O’Reilly’s Crosserlough get set for Gowna showdown

By Niall Gartland

GOWNA have appeared in four of the last five Cavan Senior Championship titles, with a 50 percent strike rate, but their semi-final opponents Crosserlough are no strangers to the big day either.

Crosserlough have appeared in three finals since 2018 (winning two and losing one) though their new manager Finbar O’Reilly acknowledges that it’ll take something special to book their spot in this year’s blue ribbon showpiece.

Speaking ahead of Saturday evening’s meeting at Kingspan Breffni, O’Reilly said that: “Gowna have won two recent championships and they’ve been to two other finals, so they’ve been very consistent. They have a great blend of youth, ability and experience at county level as well as the cut and thrust of club football.

“They have been the team to beat for the last number of years. They were probably caught in the final last year by Kingscourt, and they really seem to mean business this year. It’s a big, big task, but look, we’ll get ourselves ready for it.”

His words are well-founded. When Crosserlough met Gowna in the group stages, they slumped to a five-point defeat, though that comes with one caveat – it was only three days after their round one meeting with Arva, the team that O’Reilly steered to Cavan, Ulster and All-Ireland Intermediate success in the 2023-4 season.

“It’s beeny a slow enough burner for us. Our first two games were tight challenges. We had Arva in the first match, a high-scoring affair, but we came through with a last-minute winner. It was a good win for us. We had Gowna in the next round and we didn’t play well. It was just a dip in performance.

“That game came three days after the Arva game. There was a death in the Crosserlough club. The game was due to be played the previous Saturday, but it was played on the Wednesday night, and then the Gowna game went ahead the following Saturday. Two games in three or four days probably caught up on us a wee bit. We didn’t play well, but we bounced back with a good performance against Laragh in Round Three and then against Kingscourt. That was a solid performance.”

Crosserlough booked their spot in the semi-finals with an impressive victory over Mullahoran. One of the game’s talking points was the inclusion of seasoned Cavan footballer Dara McVeety from the very outset of the contest.

“He just has to manage himself and keep tabs on the body, the load and all of that. There’s nothing to hold him back. He took a wee rest once the county season finished up, took a month off his feet and just got himself right, so he’s fine.”