Official Cavan GAA Thread

[Look-Up!]

Interesting final in prospect. Great wins for Crosserlough and Kingscourt yesterday.
Very exciting semi final with Castlerahan. Both teams made plenty of mistakes. Crosserlough play nice stuff at times but can look inexperienced and nervous and struggle to capitalize when on top. But they showed plenty of fight too when the BJD outfit had the upper hand. Finally got the momentum with the penalty decision and result never in doubt after that. Plenty for them to improve on too which is no bad way to approach a final. It looked a frustrated Castlerahan side after that and maybe one on the wane. Very sad to see Ronan Flanagan have to be carried off.
Great composed performance from Kingscourt to see off the Gaels. They played some beautiful sweeping first time football at times but were very disciplined and frustrated the Gaels when they had to. All without their two best players too. Barry Reilly is a class act and if there is one man you would want on your team for county final day, it's him. McKiernan looked like he was going to set the house on fire from the off but Alan Clarke put him off his stride. Looked eye catching at times but overall his influence was limited even though he was one of their better performers. Lucky to stay on the pitch too. Plenty of good footballers on that Gaels team but look short of leaders and ideas when plan A doesn't work.
Hard to call a winner for the final. Hope Faulkner is ok to play. I heard a few people already tipping Crosserlough to win but I'm not so sure. They need to improve and they need to show more composure. On balance they might have more good footballers than Kingscourt but if you were to pick the top 3/4 players on show for the final you could argue they're all from East Cavan. Kingscourt can probably mix the game plan up more and have the players to control a game and change the tempo when required. Much like the Gaels, if plan A goes out the window I would worry for Crosserlough. A good start and open game is essential for them. They most certainly don't want to be chasing a lead against a team like Kingscourt.
Great Intermediate final in prospect too. Only saw one of the semi finals yeaterday. Great game of football. Niall McDermott is still a class act.

[rodney trotter]

Crosserlough play a swashbuckling style, but look suspect when teams run at them. The Smiths were very good for Crosserlough. Pierce with a good goal. They did lack composure at times, was one instance where they tried to fist a goal when maybe could have caught the ball.
Mackey would have been a big help for Castlerahan. It was a game like yesterday, where he would shown his cuteness..

Kingscourt deserving winners. Cian Shecelton a player under the radar with a very good performance. He was a Co Minor panelist a few years ago. Barry Reilly would be the best free taker in the County. A shame he can't commit to the County.
Bar G McKiernan the Gaels look a bit limited. Niall Murray missed the whole Championship and would be a big loss,.
But they have a lot of similar type players..  Kingscourt have bigger athletic forwards like Peter Corrigan and Tinnelly who are quality players.

[Denn Forever]

Did the heart good to see that game.  Must have been good crack to hear the boys on Northern Sound. 

[Westside]

Safe to say Knockbride didn't take their beating well...

[five points]

Something happen?

[Westside]

Well the stewards had to come on and walk the ref off the field while the Knockbride players remonstrated with him. They (not necessarily players) seem to have sent a lot of complaints the way of the WeAreCavan Podcast. Strange behaviour given that they didn't lead the game at any point and the footage shows a clear square ball. I wonder did the umpire tell them he thought otherwise and that's what caused the furore?

Good senior final. I'd probably fancy Crosserlough for the replay. They look like the better side.

[five points]

Thanks. I just heard there was a late square ball goal. Them's the breaks...

It was a great senior final. Crosserlough are the better team but Kingscourt are smart and work very hard.

[Itchy]

Safe to say Knockbride didn't take their beating well...

Making fools of themselves on twitter

[Itchy]

Thanks. I just heard there was a late square ball goal. Them's the breaks...

It was a great senior final. Crosserlough are the better team but Kingscourt are smart and work very hard.

I'm not so sure, Kingscourt looked to have figured them out at the end of that game. I think stars could do it. If only mcvitty was in the country, his presence would be the difference.

[mrdeeds]

Safe to say Knockbride didn't take their beating well...

Making fools of themselves on twitter

It's awful carry on a club's twitter doing that. It was a square ball.

[Look-Up!]

Congratulations to Ballinagh on a great victory at weekend. Niall McDermott is a class act and hard to pick a better club forward in the county at the moment.
Senior final was a great game of football. Played in great spirit, high tempo, open and honest in perfect conditions for football. Crosserlough got off to a great start and looked like they could romp away with it but once Kingscourt got to the grips of the game they reeled them in. I think Crosserlough will be disappointed they were not much further ahead at half time but it's a trait of this team that they don't always transfer their dominance to the score board. Having said that they rode their luck a bit too with a couple of refereeing decisions. Second half despite conceding a goal immediately, Kingscourt really found their groove and looked the more controlled team last quarter. A lot of Crosserlough players went out of the game at that stage and it looked like the ship would founder. Conceded a bad goal too which could have killed them but they rallied late to book a replay. They deserve huge credit for that but I don't think the referee did them any harm either.
Replay another hard one to call. There's cases to be made for both. Crosserlough have great energy and heart and can look spectacular but can go out of games just as quickly. Even if 10 points up you never feel they are home and hosed. But whatever they lack in composure there's a never say die attitude about them that can never be written off.
Kingscourt looked the more controlled team although first 20 minutes, bar Faulkner, they looked suspect. But once they got going and especially in the championship rounds of the fight, more of their players came to the fore and stood up. Was it because they finally sussed this Crosserlough team out or just a random ebb and flow nature of football? Time will tell.
Hopefully we get another cracker but it's a possibility playing conditions won't be as good with rain forecast for the week and maybe heavy at weekend. Change of referee as well which Kingscourt might have been happy with initially but maybe Faulkner not so much when he saw who it is!!!! Anyway, wouldn't rule out penalties.

[rodney trotter]

Graham would have stronger forward options, then at the start of the year. Caoimhin O Reilly and McDermott will likely be recalled. Joe Dillon was playing great with the Kingscourt before the injury.  He'd likely have got a recall, jinxed with injuries.
Paddy Lynch,  maybe Peter Corrigan will get call ups. Maybe Givney if he was interested.

It's a short schedule so might appeal to some players to give it a go. Guarantee of 3 games. 2 league.  Not endless training for months. Gary Sice was persuaded back to Galway panel at 36. It could be a shrewd move.

[Look-Up!]

Congratulations to Crosserlough on a great victory. It was a tough game of football and Crosserlough were full value for the win. I think Kingscourt will be disappointed they seemed to have left their shooting boots at home. They did seem to have more of the play first half but Crosserlough settled quicker and made better use of their opportunities. Also credit to them they defended much more aggressively second time round and you could put some of Kingscourt's misses down to this.
Second half was a battle of attrition which the Lough won. Kingscourt maybe panicked a bit and seemed to give up the ghost very early of reeling them in by kicking points. They put in countless high ball but Crosserlough defended manfully. Looked very assured in that respect and there was no letting the opponent easily back into the game. Maybe a coming of age performance for this young team.
Some terrific performances all over from the Lough. Very few were below par. Lynch, although quiet at times still kicked 5 points. The midfield though were the leaders. James Smith was majestic at times and a few of his takes and scores were truly inspirational. Hard to argue his MOM award but I thought last 15 minutes when they were under a bit of pressure and Smith had gone out of the game somewhat, Mark Stuart was a colossus. He swallowed up everything in front of his defense that Kingscourt could throw. His positioning, aggression and drive were exactly what his team needed at that point and it was fitting that the man who rescued the replay was there again at the coalface when his team needed him most.
Hard to know where Kingscourt go from here. Some of their players are not getting any younger but there's plenty of youth and talent there too. I think they'll be back. Can Crosserlough drive on from here? Very important for them and their manager to get this monkey off their backs and they say the first one is the hardest to win. With McVeety to come back, some younger players to break through and some of the first team youngsters to mature and improve, I think we'll see plenty more from this team over the next few years. Whether they have the firepower to dominate though is a big if.
Plenty more clubs out their with lots of talent who will be hoping to get their hands on the Oliver Plunkett Cup soon. I think Gowna could be one to really push on over the next few years so regardless of where our County footballers take us in the future, I think we have plenty to look forward to in our club scene and there should be some titanic battles in store down the line. All in all the club scene is not as bad as some would say and I think we were treated to a great championship this year.

[Itchy]

Any word on who is in or out of the county panel? Did Killian Clarke return?

[Itchy]

Minors robbed today by horrendous refereeing. Mind you if they had one forward able to score from play they'd have win easily.