By Niall Gartland

FREE-SCORING Cavan forward Aisling Gilsenan certainly wasn’t turning her nose up at last month’s Division Three final against Wexford.

Gilsenan, who made her debut back in 2018, had never won a medal of any description at adult level with her county, so she was delighted that they capped off a successful league campaign with a victory over the Yellow Bellies on a scoreline of 3-10 to 0-9.

And what is it they say about buses – just over a month later, Cavan have earned themselves another shot at glory.

Following a rather frenzied comeback victory over neighbours and rivals Monaghan in the Ulster Intermediate Championship semi-final, they will take on Down in Sunday’s provincial showdown at O’Neill’s Healy Park.

Gilsenan had plenty of success at underage level but has had to bide her time at senior, so she’s enjoying every minute of what’s thus far been a brilliant season for the Breffni ladies.

“The Division Three title was the first thing I won at senior level with Cavan. It’s the same with our captain Shauna Lynch, she’s been playing nearly 10 years and that was her first.

“I’ve a few U-14 ‘A’ Ulster titles, I have an U-16 ‘B’ Ulster, and two Ulster minor titles. It’s sad when you think about it, that it dried up at senior level, you have to fast-forward to 2025 for the next time I won anything with Cavan.

“I think that’s why there was such emphasis on the Division Three title, the chance to bring a cup back to Cavan. The underage is usually showing us up!

“It’s nice the way it’s worked out, that we have a chance of winning another title just a few weeks’ later, that would be the dream!”

A qualified auditor who works in Virginia, only a few miles away from home, Gilsenan took a sabbatical in 2024 to focus on finishing her degree at University College Dublin. She made the most of the year out but it didn’t take long to readjust to the rigours of senior intercounty football – she was named on the Division Three Team of the League and top-scored with 1-7 in their provincial semi-final win over Monaghan.

“I stepped away last year due to college and I’d a lot of commitments. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy the year out, it is a big commitment playing intercounty football and the break did me no harm. I finished college last May, and it was nice just to get a break – I’d been playing football since I was 12 years of age, I played all the year up through 14s, 16s and minors. I got to play with my club [Munterconnaught], I never really had a full year with my club so that was nice as well, but at the same time it’s been going so well with Cavan this season that it’s been really satisfying.”

And reflecting on their 2-15 to 3-8 win over the Farney, she said: “Crazy would be the way to put it. Monaghan came out of the blocks really quickly and they were 2-6 to a point up at a stage and deservedly so, we hadn’t played well at all in the first half.

“We knew exactly what we needed to do, we started pushing up on their kick-outs and got joy from that. It’s frustrating that we didn’t do that from the off-set but it shows how good Monaghan are that they were able to pin us down for a good 20 minutes in the first-half. Once we turned on the jets thankfully it started going well for us. I would say it was mainly relief after the game, we were delighted to come out on the other side of it.”

Cavan have enjoyed phenomenal success at underage level in recent years and a number of young players who have already achieved an immense amount, including Ellie Brady who captained their minors to last year’s All-Ireland title, are already making their mark at senior level. Their success comes as a massive source of encouragement to stalwarts like Aisling.

“That’s really the question that’s been posed to us over the last few years. All everyone’s talked about is how it’s really exciting at underage and it absolutely is. Our u-14s, u-16s and minors were all in All-Irelands last year, and the u-16s and minors won. There is great talent and it is really exciting and you’d hope that it’ll be managed properly. The minor manager Gerry Charters is great and you’re hoping in the next few weeks we can integrate those girls into training and get them into the senior panel.

“There’s no hiding it is a big step up but there’s four minors that have come into it this year, Ellie Brady, Sinead Kelly, Sarah Clarke and Alex Peters, and I’m sure there’ll be more. Sinead and Ellie have fallen into this senior team effortlessly so that’s great to see and I hope that continues. It is very exciting.”

Standing in her way of a second trophy in as many months is a Down team that upset the odds against Tyrone in their semi-final clash nearly a fortnight ago. Aisling believes that they’re stronger than their Division Three success suggests.

“You can never underestimate Down, they’ve a serious team. We played them in round two of the league and came out on top that day, but we definitely won’t be thinking we have it won, far from it. We definitely fancy our chances but they’re a composed, strong team. They’re good on-and-off the ball. Hopefully it’ll be a good match.

“It’s nice that two Division Three teams are in the final, but like ourselves, they’re not really a Division Three team either, and it shows that both teams are able to compete at the higher levels.”