Official Cavan GAA Thread

[Itchy]

Really strong performance from the lads at the weekend, its a rare thing to put a score like that up against Fermanagh and to win so comfortably against them. Serious performances from Gearoid (he clearly doesnt like the Erne men) and Thomas Galligan who was a wrecking ball through out. Sligo are struggling at the moment and while theyve had 2 wins they were very lucky against London and struggled over the line against Leitrim. If Cavan bring the same level of intensity to that game I think they can win it well. It would be nice to see them cut loose a bit in Croke Park, we certainly havent brought our A game there in recent memory.

[Look-Up!]

Yeah good win. Unusually for a derby against Fermanagh we got off to a flier and pretty much kept them at arm's length throughout. Expected the win but thought it would be tight for about an hour or so. Players coming back into form and from injury so should have a strong squad to pick from here on in.
Sligo look like the weakest of the teams left. They've had a poor enough championship so far, made hard work of an easy enough run. I suppose there might be a big game in them but they will have to show considerably more than they have done to cause us panic. They have pace so Croker might suit them but from our point of view it's one we really should be taking buy the scruff of the neck and try run up a decent score.

[Denn Forever]

Will it be on TV?  I don't think it would affect  the crowd.

[Look-Up!]

It's on RTE. Doesn't look like Niall Murphy will be back for Sligo so a big loss for them. We on the other hand look like having a full squad to call on. Hard to see past a Cavan victory. As long as we don't completely screw up and ship goals I think we will be comfortable enough.

Ulster club fixtures out. We have Fermanagh champions first so very tough but not impossible. Obviously if Derrygonnelly can get out of Fermanagh they will be delighted with draw and looking to build on some good form in this competition. Winner plays Armagh/Monaghan/Down. Would be great if Cavan champions could finally get a win in this competition and get to a semi with a bit of momentum (and no hangover).
I'm really looking forward to the club championship. Have a feeling it will be a cracker and eventual winners will be in great shape for first round.

[Westside]

Interesting to hear Graham on WAC talking about how Cavan are playing football the right way, they want to play with pace etc. I don't recall it being something he has talked about previously. I think it's great if you can play that way and keep winning. It feeds into more excitement internally and nationally about the team which can only improve player retention and the desire to be a part of playing football for Cavan at all levels.

I wonder will we see more pace in the side on Sunday maybe a start for Carolan again and Stephen Smith?

[Look-Up!]

Having forwards that can get out and win ball and do something with it will always help teams play at a better tempo. Patrick Lynch has come on leaps and bounds in that regard and if he can continue to improve and other lads in the forward line step up it could be transformational for us in the coming years especially if it's backed up elsewhere on the field with new additions from good underage teams.
Hopefully he stays injury free and handles the expectations. Really looking forward to seeing him in the club championship. Crosserlough could have a big year with James Smith back to his best too. They're going well in the league too blooding some very decent young players.

[Westside]

Having forwards that can get out and win ball and do something with it will always help teams play at a better tempo. Patrick Lynch has come on leaps and bounds in that regard and if he can continue to improve and other lads in the forward line step up it could be transformational for us in the coming years especially if it's backed up elsewhere on the field with new additions from good underage teams.
Hopefully he stays injury free and handles the expectations. Really looking forward to seeing him in the club championship. Crosserlough could have a big year with James Smith back to his best too. They're going well in the league too blooding some very decent young players.

For Paddy's confidence he could do with a good game Sunday. He had a brilliant league final and first two championship games but he has gone off the boil a bit since the Donegal game. That said he's still contributing to the scoreboard. Would be great to see another big Croker performance from him.

[marty34]

Having forwards that can get out and win ball and do something with it will always help teams play at a better tempo. Patrick Lynch has come on leaps and bounds in that regard and if he can continue to improve and other lads in the forward line step up it could be transformational for us in the coming years especially if it's backed up elsewhere on the field with new additions from good underage teams.
Hopefully he stays injury free and handles the expectations. Really looking forward to seeing him in the club championship. Crosserlough could have a big year with James Smith back to his best too. They're going well in the league too blooding some very decent young players.

For Paddy's confidence he could do with a good game Sunday. He had a brilliant league final and first two championship games but he has gone off the boil a bit since the Donegal game. That said he's still contributing to the scoreboard. Would be great to see another big Croker performance from him.

Still a young lad and has had a great season.

He's a marked man now, plus the packed defenses make it a lot harder for someone on the edge of the square.

Wouldn't put too much pressure on him.

[Westside]

Having forwards that can get out and win ball and do something with it will always help teams play at a better tempo. Patrick Lynch has come on leaps and bounds in that regard and if he can continue to improve and other lads in the forward line step up it could be transformational for us in the coming years especially if it's backed up elsewhere on the field with new additions from good underage teams.
Hopefully he stays injury free and handles the expectations. Really looking forward to seeing him in the club championship. Crosserlough could have a big year with James Smith back to his best too. They're going well in the league too blooding some very decent young players.

For Paddy's confidence he could do with a good game Sunday. He had a brilliant league final and first two championship games but he has gone off the boil a bit since the Donegal game. That said he's still contributing to the scoreboard. Would be great to see another big Croker performance from him.

Still a young lad and has had a great season.

He's a marked man now, plus the packed defenses make it a lot harder for someone on the edge of the square.

Wouldn't put too much pressure on him.

There's no pressure on him. If he doesn't play well there's plenty of others to take up the slack. But in what should be a fairly open game on a fast pitch in Croke Park, I'd like to see our young new star forward dominate the scoreboard again.

[Look-Up!]

I think it's very important for both players and management that we play well this weekend and get the win. We should have plenty of options and more than one game winner considering it's bottom 16 competition. A loss would be disastrous actually.

[Denn Forever]

Who here thinks there were other candidates for man of the match?  McLoughlin, either Smith.

[Cavan19]

Who here thinks there were other candidates for man of the match?  McLoughlin, either Smith.

Without a doubt i wouldn't have had Gearoid in the conversation for man of the match the two named would definitely have been more worthy.

[Itchy]

Who here thinks there were other candidates for man of the match?  McLoughlin, either Smith.

McLoughlin was unreal and Smith close 2nd. Who picked the mom?

[Look-Up!]

Probably McLoughlin my man of the match.

Good win in the end but we certainly rode our luck. Sligo will be kicking themselves, passed up a lot of goal chances but their wides were particularly bad. Especially towards the end they had some decent chances to really tighten us but failed to get it between the posts. We missed a few ourselves. Last goal chance for Thomas Galligan really should have been put over the bar to put the game to bed. Could have come back to bite us. Niall Murphy looked a class apart when he came on and caused all sorts of problems but we were dodgy enough looking in defence before that.
We got off to a good start with good attacking intent and looked like it would be a walkover but became ponderous after a while. I thought we stopped attacking the spaces behind them. Runners off the ball stopped making the hard yards or lads on the ball were slow to spot the runs and went with the easy backwards/lateral options. Dodgy penalty got them back in it and incredibly they could have gone in ahead at the break. We kept ticking over second half but there were some very hairy moments and had Sligo a bit more quality/composure we would have been in serious bother.
Patrick Lynch got on a good bit of ball but he had a very sticky marker and recycled everything he got. Probably could have done with more support. Once again in a tight game we were very slow to use the bench and only emptied it to waste time in the end. No one really played badly and we had some very good individual performances on the day but a lot of lads played in their comfort zone and took little risks.

Westmeath in the final it is. They look a big upgrade on anyone, bar Donegal, we've faced so far. Will be a very tough assignment but one we should be looking to win. They had a great win and put up a massive score on Offaly. The Faithful boys are a decent footballing team but undercooked and will take a few more years to develop. In truth Westmeath bullied them. They certainly won't be able to do the same to us but they are a powerful outfit, move the ball well and Heslin is a top forward and match winner. For them, this is also a game they will be fully expecting to win and will have no fear whatsoever of facing us. So all in all, a great final in prospect.

[Westside]

Gearoid played extremely well. No issue with him being MOTM. Gerry Smith could have got it either or even McLoughlin. I've