Arva intent on continuing historic run says O’Reilly

By Shaun Casey

IF Arva get over the line on Saturday evening and continue their unbelievable winning streak, they will have chalked up a 24th consecutive championship victory and a fifth piece of silverware in 14 months, but Finbar O’Reilly’s men won’t be taking their eye off the ball.

Trophies and medals don’t come along easily and Arva are riding on the crest of a wave at the minute. Just over a year ago, they were a junior side in Cavan, now, they’re on the path to a second Ulster Championship title in a row.

It’s a brilliant story, one that O’Reilly’s side is embracing and they’re enjoying the ride. They are well aware that the historic run they’re currently on could come crashing down at any moment, so they won’t be getting too far ahead of themselves.

“We basically take each game as it comes. We don’t start talking about the belief or think we have things mastered or that we’re in control of things,” said O’Reilly ahead of their Ulster final date with Ballinderry.

“We give each team we play the absolute utmost respect, and we have a fear of getting beaten each week and that keeps us grounded. Once we went into the knockout stages in Cavan, it’s basically, ‘we must perform in this game. If we don’t, we’re gone’. That’s our mentality.

“We don’t think we’ve mastered anything. We want to win and get into the next phase, whether that’s into a semi-final or a final. We’re back in another final, it’s our fifth final in 14 months and we’ve won the previous four.”

From the outside looking in, the Arva tale is one of immense passion and drive. A will to win harnessed in that changing room that is relentless. That was certainly the impression after their late comeback against Magheracloone in the semi-final.

So, where did this team come from? “We probably have three groups within the team,” added O’Reilly, who guided the club to All-Ireland glory last season. “You have Ciaran Brady’s group around the 29-30 mark.

“You have a good cohort of boys at that age and then another good cohort of boys in their mid-20s. Then we got three or four minors in last year, Dylan Maguire, Stephen Sheridan and Thomas Partington. They came in with a lot of energy and they are high-quality footballers, that kind of lifted the thing on to another level.

“Arva have been dropping a bit between Senior, Intermediate and Junior in the last 10 years. They have been up and down. They have had emigration and injuries and different things; I think it’s the coming together of a really good group at the right time.”

Continuing on that theme, O’Reilly said: “The age profile is good, some of the guys have county experience, county underage experience. Their attitude and application and the management team are very ambitious and hungry and try to do things right and the club are fully behind us and support us.

“We probably have the coming together of those three stakeholders at a really powerful moment. We’ve come from the bottom; we started in Junior last year but winning is winning. We were lucky to come through the Junior and kept going.

“We went into Intermediate and having done what we’ve done, we’ve won so many matches and yes, it’s a step up in grade, but that confidence and that belief is embedded in us. We’re just trying to lean on that from game to game and hope it’s enough to get us through.”

Ballinderry have All-Ireland history behind them, of course. The Derry men were crowned All-Ireland senior champions 20 years ago, while a couple of their players also have Ulster Senior medals in their pocket from 2013 as well.

O’Reilly knows the opposition will pose a massive puzzle that his side are keen to solve. “This current version is an up-and-coming team,” added the Arva boss on facing Ballinderry.

“They had ambitions to get back (to senior) and they are back now, but they’re smelling an Ulster title and that’s the mentality that’s in the club. That’s how they judge themselves, is winning Ulsters and competing for All-Irelands.

“They have the two McKinlesses (Ben and Gareth) and Ruairi Forbes, Ryan Bell and Shea McCann. They’ve a lot of pace, a lot of running power, a lot of scoring power so we understand what’s coming down the tracks.

“They have that reputation of winning big titles, winning senior titles in Derry whereas Arva don’t have that at senior level. But I think what we’ve done last year counts for an awful lot “It gives huge belief, huge confidence to the team. Every win in Ulster has been a huge step on the mountain for us but we’re still standing, and we’ll be ready to go.”