The greatest Cavan footballer since 1980

[The Bottom Brick]

What do the other Cavan heads think?

[cavanmaniac]

Scratching my Cavan head to be honest. Twasn't a particularly vintage time for the Breffni Blue footballers so it's kinda hard to guage how any of them would have done against the better teams of the era...

[lynchbhoy]

My answer would be between two Gowna men.

The talented McCabe
or the man who would have died for Cavan Morris.

I'd go for Morris.

[mylestheslasher]

Damien O Reilly was the best on that list in my opinion. He was a big, strong, had a big heart and could basically play anywhere. King was no team man, McCabe a primadona (although both had exceptional skill and ability). What Morris lacked in skill he made up for x2 in effort and heart. But it is Damien for me.

[dodo]

Pat Fallon

[TORGAEL]

Has to Dermot McCabe-immense !

[Sky Blue]

The only one I remember is McCabe. Sad state of Cavan football.

[anglocelt39]

Jim Reilly of Kingscourt Stars

[Onlooker]

I always thought that Jim Reilly was a very good footballer and better than most of those on the voting list.

[CavanCola]

Damien Reilly. Great guts and determination. He had a great never say die attitude. His point in the last couple of minutes against Donegal in Breffnie park in 1992 epitomized his attitude toward the game. Again another team that were unlucky at the time not to go further. If they had a back door in those days cavan would have made a big impact. It was at the height of Ulster's 90's dominace of football in Ireland. In second place I'd have Jim Reilly. Never won anything with Cavan and always gave 100%. Represented ulster on several railway cup teams and I never saw him have a bad game. Aidan Connolly had the potential / talent to be the best!

[cavanmaniac]

Yeah thinking back the best of the lot was probably Damian Reilly. Did a decent job on Canavan in the 95 Ulster final when the wee man was killing fullbacks for fun at the time and of course set up Jayo for the goal in the 1997 decider that buried Derry.

A real warrior, bags of skill, loads of heart and determination. What I wouldn't give to have another like him...]

Carolan I always thought never realised his potential. Pyschologically he was suspect and lacked gumption. Too much of a gentleman on the field, although it wasn't unheard of for him to throw his weight around a bit in club football which always sickened me - he never had the same fight in a blue jersey IMO.

His attitude problems were never better illustrated than in 1997. The kick in the arse he got from being dropped made him play like a man possessed against Donegal but we started him against Derry and, with his place then assured again, he reverted to type and did very little in that game or against Kerry either. A typical free taker in that of he missed his first kick of the day, he'd have a 50% conversion rate thereafter.

He showed us what he could have been against Donegal when he was really up for it and had a point to prove, but in his normal mild-mannered comfort zone he was a very good free taker, occasional scorer from play and a valuable team member but that was it.

[North Longford]

I'd go with Damien Reilly. Had just about everything.
A gentleman off the field as well.

Have a lot of time for Mc Cabe. Know him well enough and never took him to be the Prima Donna he is made out to be.
Been a great player for Cavan in my opinion.

Jim Reilly was class too but he went down very easy once in Breffni in a game with Longford resulting in a Longford man getting the line which I never forgave him for.

Sean Kiernan played very few poor games for yee either..........

Other men I thought were very good for Cavan were John Brady from Laragh, Philip Smith from Crosserloughand of course the Fintan Cahill who was very hard handled on his day.

Don't think Forde gets the credit he deserves either.

[The Bottom Brick]

I thought Carolan had a good game against Derry in 97.

Amazing to think that he started out as a midfielder for Cavan seniors. Bit too nice for that position but still our best forward over a ten eyar period.

Seeing that the last ten years have been Cavan's best since 1980 (u21 all ireland final, ulster title, national league final, ulster final 01) it's surprising to see only McCabe mentioned from that era. No shouts for Larry, Forde, Peter Reilly, Jason...These are the lads the team has been "built around" since '96.

Says it all really.

[Blue06]

Jim Reilly gets my vote, with his best performance when we beat the Mushrrom pickers in '87.  He actually played midfield that day but his natural and best position was left half back.

Maniac, agree with with you on Carolan except for the Ulster Final v Derry where I felt he played as well if not better that day as he did against Donegal.  He scored 3-4 points from play off Henry Downey, not too many did that.

[cavanmaniac]

Did he? My apologies so, but he was defo no leader like he should have been v Kerry. Still, a huge servant to our county and one to be respected.

Fintan Cahill is another great shout. A bit of a shitehawker by times but as the poster above says he was shocking hard handled when his pace and strength was at full pitch. Some great years under McHugh to be sure.

Forde I thought was the best centre-back in Ulster by a country mile the year we lost to Tyrone in the final, 2001 was it, under Val Andrews. It was actually a great half back line, James Doonan was playing very well in there too, can't remember the third guy, was it Peter Reilly? However like most of the others in the class of 97, he slightly sullied his reputation since - not as much as some others, granted - with average form, barracking refs and persistent fouling. A very dedicated guy though, something to be cherished in the current dressing room.