Official Cavan GAA Thread

[Hollow Man]

Is that definitely Gavin Duffy that plays on their seniors? I doubt it, sure isn't he awy in Australia

I'd say it could be some juvenile player???

[Mr. Pain]

The way Mr. Pain sees it, if you don't play for a club for a year you may be allowed to play for any club without transfer. As Gavin Duffy is already away in Oz for a year he would not need to transfer. Mr. Pain agrees with Hollow Man that this might be un underage player with the same name. Does the other Gavin Duffy have a brother called Eamonn cos he is goin to Cornafean too? There seems to be a little bit of in-fighting in the Gaels club with prima donnas trying to call the shots. I could name them but i wont, you probably can guess, our county men, some of which haven't played with the Gaels all their lives.......Rant over!

[Homer]

Cavan team named:

J Reilly
M Hannon, P Reilly, K Fannin
A Forde, R Flanagan, D Sheridan
D McCabe, M McKeever
M Reilly, M Lyng, R Donohoe
J O'Reilly, S Brady, S Johnston

Cavan team
im happy with it to be honest.

Not bad on paper I suppose.

According to a very detailed post on the Hoganstand "brides has flu"

Podge's move to full-back comes as little surprise as he has started 3 games this year at CHB but finished them in the full back line.

It's great to see Flanagan back, I do think he is getting thrown in at the deep end here at CHB but will probably be suited to picking up Alan Brogan.

Looking forward to see how McCabe and McKeever fair out in the middle, fitness will obviously be the main worry here.

How long can the Rory Donohoe show go on? Seriously I think he is the only player to have played every game this year and yet he still hasn't produced the goods.

I remember Sean Brady playing at Full Forward for the county minors against Down in Casement some years ago and he did so to excellent effect but I'd imagine he will pull out to midfield tomorrow night. Again another player who gives me worries over his fitness.

Is Pierson injured or what is going on there?

Is that definitely Gavin Duffy that plays on their seniors? I doubt it, sure isn't he awy in Australia

I'd say it could be some juvenile player???

Duffy, Paraic Smith and Michael Cooke are all in Australia so I'm sure you're right and it's some kid.

[cavan4ever]

good player who warranted a shot at the county.

cant say im sorry to see Abramovich GFC losing 7 players in total. 

we got 3 of them   

Who did you get BHMan.  Any who all is leaving them?

[cavan4ever]

good player who warranted a shot at the county.

cant say im sorry to see Abramovich GFC losing 7 players in total. 

we got 3 of them   

Who did you get BHMan.  Any who all is leaving them?

O.k seen them on HS

[BallyhaiseMan]

well very good performance albeit a bad result tonight. looked a right bad night from my cosy seat in the stand. 

magnificant opening 25 minutes by Cavan,Best football ive seen them play in a long time.
went out of it before Half time and allowed Dubs to get a few scores to go in level.
Dubling started dominating midfield in the 2nd half but we were hanging in there until Brogans Goal killed the game off.

1.James Reily, Kickouts were monsterous throughout,got  something on the ball for Brogans goal,touching it onto post,but all in all faultless. 7

2.Michael Hannon, found it very hard to contain Jason Sherlock in the first half,but started to impose himself into the game after. Done well.8

3.Padraig Reily, Got caught out by Bernard Brogan a few times,but made some great interceptions and blocks aswell. 8

4.Keith Fannin, Ok not as good as in some matches ive seen him. 6

5.Anthony Forde, went through a collosus of work at wing back,Completely rejuvinated as a player when we(especially me) had him written off a few weeks ago. 8

6.Ronan Flanagan, i thought he done very well also, looks so comfortable on the ball and his defending has improved alot,Might not be a Centre Half,but is a dead cert in the half back line. 8

7.Dermot Sheridan. My man of the match, Vaughan looked dangerous but Sheridan gave a terrific display in my opinion.good in all aspects of play. 9

8.Dermot McCabe, i heard people saying after that McCabe had a very good game, he done well in open play,and in the most part his delivery was very good good,but Fenell outfielded him throughout,,Struggled for Fitness also,Wasnt fit to stay with the Dublin Midfielder when he moved around.Move to Full Forward was 10 minutes too late though. 7

9.Mark McKeever, went through a serious amount of work,and i thought in the most part he got the better of Shane Ryan.Terrific Ball carrier and worker. 8

10.Martin Reily, Showed the Monaghan game was just a mere blip,terrific vision and passing abilities,one particular outrageous ball into Johnstone in the second half,Workrate also terrific. Frees were a bit off,but the conditions were diabolical. 8

11.Michael Lyng,runner up for Man of the Match for me,terrific passing abilities,and movement,Ran Paul Casey into the ground in the first half and was prominant in the second half for Cavan aswell. Workrate phenominal as he never stopped chasing and harrying the Dubs players. 8

12.Rory Donohoe,Good opening half and won alot of possession,vastly improved over recent performances,but doesnt really offer a scoring threat.Place will be up for grabs,with Cullivan or Niall Madden around for the Meath Game. 7

13.Jason Reily, Poor my his standards,never really got going and was taken off with about 15 minutes left. 6

14.Sean Brady,worked very hard but didnt impact open play a great deal,not really the type of player that will take on a man and beat him.Better in the half forward line. 6

15.Sean Johnstone,once again kept the torch lit in the full forward line,looked dangerous every time he touched the ball,skinned his marker a few times,accurate from Placed balls,workrate and movement outstanding. 8

Management got it tactically correct to give them their due,in dropping players back behind the ball, and soaking up the Dublin Pressure.
Only mistake was leaving McCabe at midfield a bit too long,as Fennell had the beating of him in the air,
I thought the backs in general were outstanding,
Midfield Workmanlike if not spectacular,
Forwards, Some Good,some Not so good.

with the exception of maybe 2/3 changes,thats the strongest team we can put out.

If we could play like that every time,
we would beat Cork,Roscommon and Westmeath i have no doubt.
Optimism has returned in the BHMan household.

[descartes]

much better performance tonight. couldn't believe the wind changed direction in the second half!!!! Lyng was superb in the first half, instrumental in us leading 5pts to 1. thought when mcCabe and Forde started kicking stupid ball (Forde) or Ridiculously long ball (McCabe) we started losing our grip on the game. Flanagan makes some difference to the team. In fairness to Cavan they seemed to have worked on alot of things tactically speaking, on their game since the monaghan match. I wonder who has started calling the shots?? If my sources are correct Keoghan is empowering the players!! and my sources are always correct ha ha (jaysus don't i sound like a mafioso type now)

[mylestheslasher]

I think you might be getting a bit carried away there BHM. Too many 8's out if 10 and a 9/10 for Dermot Shierdan whos man almost single-handedly won the game? Agree that there were some positives such as better team work and a semblance of a game plan in the 1st half. But there were more negatives...

- Only 2 points in the second half
- Only one player scored for Cavan
- Fitness very poor throughout the team
- Beaten at midfield for 3/4 of the match
- No idea how to play against a packed defence in 2nd half.

We are now almost certain to be relegated I think unless we can win 3/4 of our last games which is very unlikely.

[BallyhaiseMan]

Dermot Sheridan for me had an outstanding game, Myles
Vaughan was great from frees and kicked a point or two from play,No way though did he nearly single handidly beat Cavan on his own,
He got on an awful lot of ball,buts thats because Sheridan was instructed not to follow him and Sheridan covered in front of the full back line.
He picked up an unreal amount of ball in the backline.

Only 2 points in second half is poor.

Jelly is the only threat in the full forward line,
Neither Brady or Jayo contributed anything last night,You cannot expect to win with that.

McCabe isnt fit for midfield, at this time of year,we were well beaten in midfield because The Management refused to move him  out of there.
the way to beat a packed defence is to run at them in numbers from all areas of the field,Cornerbacks,Half backs and all, and draw fouls.
Like Kerry did against Tyrone a few weeks ago.
we didnt do that.

[Lawrence of Knockbride]

Would have to disagree with Myles comments about Vaughan. He stood out on the terrace side wing most of the second half and was rarely picked out. I think he's in the team for his outstanding ability from deadballs. But I think he's an average enough player at that level. Sheridan had a strange game. He did fumble a lot of balls but retrieved a lot of them. Overall it was a step in the right direction. But Keoghan picked Flanagan,McCabe,Lyng & Brady right down the middle of the field, all of whom were on their way back from injury so fitness was always going to be a worry. When McCabe was moved in to full forward the players didn't give it into him except for the time he got the shot on goal. Twice Michael Hannon went on long runs with the ball only stopping when he hit a wall of light blue. Surely the idea would have been to hit McCabe when he was in there. Lyng also had an odd game. On numerous occasions he ran half the length of the field tracking a man and at other times he was standing on the 40 looking at his man race up the field. Rory Donohoe worked hard defensively but the man is just not up to it.

[gortnaleck]

I recorded the game and watched it today.The weather affected the cameras and it was as if the game was being played in a thick fog.The similarity of the jersey colors didn't help matters either.I was not expecting to see such a good display from Cavan.The defence did good.Midfield play has changed and now there are very few kickouts caught or attempted to catch so its usually a matter of who gets the breaks.That's a bit of a lottery but I thought Cavan picked up their share.Mc Cabe or McKeever(esp) did not seem to have the ball on too many occasions.The forwards looked like they did not want to be scoring except for Johnstone.Martin Reilly was also taking on the defence which I liked.I can't stand the frees being kicked out of the hands esp the long range ones. Seanie took one free towards the end out on the left hand side and it looked like he was just kicking it as hard as he could and hoping for the best.Missing frees and kicking it into the goalies hands are a killer because the  that are so good at starting a counter attack.Anyway I don't see the doom and gloom except maybe they will get relegated if that makes any difference.Maybe I'm mad but I don't see a hell of a lot of difference between any of the teams any more that a good freetaker and two good scoring forwards wouldn't bring them over the top

[descartes]

When McCabe was moved in to full forward the players didn't give it into him except for the time he got the shot on goal. Twice Michael Hannon went on long runs with the ball only stopping when he hit a wall of light blue. Surely the idea would have been to hit McCabe when he was in there.

Eh... didn't hannon hit mcCabe with the ball at the end of one of those runs, that set up mcCabe for the goal chance???

Anthony forde tried to hit McCabe as well then from the terrace side of the pitch but its near impossible to retain possession lobbing a ball into one man at full forward when the opposition have loads of men behind the ball if its too short they mop it up, too long its the full backs ball. Add in the fact that the gael force wind had started blowing the other direction by the time Keoghan moved McCabe in full forward and it only makes it more difficult, and then theres the added fact that McCabe wasn't exactly moving like kieran donaghy on saturday night if you know what i mean.

when teams drop men back you have to run at them!! or else let it in early, but at the same time you can't force it in if its not on.
An example of this was the pass McCabe kicked in the 2nd half when he was still in midfield, from near his own 45 metre line with ronan flanagan (i think) coming off his shoulder. he tried to find seanie johnston and it was intercepted easily.

agree that james reilly could do with a few variety tricks on his kicking resume.

[Mr. Pain]

Mr. Pain ate something dodgy on Friday night and was confined to watch the match at home on Setanta, in close proximity to the nearest jax! Bad coverage due to the rain but it could be seen that Dublin rued a few early chances. Mr. Pain always had the feeling that one Dublin took the lead that would be it. Finito. As it turns out Mr. Pain was once again correct. Cavan were just delaying the enevitable and were always goin to be beaten. It's a terrible thing to say but a lot of Mr. Pain's chronies feel the same. The substitutions were also baffling. There seems to be a totally new team every match and different subs coming on all the time. How can a team settle? Rant over!

[cavanmaniac]

Cavan were just delaying the enevitable and were always goin to be beaten. It's a terrible thing to say but a lot of Mr. Pain's chronies feel the same.

That's what I was thinking watching the game as well. It was always only going to be a matter of time before Dublin asked some serious questions of us and as usual, once they did, our lads as good as packed up the tent and went home. Once their goal went in, I thought we let the heads drop and gave it up.

We were good in the first 15/20 minutes, all geed up after the Monaghan defeat but our lead was built on a few soft enough frees converted by Jelly and one nice one from play by Lyng. We scored a miserly two points thereafter, and coughed up alot of chances at the start of the second half as well which is, I'm afraid, just typical Cavan to the back bone.

A team with a genune belief and winning mentality - not to mention fitness - would have raised some sort of meaningful gallop in the last ten minutes when only four down at home but the concession of the goal sucked the life out of us and although we attacked afterwards there was no real conviction of belief, it was like we were just going through the motions of chasing it without ever having any genuine expectation of turning it around. The only time in the last 15 years a Cavan senior team has had genuine belief and spirit was under McHugh and then Eamon Coleman, and even under the latter we choked in two big games we should have won, v Armagh and v Derry in the subsequent qualifier. And at underage there's enough other examples to make your eyes bleed.

This pattern is endemic in Cavan football at all levels, it never changes and our fortunes will stay mired as long as it doesn't. The best we'll get is a few plucky performances and moral victories because it's easier for us to go out and play well when we're totally written off - it's motivation in itself but also there's the safety net that if you lose narrowly nobody will mind because everyone thought it'd be worse and we can walk away saying how "unlucky" we were. Again. Somebody needs to get a handle on it like McHugh did but with the county board appointing Keogan in the first place, we might be waiting a while. If that's the level of leadership we have, then what's the point?

If there is a positive, defensively I thought we were alright at times  and as always the famous Keogan 'workrate' was there. But up front we have nothing apart from Jelly. You'd hope that others will come into it as they get fitter but at the moment we're in trouble. Jason Reilly is now an impact sub at best and the sooner Keogan realises it the better.

I guess overall it was a step in the right direction and something of an improvement, but looking at the longer-term bigger picture, I see no reason to change my opinion that the sooner this season is over - and it will end sooner than we'd like - the better for all, because then we might get a decent structure in place and move on.

We're going nowhere lads. I get more and more disillusioned with this team and how its run with every passing week.

[gortnaleck]

I thought Dublin would be one of the favorites to win the All Ireland.Cavan did not look that much out of their depth except Dublin had more accurate forwards.The Ref should have sent off the Dublin midfielder but stopped when he realised he had booked him already.The chances are if it was Eddie or Gaynor they would have walked.Cavan probably still would not have won as they would still not be able to score.I don't know what some people expect .If there were better players around that wanted to play for Cavan they would be out there.We have to play with what we have