Tír Eoghain vs An Cabhán Ulster Semi Replay 4pm 03/07/2016 @Clones

[seafoid]

Terry Hyland's methodical approach starting to pay off for Cavan

Val Andrews praises former selector's success in bringing through emerging talent


about 9 hours ago Updated: about 6 hours ago


Seán Moran



It's all of four years since Terry Hyland took over the reins of the Cavan footballers on the eve of the 2012 championship after

Val Andrews had stepped down following a declaration of player discontent.

It's been a bumpy trip in the meantime and just last summer Hyland thought long and hard about staying on in the wake of the qualifier defeat by Roscommon before re-committing at the end of September.

Since then things have come together remarkably and Sunday's emphatic win over Armagh in the Ulster quarter-final comes just weeks after Hyland's team secured a return to Division One football for the first time in 12 years – while adding an impressively prolific attacking game to a previously defensive orientation.

The next match is an undoubted challenge – against a Tyrone side, which devastated Derry in their quarter-final and which beat Cavan in April's Division Two final in Croke Park. However, Hyland and his team are feeling upbeat.


Hyland's involvement with Cavan is long-standing. He was a selector with Andrews during the Dubliner's first stint in the county as manager and it was natural that he would want to give the top job a shot after Andrews terminated his second period in charge.

Optimism

The county has managed just one Ulster title in the 47 years but the optimism in the county at present is grounded in a sequence of fine under-21 teams, which won four successive provincial titles and reached the 2013 All-Ireland final.

While involved with the seniors, Hyland was manager for the first two years of that sequence before Peter Reilly took over. According to Andrews, his former selector has been a critical influence in the rise of Cavan in recent years.

"Terry is to be applauded. He's a learner – as he would have to be as a successful business man. The attacking game evolved because he knew the limitations of being too defensive. He was a major player in that under-21 success because he was aware of the importance of bringing in the best people he could, and from outside if necessary.

"As a business man, he has an innate, strategic instinct. That's why he identified under-21 as the crucial age group and one of his big strengths is that he's not afraid to surround himself with expertise. Dublin appointed Bryan Cullen as a full-time strength and conditioning director but Terry was the driver for Cavan to do the same well before that."

Peter Donnelly, the former Tyrone under-21 captain, was appointed to the position in Cavan before moving back to his own county at the end of last year.

Cavan have laboured under the twin impediments of a suffocating history that saw the county land five All-Irelands in 20 years – the last in 1953 – and a small population, 73,000 at the last census, which limits the choice of footballers.

"They needed to lose the whole tradition thing," said Andrews. "The Polo Grounds [the New York venue for the 1947 All-Ireland final] was a great achievement but counties have to live in the 'now'. Terry looked at what was needed for the future rather than what success there was in the past."

Tyrone will be firm favourites, but five years ago half of the team that beat Derry played in the under-21 Ulster final in which Cavan defeated them.

[Fuzzman]

Itchy of course you're right in that the team need to believe that they are good enough and ready to step up to the plate. As Mickey Harte used to say years ago if you believe you will win then you have a chance but if you don't really believe it then you're beat even before you start.
I think that what's sets Ulster apart from the other provinces is that for a lot of teams there is no inferiority complex or at least there wasn't for years. You gotta come out for a battle and ask the hard questions of the favourites and too often lately that hasn't been happening for a lot of teams. Derry, Armagh and Down have all lost their fight it seems with Monaghan joining Donegal in putting in huge efforts to reach their goal.
As Hyland said Tyrone will be a different animal but Cavan gave us problems before when we went on to win the AI so with the right attitude they should at least be putting it up to Tyrone.

I don't think the showing that they put against Armagh will be good enough but maybe a bit like Tyrone they knew they had the game won early on and took the foot of the gas. Croke park played a part in our easy enough win in the league final and Clones will be more of a leveller there I'd say. If you push up on our kickouts and can share the scores around and not just depend on Seanie J then it will get interesting.
I'd say Ronan O'Neill will be a marked man from here on in although the way we rotate our forwards Ronan could get space elsewhere.

[omagh_gael]

Feck it. I am starting to get excited about our setup this year.

I think over the last 3-4 years we had good teams but some weak links. Any team is only as strong as their weakest link, and looking at the team O'Neill put up from the Mayo AI semi final in '13, it contained weak links. I believe that we have introduced a number of really strong players to fill those gaps and more importantly there is real quality in the wings to replace, reinforce and freshen up.

I think this is a good Cavan team but I'm going to put my neck on the line and say we'll take this by 5 points holding Cavan off in a similar manner to the league final.

[lenny]

Feck it. I am starting to get excited about our setup this year.

I think over the last 3-4 years we had good teams but some weak links. Any team is only as strong as their weakest link, and looking at the team O'Neill put up from the Mayo AI semi final in '13, it contained weak links. I believe that we have introduced a number of really strong players to fill those gaps and more importantly there is real quality in the wings to replace, reinforce and freshen up.

I think this is a good Cavan team but I'm going to put my neck on the line and say we'll take this by 5 points holding Cavan off in a similar manner to the league final.

Tyrone have improved this year with Donnelly implementing a more modern and effective gameplan but I think they are still a bit lightweight up front.

[omagh_gael]

Feck it. I am starting to get excited about our setup this year.

I think over the last 3-4 years we had good teams but some weak links. Any team is only as strong as their weakest link, and looking at the team O'Neill put up from the Mayo AI semi final in '13, it contained weak links. I believe that we have introduced a number of really strong players to fill those gaps and more importantly there is real quality in the wings to replace, reinforce and freshen up.

I think this is a good Cavan team but I'm going to put my neck on the line and say we'll take this by 5 points holding Cavan off in a similar manner to the league final.

Tyrone have improved this year with Donnelly implementing a more modern and effective gameplan but I think they are still a bit lightweight up front.

Lightweight in the physical sense or ability to rack up big scores?

[lenny]

Feck it. I am starting to get excited about our setup this year.

I think over the last 3-4 years we had good teams but some weak links. Any team is only as strong as their weakest link, and looking at the team O'Neill put up from the Mayo AI semi final in '13, it contained weak links. I believe that we have introduced a number of really strong players to fill those gaps and more importantly there is real quality in the wings to replace, reinforce and freshen up.

I think this is a good Cavan team but I'm going to put my neck on the line and say we'll take this by 5 points holding Cavan off in a similar manner to the league final.

Tyrone have improved this year with Donnelly implementing a more modern and effective gameplan but I think they are still a bit lightweight up front.

Lightweight in the physical sense or ability to rack up big scores?

Lightweight as in I don't think they'll be able to run up enough scores v the top teams. Having said that since Donnelly has come in the organisation of the team has improved and they look to be very difficult to play against.

[bigpackiechestout]

I've read many people in the media (particularly Joe Brolly) and in this forum over the past while crediting Peter Donnelly as being the brains behind Tyrone's current system of play, but is this actually the case?

Is Peter Donnelly not the conditioning expert and strength and conditioning expert? If so, would it not be the case that he is responsible for ensuring the players are in optimum condition to be able to implement the system, but that Mickey Harte and Gavin Devlin deserve the credit for devising the system?

Maybe i'm nitpicking but I kind of get the impression that Mickey isn't getting enough credit from some quarters (again, particularly Brolly) for reinventing Tyrone and coming up with this gameplan which seems to suit the players at his disposal.

[BennyHarp]

I've read many people in the media (particularly Joe Brolly) and in this forum over the past while crediting Peter Donnelly as being the brains behind Tyrone's current system of play, but is this actually the case?

Is Peter Donnelly not the conditioning expert and strength and conditioning expert? If so, would it not be the case that he is responsible for ensuring the players are in optimum condition to be able to implement the system, but that Mickey Harte and Gavin Devlin deserve the credit for devising the system?

Maybe i'm nitpicking but I kind of get the impression that Mickey isn't getting enough credit from some quarters (again, particularly Brolly) for reinventing Tyrone and coming up with this gameplan which seems to suit the players at his disposal.

I was thinking similar myself but there's no doubt the team look more physically capable of carrying out the high intensity gameplan since Donnelly came on board.

[lenny]

I've read many people in the media (particularly Joe Brolly) and in this forum over the past while crediting Peter Donnelly as being the brains behind Tyrone's current system of play, but is this actually the case?

Is Peter Donnelly not the conditioning expert and strength and conditioning expert? If so, would it not be the case that he is responsible for ensuring the players are in optimum condition to be able to implement the system, but that Mickey Harte and Gavin Devlin deserve the credit for devising the system?

Maybe i'm nitpicking but I kind of get the impression that Mickey isn't getting enough credit from some quarters (again, particularly Brolly) for reinventing Tyrone and coming up with this gameplan which seems to suit the players at his disposal.

In the game v Derry at celtic park Donnelly seemed to be giving the instructions to players about where to be and also seemed to make a couple of positional switches. From the outside he seemed to be having much more of an influence than just strength and conditioning.

[Gaffer]

Has clones been confirmed? Hard to see it being anywhere else. When was the last time Tyrone won a championship game there? There hasn't been too many since the 2010 ulster final.

Clones it is! A boy from Aughamullen told me!

[Westside]

Time will tell but my basic point is that we Cavan need to stop thinking about ourselves as inferior and be happy with a good show and instead tear into the opposition expecting to win.Our young lads are winners, they don't know fear like done of the older lads and that will be critical in a few weeks. Hopefully will be the game to get this ulster championship going

I agree with you there Itchy, my substantive earlier point was, however, that the players themselves don't seem to be in a position to do this yet. I think our lads have certainly changed the psychology since the horror years, but last year against Monaghan exposed that, upstairs, they hadn't the ruthlessness and belief to go and kill the game off when firmly in the driving seat and to a lesser extent the same happened against Armagh on Sunday - after both goals there was an almost instinctive slackening off to the point where a fairly shite Armagh side riddled with issues could have been within three points with 13 minutes to go. This 'what-we-have-we-hold' mentality speaks to me of inferiority and a lack of big game maturity, or something. So winning against Tyrone would be a hell of a step up for these lads right now I think.

I do agree though that at some stage, we have to decide are we there to win or just make up the numbers etc. - I'm just wondering if the players are there yet. Anyway, hope I'm wrong. I'll eat shell and all if there's egg on my face in three weeks, and happily.

A huge part of the game is mental, that much is certain. However a lot of it is still down to the skill, strength, power etc of the 15 lads on the field. We were playing the eventual Ulster Champions with the best player in Ulster (and Ireland if you ask me) on their team. I don't think we lost solely because our mentality for the game wasn't right, losing Martin Reilly, the effort the players had put in to gain that 5 point lead, Conor McManus being unmarkable in that second half, they were all factors.

In 2013 for example, we beat Armagh at home in the first round. We had gained a nice lead and Armagh came storming back and got the goal to bring the game to within a point (I think) and we kicked on and won. Nobody lauded our big game mentality back then, so why call it into question when we come out on the wrong side of the close game?

[SkillfulBill]

Time will tell but my basic point is that we Cavan need to stop thinking about ourselves as inferior and be happy with a good show and instead tear into the opposition expecting to win.Our young lads are winners, they don't know fear like done of the older lads and that will be critical in a few weeks. Hopefully will be the game to get this ulster championship going

I agree with you there Itchy, my substantive earlier point was, however, that the players themselves don't seem to be in a position to do this yet. I think our lads have certainly changed the psychology since the horror years, but last year against Monaghan exposed that, upstairs, they hadn't the ruthlessness and belief to go and kill the game off when firmly in the driving seat and to a lesser extent the same happened against Armagh on Sunday - after both goals there was an almost instinctive slackening off to the point where a fairly shite Armagh side riddled with issues could have been within three points with 13 minutes to go. This 'what-we-have-we-hold' mentality speaks to me of inferiority and a lack of big game maturity, or something. So winning against Tyrone would be a hell of a step up for these lads right now I think.

I do agree though that at some stage, we have to decide are we there to win or just make up the numbers etc. - I'm just wondering if the players are there yet. Anyway, hope I'm wrong. I'll eat shell and all if there's egg on my face in three weeks, and happily.

A huge part of the game is mental, that much is certain. However a lot of it is still down to the skill, strength, power etc of the 15 lads on the field. We were playing the eventual Ulster Champions with the best player in Ulster (and Ireland if you ask me) on their team. I don't think we lost solely because our mentality for the game wasn't right, losing Martin Reilly, the effort the players had put in to gain that 5 point lead, Conor McManus being unmarkable in that second half, they were all factors.

In 2013 for example, we beat Armagh at home in the first round. We had gained a nice lead and Armagh came storming back and got the goal to bring the game to within a point (I think) and we kicked on and won. Nobody lauded our big game mentality back then, so why call it into question when we come out on the wrong side of the close game?

It's a big ask for Cavan coming up against a ressurgent Tyrone team with a mixture of hunger youth and players who jave done it all on the big stage. Throw in the fact that Tyrone have already beaten thus side twice this year and Cavan will not be coming into this game with any element of surprise or the likely hood of Tyrone understimating them. I can't see Cavan making it past Tyrone.

[ONeill]

Fathers' Day and Benburb Sunday. What a dilemma.

[seafoid]

Fathers' Day and Benburb Sunday. What a dilemma.

bring some yellow biscuits

[Westside]

Time will tell but my basic point is that we Cavan need to stop thinking about ourselves as inferior and be happy with a good show and instead tear into the opposition expecting to win.Our young lads are winners, they don't know fear like done of the older lads and that will be critical in a few weeks. Hopefully will be the game to get this ulster championship going

I agree with you there Itchy, my substantive earlier point was, however, that the players themselves don't seem to be in a position to do this yet. I think our lads have certainly changed the psychology since the horror years, but last year against Monaghan exposed that, upstairs, they hadn't the ruthlessness and belief to go and kill the game off when firmly in the driving seat and to a lesser extent the same happened against Armagh on Sunday - after both goals there was an almost instinctive slackening off to the point where a fairly shite Armagh side riddled with issues could have been within three points with 13 minutes to go. This 'what-we-have-we-hold' mentality speaks to me of inferiority and a lack of big game maturity, or something. So winning against Tyrone would be a hell of a step up for these lads right now I think.

I do agree though that at some stage, we have to decide are we there to win or just make up the numbers etc. - I'm just wondering if the players are there yet. Anyway, hope I'm wrong. I'll eat shell and all if there's egg on my face in three weeks, and happily.

A huge part of the game is mental, that much is certain. However a lot of it is still down to the skill, strength, power etc of the 15 lads on the field. We were playing the eventual Ulster Champions with the best player in Ulster (and Ireland if you ask me) on their team. I don't think we lost solely because our mentality for the game wasn't right, losing Martin Reilly, the effort the players had put in to gain that 5 point lead, Conor McManus being unmarkable in that second half, they were all factors.

In 2013 for example, we beat Armagh at home in the first round. We had gained a nice lead and Armagh came storming back and got the goal to bring the game to within a point (I think) and we kicked on and won. Nobody lauded our big game mentality back then, so why call it into question when we come out on the wrong side of the close game?

It's a big ask for Cavan coming up against a ressurgent Tyrone team with a mixture of hunger youth and players who jave done it all on the big stage. Throw in the fact that Tyrone have already beaten thus side twice this year and Cavan will not be coming into this game with any element of surprise or the likely hood of Tyrone understimating them. I can't see Cavan making it past Tyrone.

Of course it's a big ask, it's a big ask because Tyrone are a stronger team overall than Cavan. The likes of McAliskey, Ronan O'Neill etc had and have the Cavanaghs, the McMahon's and other All Ireland winning players to look up to when they came into the squad, it was a good settled Division 1 side. A lot of Cavan's players came through to a bottom of the barrel side with no motivation and a toxic culture and were expected to become the foundation of the side right away and bring a whole new standard of behaviour and dedication. It's been a long road for Cavan to be where they are now. If the squad sticks together I feel they will make a breakthrough in the next few years. Perhaps David Brady or Tomas Galligan could come through and be the scoring threat we need. I don't think we will beat Tyrone, but I don't think we will hand it to them either.
I also think Ronan O'Neill and McAliskey will be found wanting further down the line.