The battle of Cavan’s singing anthems

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Den TV- Zag, Ray D’Aarcy, Dustin the Turkey, and Zig

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The Castletara students singing ‘Mickey’s winning Matches’

Seamus Enright

Published: Tue 1 Dec 2020, 2:10 PM

Last updated: Wed 2 Dec 2020, 11:53 AM

When the Cavan county stars line out at Croke Park this coming weekend, they'll do so to chorus of songs penned of local musicians inspired by the incredible match-winning feats to date.

Cillian, Peter and Gavin from Castletara, with their rousing rendition of 'Mickey's winning matches', even got proud Dub Dustin the Turkey humming along when the three wonderful students from Castletara National School appeared on The Den with Ray, Zig and Zag last Sunday.

These lads from dad’s school @CastletaraNS called it! 😂 Mickey’s winning matches 🏆💙🏆💙 @CavanCoBoardGaa #cavan4sam pic.twitter.com/mbmfhtSOEr
— Leona Maguire (@leona_maguire) November 23, 2020

But they're not the only ones who have used Cavan's Ulster Final win to ignite a creative spark.

Country singer Ellen Tinnelly from Kingscourt, a huge Cavan GAA supporter, wrote 'Ulster champions' in honour of the achievement.

The song almost immediately slotted into at Top 1 in the Irish County iTunes singles chart, now proudly sits in the Top 100 Irish singles chart. It is also available to stream or download on Spotify and Amazon, and copies will be available to buy on CD at the Cavan Sports Shop.

“I wrote it myself and [its] sung with great passion,” says Ellen, who hopes the song will help create a “buzz” in support of the county players ahead of facing off against Dublin on Saturday.

Emmet Flood, frontman for popular band 'Rhythm and Sticks', meanwhile has written his own tribute.

'The Brave Breffni Blues' was written in just one night, and he intends to record it professionally later this week.

“It's been great to see all the kids get so excited about Cavan doing so well. It's been brilliant for the county. We're a big football family and we just have a big belief that the lads will do it this weekend,” enthuses Emmet.

Others have hit the studio or picked up instruments to join in with the joy of Cavan winning Ulster and reaching the All-Ireland semi-final.

Brian Reynolds has sung about Cavan being 'Ulster Champions Again', while Michael Meehan wrote his own ode in honour of Mickey Graham and his valiant players.

“Thanks for bringing the glory days back to Cavan lads,” Michael wrote along with posting the song on social media. “Massive well done to you all. Cavan abú.”