Minors play major roles for finalists

Paul Fitzpatrick

Writing on July 13 last on these pages, we attempted to pick our steps through the minefield that is the Intermediate Football Championship.

This year’s renewal, we reckoned, was set to be “about as open a championship as Cavan football has produced in years” and predicting the outcome was “bordering on guesswork”.

Predict it we did, however, and Denn were the unfortunate ones on whose cheek was planted the pundit’s kiss of death.

“If pushed,” we wrote, “Denn get the nod… They appear to have a potent blend of youth and experience, possess scoring power all over the field, arrive with confidence after promotion and look to have just enough quality to edge what promises to be a fascinating Intermediate Championship.”

Three months on and Denn will start the final as slight underdogs against a Butlersbridge side who have improved as the season progressed. And considering the ’Bridge were in the final in each of the last two years, that indicates they are a serious outfit.

Their recent record in this grade is notable. Amazingly, given that their IFC semi-final appearance in 2019 was their first since the 1970s, the ’Bridge will take the field for a fifth Intermediate final in seven seasons this Sunday. One of those years, 2021, was spent in senior ranks; in the other six, they have recorded 29 wins and two draws from 38 championship matches. Outside of finals, they have been beaten by just four teams in 35 Intermediate Championship ties.

They cruised past Lavey in the quarter-final and, after Knockbride dragged them into a semi-final replay, were emphatic second time around. They sensed there were goals to be had and went after them, which, as we noted in our match report, would likely have pleased team trainer Jason O’Reilly, scorer of 48 competitive senior inter-county goals for Cavan in his time.

There is quality and experience all over the field. Feargal Flanagan, who won three Ulster U21 medals and was a nailed-on Cavan senior starter from the age 19 until 24 before stepping away, anchors them at centre-back. Flanagan is steely tough but he is also an under-rated ball-player, rarely gives possession away and, more than anything, is a leader. You can never have too many of those.

The O’Reilly brothers are integral, too. Fionntán was the only one of the pair to feature for Cavan at senior level this season and is a head-up playmaker who can score, while Caoimhín provides ball-winning ability, power and a real goal threat. Having returned from Australia, the elder O’Reilly was injured at times during this campaign but was a late addition to the starting line-up for the Knockbride replay and terrorised them. His goal was the work of a man with the bit between his teeth.

What makes Sunday’s final particularly interesting, though, is the fact the clubs have met already in a major final this year.

Back on August 23, they clashed in the Division 1 Minor final, Denn winning a high-quality contest. The standard in that game was exceptional and reflects, perhaps, the level of minor football in the county in the last two years.

The 2024 and 2025 Cavan minor teams were very strong groups and we are beginning to see the evidence at club level.

Castlerahan’s Jamie Clarke, Sam Maguire of Templeport, Fiachra Brady with Gowna and Donagh Lynch from Cuchulainns are among a large cohort already making a significant impression in adult football.

At Intermediate level, the trend was particularly noticeable at the semi-final stage. Five minors scored goals across the three matches, including the replay. It is not unprecedented to see 17- and 18-year-olds making an impact in adult championship football but it is certainly not the norm any more and, in this final, both sides have youngsters doing much more than making up the numbers.

Cian McConnell and Faolán Graham have been playing very well for the ’Bridge while Denn have had a major injection from Mark Reilly and Nathan Quigley, both 18.

Quigley’s quarter-final performance against Cornafean was exceptional in that context. That was a tight, attritional game in Ballinagh, the sort of championship arm wrestle in which experience is generally supposed to count for plenty, yet the teenager finished with 1-8.

The rookies have been additions to both sides, but aren’t carrying them either. Both finalists boast ample experience.

On the Denn side, Thomas Edward Donohoe has been the go-to man for the last half-dozen years. Management tried him in the half-back line earlier this year and his skillset on the ball is such that he slotted in there without difficulty but, restored to the attack, he was outstanding in the semi-final win over Killinkere.

Oisín Kiernan earned a starting place under Ray Galligan for Cavan in 2024 and brings power and physicality to the middle third, as does former captain Bernard Gaffney, a leader in this group. Caoláin McCabe, a nephew of one of Denn’s great footballers Martin Cahill, has been very good since returning from America and could yet force himself into the county conversation. Goalkeeper Mark Fegan, the Denn captain, has had a brilliant campaign, too.

Historical context is also intriguing. The ‘Bridge, as we have seen, are well-used to this stage now, but Denn, as a club, have a remarkable record of reaching finals - in the last 42 years, they have contested three Junior Championship deciders, 10 Intermediate, including this year, and two Senior.

Their route to this one was not always straightforward. They toiled at times in the early rounds but group form is ancient history now. In a quarter-final dogfight in Ballinagh, they eliminated a fancied Cornafean and then produced their best football of the campaign when it mattered, an early blitz setting them up for a commanding semi-final victory over Killinkere.

There is significant experience on the sideline as well.

Brian Donohoe has already managed Ballinagh and Castlerahan to this title and won it as a player with Ballymachugh in 1999.

The ’Bridge, though, have probably played the better football over the course of this year. Their record across the last six seasons is outstanding and the manner in which they dealt with the Knockbride replay suggested a side which has learned plenty from previous disappointments.

Five finals in seven seasons represents sustained excellence in a grade which is notoriously difficult to escape – but losing too many could leave scar tissue.

All of this leaves us with a final that is exceptionally difficult to call. Both have leaders who have been around the block and both have received a major lift from a crop of young players who appear to have no fear of adult championship football.

The ’Bridge probably have the stronger body of work behind them and, on what we have seen in the championship, nobody could quibble if they finally got their hands on the cup.

But we tipped Denn in July and there is no point losing our nerve now. We’ll stick with them, just. In truth, though, it’s a pick ’em fixture and anything could happen.