If those walls could talk: The story of '97 - part 4

An oral history of Cavan's 1997 Ulster SFC success

Cavan’s momentous victory in 1997 was years in the making. To look back, PAUL FITZPATRICK spoke to Fintan Cahill, Ciaran Brady, Ronan Carolan, Stephen King, Damien O’Reilly, Anthony Forde, Jason O’Reilly, Philip Kermath, Bernard Morris and Raymond Cunningham as well as manager Martin McHugh.

(For part 1, click here. For part 2, click here. For part 3, click here.)

Cavan had edged past Fermanagh in a replay. Now, Donegal, whom Martin McHugh had been playing for three years earlier, were waiting in the Ulster semi-final. Cavan won, 2-16 to 2-10.

Fintan Cahill: Any win was sweet, it wasn’t any more important. It was particularly important for Carolan and McHugh alright. They had a very good team and we beat them by, what? That hadn’t happened since… that never happened for us.

Martin McHugh: The Donegal game was difficult for me. Now, [his brother] James had retired which was a bit of a help for me at the time but I was coming up against a lad of lads I had good time for, a lot of lads I had won an All-Ireland with.

In fairness to the players, they helped me out a lot that time, they knew it was a difficult game for me and they took it on themselves. That was another of the right steps to where we were going, they took over the leadership themselves and that’s what you want, you want leaders on the field. There were plenty of them on our team that day.

It was always the game I was dreading, I was sure we were going to meet them in ’95 and that day James was playing. Yeah, tough day.

Nowadays it’s no big deal but there weren’t as many outside managers those times as there are now. The only good thing about it was that the fact that we went to a replay against Fermanagh, we were out the following week so it was a short build-up.

We weren’t going well in the first half. Tony Boyle was giving Damien a hard time in the first half and then Damien went off injured. There was no shrewder boy than Donal Donohoe, Donal knew Cavan football inside out. He had contacts everywhere, I used to enjoy him. He came over to me.

Donal says to me, ‘Damien is alright, we’ll put him in the full-forward line.’ And that was the move that won the game and we put him full-forward again in the final.

He hadn’t played as a forward for me before and I was sorry when I looked back on it, I should have played him as a forward long before it but everyone was telling me Damien was the best full-back in the country and we had to play him full-back.

In the second half, we tore them apart and Damien had a big part in it. And we got to grips with Tony Boyle at the other end. It was a great all-round performance, the second half was one of the best halves of football we ever played.

Damien O’Reilly: I played club football in every position. In ’92, I was on the 40. A year or two later I was on the 40 against Monaghan. So playing up the field didn’t worry me and winning the ball was one of my strengths. McHugh knew this and we talked about it but I never thought he’d do put me into the forwards because we had Larry now, we had Raymond, Jason and Mickey Graham, lads who could score. You didn’t want a fella who could win the ball and not be able to score because I wouldn’t be a great marksman.

I had a partially torn cruciate ligament. I jumped for a ball with Tony Boyle and landed awkwardly and got a jarring pain, it was very, very, very sore. I was going to try and stay on but you can’t stay on in the full-back line like that. I came off and put an ice pack on my knee.

McHugh came to me at half-time, he talked to Paddy Rudden and he says ‘how are you?’. I said, ‘it’s not too bad, the soreness is sort of gone out of it’.

And that was really it. You don’t think when you’re taken off that you’ll go back into a match, especially an inter-county match. Ten or 15 minutes into the second half, he came to me and asked me would I go in full-forward. It suited me down to the ground.

We were a little bit on top of Donegal that day anyway, we looked like we would probably win the match. I won a few balls inside and something came off them. It was comfortable in the end and what it gave McHugh was an option for another player up there. That’s how that happened.

Stephen King: We played wonderful stuff. Things couldn’t have gone better for me and Ronan was brilliant. Ronan is married to a Donegal woman. I’d say him and McHugh were the happiest men in Clones with the Donegal connection. It was a sweet one for me and the fact that the game went well for me and a good few of us. We were in a good flow. That match sticks out for me, maybe it was all the hurt we had against Donegal over the years, even though they are a lovely county and lovely people.

We had suffered enough against Donegal. There was a lot of hype with the McHugh thing, obviously Donegal were favourites but we were up for it. We played seriously fluent football that day.

We were sick of the sight of them. We’d always be gracious in defeat and maybe that was what was wrong, it didn’t hurt enough. I was quietly confident, I’m not saying Donegal were going poorly because they weren’t but I felt they were beatable and the fact that we had played well against Fermanagh in the replay fed into that.

Everything went so well, it’s a great memory for me. Larry was going well, Ronan was going great and seemed to be coming off your shoulder every time.

Ronan Carolan: I had been dropped for the Fermanagh game and was brought back in for Donegal. That was an interesting one because Martin McHugh and Noel Hegarty are very tight. And whatever conversations happened, Martin thought it would be best to put me on him. I always enjoyed it, Noel’s a tough man but I particularly enjoyed that day and we were going well and things went well.

My wife is from Donegal and my father-in-law is a Cavanman living in Donegal for his lifetime so I’ve always enjoyed playing Donegal. It was always special playing Donegal. We’d have a lot of friends in Donegal and it was a particularly good day - any day you get to an Ulster final was very sweet. We won that game very comfortably in the end and we knew we were stepping up a level, as a team.

Raymond Cunningham: The Donegal game, I really enjoyed because it was Martin McHugh’s team. I thought it was very hard on him even though he was delighted when we won. It was satisfying to play against them, they were considered one of the best teams in Ulster at the time. We played really well in that game and won well in the end and I thought that was probably our best game of the Ulster Championship, from the 10th, 15th minute to the end, we were excellent in that game.

Martin McHugh: Looking back, you could say it was a silly move to drop one of your best players but maybe he was a bit tired. Sometimes it’s no harm to give a lad a rest but I’ll tell you one thing, he made up for it when he came back.

I always liked to get a player’s best position and it probably took me a while to get Ronan’s best position. Noel Hegarty was one of my best friends and I knew the way Noel played and I knew it would suit Ronan from our point of view. He was really great that day. Midfield, centre-forward was definitely his best position.

I don’t know why Ronan reminded you of that, I want to forget things like that! He had a stormer in that game and a great Ulster final. He was an unbelievable free-taker and scored a brilliant goal.

Ronan Carolan: I was just happy to see it hit the back of the net. I was just happy to score it but it had given me great confidence going into the final. Noel [Hegarty] wouldn’t be shy when talking on the pitch so it was best just to smile. Paul O’Dowd had roomed with Noel in America the previous year, so I don’t know how well they got on!

I remember Patrick Sheils telling me after the game that Noel had moved up front and that Patrick was practically the last man back and he could hear O’Dowd shouting behind him and he looked down to see that the 45 line was only three, or four, yards ahead of him and O’Dowd could be 45 metres behind him. It turned out O’Dowd was 30 metres out of goal pointing at Hegarty beside him, this is in the last few minutes, never mind how much we were ahead and it was with a few expletives! But it was good times.

Bernard Morris: The forward line was starting to click. We knew then that if our back-line could soak up pressure, we’d do well. Ronan was back in top shape, nailing his frees. He had been dropped, it was probably the first time he was ever dropped but he came in with a pep in his step.

Martin McHugh: I ended up going into the Donegal dressing-room, I knew some of the lads were going to be retiring and PJ McGowan was going to be stepping down as manager. It was just the way it worked out. I went back down home that evening and I was just glad that game was over. I was drained. It took a lot out of me. I went back down the road that evening and we were starting to get ready for the Ulster final, that was it.

Damien O’Reilly: Donegal would argue, in fairness, that they were on the way down by then, they weren’t the team that they were. But it was definitely sweet to win it, it was massive to get over them. But we were thinking of the bigger picture, ‘we can win Ulster here and we can’t let Donegal get in the way’.

I was delighted for Ronan. He was a phenomenal freetaker, the best in the business. That day it all came together for him, as it did in the Ulster final later as well. He had an unbelievable game.

With Derry beating Tyrone in the other semi-final, Cavan were going into the decider as underdogs but quietly confident.

Anthony Forde: I think there was definitely a sense that while Derry were the favourites and all the rest, this is going to be our year. That was there from early on. Had we not had the experience of ’95, the occasion and all that might have got to us. But there was a steeliness to the group in how we approached it.

In ’95, Martin came with a suit. It was a blue suit. I wasn’t aware that we were all to be in the same gear from the get-go. My gear was in my bag, I remember thinking ‘oh no’.

Those little bits of things, come ’97, we weren’t making those mistakes. None of that was a distraction.

You felt this was going to be our year.

Martin McHugh: Man for man Derry were better than us people will say but that doesn’t matter. We got a team exactly right, primed. They were just like racehorses. I felt that’s what I wanted them to be like.

We went over two weeks before to play in Louth in a challenge game, I’m not sure if it was the champions of Louth or the Louth team, we put out our second team and beat them by 25 points.

We had a meal then afterwards and I remember telling yer man to put bottles of wine on every table. Not one bottle was opened on a table. You just knew we were exactly ready for what was ahead.

Stephen King: You’d get a lot of calls over the years from reporters, maybe you were an easy touch because they had your number or whatever. We had to try and curtail the hype in the build-up and that’s easier said than done.

There was so much goodwill and interest, the atmosphere coming into the game was unreal. We spoke about that, that we had to deal with that, to remember it was an Ulster final and to focus in on Derry. McHugh was very good at that.

Bernard Morris: There was a confidence in the camp but it was all in the camp. There was nobody shouting and blowing, there were no big interviews.

Ciaran Brady: It was crazy at the time, huge hype. ’95 came out of the blue whereas in ’97, people had got the taste for it. There was massive hype and expectation. Derry were very strong and were full of All-Ireland winners.

We knew it was going to be a major battle and we knew it was going to be extremely physical. And we weren’t disappointed.

Every appointment at work, every client wanted to talk football. I suppose there was no social media and it was more face to face. You just dealt with it and talked to people and tried to keep conversation as light as possible building up to it. The county was gone crazy at that time alright.

Damien O’Reilly: Stephen was the oldest there, I think there were only a couple of us married. Joan [Damien’s wife] was expecting our second child near enough the date of the final. Added to that, unfortunately her father was suffering from Motor Neurone Disease and was having a very difficult time at that stage.

On one hand, we were looking forward to our second addition to the house but Joan’s father was sick and the match coming up as well so there was a lot going on.

Football did take your mind off it in a certain way and there was a great buzz at training. The weather was good and you began to see the flags going up and cars done up and all of that. Momentum was really building towards the final.

We were really looking forward to it. We went down to Clones the week before it.

We might have done something in Breffni Park, then we went to the Playboys Inn in Redhills for breakfast, down to Clones then and I think we might have gone to the Slieve Russell from Clones to stay over. I remember after that particular day saying ‘we are right for this’.

Raymond Cunningham: We got an extra 10, 15pc in every game and when it came to the Ulster final we were really at top gear and probably believed we were going to win. Whether we were favourites or not, most of the players felt we were going to win, collectively we had that belief.

I think that was a huge part of it.

Stephen King: I loved running out in Breffni Park because of the home crowd. And I loved running out in Clones because then you knew it was a big game. I think it’s a great arena, it’s a cauldron.

You had to be able to take it all in but focus on the game. Remember you have to walk behind the band, remember there is going to be a national anthem, soak it all in but remember there is a game and that’s the focus. I would say those few words in the dressing-room, ‘let’s get the formalities over, take it in but remember the game starts then’.

Sometimes the build-up can get too much.

Cavan had a set routine for big matches and stuck to it on final day.

Damien O’Reilly: We were well used to this, we had been doing it from ’95. We used to drive down to Newtwonbutler and do the warm-up. Get back on to bus and drive across to Clones. I always noticed there would be a lot of chat on the way down from Cavan to Newtownbutler but from Newtownbutler to Clones, it would be very quiet on the bus.

We’d come into Clones then and get a Garda escort and you’d see all the blue and white as you go up the hill in Clones and you would be nervous. You start to realise all the people you could let down if it didn’t happen.

You’d think about those people who are paying in to see you and what it could mean if you don’t do what you’re supposed to do.

Stephen King: I’d always make it my business to go round each individual. McHugh would leave the dressing-room and it would be left to me to say a few words. They mightn’t have been great but they seemed to work in ’97. There was no great speech, 40 to 60 seconds, just reminding lads to focus on the game and what we were about.

We needed everyone grounded, that we didn’t go out and lose the run of ourselves. I went round the lads before we went out. McHugh made a great speech, ‘this is where we are lads, it’s up to us, there’s no point in being great losers’. That always stuck in my head from ’95, this thing of being brilliant losers… To hell with that.

We were in the final, when would we get back there again? The Ulster Championship was knock-out, there was no back door. I felt we had a really good chance.

Now we were up against a serious team, Tohill, Brolly, the Downeys, all those lads. It was a great Derry team. Henry Downey would kick lumps out of you at centre-back, Johnny McBride, Diamond, Scullion, McKeever was captain.

They had a hell of a team but for the first time, we probably felt that we had a hell of a team, too. We had played so fluently in the Donegal match that I knew we were up for this.

When we came out on to that pitch in Clones, by the lord Jesus… You’d hear it in Croke Park. It was unbelievable.

Damien O’Reilly: The noise and the crowd. To be there with so many people, there was so much support, it was unbelievable.

Bernard Morris: The first thing I noticed was the noise. It was serious. I just said ‘jesus, we can’t let the people down today’. Brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers. We said, ‘jesus, we can’t let them down. We have to put in a serious performance here’.

Ciaran Brady: My strongest memory is just the huge Cavan crowd, the blue flags.

Raymond Cunningham: It was one of the hottest days I played football in. I was very tired after the game. The supporters… four to one maybe. I never saw anything like it… It was like playing a home match in Clones. A sea of blue.

Bernard Morris: The management put Gerry Sheridan on Brolly. In the second half, there was a free for Derry at some stage and I was back on the 21. Gerry is a very intelligent fella and him and Brolly were mouthing at each other – not sledging now or anything but just mouthing at each other.

Joe Brolly always wore gloves, whether it was a wet or dry ball. And he spat on his gloves and he said ‘you know, Gerry, I feel good now, the net will be bulging shortly’. And Gerry just says back to him, ‘Joe, you’ll not be kissing the crowd today’. They were two intelligent fellas just slagging each other.

Brolly was trying to see what sort of a lad was Gerry, could he get into his head. Because he couldn’t get the ball.

Jason O’Reilly: Like everyone else, I was disappointed not to start but I knew the way Larry and the boys were moving at training that I wasn’t going to start. It was one of the toughest teams to pick probably.

When we got out that day and saw the sell-out crowd in Clones, the good weather, the pitch, I remember coming on to the field and saying to somebody, ‘Jesus, I’d love to be playing today, how could you play badly on a day like that?’

I’d always say that to myself, you couldn’t play badly on a day like that. He didn’t give me the heads-up that I would be brought on. Mickey was there as well and Anthony along with me, there was a lot of us there chomping at the bit to get playing.

Martin McHugh: We went man-to-man on them. I felt that Ronan Carolan would have the better of Henry Downey and Gerry Sheridan marked Joe Brolly.

We had good enough markers, men to do those jobs.

Damien was always going to give them bother. And we had a good bench as well, players who could make a difference.

The match was played at a ferocious intensity with neither side able to pull away.

Bernard Morris: It was very physical. Tohill, Heaney… they had a big physical team. Derry weren’t going to stand back - but we had a lot of big men too.

Ciaran Brady: Early on in the game, Seamus Downey and myself had a couple of collisions. He was a big, strong man. It was a physical game all over the pitch, Derry were a very strong team, they had defenders like Kieran McKeever and Tony Scullion, Gary Coleman, Henry Downey, Tohill in the middle of the field. Seamus Downey, Fergal McCusker… They were a big, strong physical team and well able to give it and take it.

We had physical strength. If you look up the middle, it was strong, a lot of physical players there.

Philip Kermath: We left our best performance for the Derry match. I could sense it that day. I was nervous before it but out on the field, when you got the first ball out of the way, the game took over. You could feel something was happening that day.

Tomorrow: Part 5 - Cavan get over the line and the celebrations get underway.

(For part 1, click here. For part 2, click here. For part 3, click here.)