Muineacháin - An Cabháin - El Classico II

[The Subbie]

I haven't a clue about modern Cavan football, the last time i saw them was in a televised qualifier in Croke Park against Kerry.
Once upon a time, my absolute football hero was Ray Carolan. On his own he was worth 5 x Larry Reilly  and that was  in a time when Ulster football was really tough, not like today's wimps with their verbals and diving histrionics (Tyrone ©).
Monaghan are holding true to the real Ulster sporting culture, we alone in Ulster  carry that ancient torch of  honour, manliness and striving for  sporting excellence. Heavy lies the burden of expectation to perform our ordained duty, but we should manage Cavan by at least 5 points. And most probably this time we will have umpires who are gifted with regular eyesight, who can instinctively tell when a ball is 2 metres over the goal line.

+10000000

[omaghjoe]

I haven't a clue about modern Cavan football, the last time i saw them was in a televised qualifier in Croke Park against Kerry.
Once upon a time, my absolute football hero was Ray Carolan. On his own he was worth 5 x Larry Reilly  and that was  in a time when Ulster football was really tough, not like today's wimps with their verbals and diving histrionics (Tyrone ©).
Monaghan are holding true to the real Ulster sporting culture, we alone in Ulster  carry that ancient torch of  honour, manliness and striving for  sporting excellence. Heavy lies the burden of expectation to perform our ordained duty, but we should manage Cavan by at least 5 points. And most probably this time we will have umpires who are gifted with regular eyesight, who can instinctively tell when a ball is 2 metres over the goal line.

Does true Ulster sporting culture involve decking the county out in the colours of your big bad neighbours?

[GrandMasterFlash]

Couldn't give a shit who is starting for Monaghan. Cavan need to worry about themselves and execute their game plan.

So what about here :

Its always the same against Monaghan, the poor mouthing about injuries is now very predictable. I predict a Cavan win by 1 point.

or here:

Nobody on Cavan team needed to assault Jamie Clarke to remove his influence on the game and it will be the same with McManus.

Jamie Clarke scored what was arguably goal of the championship in that game. It was a disgraceful decision to disallow it as it put Armagh right back in the match. Again Cavan come out best from poor officiating...

That one aside, my central point however is this: when playing against better footballers, it pays in Gaelic games to resort to spoiling tactics. Work out for yourselves who has the better footballers. For the sake of the game, may they win.

Good job we are not playing against better footballers so and its only Monaghan we are up against.

You do seem slightly concerned.. 

[GrandMasterFlash]

I haven't a clue about modern Cavan football, the last time i saw them was in a televised qualifier in Croke Park against Kerry.
Once upon a time, my absolute football hero was Ray Carolan. On his own he was worth 5 x Larry Reilly  and that was  in a time when Ulster football was really tough, not like today's wimps with their verbals and diving histrionics (Tyrone ©).
Monaghan are holding true to the real Ulster sporting culture, we alone in Ulster  carry that ancient torch of  honour, manliness and striving for  sporting excellence. Heavy lies the burden of expectation to perform our ordained duty, but we should manage Cavan by at least 5 points. And most probably this time we will have umpires who are gifted with regular eyesight, who can instinctively tell when a ball is 2 metres over the goal line.

Does true Ulster sporting culture involve decking the county out in the colours of your big bad neighbours?

Do you suffer the same confusion between the flags of the Ivory Coast and Ireland?

[cavanmaniac]

Looking forward to the game. I do believe it's a make or break year for Cavan, we've remodeled the back room and I hope there's a realisation there that after four/five years of strong U21 feeder teams, the time to stop talking about potential/building/youngsters/learning is now. You can't realistically kick the can down the road forever and privately I think Terry & Co. are aware of that.

I think the appointment of McHale was a nod in that direction as things had gone stale, judging by 2014's displays. The closer we get to the game the more I feel we've kept our powder dry in the league, content with Division 2 status for now, and I have an inkling we might be ready to exploit home advantage and nick this by a slender margin after a bit of a slog.

I worry about the forward line but we might see a few things in there on Sunday that weren't revealed in the league, to get an extra few percent out of it.

One of my first championship games in the Park as a nipper was in 1987 when a Monaghan team fresh off the back of an encouraging league, and full of all sorts of notions, had their gallop halted 0-12 to 0-10 with the Irish Press backpage headline bellowing "CAVAN ROCK MONAGHAN!" the next day. Neither team ever fears the other but Cavan will relish the chance to assert their traditional if not recent dominance in the fixture.

Everybody seems to acquire optimism the closer a game gets but I have a feeling Cavan are in the long grass for this one.

Anyway, may the best team win and hopefully there's not too much nonsense involved.

[Bingo]

I'd be surprised if that Monaghan team starts. I note in some of their press release they called it the Monaghan panel rather than monaghan team.

If it starts, its a strong line up, no matter what way it lines up as positional changes could see that team in any shape.

If Monaghan can put a solid 70 mins together I think they'll win with 3/4 to spare. I don't think Cavan will exploit Monaghan defensively where other teams could and if Monaghan get a good start, it could be over midway through the second half. But I expect a battle and it to run close for the first half.

[Westside]

I would implore the officials to keep a close eye on Dick Clerkin.. It would be a crying shame if he is once again allowed to spoil and consistently foul and assault our best midfielder to reduce his impact on the game. He seems to have this "ah sure that's just Clerkin isn't it funny how much of a hatchet man he is" aura about him. That needs to stop.

[Jinxy]

That's a decent Monaghan team.
I always enjoy watching Dessie Moan.

[Westside]

Looking like Killian Clarke is out for Cavan. Huge loss.

[GrandMasterFlash]

That's a decent Monaghan team.
I always enjoy watching Dessie Moan.

Nice double entendre there Jinx! 

[cavan4sam]

Terry Hyland and Cavan Management have named the starting team to play Monaghan in Sunday's Ulster Championship Quarter Final. Throw in in Kingspan Breffni Park is 2pm.

There are no debutants in the starting lineup with one noticeable absentee, Killian Clarke who is ruled out through injury.
Cavan Panel who played Galway

Senior Team in Full:
Conor Gilsenan (Bailieboro), Jason McLoughlin (Shannon Gaels), Rory Dunne (Redhills), Ronan Flanagan (Castlerahan), James McEnroe (Ramor Utd), Feargal Flanagan (Butlersbridge), Damien O'Reilly (Belturbet), Tomas Corr (Denn), Gearoid McKiernan (Swanlinbar), Dara McVeety (Crosserlough), Michael Argue (Bailieboro), Martin Reilly (Killygarry), Cian Mackey (Castlerahan), Martin Dunne (Cavan Gaels), Niall McDermott (Ballinagh).

[GrandMasterFlash]

Cavan (SFC v Monaghan) - Conor Gilsenan; Jason McLoughlin, Rory Dunne, Ronan Flanagan; James McEnroe, Feargal Flanagan, Damien O'Reilly; Tomas Corr, Gearoid McKiernan; Dara McVeety, Michael Argue, Martin Reilly; Cian Mackey, Martin Dunne, Niall McDermott.

Monaghan (SFC v Cavan) - Rory Beggan; Dessie Mone, Drew Wylie, Ryan Wylie; Fintan Kelly, Vinny Corey, Karl O'Connell; Neil McAdam, Dick Clerkin; Owen Duffy, Paul Finlay, Darren Hughes; Dermot Malone, Kieran Hughes, Conor McManus.

Subs: Enda Duffy, Kieran Duffy, Conor Boyle, Colin Walshe, Paudie McKenna, Owen Lennon, Stephen Gollogly, Shane Carey, Ryan McAnespie, Paul Meegan, Christopher McGuinness.


I hope this doesn't have Itchy scratching himself with disgust but I would like to discuss the small matter of starting line-ups..

Any reason why Cavan haven't named their subs? Not that it's mandatory or anything; I'm just curious.

Who will man mark McManus? Rory Dunne would be my automatic choice. Didn't he get (or was at least in contention for) MOTM for marking Donaghy (O'Donoghue?) in the Kerry game last year? To me Argue, Reilly, Mackey and Dunne will take some looking after and could be a formidable enough attack. We have a fairly resolute back 6 though and obviously funnel back in numbers when being counter attacked which can be difficult to breach..

Monaghan's line up and bench look strong. I would be surprised if that 15 started and I would be even more surprised if they start in that formation. Dessie Mone won't (or shouldn't) start at CB. I'd imagine if D Hughes is fit he'll play MF (though I'd expect Clerkin to pick up McKiernan). We've a strong looking bench which is good to see.. I'd love to be in a position to give Lennon some game time (I reckon Walshe is much closer and will feature) but I can't see that being the case i.e. it will be close!

Really looking forward to the atmosphere and the game!

[tommysmith]

Monaghan will rotate who is on McKiernan and each player will abuse, kick, pull and drag out off him for the entire match.  He won't be allowed settle into game and I think Monaghan will win because of McManus and the fact that they will be much cuter/nastier when push comes to shove.

Damien O'Reilly is one player who will be lucky to last the game he doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes.

[GrandMasterFlash]

Monaghan will rotate who is on McKiernan and each player will abuse, kick, pull and drag out off him for the entire match.  He won't be allowed settle into game and I think Monaghan will win because of McManus and the fact that they will be much cuter/nastier when push comes to shove.

Damien O'Reilly is one player who will be lucky to last the game he doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes.

McKiernan should know all about that then.. 

Isn't O'Reilly the joint captain?

[Westside]

Should be noted that Wylie had just opened one of our players with a filthy hit when Gearoid allegedly made a comment to him. Of course potentially seriously injuring a lad is just fine and was promptly forgotten about, the Monaghan lads draw the line at verbal abuse though.

O'Reilly and McKiernan seem to be sharing the captaincy.