From the Archive: Cavan defeat Fermanagh in 1974

From the Archive

In the latest instalment of our series looking back at old club and county football matches, PAUL FITZPATRICK revisits a win over Fermanagh in the Dr McKenna Cup on April 7, 1974.

Coming into the 1974 season, Cavan followers were quite downbeat about the team’s chances, according to contemporaneous reports. In hindsight, that is probably not surprising as expectations among the supporters were still very high, with the county senior team having picked up four Ulster titles in the 1960s.

While that team had broken up at the end of that decade, there was still quite a bit of experience on the Cavan side. Manager Fr Bennie Maguire was attempting to blend that older group – the likes of Ulster medallists Ray Carolan, Garrett O’Reilly, Steve Duggan, Paddy Lyons, Enda McGowan, Hugh McInerney, Pat Tinnelly, Frankie Dolan and Co – with the cream of the talent from the club scene.

Fr Maguire had trained the St Pat’s side who won the Hogan Cup two years earlier and a large cohort from that squad were also beginning to break into the county senior set-up.

The archive photo we have unearthed pertains to a Dr McKenna Cup opening round clash against Fermanagh in Breffni Park on April 7, 1974.

“Cavan opened the Dr McKenna Cup campaign with a convincing 3-13 to 0-10 victory over Fermanagh at Breffni Park last Sunday. The scoreline amply illustrates the trend of the game as Cavan’s superiority was seldom in question,” began the match report on these pages.

“Despite the fact that morale has been at a low ebb in recent months, the home side gave a top class performance and recorded their biggest victory for some time.

“There was little one could grumble about regarding Cavan’s display, with the exception of one period in the second half there seemed little danger of defeat.”

At half-time, Cavan led by 0-9 to 0-5. Fermanagh had a ‘goal’ from Frank Roofe ruled out and, the report said, “Cavan took heart from this let-off and a movement involving Pearse Gilroy – who had come into the side near half-time for the injured Aidan Connell – Frankie Dolan, Steve Duggan and Hugh McInerney ended in the latter slamming the ball to the net in the 13th minute.

“Half a minute later, the ball was in the net again, this time from Duggan, to stretch the lead to 10 points.

“From this stage Cavan grew in confidence and Fermanagh were unable to make any worthwhile impression. A win is always worth relishing and Cavan, who have been going through a lean period, will savour this success with more than usual satisfaction.

“Despite the weakness of the opposition, Cavan’s display was one of hope and the chance of using the competition for further experimentation. The recall of Frankie Dolan (Templeport) and Steve Duggan (Ballyhaise) was an instant success and the attack responded with its biggest score for some time.

“Duggan has been out of the game with a leg injury since before Christmas; his last game was against Tyrone in the National League. He gave an outstanding display and finished with a personal tally of 2-3.

“While a little overweight, this may be the answer to this player’s problems as he looked strong when breaking through the Fermanagh rearguard and was not easily brushed aside.

“Frankie Dolan was wearing the blue jersey after an absence of two years. His last game was against Derry in the Ulster semi-final in July, 1972 when he was brought home from New York for the game. He recently gained his BA degree in UCD and is normally known as a defender.”

Cavan had made a late change when Oliver Galligan, centre-half back, was declared unfit due to a back injury picked up in training. Enda McGowan went to number six, Sean Leddy dropped back to right half-back and Mickey Reilly (Annagh) was drafted into the attack.

“The honours for success were shared by the forwards where Duggan, McInerney, Mark Goldrick, Mickey Reilly and Dolan fared in the scoring spree,” noted the report, although Cavan did register 14 wides.

“The midfield pair of Ollie Leddy and Ciaran O’Keeffe, although fading momentarily in the third quarter, showed their capabilities. In defence, Enda McGowan, Garrett O’Reilly, PatTinnelly, John Joe Martin, Gerry Smith Sean Leddy were all competent and goalkeeper Paddy Lyons got little to do.”

Des Campbell, James Breen and Gerry Lynch were mentioned as having played well in the Fermanagh defence, with Peter McGinnity having a “fine game” at midfield and “newcomer Paul Treacy, brother of former Ulster star PT, distinguished himself well.”

The teams were as follows:

Cavan: P Lyons, P Tinnelly, G O’Reilly, JJ Martin, S Leddy, E McGowan, G Smith, O Leddy, C O’Keeffe, M Reilly, F Dolan, A Connell, H McInerney, S Duggan, M Goldrick.

Sub: P Gilroy for Connell

Fermanagh: P Sheridan, S Gallagher, S Flanagan, J Donnelly, J Breen, D Campbell, G Lynch, P McGinnity, P Treacy, K McIlroy, F Sherry, T Henderson, A Campbell, T Gallagher, F Roofe

Subs: B McCusker, J Naan, B Reilly

Ref: G Willis (Monaghan)

The following week Cavan threw away a 10-point lead to lose by six in a tournament game against Drogheda in Louth but their form improved in the run-up to the championship opener against the winners of Armagh and old rivals Down in late June.

In the lead-up, Cavan had some useful run-outs in challenge matches, culminating in a win over National League finalists Roscommon by 1-9 to 1-8 at Breffni Park, with Hugh McInerney scoring the winning goal and Ray Carolan “back to his brilliant best” at centre-field.

Down beat Armagh by 1-10 to 0-6 in the preliminary round in Lurgan, with Pete McGrath and the legendary Sean O’Neill combining to set Mickey Cunningham up for the goal which meant it was Cavan vs Down at Breffni Park.

Ultimately, Cavan were beaten by 2-8 to 0-12, with sub Colm McAlarney crashing home a late goal to seal it for the Mourne men.

Predictably, there were a number of changes to the Cavan side by the time championship came around. A 23-year-old Donegal man, Phil Kelly, played well in his first-ever Ulster Championship match while the report in this paper reckoned that Hugh McInerney and Ciaran O’Keeffe were the only others who consistently threatened the Mourne defence.

The Cavan side for that championship clash was: Paddy Lyons, Pat Tinnelly, Garrett O’Reilly, John Joe Martin, Enda McGowan, Frankie Dolan, Gerry Smith, Ray Carolan, Hugh Newman, Phil Kelly, Ollie Leddy, Ciaran O’Keeffe, Hugh McInerney, Steve Duggan, Mark Goldrick

Subs used: Sean Leddy, Ollie Galligan, Pearse Gilroy

Main pic: The Cavan panel who played Fermanagh in the Dr McKenna Cup in April, 1974. Front (from left): Pat Reynolds, Tony Gorby, Enda McGowan, Aidan Connell, Gerry Smith, Michael Reilly, Sean Leddy, Paddy Lyons (capt.), Frankie Dolan, Pat Tinnelly, Mark Goldrick.

Back: John Joe Martin, Aiden Elliott, Michael Watters, Hugh Newman, Pearse Gilroy, Garrett O’Reilly, Steve Duggan, Ciaran O’Keeffe, Hugh McInerney, Hugh Reynolds, Oliver Leddy.