Not so far from the Madden crowd

Kevin Óg Carney

Last October, as the hordes of joyous Kingscourt Stars supporters poured onto the pitch at Kingspan Breffni at the final whistle, the air was clogged with the dust of a dream that had just been demolished.

Conor Madden’s hat-trick of points counted for nothing as Gowna’s bid to regain the Senior Football Championship title was swept away after a 0-13 to 2-16 victory for the underdogs.

Now, as the calendar comes around to the club championships once more Madden, a whole heap of other Maddens, plus a couple of Bradys and the offspring of other well-decorated men from the Loch are all ready to go again.

Conor Madden and his team-mates are hoping to prove the bookies right. If they do, the prize will be a tenth county title for the red and green brigade.

Should Gowna get the job done, it will leave the Longford-border side sixth in the list of SFC winners in Cavan.

“We’re hoping we’ll do the business this year, regardless of what has gone on in the past,” says Madden.

“We were obviously very disappointed with losing last year’s final. It was a very sore one, especially when you get so far and don’t perform as a team the way you should or can. The shoe was on the other foot in 2023, when we beat Kingscourt (5-15 to 0-13).

“Anyone who’s ever played any game knows that sport is all about ups and downs, but I think that we’ve got last year’s defeat in the final out of our system over the winter, and with the league this year. Now the preparation for the championship, the lads are just mad to get another crack at winning back the title.”

Madden’s family, relations, and neighbours down around Scrabby and beyond seem to be steering Gowna to a second coming but, in truth, the relatively young outfit – at least in its modern guise – is only around since '76.

However, such is the seemingly never-ending conveyor belt of football talent that has been generated along the lake, that the majority of Gaels in Cavan feel as if Gowna have been around forever.

But there’s a uniqueness about Gowna. The GAA people in the parish (shared with Mullinalaghta in Longford) are so intertwined by marriage and a sense of brotherhood, faith and pride.

One pundit was only half-joking back in 1982 when they won a breakthrough JFC title when he said: “When you hit one, you hit them all.”

For instance, in last year’s SFC final, 11 out of the 18 who featured against Kingscourt were either called Madden or Brady. Both clans had a rake of brothers and cousins involved that day.

Other well-known families such as Donohoes, Piersons and Fitzpatricks were also represented by sons and grandsons of former Gowna stars who broke their club’s duck in the Cavan JFC (1982), IFC (1985) or SFC (1988) campaigns.

Conor’s father Seamus is one of the Godfathers of the Gowna club, playing a pivotal role in the all-important 1976 win.

There are other long-time household Madden names from the past, such as PJ, Kevin, Eamonn and Dermot who have nurtured, developed, and shaped the careers of their sons to play with their native club.

Of course, there’s a slew of Bradys too - Dessie, Laurence, and Joe to mention a few - who have won a handful of SFC medals, and who now have the pleasure of watching the next generation in full flight.

Clubs with much greater resources in personnel look on with envy as Gowna consistently replenishes their talent. Back in 2021, the club introduced several starlets to the SFC stage. Cormac, Ryan, and Fionán Brady were joined by Ryan Donohoe and Conor Casey in Gowna’s arsenal.

Each was born and reared with county medals on the mantel piece, bearing testimony to investor confidence in Gowna GAA Inc.

“We’re very lucky that we’ve had so many young fellas coming up through the ranks, winning underage medals and then progressing to boost the senior ranks,” says club-and county star Madden.

“I suppose it’s no coincidence that so many of the lads come from families where their dads have also won county medals. I’d say 75% of the current panel have some relation with a county medal in their pocket from down the years. That’s a serious tradition which really stands to the club.

“Having family and relations play alongside you on the team is a great asset for you as a player. There are very strong ties between the current set of players and players from the eighties and nineties, which is a very positive and inspirational thing for us.

“It’s up to us now to keep that winning tradition going, and to inspire the underage lads to train hard and play senior for us, and maybe the county too down the line.

“(The SFC) is a very open race this year. I wouldn’t know who to back if I was neutral. It’s probably the most open since I started playing senior (in 2011), but we’ll give it our best shot,” Madden concluded.

On the 50th anniversary of Gowna’s reformation, can they continue to re-write history.