THOMAS McKeever received a third birthday present a day early – the Cavan SFC title coming back to Gowna after a 20-year wait.
The youngster has just 12 years to replicate the feat of his father Mark, who was a sub when the Lough Men regained the county senior football crown in 1999, having been back-to-back champs in 1996 and 1997.
Now 38, Mark went on to play in three consecutive finals, retaining the Oliver Plunkett Cup in 2000, then – after Cavan Gaels dethroned them in the 2001 decider - regaining it in 2002 against the same opponents.
Then…little or nothing. Defeat in the 2007 final by the then-dominant Gaels, and against last year as Ramor United won a replay.
Proudly holding young Thomas, one-time teenage sensation Mark McKeever acknowledged that he'd never have believed Gowna would go 20 years without being crowned Cavan county champions:
"Absolutely not – my first four years on the panel we were in four county finals, won three of them and lost one. '99 was the first year – I was 15, sub that day, but I played in 2000, 2001, 2002.
"So, you think that's going to be the case the whole way along but unfortunately not."
Indeed Gowna might even have been battling for the Intermediate title, McKeever recalls: "We had a couple of near scrapes too, relegation battles and stuff, and in fairness a lot of boys stuck it out and kept us up in senior, which was important for the younger lads coming through."
Joint-boss Dermot McCabe, a star for Gowna, Cavan, and Ireland in the late 90s and 2000s, made particular mention of those older players in keeping the dream alive for the club:
"What was massive in that 20 years was Mark McKeever, was Raymond Keogh, was Gerald Pierson, was Niall Madden, Emmet Madden. Those older players that kept us in senior, kept us competitive. We've only a very small area, three kilometres nearly covers our era."
Another aspect is the younger generation, with Sunday's starting side including 19-year-olds Cormac and Ryan Brady in the full-back line, 20-year-olds Fionan Brady and Tiarnan Madden in the full-back line, 21-year-old midfielder Ryan Donohoe, 22-year-old man of the match Cian Madden, and 19-year-old Conor Casey at corner-forward.
The subs used illustrated the range of ages – including 17-year-old Seanie Hartin and 40-year-old Raymond Keogh.
McCabe acknowledged the kids' talent – but pointed out that others had paved the way for them to star on the senior stage, including colleagues of his who were celebrated as the Jubilee team from 1997:
"The '25' team, we've kids coming back from them, an influx of players came. But if those [older] players hadn't kept our senior status we'd be battling up from whatever grade and years would have been wasted – whereas we were able to hit the ground running."
McKeever also noted the work that players from a quarter-century ago had put into bringing Gowna back to the winners' podium:
"We've reaped the rewards. Our underage has been immense this last couple of years, last 15 years; that's down to a lot of the lads playing on those 90s teams coaching lads, they kept that conveyor belt going, and those underage lads featured today, underage coming through."
He laughed at his own feat in spanning the generations, saying: "Yeah, I played with their fathers and now I'm playing with the sons. It's nice to go full circle with it.
"Look it, Gowna's a small parish, it was gonna have to be sons, or cousins, or something; it's all a family affair really. It's good they've kept the tradition going."
McKeever played a full part, spraying passes from a sweeper role, even if he was self-deprecating, preferring to praise centre half-back Conor Brady and Cian Madden:
"It was like the old man lagging behind! I was quite happy to stand about there. The other two boys are serious driving forces and once they're ahead of you, you can let the boys going and they'll just keep going all day long, fair play to them.
"We learned a little bit from last year and that stood to us – we didn't get carried away pushing forward. I think we controlled the game well and we had a lot of players that could control the game and we got them on the ball a lot."
As for Ulster, Gowna minds might turn to that tonight, or tomorrow…or next week, perhaps:
"I think we needed to get over the line here before talking about anything else. To be honest I haven't a clue who it is or when it is or anything like that. We never looked beyond this.
"This is where we've looked to get back after last year, wanted to get back again. We'll see how it goes, think about it maybe Wednesday or Thursday!," concluded McKeever with a smile.
Gowna will take on the Fermanagh champions, either Enniskillen Gaels or Erne Gaels of Belleek. For now, though, they'll simply enjoy being back on top of the Breffni tree.
