By Cian O’Connell

Time flies playing football. Ciarán Brady will certainly testify to that assertion. In the summer of 2011 Brady won an Ulster MFC medal with Cavan. It was a campaign packed with memories and a cherished medal.

The intervening years haven’t been short on drama either in the Cavan or Arva jerseys. Silverware has been secured, painful losses endured too.

Brady’s passion for the game, though, isn’t wavering and on the eve of the AIB All-Ireland Club JFC Final against Listowel Emmets, he knows the relevance and importance of the occasion.

“It is pretty special, the entire town has gone bonkers that we are heading for Croke Park on Sunday,” he laughs.

“It is just a pretty big build up, it has been a short turnaround from last Saturday. There is a lot to be done by some of the committee members around the club, to get things right for Sunday. It is all roads to Croke Park on Sunday.”

Arva’s journey to GAA headquarters has certainly been eventful. The early years of Brady’s adult career featured four county finals (two junior and two intermediate), but then Arva drifted down the ranks again.

A daring comeback has been summoned. “In the last 10 years it has been a mixed bag,” Brady reflects.

“When I first came into the team, in my second year we got to a junior final, we lost it in 2013. The following year we got to it again, and we won it. In '15 in our first year up in intermediate, we actually got to the intermediate final, and we lost.

“The following year in '16, we got to an intermediate final again, and we won it. So, we played in four county finals in four years. A lot of that team were young lads, including myself, back then.

“When we got to senior level in 2017 we were at the end of a long road even though we were all young, there had been a lot of time and effort invested with management teams and everything.”

Senior football was a demanding environment. “We got as tough a draw as you could ever get, we lost to Gowna in a relegation play/off,” Brady recalls.

“They've won the last two county championships, we got Ramor United, Cavan Gaels, and Castlerahan, we were in a group with them. We were handed a tough card. Then, in the couple of years until our most recent success, we probably had a few lads travelling and different injuries. We fell back down to junior in 2021, we had a freakish year.

“I missed that year myself with an ACL injury, we had Johnny McCabe, our captain in 2016 when we won the intermediate, he went to Australia. We had a freakish year with injuries, we were really decimated and found ourselves where we were - junior status for the championship.”

Brady is adamant about the benefits that were accrued when Arva combined at underage level with Killeshandra. Young footballers from the area were given an opportunity and a platform to demonstrate their talent. “In Arva we hadn't that many people in the county (team), I can't think when there was a footballer with the county in recent times,” he recalls.

“Even at minor level it was hard to get recognised. We joined at minor level with Killeshandra, we became St Joseph's. We were in Division One, we got to a minor county final, we lost after a replay to Cavan Gaels.

“The core of that team were county minors, including myself. We went on to win an Ulster minor championship in 2011 with Cavan, we hadn't won it in 30 odd years. That standard it really stood to us, we were playing at a high grade, we were playing the best footballers in Cavan.

“That continued on to U21s, we won U21 championships, we got to an Ulster final. We actually played Glen, who have the bulk of that team now - Ciaran McFaul, Conor Glass, Emmett Bradley, and all of them boys.

“We lost by a few that particular day, but the underage success has led us to having an overall better team at senior level.”

Being able to adequately deal with setbacks has helped Brady. Those tough days coming back from a serious knee injury examined resolve. “It was a tough year, it was just on the back of 2020 when we won an Ulster with Cavan, I had got nominated for an All-Star,” Brady says.

“Then, come the second league game against Longford in 2021, I did my ACL. That year we got relegated with Cavan to Division Four, Arva were relegated to junior the same year. It was definitely a tough year on the sideline and not a year I've fond memories of, after such a high in 2020.”

It has been a hectic stint, but Brady is thoroughly enjoying Arva’s adventure. Following Sunday’s encounter at Croke Park, Brady is looking forward to returning to the Cavan set-up with Raymond Galligan now in charge of the Breffni outfit. “Raymond has been on to me, he has been in regular contact with me,” Brady explains.

“He is eager to have the full complement for the first round of the league against Donegal. My concentration right now is on club, but I will be going back in due course. I'll probably take a week, just to settle back down, to come back down to earth.

“It is a pretty big high being in an All-Ireland club final with your club. This week leading up to it, that is all I'm thinking about. I'm sure I will take a week to dust myself down before I go back into the senior set-up.”

Brady is still going strong for Arva and Cavan.