MULLAHORAN star Killian Brady admits some home truths had to be told before the club could bounce back from losing its senior status last year – and, with an Ulster intermediate final on the horizon, they are reaping the benefits now.
Sitting third on the list of county senior titles won, behind Cornafean and Cavan Gaels, Mullahoran is a club well used to competing at the top table of Cavan football.
Indeed, manager Seanie Smith was on the sides that lifted the Oliver Plunkett Cup in 1998, 2006 and 2012 before hanging up the boots and taking over the bainisteoir’s bib in 2017.
But, following a steady decline in recent years, the Dreadnoughts finally dropped down to intermediate for the first time in 40 years after failing to win a game in the top flight.
Brady admits that, as painful as it was, something was going to give eventually.
The rebuilding process started immediately, with some frank discussions taking place before the slate was wiped clean.
“It was probably coming for a couple of years – we had been struggling. Down the road you could see it coming,” said Brady, one of Cavan’s top performers in a disappointing summer.
“When I was minor there was five or six of us came in at the one time, there was a gap of four or five years there where there was no underage coming through.
“Early on we would’ve identified there was a gap between young and old - we weren’t gelling right, we weren’t pulling together and there was probably two distinct groups within one group.
“We just had to hit the reset button, and we came over that a lot quicker than we thought ourselves in the last 12 months; it’s nearly been instant. Winning games helped, younger lads stepping up in some of the games and showing they do have that will to win that people would’ve questioned.
“I was certain myself last year after relegation that there was enough within the group to come back, but people maybe from the outside mightn’t have seen it.
“Lads have answered all their critics this year, and then some.”
He’s not wrong there. After conquering Cavan, a thrilling Ulster campaign has seen them edge past Down champions Bredagh and Derry outfit Banagher – both after extra-time - to book a final clash with Antrim’s St Enda’s on December 1.
With their swift return to senior in Cavan already secured, Mullahoran’s exciting mix of youth and experience is now deep into bonus territory, and loving every bit of the journey that has taken them there.
Smith has overseen a group transformed, from scraping confidence off the floor to watching it soar through the roof, and they will head into the decider with St Enda’s believing anything is possible.
“We were senior for 40 years and it was difficult to drop back but, looking at it now, in the long run it was probably the route we had to go for that transition. To be fair to the lads, they all knuckled down, got stuck in and we focused on getting back to senior,” said the Dreadnoughts boss.
“We have seen now how those younger lads have developed. Probably a lot of us think about tradition and history, but for those lads it was just about getting into a competition, going and playing.
“Whether it was a lower division or intermediate championship, they just wanted to go and start winning, and then you get the winning habit going. We played 13 league games in Division Two, won 12 of them.
“Now we’re in a situation where these guys want to keep winning. Ulster brings a different challenge, which is great.
“It’s been a huge turnaround in 12 months.”
