Mullahoran may have failed to regain their senior champions' tag but club PRO Raymond Brady believes that the Dreadnoughts aspirations go deeper than most when it comes to the GAA. Not many clubs within the borders of this county can boast the fact that their members practice Gaelic football, hurling, handball and even Rounders on a regular basis, and once more do it well, with some achieving complete distinction. Many GAA heads across the land would associate Mullahoran with producing the world's current number one handballer in Paul Brady, but his older brother Raymond points out that his native club is about so much more. In 2006, after Mullahoran captured their 11th county senior football championship title (on record), the Dreadnoughts club made a clean sweep at the Cavan GAA media awards, and Raymond believes that it's all about what that 'Club of the Year' tag comes down to. "I suppose it was kind of hard to top," admits Brady. "I mean in 2006 we won 'Club of the Year', 'Senior Player of the Year', 'Handballer of the Year' and 'Referee of the Year' but I think that is something that this club looks to go out and do every year. "Really and truly it comes down to what is 'Club of the Year' about? "A club like Mullahoran that has Ladies GAA and hurling from Under 12's all the way up the senior ranks is what a true GAA club is a about, I think." Of course this year added an extra incentive for enthusiasm within the Longford-border club, with the appointment of Tyrone great Pascal Canavan as the senior football team's new manager. Following his All-Ireland success with St Ciaran's High School of Ballygawley, Canavan headed south to take the reins at Mullahoran, left behind by prior full-time boss Paul Bealin, and according to Brady his instalment was met with great reception in the club. "Generally it was very welcomed," said Brady. "It was greeted with a great level of enthusiasm from the players and others involved in the club." Canavan tuned up his troops at Our Lady of Lourdes Park over the frosty winter before they embarked on a slow-to-start league campaign from their point of view. However, Brady thinks that the Dreadnoughts have proven down the line of recent years that league form does not account for much when it comes to championship. A one-point win away to intermediate champions Ballinagh looked like a good start before a defeat at home to Cuchullains. Four more points were registered against Belturbet and Castlerahan until drawing with rivals Cavan Gaels in an enthralling encounter at Terry Coyle Park on 2-10 apiece, but three losses in-a-row followed against two newly promoted sides in Lavey and Killygarry, and the other to Crosserlough. Before entering the Championship though, Canavan's side would register convincing wins over Lacken and Drumalee, which left them laying fifth on the Division One table with 11 points in as many games. "We started off badly, but really our focus all year was primarily on the championship," says Brady. "I mean when we won the championship two years ago we were still battling it out in the league not to be relegated. Since then I think we've been taking the league and championship as two very different things." Back in February, Mullahoran had drawn a tricky tie against Belturbet at Breffni Park out of the hat for the first round of the Cavan Senior Football Championship. The Rories had reached the last four of the county championships the previous year and were counted as unlucky by many to go under to Cavan Gaels by three points. Surely they would be going all out to oust whom ever they came up against at the first hurdle in July to prove a point, after feeling hard done by the previous September. "We always knew Belturbet were going to be tough," admits Brady. "Even whenever we've meet them in the league they've always proved tough opposition for us." Brady recalls the game as one where Mullahoran had not played well until they'd got a foothold at the centre of the field after Belturbet had pulled two points clear. "We didn't play well and we could count ourselves lucky to some extent, I suppose," he admits. "Once they had gone two points up we began to really graft at the centre of the field and scored six unanswered points to win it in the end. The two teams had really similar style that day, I thought. We both went in with a kind of rugged approach but we were always confident of winning the game." Indeed. Mullahoran did not come to terms with their opponents on the day until they began edging things at midfield, where Paul Brady had excelled, and that provided Eddie O'Reilly, Philip Brady and Danny Brady with the chances up front that saw them run out 1-12 to 0-11 winners. Mullahoran were into the quarter-finals and next out of the hat for Canavan's charges was a clash with defending champions and great rivals Cavan Gaels. After the pair's last meeting in the championship in the '06 decider resulted in Mullahoran lifting the Oliver Plunkett Cup, there was sure to be a great degree of bite to this game. The Dreadnoughts were aware that much of the pressure was going to be on the Gaels to defend their crown, and Brady believes that it's one of the reasons why preparations for the match were fairly modest. "The preparations were very low-key and that's the way we wanted it," he said. "We had played badly for most of the Belturbet game and we had six weeks to get that right. "Going into that match there was more pressure on Cavan Gaels to win than us if we lost, because they were defending champions and I think that suited us." In a dire affair at Breffni Park, Cavan Gaels came away with a one-point victory which effectively ended Mullahoran's season. Early points from Eddie O'Reilly and Paul Brady paved the way for a 0-4 to 0-3 lead at the interval for Mullahoran. A Sean Johnston point brought things level quick within the restart and a concession of scores from Paul O'Donnell, Cormac Nelligan and Johnston again saw the Dreadnoughts fall three behind heading towards the final quarter of the match. Livewire forward Danny Brady struck 1-1 which regained the lead for Mullahoran, but the decisive scores came from Enda King, O'Donnell and Johnston in the four minutes after the game's only major. Canavan's side did have the chances to win the game in the added on minutes but squandered two frees and were out of the championship when Joe McQuillan sounded the long whistle after 63 minutes. Mullahoran (Cavan SFC v Cavan Gaels): Eamonn Brady; Darren O'Reilly, Seanie Smith, James O'Reilly; Fergal Brady, Dermot Sheridan, Daniel Smith (0-1); Christy Shiels, Dan Mel O'Reilly; Hugh Briody (0-1), Eddie O'Reilly (0-1), Paul Brady (0-1); Danny Brady (0-2), Philip Brady (1-1), Patrick Brady. Subs: Tomás Nannery for Danny Mel O'Reilly, Conleth Reilly for Darren O'Reilly, Ciaran Shiels for Fergal Brady, Raymond Lynch for Hugh Briody. "I think when you look at the last five minutes of that game we were unlucky to have not come away with at least a draw with the chances we missed," Brady said about the quarter-final loss. "In the first-half we were lucky to not have been going in at half-time two goals down, but in the second we upped our game and could have won it in the end. "The mood afterwards was very disappointing; especially after Gowna had gone out so early I thought we'd have had a nice route to the final." The 2006 champions had failed to reach the county SFC final for a second successive year, but Brady says that that will in no way halt the club having the same objectives for the coming season, despite some of the more senior players in the squad coming towards the retiring age of their playing days. "Again it will be to go out and win the Championship, but it will certainly be decision time for some of the more senior players in the squad I think. "We have some good minors coming through, four of which I think were involved in the county set-up this year. "We will looking to blend a few of those youngsters in with the senior team next year, so as we can keep that mixture of youth and experience coming through in the club." With Canavan re-appointed to the manager's position in the club for 2009 season, he will look to try and convince some of Mullahoran's more seasoned campaigners to stay on, while the likes of promising young stars such as Raymond Lynch, Killian Brady, Michael Brady, Enda O'Reilly and Sean Briody are just some of the talents the Errigal Ciaran club man can turn to next in order to try and help the club reclaim the top spot in the county. St Joseph's capture another county title Mullahoran's hurlers again successfully defended their Cavan senior hurling crown this past year in emphatic fashion with a massive 4-15 to 0-2 win over Ballymachugh in the county decider at Breffni Park. The St Joseph's club confirmed their status as the county's top hurling side by capturing the Eddie Brady Cup - a trophy they have not let out of their grasp since 1990, astonishingly. Managed by Edward Dalton, who also plays a corner-forward, Mullahoran eased into another final where they demolished Ballymachugh by an emphatic 25 points. The outstanding forward displays of Philip Brady and Edward Dalton saw the pair combing for 3-7 in total, which was always going to be enough against this lacklustre Ballymachugh side who complied just two points over the hour, both coming from their young centre-forward Eugene Hill. St Joseph's hit 1-2 in the first ten minutes, with their first goal coming from Michael O'Connell, and after that they'd never look back. Despite both of Hill's singles going over in the meantime, Mullahoran brought in a 13-point lead with them at the break thanks to the contributions of Brady, Dalton and Mark McEntee. From the back Anthony Sheridan and county senior footballer Dermot Sheridan raised white flags, while Paul Sheridan was solid at centre-back. Dalton hit his second goal towards the final quarter and after Gerard Clerkin had sent over his second of the evening the full-time whistle was sounded and with it St Joseph's assured their status as Cavan's hurling kingpins. Mullahoran (Cavan SHC v Ballymachugh): Darren Sheridan; John Fitzsimmons, Anthony Sheridan (0-2), Seán Óg Brady; Dermot Sheridan, Paul Sheridan, Andrew Nelligan; Hugh Briody (0-1), Dominic Crudden; Philip Brady (1-4), Gerard Clerkin (0-2), Ronan O'Hagan; Michael O'Connell (1-0), Mark McEntee (0-2), Edward Dalton (2-3). Subs: Karl O'Reilly for McEntee, Martin McArdle for S Brady, Barry McArdle for P Brady, Damian Brady for Fitzsimmons, Andrew Donohoe for O'Connell. Ulster Hurling Club Championship From there, St Joseph's entered into the Ulster Junior Hurling Club Championships where they defeated the Derry champions to set-up a meeting with Lisbellaw. In Ballybay the two sides played out an absorbing draw in mid-October before the Erne kingpins ousted Mullahoran by three points in Clones to go on and capture the Ulster title against Setanta of Donegal the following month. Our Lady of Lourdes Park February saw Mullahoran's home grounds of Our Lady of Lourdes Park play host to a Sigerson Cup meeting between Queen's University and NUI Galway, which saw the Belfast students hold out for a one-point victory on 1-14 to 1-13 in an enthralling encounter that entertained the many in attendance. The grounds also staged many of Cavan Ladies home games during the National League, which they went on to win in Thurles against Limerick to capture the Division Three title. The John P. Wilson Sports Complex which nestles beside the playing pitch is the focal point for such a staunch GAA parish. All the work at the grounds has been well completed, receiving rave reviews around the county, and the pitch itself is set to be resurfaced over the winter. Another successful year for Paul Brady 2008 saw Paul Brady have another tremendous 12 months in the handball by capturing his fourth US Nationals title after beating Cork man Tony Healy in the first ever all-Irish US final. Along with that coveted victory in Kansas City, 'The Gunner' landed an All-Ireland 40x20 Senior Doubles title along with Kingscourt native Michael Finnegan. "He's coming towards the end of his handball career now at 29, but it's been another great year for him," said the PRO. "The club are extremely proud of him, he's a formidable athlete and he was very glad to get back involved with the Cavan setup again this year. Indeed, Brady re-joined the Cavan setup with fellow club men Eddie O'Reilly and Dermot Sheridan in the weeks before Donal Keogan's side took on Antrim in the preliminary rounds of the Ulster SFC, but would miss the quarter-final clash with Armagh due to his commitments in Kansas City. "He always wanted to go back, but he primarily wanted to win the US title this year and coming back into the Cavan panel for the championship there was no doubts over his fitness as he had been training between both Mullahoran and handball all year." After Cavan's defeat to Armagh, Paul started against Kildare in the qualifying rounds of the All-Ireland SFC and scored Cavan's goal early in the second-half that looked to pave the way to victory, but James Kavanagh's late strike in Newbridge sunk Breffni hearts once more. Rounders In 2008, the Mullahoran Rounders senior team went in search of a 12th senior All-Ireland title but were denied by Ballon of Carlow in the final. Dual players James Anderson, Philip Brady and Hugh Briody were all apart of the side that lost out to the Barrowsider men by six home runs, which ended the club's impressive winning streak. The ladies also were also denied by Carlow opposition as they were ousted from the All-Ireland at the semi-final stage by Bagnalstown, who incidentally went on to win the competition. Tweet

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