Sons of Gowna: The Cavan club with 18 players whose fathers were county champions

If it wasn’t the last championship match of the century played in Breffni Park, it wasn’t far off it.On an October afternoon in 1999, Pat McEnaney was yet to sound his half-time whistle in the Ulster senior club football quarter-final, and Cavan’s Gowna had All-Ireland champions Crossmaglen Rangers in trouble. Dermot McCabe, who had starred for Ireland in the International Rules series against Australia a year earlier, was unmarkable, scoring a goal and laying on another.A sensation was on the cards, until it suddenly wasn’t.“Eamonn Coleman (Gowna manager) had sat down with us and we watched Cross on video and I could see the way the midfielder used to turn automatically to look for the full forward every time,” says Joe Brady, who was full back on the day.READ MORE“John McEntee came in on me, I think he has a son on the Crossmaglen team now, and he was trying to get out, and I just gave him a little tug when the midfielder turned. I got the ball and just as I laid it off. Next thing, bang!“It was like the cartoons when the birdies begin to circle [around your head] – they were going around, and all I could remember was (goalkeeper) Declan O’Reilly behind me, ‘stand up, stand up, stand up!’”Brady doesn’t remember half-time that day; smelling salts were produced, and he got through the second half, but Gowna didn’t. The scores dried up, and Cross won it with a late free from Joe Fitzpatrick before going on to retain their Ulster and All-Ireland titles.The previous year, the Armagh side came through a replay against Cavan champions Mullahoran. It was in keeping with the trend as, for the longest time, the Breffni county’s champions failed to see out close matches in Ulster.“Cross are a great team, and they never give up,” Coleman said of the 1999 game. “They know how to play football. They do stupid things like everyone else, but when it matters, they do the correct thing at the right time.”[ ‘It’s hard, but you have to keep battling’: Integration fight takes toll on Cora StauntonOpens in new window ]The same can’t be said for Cavan clubs. In the last four seasons alone, the county’s kingpins have found ever more fantastical ways to lose in the province. Crosserlough had four players sent off (one after receiving a second yellow card despite not having been shown a first) against Kilcoo in 2024, losing by two points. In 2023, Gowna had Naomh Conaill beaten, only to fall to a 64th-minute sucker-punch goal. In 2022, they went out on penalties, and last year, Kingscourt were beaten in extra time.Cavan’s record in the Ulster club championship is so poor that, bar Cavan Gaels, no club from the county has won a game in the province since Gowna’s win over Clontibret in 2002.Gowna manager Vinny Corey ahead of the Cavan Senior Football Championship final against Kingscourt Stars. Photograph: Inpho/James Lawlor Lining out for Clontibret that day was a 19-year-old Vinny Corey, who went on to play for the county before turning his hand to management after his retirement at 36. After two years in charge of the Monaghan senior footballers, he is now in his second season managing Gowna. And still the wait goes on.On Saturday, Cross return to Breffni Park for an intriguing Ulster opener. In a way, Gowna have been waiting 27 years for this one.“They were full of county players,” says Brady of the 1999 Crossmaglen side.“You had Oisín McConville, and you had Tony McEntee, John McEntee, Cathal Short, Francie Bellew ... Gavin Cumiskey was another huge player for them. They were massive men, just like the Crossmaglen team now.”[ Bernard Brogan says retired GAA intercounty players should be eligible for tax relief schemeOpens in new window ]While clubs largely made up of a handful of families aren’t uncommon, remarkably, 14 of Gowna’s starting 15 in last month’s Cavan final were sons of men who won senior county medals in their time. Of the 20 players who featured, 18 had fathers who played on those teams.Gowna captain Joe Brady and manager Eamonn Coleman in 1996. The child holding the Oliver Plunkett Cup is comedian Kevin McGahern, whose brother Ryan captained Gowna to the Cavan SFC in 2022 and 2023. Based on the Longford border, sharing a parish with Mullinalaghta and drawing from one small national school, Gowna rose from obscurity to win seven senior county titles from 1988 to 2002. Then came a 20-year famine. But now, with three county titles in five seasons and an average age of just 23, this Gowna side appears poised to establish a dynasty of their own in Cavan.On their way to their most recent title, they defeated the county’s three most recent champions: Ramor United, Crosserlough and Kingscourt Stars.But translating domestic dominance into an Ulster title is a riddle that has, as of yet, gone unsolved by a Cavan club. In fact, winning a game at all would represent progress.Brady, whose son Mark is goalkeeper in the current crop, believes the new generation has something his own lacked – strength in depth. Eight Gowna players played championship football for Cavan in 2026, while Conor Madden and Oisin Pierson also have extensive county experience.Mark Brady of Gowna celebrates a goal against Kingscourt Stars. Photograph: Inpho/James Lawlor “We had huge individuals that time too, but this team has depth, and they’re all very high-quality footballers,” says Brady.“Cormac Brady played corner back for Cavan this year. He got injured and can’t get his place back at the minute, although maybe Vinny is saving him for Ulster. Ryan McGahern has captained Gowna to two championships, and he’s coming on. Conor Madden was a county player up to last year, and he’s coming on. That’s where this team probably outweighs ours.”[ Division One the perfect place to get ready for championship, says Meath’s Eoghan FrayneOpens in new window ]Despite that, Crossmaglen remain the favourites, with a stellar forward line that includes Rian and Oisín O’Neill. Their pedigree is such that they will fancy their chances of taking a 12th Ulster title, and maybe more.“When you take a step into Ulster, you’d swear somebody has changed the rules,” says Brady.“It’s more physical, there’s more stuff going on off the ball. Cross bring that. They’ll kick in big high balls, and they play a lot of old-style stuff as well. Gowna will have to cope with that.“They knew that this was probably expected of them, to win a [county] championship, but they know the next step for them to make their own history is probably to go and win Ulster.”“Our day is gone,” Brady adds. “We created history when we were playing, but it’s their time now.”