A group from Castlerahan attended Kingspan Breffni last weekend.
By Cian O’Connell
A thoughtful initiative adopted by Cavan GAA in 2023 bringing older and vulnerable people to Kingspan Breffni is proving to be a real success story.
The collaborative approach, involving the County Board, Health & Wellbeing Committee, and local clubs enables groups to be brought to matches at the venue.
Tony Ryan, Cavan GAA’s Health & Wellbeing Committee chairperson, is delighted with the reaction to the visits so far. “Specsavers started this initiative off early this year, they just targeted one club in every county to go to an inter-county league match this year,” he explains. “That was the genesis of it.
“The County Board and the Health & Wellbeing Committee, we broadened it and said why not bring in all the clubs from Cavan into Kingspan Breffni.
“We have a home inter-county dressing room, there is a tour within that. We also have a new history wall which is a fabulous idea too and the Kingspan Breffni Gallery.”
The enthusiastic way people throughout Cavan GAA have embraced the project is encouraging according to Ryan. “This has been a fantastic initiative,” he adds.
“George Cartwright, Savina Donohoe, and Paddy Sheanon - they are what I call the historians and presenters on the day, they share the knowledge and history of Kingspan Breffni which is 100 years old this year.
“They talk about all of the significant matches, where it all started, and the people behind the stands and field. They give a massive history, I love sitting down listening to it myself. George, Savina, and Paddy, if you don't have them you don't have the tour.
“When the clubs come in, I welcome everyone, but I had over to them. They then take over for an hour and a half giving all of the talks, the background of everything. That is a really strong part of it.”
Cavan’s rich tradition matters deeply. In recent years there have been interesting developments with the museum and history wall. “The buy in has been fantastic,” Ryan remarks. “It does bring that County Board and club thing sort of closer.
“The county chairman Kieran Callaghan is very much behind it, he comes in to all of the visits, he says a few words. The county secretary Martin Cahill is very much involved in the workings around this, they deserve credit. It is a positive initiative.
A group from Ramor United recently visited Kingspan Breffni.
“Kieran Callaghan, it was his idea to do the Kingspan Breffni Gallery, he is very much behind this work, and Martin Cahill was involved in creating the initiative.
“It is a big team effort, when they come in the stewards are fantastic, they are really good to them, so are the kitchen staff. They are small things people might forget about it.”
Cavan GAA have followed the same format for the visits since the start of the year. “The County Board pays for everything, there is no cost for a club,” Ryan says.
“A bus is hired, we select the club and we ask them to target the old and vulnerable, and the long standing members of their clubs. They come on the bus, some might drive, and they come into Kingspan Breffni.
“If it is an inter-county match they'd come in two hours before the match, they do a quick visit of the home dressing room to get a talk there.
“Then they go on to the pitch to get a photograph taken in front of the stand before the teams come out and the crowd comes in. Then they will go to the history wall, which is a new element to the tour.
“It is a really fantastic initiative, we have a wall on the way into Kingspan Breffni, it is maybe three metres in height with enlarged photographs from all over Cavan on the wall of matches, players, teams, and newspaper articles.”
Groups are subsequently brought to the Cavan GAA museum at the venue with for tea and a bite to eat. “They go upstairs to the main area of the tour which is the new Cavan Kingspan Breffni Gallery,” Ryan says.
“They sit down there, they get a presentation from an historian in Cavan, they listen to the historian, ask questions, have a chat. We keep seats for them out in the stand to watch the match. There is a couple of different elements to the tour, the feedback has been extremely positive.”
The tours commenced when inter-county activity was in full swing, but Cavan have continued now that Club Championship games are on the agenda.
“We had four league matches and a Tailteann Cup match, so we got five clubs in,” Ryan says. “With the County Championship just started a couple of weeks ago, when our CCCC put teams in Kingspan Breffni, every Sunday I look at the fixtures to see who is at Kingspan Breffni the following week.
A general view of Kingspan Breffni. Photo by Oliver McVeigh/Sportsfile
“I'd ring up first thing on a Monday morning to say you've been nominated to do this tour, I will send them an email.
“I've been very fair in picking people from all different parts of the county at different levels - junior, intermediate, and senior. The clubs pull together the people, we don't get involved, that is done by the clubs.”
That people are reconnecting with their clubs and communities is significant. “The real winners in this are the clubs,” Ryan says.
“The clubs will get massive buy back from this and that is the way it should be. The clubs should be the people that basically get so much positivity from this.
“We are sort of victims of our own success in that we are getting requests from clubs. We have 42 clubs in Cavan, two hurling clubs, and 40 football clubs. We have 13 done at the moment, it will probably take two years to complete it fully.
“We do want to get every club in, nobody is going to be left out. We have only given clubs five or six days notice, they can pull it together.
“You'd have past players, parents of players, past chairs, and secretaries, and elderly supporters of the clubs. The theme is old, vulnerable, and long standing members of the community.”
The conversations and social aspect of the visits are vital too. “People sitting down having a cup of tea, meeting neighbours and friends,” Ryan says.
“They are doing it in a setting in Kingspan Breffni, they are GAA people. Sitting in the dressing room some of them get a kick out of that, then taking the picture, and up to the new Kingspan Breffni Gallery which is a fantastic facility.
“It is a moving tour, you could nearly do an extra hour. We always do it before a match so we have to get them out into their seats before throw-in.
“After the match they go home on the bus and the clubs get a lot of benefit out of this and there is no cost to the club either. The County Board pays for the bus, food, and tickets. It is money well spent.”