LAST UPDATE | 7 Nov 2021

THE GUESTS WERE just sitting down to the soup course at a wedding in Doncaster when transportation arrived for two Cavan brothers, who had a private plane to catch.

Gowna are back in the Cavan SFC final at Kingspan Breffni Park today. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO

Michael Hartin, the groom from Gowna, had travelled over to England in search of a college education, but ended up meeting his future wife Sandra on his travels.

That meant there was something of a Cavan takeover at the wedding. The man providing the lift to the passengers heading back to Ireland would soon discover that when he rocked up.

“The place is full of Hartins, which one do you want?” came the reply when he made his inquiries.

Michael’s brother Fergal was the best man on the day, while another brother, Gavin, was one of the groomsmen. But the pair were also key players for the Gowna team that was contesting the 1996 senior county final in Cavan against Mullahoran.

As poor fortune would have it, that game was happening 24 hours after the wedding in the UK. 

Fergal’s best man speech was barely off his tongue when he and Gavin were summoned to head home.

“We had actually contemplated not going because flights at the time weren’t readily available,” Fergal tells The42 as he takes up the story ahead of the Cavan senior county final later today. Gowna are back in the decider again for the first time since 2007, and are taking on Ramor United.

“But the club wouldn’t hear of it,” Hartin continues. “They wanted us but they didn’t want us to miss out either. 

“There was one going back from Manchester on the Sunday which meant you were only going to be back in time for the game. I think my wife and Gavin’s wife were home just in time for the start of the game.

“But it was kind of widely known that we were going to the wedding and wouldn’t be back so everybody thought, ‘These boys won’t be home.’ 

“My mother would be a Mullahoran woman so there would be that connection there. We were thinking about whether we’d go or not, and Seán McGahern was involved with the club at the time. 

“Seán called up and said, ‘Look, ye have to go but we might have something sorted for ye.’”

Did you hear the one about the Cavan lads who took a private jet to the Cavan County Final? 25 years ago @GownaGFC won the Cavan SFC on the same day Mullinalaghta won the Longford JFC. This snippet from @Longford_Leader outlined the jet setting involved in that Gowna win. pic.twitter.com/5HbCEL6dmD

— Paul Devaney (@Irish7Summits) October 31, 2021

It was a community effort to get the Hartin boys home from Doncaster. They travelled on a four-seater plane which was owned and piloted by local businessman, George Curran.

After making the quick dash from the wedding, they were brought to the airport in Leeds-Bradford to board their chartered flight. They touched down at Abbeyshrule Airfield in Longford about two hours later before driving back up to Cavan to be home by 8.30pm.

They packed a lot of travelling in one day, but still managed to get a good night’s sleep banked before the game. They were even up to help out with the milking on their father’s farm the next morning.

“I don’t know what was scarier, getting on the plane or the drive down the road with him,” Hartin laughs. “We were tight for time.

“We got down to Leeds-Bradford. There was no security check, we walked through, got on this little plane sitting on the runway. Gavin rolled into the back, I sat in the front. We took off, came home, it took about an hour and a half or two hours to come back over and it was funny, you didn’t think you were going fast until you went to land and the ground was sitting up in front of you.

“George loved to have the company with him. He often brought people up years after that and brought them for spins around the local area, so he was more than delighted to do it, and we were more than delighted to get home.

“It was getting dark when we came into Dublin and he [George] was on the comms to Dublin Airport or whoever was on it, and they didn’t know whether we had landed in Abbeyshrule or not because of light.

“He said he’d go on and try it anyway so we came down and landed in Abbeyshrule.”

The private flying operation was a complete success, as Fergal and Gavin both played their part in helping Gowna to victory the following day. Fergal scored a point from play and Gavin did his job from corner-back.

The 90s were a successful period in Gowna’s history. Between 1994 and 2002, they were crowned senior Cavan champions on six occasions.

That’s an impressive return for a club which is situated on the Longford border, and shares its parish land with the famous Mullinalaghta club. In case you needed a reminder, they were the surprise winners of the 2018 Leinster senior club championship.

They remain a top force in the Longford senior championship.

The two localities are connected by the Gowna Bridge and have a combined population of about 400 people.

“We’re split with two different clubs, two different counties and two different provinces,” Hartin explains.

“You wouldn’t be playing in the same competitions and there’d be no crossover at all. But it would be fairly good, the boys would be playing together at school and things like that. There’d be a great little mix there between them. Mullinalaghta would actually celebrate in Gowna and come back to eat in the Piker’s Lodge in Gowna after winning their Leinster title. There’d be a great atmosphere.”

Oisin Pierson held by Gowna stalwart Mark McKeever (front row, sixth from left) following Cavan senior championship success in 2000. Both set to line out together in Sunday’s final against Ramor. Oisin’s grown a bit in the meantime. Photo courtesy of Derek McGahern. pic.twitter.com/wYwLJec0Gn

— Niall Gartland (@Niall_Gartland) November 3, 2021

The year 2000 was a special occasion for both sides of the bridge.

On Sunday 3 September of that year, Gowna claimed senior honours in Cavan on the same day that Mullinalaghta won the intermediate championship in Longford. Both teams met on the bridge during the course of the celebrations where a lovely photo captured the moment.

Hartin was looking at it recently and made some observations that tie the class of 2000 with today’s Gowna squad.

“I think we were on the beer on the Monday,” he begins. “And somebody said to meet in Mullinalaghta on the bridge, and I think that’s when it was organised.

“I was looking through the photo one of the days. Seán Pierson is there with his little lassie in his arms, and I’m there with my daughter Nicole. They were very young at the time but I also saw Mark McKeever had Oísín Pierson and Oísín is playing on Sunday so it’s funny in that way.”

Like many club teams who experience successful times, Gowna struggled in the years that followed the 1994-2002 run. They reached the senior Cavan decider once more in 2007, but have had to wait until today for another crack at the crown.

Hartin points to their small population as a factor behind their drop, as well as a lack of focus on nurturing their underage players.

Things have stabilised in the last few seasons however, and he feels hopeful about their chances in the 2021 final. Incidentally, Mullinalaghta are also back in the Longford SFC final later today as well, as they look to reclaim the title they last won in 2018.

If results align as they wish, there might be another photo opportunity for the parish on Gowna Bridge.

“The brand of football we’re playing suits our younger players; playing at speed and attacking,” says Hartin. “If we can get it ready and [play] together, I think we will win it. But there’ll be nothing easy in it at all.”