SOMETIME AROUND SATURDAY at noon, when the luxury team coach arrives at the top of the Ballinagh Road and takes that sharp left onto Park Lane, it will be the first time that the natural ampitheatre of Breffni Park meets the entity that is Ulster Rugby.
When the Rob Baloucounes and the Nick Timoneys and Will Addisons are in ‘the sheds’ pulling on their socks and boots, they might study their surrounds with a quizzical eye as they get ready to face Glasgow Warriors in the pre-season friendly.
They are being temporarily rehoused as Ravenhill’s pitch has been taken up and replaced with an artificial surface, a necessity after some examples of the pitch being unplayable in recent years.
The walls of the home dressing room in Breffni Park are lined with fifteen shields, one for each position in Gaelic football.
They go in order, from goalkeeper to left corner-forward, each shield bearing the names of the greats of that jersey.
From Standish O’Grady, the captain of the Ulster-winning side in 1925, through the George Best figure of Charlie Gallagher, all wide lapels on his suits, sports cars and the skills and ultimate demise through alcohol, onto the more modern folk heroes such as the Larry Reillys.
Ever since there were drumlins in Cavan, there has been a subtle, sporting apartheid. You can say there is hurling, but it is a minor distraction outside of the hold-outs of Cootehill and Mullahoran and a couple of others. There’s virtually no soccer. There’s a light dusting of handball diehards, enough to have spawned probably the greatest-ever in Paul Brady.
Almost fifty years ago, two tiny Republics of Rugby were carved out in Cavan Town and Virginia. The County Cavan Rugby Club was formed in 1974. Today, they are a short walk away from Breffni Park.
Even in their conception, there were issues, not least their geographic position within Ulster. Immediately, the scale of the travel terrified potential players.
‘The Skins’ of Enniskillen were the first to give them a game, but after that, there weren’t enough bodies willing to get into a bus to head to areas around Derry and Belfast, placenames that they would hear enough about on the evening bulletins announcing a latest tragedy. So instead they entered the north-east Leinster league.
The league were happy enough to have them. Right up to the point they started winning.
Noel Finn of the club recalls those times.
“We won a Cup in Leinster in 1978 and that sort of hurried the process up. I can recall being on a sideline in Gorey, I think it was. And when it became clear we were going to win, there were suggestions about where we should go!”
They took anyone who fancied a game of rugby, with little questions. The great Gaelic footballer Gabriel Kelly played for them when commitments allowed on and off for years.
They moved into the Ulster Branch of the IRFU and nowadays, the games are all-day spectaculars, home and away.
“In the Belfast areas we have Belfast High School, Civil Service, PSNI and Hollywood, Lisburn are in that region,” Finn explains.
“Then, we have Strabane, Newry, plenty of driving. It takes up the whole day, really. It’s a full day gone. Even for home matches can be a full day.
“We supply a meal for the travelling team, always. We have facilities in the clubhouse and always provide a meal for those travelling down.”
Once the County Cavan club were up and running, a crowd from the other side of the county followed suit and Virginia Rugby Football Club was born. Located in Deerpark on the edge of Lough Ramor, they got players wherever they could.
Club President Ned Lochaden never really paid much heed to any sport until he was asked if he could apply his talents to the front row.
“There was nothing at school or anything like that. There was the wee rugby club beside us and I joined up and am still there, unfortunately. Once they get you get in, you can’t get out!” laughs Lochaden.
“It’s sort of like going to jail, but at least when you go to jail, you get a reprieve.
“But I went into the front row. Up with the grunting and the pushing. It’s not like it is today, now.
“I am a farmer and I do a bit of rooting around. I am a tyre-fitter by trade. They asked me to come down to Virginia and try it out. I had never played a game of Gaelic football in my life. Rugby suited me.”
He’s been there now for 30 years. The league they are playing in involves a similar level of travelling. Any rugby players in Cavan are committed as they heads off to Ballynahinch, Coleraine or Letterkenny every fortnight.
At present, they run 17 teams, from mini-rugby up to seniors.
Saturday will be a proud moment for both clubs, to see the first game of rugby played on an Ulster GAA pitch.
Youth players from both Cavan and Virginia, along with Enniskillen and Monaghan Rugby clubs will be playing games at half-time on the pitch.
But it would be a stretch to say they are Ulster Rugby die-hards.
The reason for that is simple. Ulster Rugby is predominantly an east of the River Bann pastime. And they have enough to be getting on with.
Finn talks with obvious pride about their two existing pitches, but the work going in to create a third, along with a walking track and a training area. Just like any GAA club caught up in the off-field competitive facilities-building race, the cause endures, the dream survives.
As for Ulster Rugby themselves, it was interesting to hear from Chief Executive Officer Jonny Petrie this week.
With Ulster casting around for a suitable venue to host their ‘home’ friendlies, he revealed his point of contact was Ulster Council CEO Brian McAvoy.
Securing county grounds in the middle of October would be difficult with county championships in full swing, but Cavan were keen.
No, he insists that the link between Cavan and Ulster Rugby – both benefactors of Kingspan’s sponsorship – had nothing to do with it.
“Cavan were one of those that came back and ultimately the one that worked best for us. The facility and the availability. I’m delighted it’s been sorted and delighted to be going down there,” said Petrie.
In time, he hopes this paves the way to playing big European games in a redeveloped Casement Park.
“Absolutely. I think that’s always been part of the business case around Casement that we would find opportunities,” he said.
“The way that you see Leinster and Toulouse across France with the football stadium. The big set-piece games, we don’t want to have to take them to the Aviva, we want to play them here in Ulster.
“If Casement plays a part in that then great. Pre-season friendlies, we’re looking forward to seeing the uptick on it this weekend.
“It’s been great that something that’s borne out of necessity in the first place has become something that’s a really positive story for us and we’re really looking forward to getting down there on Saturday.”