Published: Thursday, 18th February, 2010 5:00pm

New generation of Cavan emigrants

Ciaran McBreen in his London Senior football team shirt.
Pic by==: 97

London-based PE teacher Ciarán McBreen has established the world's most diverse Gaelic football team. "My captain is a little guy from the Ivory Coast, we've got loads of Africans, Indians, Afghans and Polish [kids]."

Based in a down-at-heel area of west London and without a single child with an Irish connection in the school, McBreen has established the Gaelic team as one of the school's most popular clubs. The Cootehill man's passion for GAA is infectious. "It's one of the most rewarding things that I could do. To see a little African child taking on a young lad who plays Gaelic all the time [when] six months ago this child knew nothing about Gaelic."

His students have been introduced to all the finer points of the game including Gaelic's more relaxed approach to fouling. "The funniest thing I find is straight away you see them get busted in the shoulder - they're not expecting that to happen. Then they're looking at me as if to say 'That's a free'. They adapt to it very quickly."

London has accepted young people from Cavan with open arms for decades. More and wider work opportunities have lured many away from their homes and families.

When Ciarán went to Chester to study teaching just over five years ago, he had little inclining that he would find himself working and playing GAA in the UK capital in 2010.

"I came here to get my education and my degree and that was it," explained Ciarán in a pub in west London.

He has a quiet voice but the low pitch carries over the din from the soccer match on the TV and his close attention to the conversation ensures the same level of concentration from whomever he talks to.

Ciarán McBreen is one of a new generation of Cavan emigrants - the unintentional emigrants. He left Ireland because studying in the UK allowed him to teach more than one subject when he qualified. He is happy staying put in London for the minute, naturally steady employment is much more appealing than the uncertainty that dominates Ireland.

But this is not the 1980s, for Ciarán and scores like him, when circumstances change for the better in Ireland, going home is definitely on the cards.

McBreen stayed on and started working in as a PE teacher London almost by accident. Debating whether to move home or stay on to become fully qualified under UK work experience regulations, he was offered the job he interviewed for as "practice".

Despite the unplanned nature of his arrival, Ciarán has settled into London life very happily. Along with running the school's Gaelic team he has found several other ways to feed his GAA addiction, developed in Cootehill where he played for the senior team as well as the Cavan under-16 and minor teams. He captains last year's Intermediate Champions in London, St. Joseph's. He also earned himself a place on the hotly contested London team - bearing testimony to his skill as a footballer. Frustratingly, injury problems have plagued him for the past year but he is hoping to be back with London within the next month.

Homesick

The issue of whether to stay on in the UK or move home is both important and difficult for him. "It's a confusing question. It annoys me that I'm not at home but at the same time I've had a great time here."

Football definitely influences how he feels about the possibility of moving back to Cavan. When Cootehill got into the Intermediate Championship last year, McBreen had mixed feelings about it. "It was great for the town but it was a killer not being part of it. I rang one of the boys that morning to wish them luck.. I was quite sad because it didn't make sense that that was going on and I wasn't part of it."

Along with the Cootehill senior team, Ciarán also misses his siblings and parents, Damien and Margaret.

He said: "There's nothing I enjoy more than just being in the local pub, with the family there and all your friends around."

But in many ways London suits Ciarán - and a lot of other young men from Cavan - down to the ground. He has a job, friends, plenty of GAA but with the added benefits of one of the world's most exciting cities on his doorstep.

As our conversation wound up it was clear that for Ciarán, and no doubt for others like him, the preoccupation with the question of when or if to move back to Ireland will not disappear.

"It would kill me if I didn't play for Cootehill again but the way things are you just don't know.

"I never expected to be living here, I never expected to be away from home for so long. I was the one of my friends that said that wasn't going to leave home because I couldn't imagine not playing football at home. And it turns out that here I am."

Return to: Homepage | News Index | This article