Gowna and Stars to collide in fifth senior football final

Paul Fitzpatrick

There was a time when Kingscourt Stars were the big dogs in Cavan football and Gowna were the coming force, nipping at their heels. Then, the balance of power shifted suddenly, as it usually does.

On Sunday, these two great rivals will meet in the Senior Championship final for the fifth time, with the record standing at two wins apiece. The first pair of meetings, in 1993 and 1999, belonged to a different era, when football was a more physical pursuit and the stakes, in a straight knock-out championship, were particularly high.

The next two, in 2023 and 2025, were surprisingly one-sided, Gowna winning the former and Kingscourt exacting revenge last year.

Now, with another generation of players carrying on the traditions established by some of their fathers and uncles, they renew acquaintances again.

The history is fascinating. Kingscourt’s breakthrough came in 1980, their first senior title since 1923, and they went on to dominate until the early 1990s.

Gowna, meanwhile, won their maiden title in 1988 with a youthful side which appeared destined for sustained success; that arrived but it took longer than expected. Kingscourt, you see, kept getting in their way.

Huge pressure

Ciarán Brady, a central figure in that Gowna team who has four sons on the current side, remembers the frustration vividly.

“There was huge pressure because we broke through with a very young team in ‘88. We beat a strong Laragh team in the final but then it took us a long time to get another one.

“In 1990 and 1991, Kingscourt beat us in semi-finals and they were an exceptionally strong team at that time. You had the likes of Joe Dillon, Jim Reilly, Barry McArdle, Pat Faulkner, Michael Faulkner, Kevin Martin, Cian Murtagh…

“Kingscourt stopped us in two semi-finals and a final in 1990, 1991 and then 1993.”

On the other side of the county, Gabriel Patterson recalls a Kingscourt side which had established itself as the standard-bearers, winning three successive championships from 1989 to 1991. Their defeat to Bailieborough in the 1992 semi-final, however, had raised questions about whether their time was up.

“We were red-hot favourites and we never got going and they beat us,” recalls Gabriel.

“Everyone thought Kingscourt was finished. After that, all the players sat down and we talked about it and we said we have to set the story right and we came back in ‘93.”

Physicality

And so the scene was set for a final between an established force determined to remain on top and a challenger desperate to fulfil its potential.

Both men recall the physicality of those encounters with something approaching affection.

“I remember in that era when Gowna played Kingscourt, I was either playing full-back, centre-half or full-forward,” Brady says.

“If I was a defender, I was marking Michael Faulkner. And if I was a forward, I was marking Pat Faulkner.

“And you didn’t know which of them was tougher than the other because they were physical operators. It was very physical football at that time.

“I don’t think the current generation would be on the field too long if they played like Pat and Michael or (brother) Laurence and myself. I think their minutes on the field might be restricted!”

Hard and fair

Patterson’s recollections are strikingly similar.

“Kingscourt had been the top team but Gowna was the up-and-coming big boys as well. You had the Hartins, Bernard Morris and Ciarán Brady, Dermot McCabe and Declan McCabe.

“They were a good all-round strong team and you knew what you were getting. You were going out to play football but you knew you were going to get hit hard and fair.

“I’ll say that again, you got hit very hard and very fair when you played Gowna.”

There was little room for error in those days. One defeat and the championship was over, sometimes before the summer had properly begun.

“It was basically dog-eat-dog at that stage,” Ciaran recalled.

“You either played well and you got through or you didn’t perform and you were knocked out and you were twiddling your thumbs for 12 months. There was a lot of pressure.”

The 1993 final went the way of the Stars, 2-8 to 0-8.

“Kingscourt ground it out. We had young Alan Gargan come on in the last 10 or 12 minutes and he got a wonderful goal to seal it.”

It was another great day for the east Cavanmen but, although nobody knew it at the time, the landscape was about to change dramatically.

The following year, Gowna swept past Kingscourt in the semi-final and went on to claim the championship, beating Mullahoran in Cootehill with Brady as captain. For the Longford-border club, it was a release after six years of near misses.

Kingscourt, meanwhile, were beginning a transition which would prove painful.

“I’d say Gowna beat us by 10 or 12 points. We were facing a complete turnaround of players, you know. And just kind of rebuilding,” Patterson recalled.

By 1994, however, Gowna had acquired some of the know-how which comes with experience themselves. The arrival of the late Eamonn Coleman as manager in 1996 would prove transformative as he knitted it all together.

“I think Eamonn supplied that little bit of managerial knowledge and savvy to get us across the line,” Brady explained.

Golden Era

“He knew that we had the raw materials, he knew that we had the physical ability and aggression to win, but he just co-ordinated things in a manner that he knew the right thing to say, at the right time, to the right individual.”

Under Coleman, Gowna won championships in 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2002, a golden era which confirmed their place among the county’s great teams.

By the time Kingscourt and Gowna met again in the 1999 final, the roles had been almost completely reversed.

Gowna were now the seasoned champions, laden with medals and inter-county experience. Kingscourt had assembled a mixture of veterans and emerging youngsters but few gave them much chance against their powerful neighbours.

Their route to the final had been particularly eventful. Patterson recalls a riotous semi-final replay against Cavan Gaels, played on a Thursday night – highly unusual at the time - after the sides had drawn their first encounter.

The replay was a bruising affair, Kingscourt losing Pat Faulkner and Ryan McCormack to suspension for the final.

“It was unheard of that the replay was on a Thursday night,” he said.

“It was the only game in the championship that wasn’t videoed in Breffni Park for some reason, probably because it was a Thursday night.”

He laughed at the memory.

“Maybe just as well it wasn’t videoed, now!”

Patterson, as captain, had the honour of leading Kingscourt out in the final but the game itself slipped away.

“Going in on that day we were totally underdogs, Gowna would have had a star-studded line-up. The Hartins, Bernard Morris, the McCabes, Bradys, Maddens. All good, honest, hard footballers.

“On the day, we just didn’t play to our strengths. The game passed us by, I was captain on the day, and it was one of the worst games I played.”

He was marking Fergal Hartin and recalls the two largely cancelling each other out.

Know-how

For all Gowna’s superiority on paper, the match was low-scoring and close. Brady readily admits that his side struggled to shake off the challengers.

“I remember we didn’t play particularly well. We struggled. We just fell across the line.

“I think we were constantly leading the game but we never really got away from Kingscourt and we won the game by a point.”

By then, Gowna were the dominant force and had learned how to win.

“The shoe was on the other foot. We had the experience then. Much like Kingscourt against us earlier, just having the know-how of closing out matches.”

Patterson has no complaints about the result, although the disappointment has clearly lingered.

“It was a great honour to lead your club out in the county final. I’ll always remember that.

“We had two valuable players missing, Pat and Ryan. We were just beaten by the better team at the end of the day, unfortunately.”

The years rolled on. Kingscourt endured a prolonged barren spell before returning to the summit in 2010, while Gowna’s own fortunes fluctuated after the glory years. They went 20 years without a title but have now been in five deciders in six years.

The rivalry has returned, too; Sunday marks the third county final meeting of the teams in four years.

Gowna’s youthful side broke through in 2022 and backed it up in 2023, defeating Kingscourt heavily in that year’s final. Last season, the Stars turned the tables with an emphatic victory of their own.

Brady sees parallels between the current Gowna generation and the team which won the club’s first championship in 1988.

“When Gowna’s current crop of players won it in ‘22 they were a very young team and I think they deserve huge credit for backing up the ‘22 title with another one in ‘23.

“A good team wins one, a great team backs it up with another championship. And to do it at such a young age was important.”

He believes a third title would cement their standing.

“No more than us in ‘88 going to ‘94, they need to get that third championship to get established.”

There is a particularly strong family connection in the present Gowna team. Brady’s four sons, Cillian, Cormac, Fionán and Fiachra, are involved, continuing a tradition which stretches back through generations.

“It’s great to see so many young lads coming through. Kevin Madden’s four lads, Laurence’s lads on it. It strengthens the bond within a team obviously as well.

“I can relate back to when I was playing and (brothers) Laurence and Dessie and myself were on the team. There was a great unity in the Gowna team at that time.”

Brady believes that immersion in club football from an early age helps explain the commitment of the current crop.

“They’re brought up to see that life, to a certain extent, revolves around football,” he says, only half in jest.

Kingscourt have undergone a similar regeneration, with young players emerging to complement the experienced campaigners who have served the club so well.

Patterson, who refereed the recent Junior Championship final, has been impressed by their composure this season, particularly in matches when they have found themselves under a bit of pressure.

“A few games you’d be wondering the first half, ‘God, we could be in trouble here’, but I think they never panicked and stuck to their guns. They’ve done well.”

Championship team

Brady agrees that Kingscourt possess something which cannot easily be coached: the ability to win championship matches.

“Kingscourt are a renowned championship team,” he said.

“Even those years that they beat us, Kingscourt would go back to the other end of the county, we’d go back to our side and you mightn’t see or hear from them for maybe 12 months before you bump into each other again.

“They have a stronger panel this year and they have that knowledge as to how to win championships.

“Even though they haven’t played maybe the same emphatic football as they produced in the county final last year, they’re still back in the county final.”

Both men expect a tremendous contest, although their allegiances are understandably clear.

Patterson believes the holders will relish being regarded as underdogs.

“Kingscourt will have no fear. Gowna have been favourites all year for the championship and Kingscourt are slight underdogs - and that suits Kingscourt down to the ground.”

Brady, meanwhile, senses that Gowna have been waiting a full year for another opportunity to face the Stars.

“I just think the lads have been chomping at the bit. It’s that old analogy, the remote control, fast forward 12 months to get a chance to correct it.

“They’re exactly where they wanted to be 12 months ago. But they have to go out and do it.”

In 1993, Kingscourt had the experience and Gowna were chasing them. Six years later, the positions were reversed. Now, with the score standing at two finals each and another generation ready to write its own history, there is little to separate them.

“They’re both relatively young teams. Kingscourt won a minor double there - that I know all about - back in 2024. And Gowna have a lot of the Southern Gaels lads who were there in ‘25. And both teams are relatively young,” Brady says.

“It’s a rivalry that existed back in our day and now last year and this year. And no doubt it will be there for a lot of years to come.”