SFC final preview: Gowna's time has arrived

Senior Football Championship final preview

The last domestic match of the year. An hour’s football, out of hundreds, which will define how we remember the club scene in 2022.

Regardless of who wins, it will be welcomed by the neutrals. Fresh blood is always needed to re-energise things.

First, Killygarry, who on the bare face of it have come from nowhere to make this final. Yet, dig a little deeper and it’s clear they were not that far away in recent years. Okay, so they struggled to win games but they lost so many by a point that it clearly wasn’t a lack of ability which was holding them back.

Coming into this season, they had taken the scalp of Ramor, Kingscourt, Cavan Gaels and Gowna in the last four years and taken Castlerahan to a rpelay, something not many clubs could boast.

What held them back more than anything was a crazy run of injuries to talented players such as three members of the 2015 St Pat’s MacRory-winning team, Conor Smith, Mattie McKenna and Darragh Kennedy, and the scar tissue of losing close matches.

This year, they started afresh and their opening win over Gowna banished doubts. As the competition has gone on, they have come through numerous close matches, all of which will have fed into a sense of invulnerability. They have replaced a losing habit with a winning one – and habits are hard to break.

Yet the past informs how we see the future and, for Killygarry, the omens, if you believe in that sort of thing, are not great.

It is unusual for a team to win the championship at the first time of asking but not as unusual as you may think. It has happened on three occasions in the last 40 years, namely Ramor in 2016, Ballinagh in 2013 and Gowna in 1988; both Ramor in ’85 and Kingscourt in 2010 were in their first finals for over a decade but they had some experience of the big day among their veteran players so do not merit inclusion.

Generally, a team which makes a breakthrough and ends a long famine or wins a first championship in their history will have played in and lost a decider in the preceding couple of years.

That was the case with the five most recent ‘breakthrough’ Senior Championship winning teams, the aforementioned Ballinagh aside. Castlerahan had lost several finals before winning their first in 2018. Crosserlough (48 years), Cavan Gaels (22 years), Mullahoran (35 years) and Bailieborough (31 years) all ended long famines in at least their second crack at a final.

Gowna will hope that this trend continues; they lost last year’s final and will look to win the championship for the first time in 20 years on Sunday.

The championship structure in Cavan has worked very well in recent years but the novelty factor has worn off and it is clear now that teams are probably well served by not throwing everything they have at the group stage. Over a seven or eight-match campaign, it’s hard to maintain form and in order to peak for the business end, teams would be well advised to hold a little back in the group stages.

It's a risky business, that, but as the system has settled in, it has become clear that group form is irrelevant. Where a team finishes in the table is moot, too; Cavan Gaels topped it this year and their ‘reward’ was Gowna in the quarters; Killygarry were second and landed a buoyant Kingscourt, whom they beat by a point.

What matters, as Castlerahan manager Brian Donohoe stated on these pages last week, is just getting through it. The championship proper starts in the knock-out stages and based on that form, the two best teams are in Sunday’s final.

Both have played attractive, attacking football. Their underage academies have been working over-time in recent years and it is paying off; these two sides are stacked with young, well-schooled and well-conditioned footballers.

The ace in the pack for Killygarry is Conor Smith, who has at this stage dismantled more or less every defence in the county at some stage or other. Beside him, Darragh Lovett was sensational last time out and has the kind of acceleration which gives defenders nightmares.

With Oisin Brady, of good Gowna stock himself, to come back into the team, Killygarry look formidable up front – and we haven’t even mentioned Martin Reilly. Gowna pack a hefty punch too, though; Conor Madden, on his day, is as good as anyone, Oisin Pierson is coming back to fitness and Conor Casey had a break-out performance last time out.

Both think tanks will feel they can get at the opposition’s defence. The Killygarry vs Ramor game was played on Killygarry’s terms – a packed defence, space at the other end for Lovett and Smith – and Gowna will surely look to avoid that pattern and will seek to expose some of the Killygarry defenders in one-on-one situations.

What makes this one so appetising for the neutral is that there are so many imponderables. Gowna have spectacular yet streaky players in some positions; yet how will Killygarry’s county final rookies cope with the occasion?

Head-to-head form is fairly even. Drumlane showed last weekend that a first-round loss to would-be final opponents may not necessarily be a bad thing; we’ve seen such a turnaround happen on a few occasions in recent years, in fact.

Gowna have improved significantly since losing that first round by a point. Have Killygarry? Maybe.

Finals have been extraordinarily close in Cavan over the last 10 years. Since 2012, there have been four draws, three one-point games and two matches decided by two points. Yet it would not be a surprise to see that trend bucked here; both are athletic teams – witness the running ability of the Madden brothers on one end and Mattie McKenna, Mark McDermott and Daniel Walsh, for example, on the other – who can score goals, too, and they could over-run their opponents if they get on top.

While Cian Reilly is a rare talent, Gowna’s defence, man for man, looks better. Killygarry are a team for the future but Gowna’s time have arrived.

The men from the lough shore to win it by a few points.