Ulster preview: High hopes Gowna can buck the trend

GAA preview

Damien Donohoe

This Saturday evening in Brewster Park, Enniskillen a rare occasion will occur when Enniskillen Gaels, the Fermanagh champions, will take on Gowna, senior champions in Cavan. The last time Gowna lifted the Oliver Plunkett cup was in 2002 and in that same year, after beating Clontibret, they progressed to the Ulster semi-final where they lost out to the then Fermanagh champions, the same Enniskillen Gaels, by four points.

The Gaels, backboned by the likes of the Brewster brothers, Mickey Lilly, Neil Cox, Ryan McCluskey and Colm Bradley, lost the Ulster decider to Errigal Ciaran by a point with Peter Canavan scoring half of the Tyrone champions’ eight-point total. Enniskillen never returned to a provincial final but went on to win two more Fermanagh titles in 2003 and 2006. After that, the third most successful team in Fermanagh club football had to wait until this year to collect their 13th Senior Championship.

In their county final against Erne Gaels, they never looked troubled as they finished with 10 points to spare. Left-footed corner forward Conor Love finished the game with 2-2 with centre-forward Conor O’Shea bagging their third goal. Mid-fielder Brandon Horan collected the Man of the Match award in a display that saw eight different Gaels get on the score board.

On their way to the county final they won two of their three group stage games with Kinawley the only side to get the better of them. In the quarter-final they beat Belnaleck 0-14 to 1-6 before a semi-final against Derrygonnelly who were looking to make their eighth final in a row, winning seven of those.

In a high-scoring battle that came right down to the wire, Derrygonnelly, who were beaten in last year’s senior Ulster club championship final by Kilcoo, lost out by a single point. Free taker Callum Jones gave an exhibition both off the ground and out of his hands to secure back-to-back county final appearances for Enniskillen.

The Enniskillen Gaels manager Simon Bradley describes them as a young team and with that youth comes lots of attacking play. Eleven points is their lowest scoring total in this year’s championship while they averaged 17 points in their six outings. They have scored nine goals so far while conceding five at the other end. They’ve let an average of 13 points a game past them with their best defensive display coming against Belnaleck in the last eight.

With Brewster Park being the venue, Enniskillen hold a big advantage as it’s their club grounds but there will be a question mark over the surface as with the current level of rainfall. The county final in Fermanagh was postponed and played a week later due to a waterlogged pitch in Brewster Park so all eyes will be on the forecast for the coming days.

Statistically speaking, Gowna look to be coming into this game as underdogs. Their average concession in their eight championship games this year is 14.25 points per game, just over one point per game more than Enniskillen. They are also scoring less, but this is marginal with a 16.75 points per game average.

Gowna will have had a gap of four weeks between their county final win over Killygarry and this Saturday nights game. This can be viewed in different ways; it’s an opportunity for them to clear up some of the injuries that had been hindering the group and a chance to get some work into the legs.

The other side is cobwebs can develop through lack of games and with just a single weekend between Enniskillen’s final victory and this weekend’s quarter-final, there should be no fear of that from their point of view. I’m pretty sure that Gowna would have liked a week or two less to get ready for this match to keep the positive momentum they had gathered in the knock-out stages in Cavan.

Despite this, the bookmakers have installed Gowna as favourites. Maybe it’s because they are the last team from Cavan to win a game in the Ulster senior club championship other than Cavan Gaels. Mark McKeever, Ronan Bannon and Raymond Keogh would all have been around the panel when they beat Clontibert. Gerald Pearson, who wore number 16 for Gowna in this year’s county final, scored 0-7 when these sides met in 2002 adding to the two points, he scored in the quarter-final that year.

There’s no doubt this is a big opportunity for Gowna to make an Ulster semi-final and build some valuable experience.

Their forward line have continued to share in the scoring responsibility with Ryan Donohoe becoming their seventh different top scorer of the championship in this year’s final. Remarkably neither county seniors Conor Madden or Oisin Pierson have been a top scorer for Fintan Reilly and Dermot McCabe’s side so it will be very hard for Enniskillen to know who they need to tie down.

It's high time a Cavan team other than Cavan Gaels made an impact on the Ulster club championship and a win over Enniskillen on Saturday night would be a big step forward for Cavan clubs.

The general expectation is that Gowna should have enough to get over the line but they will need to be very close to their best to do so. Conditions permitting, expect a high-scoring game with the big hits associated with the smaller pitch in Brewster Park and hopefully a win for our senior champions.