced some new faces and we should be in with a good chance if we get it all together as a unit. Realistically, you never know where the year might lead but you have to approach it positively. The preparations and the work rate are the same as in any county, so we can go places with a strong team spirit and high morale. We're looking forward to the challenge." Though it's an obvious personal achievement, Jonathan feels particularly honoured to be representing his club on the intercounty stage: "You're expected to keep improving and to learn something new from every game, so I'll try to bring that back to club level. I've watched lads in the club for years and I looked up to Philip Smith when he was playing for the county. He led by example and it's nice to be in the same position now." Does pressure come with the territory, though? "It's just a great honour. We had a good run in the championship last year, when we beat Castlerahan in the first round after a replay but were then pipped by Gowna. We hadn't won a championship game in three years, so it was a good start and we also had a good run in the league. We'll be looking to improve on that in 2008" Between club and county football and his work commitments with Wallace Contracting, it promises to be a busy year for Jonathan Crowe. "It's a fine line to get the balance right, but it's the same for everybody," he concludes. "There's a lot of travelling involved but even club players are asked to give unbelievable commitment these days. It's all for the love of the game, so there's no point complaining." Ronan Kiernan is another who just believes in getting on with it. He's been playing football with Denn since U12 level and has been on the first team for twelve years now. In addition to various underage honours, the talented midfielder and former county minor has also collected a senior league medal (1998), two Division Two leagues (2002, 2003) and an intermediate championship (2003). A senior championship souvenir would finish the collection off rather nicely! He's confident that Denn can exceed expectations by making a bid for glory this summer: "We can do it. We've been missing a few players for the last couple of years but David Kiernan and Martin Cahill are back on board now and we have a very strong side if we can hold onto everybody. We had a frustrating wait before going up senior in 2003 - contesting five intermediate finals out of eight - but we got to a senior semi-final in our first year back up and that's the kind of form we'll be looking for again this year. "If we get the right lads out this year, we should be able to give it a good shot. Kevin McDonald from Virginia is managing the team, with Gerry Farrelly (Ramor) as selector and we'll be going all out to win every game." Ronan thinks things could have been a lot different for Denn if they'd managed to get over the intermediate winning line five years earlier: "Our biggest regret was not winning the 1998 intermediate final against Killygarry. It took us five years to get up and that's five years of lost time. We lost the final again to Ballymachugh the following year and were beaten by Drumgoon in 2002 when I was captain. "I firmly believe that if we'd gone up in '98, I'd have a SFC medal now and I could hang the boots up in peace. But it's still there for the taking and hopefully this will be Denn's year." As for his rivalry with workmate Jonathan Crowe, Ronan enthuses: "I could clash with him again this year, as we seem to do every year. It's always a big game. We beat them in the 1998 league final, which was the first time Denn ever beat Crosserlough at senior level. That was a sweet victory. "We cross paths every year and Denn V Crosserlough is always a huge match. They beat us by a point in Crosskeys last year, with Rory Gallagher kicking seven points. It's always a close game between near neighbours and fierce rivals, but we're hoping to hit our peak this year so they'll have a tough match on their hands." It could be an interesting year on many fronts. Tweet

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