A DOZEN years since his senior debut and there has rarely been a dull moment in Ciaran Brady’s career. He has played Division One, Two, Three and Four and in the Sam Maguire and Tailteann Cups with Cavan and senior, intermediate and junior championship level with his club Arva.
From Waterford in Division Four to Dublin in an All-Ireland semi-final, ‘Holla’ has covered a lot of turf and on Sunday he breaks new ground when Arva take on Kerry’s Listowel Emmett’s in the All-Ireland Junior Football Championship final at Croke Park.
Right from the start, Brady’s time at senior level with his club has been eventful. He played in a junior final in his second season, Arva lost that but won it the following year (2014) and went on to lose and then win the intermediate competition over the following two seasons.
The club, who played in Division One this year and finished bottom but survived a relegation play-off, remained an intermediate championship side until the 2021 season when they dropped to junior level.
From there they have rebuilt and, after losing the junior final in 2022, they won it last year and victories over Ballymaguigan, Lisnaskea and, in the Ulster final, Blackhill earned them a provincial title. London’s Wandsworth Gaels and Kildare’s Milltown have been accounted for since to earn the Cavan men a shot at immortality on Sunday.
Brady views Kerry’s Listowel Emmet’s are favourites but Arva should be hard to beat. Since winning their county final, the Cavan champions have recorded winning margins of 15, 10, 7, 8 and 12 points meaning that no team has been within two kicks of the ball of them at the final whistle.
“Some of those games felt tighter than that,” says Brady.
“Lisnaskea gave us a good go and Blackhill were a strong team but we pulled away in the latter minutes which is testament to the shape the lads are in - we’re a fit team.
“I’m sure it’s going to be different this weekend, Listowel are going in as favourites. They are a traditional Kerry team, they love to kick the ball and they love to win. We’ll have a say about that but we know it’s going to be tough.”
When Brady was coming through the ranks, Arva didn’t have enough players to field their own underage teams. The club amalgamated with neighbours Killeshandra as St Joseph’s and enjoyed a lot of success, winning the Cavan title and reaching the Ulster minor final in 2014 when they pushed Derry’s Glen to extra-time.
That Glen side included talents like Conor Glass, Danny Tallon, Cathal Mulholland and Ciaran McFaul who are now making their mark at senior level. Arva are doing that same in the junior grade and are only the third Cavan club to reach an All-Ireland final - Drumgoon won the junior title in 2002 while Swanlinbar lost the 2012 final in 2012.
“Back in 2021, when we had a few injuries including myself, we had to pull out of games – we hadn’t enough to field a team,” explains Brady, an Allstar nominee in 2020 who plans to link up with the Cavan squad before the start of the NFL Division Two programme.
“I was out and there was a few away and one of our selectors who was 40-plus had to play at corner-forward.
“Now we have a panel of 32 and we have full buy-in. It’s testament to our management and the lads who have all rowed in together and you won’t win anything without that whoever you are.
“We’ve had everybody buying in and so far we’ve had good success so long may it continue.”