Fever pitch for big day at Cnoc Mhuire, Granard

 

Thomas Lyons

It's a crisp Saturday morning. A little overcast, but the perfect morning to run out over the whitewashed lines. A group of athletic-looking young men are gathered adjacent to a brand new football pitch in the north Longford town of Granard, but they are not here to play.

After a while the gathering of Longford senior inter-county players move into the staff room of Cnoc Mhuire school, where they collect in a knot and discuss football. They are all ex-pupils and, as with all lads who have gone to school together, there is a good bit of banter.
 Training tops and trackie bottoms are the sartorial standard and the chat switches from football as Cavan's contingent shows up. Conor Madden's transport raises questions from the Longford party about the the funds in their neighbours' coffers compared to the automotive options of the home team.
 As Conor comes in, the slagging goes up a fraction, but it's all good natured. The players are here to chat about the challenge game being organised between the neighbouring counties to celebrate the official opening of Cnoc Mhuire, Granard’s new pitch.
 Dubbed as an “ideal preparation” for both sides ahead of their Leinster and Ulster Championship campaigns, the Cavan v Longford clash the April 29 has a plot line similar to Rocky v Apollo Creed's second bout.
 The principal of Cnoc Mhuire, Pauline McBrien, gave the background to the contest.
“This is a culmination of years of fundraising by the parents, students, community, teachers and staff at the school. We are almost at the final stages of funding it. Some of it was grant aided, but it would never have happened without the dedication of all the volunteers. Hard work and support from the local community has helped this Granard school finally realise a dream of having their own football pitch.”
The school principal said the pitch is a valuable piece of infrastructure for the pupils: “It's a huge opportunity for the students in the school. It will help in the development of a range of sporting skills already being supported through the schools' sporting programme.
“We are the envy of visiting teams and will use it for a range of sporting activities. Cnoc Mhuire has a great history and tradition of being competitive in Gaelic football, this adds to that. It will be available to the wider community and local sporting clubs,” Pauline explained.
 James Carroll, a name synonymous with Cnoc Mhuire Granard’s sporting endeavours, said: “We have a student intake from both counties. We have a fair balance between Longford and Cavan. On the Cavan side we get good numbers from Gowna, Mullahoran and Ballymachugh.
“Conor Madden and Conor Brady, both current players on the Cavan team, are past pupils and we have had a lot of ex-pupils on the Longford panel. We thought because we are on the border between the two counties that it would generate a lot of interest,” James told The Anglo-Celt.
 That public interest in the event is building.
“There is great rivalry between the two counties. Even if you look at clubs like Mullinalaghta and Gowna, they share a parish. That leads to a little internal rivalry. Any time there is a Cavan-Longford game, even though they are in different provinces, there is always a good bit of heat to it,” James said.
 The final outing of the league for both sides was a nettle sting in otherwise solid campaigns. The Cnoc Mhuire teacher said this adds to the forthcoming game.
“Both teams were going great. Cavan were very unlucky in their final. It was fierce entertaining game against Roscommon. The teams played a very attractive brand of football. It was a credit to all the Division 2 sides that they played at such a high standard.
“Longford had a great campaign, only losing to two Ulster teams. Those games were controversial in there own right. If Longford got a win against Fermanagh they could have been in Division 2,” James recounted.
 He says that all these factors build interest for the outing.
“That will add a bit of spice. The teams are prepping for their respective championships. It will give selectors a last look at a few lads before those games, so players will hope to prove themselves and get those last few spots.”
Moire Mahon held the post of principal for much of the time that the project was being developed.
“I am extremely excited here this morning. It has been a long challenging road, but a very exhilarating one. To see the wonderful pitch out there with the goalposts up you cannot but feel a sense of achievement for the whole school," she said.
“It is the result of a lot of work. People like Fr Cadam and the board of management. We got great technical advice from Andrew Gettings (the director of GEM construction). The staff did so much hard work to make sure this was possible. It will be so good to see our past pupils playing out there on the new pitch,” Moire said.
 The friendly rivalry between teams is part of the schools spirit: “We have had pupils from Cavan, Longford and Westmeath and when they put on the navy blue or sky blue of Cnoc Mhuire they were a team. When they met each others outside the school it was no holes barred, but when the match is over these lads are great friends.”
One of those former pupils was back at the school to launch the game. Conor Madden sent Cavan back to Division 1 with dramatic late winner in the penultimate league game. Now he's looking forward to putting on the Cavan colours to face some of his former school mates.
“It is a very novel thing,” Conor grins as he eyes the opposition at the other end of the room. He's already had a bit of a chin wag with the lads, but having been singled out to speak to the Celt there is naturally a bit of ribbing.
“There's not too many competitive games before the championship starts. We are with the clubs for the next couple of weeks, so this is the only game where lads have a chance to stake a claim for a place in the starting 15,” the wing-forward said.
 The neighbourhood rivalry is something Conor is acutely aware of: “Half my parish is in Longford. There is defiantly an extra bit of spice for me. Those Longford lads think they have a reputation for being nice guys, but they are far from nice guys,” he says with a chuckle which belies the truth of the statement.
 Conor spoke of the interesting ending of the 17/18 league.
“Looking back we were a bit disappointed with the outcome of the Roscommon game. It would have been nice to pick up a title at this stage of the year. If you'd asked us at the beginning of the campaign if we would take going back to Division 1 we would have bit your hand off. Longford were unlucky. After we beat Tipperary one of the first results I looked at was Longford to see if they got up.”

 

The Cavan v Longford challenge match is just one part of a day of entertainment on April 29. Commencing with a concert at 1:00 with music by Four Degrees West there will be a variety of activities for all the family. Tickets for students cost €5 with adults tickets costing €10. All are welcome.