Official Cavan GAA Thread

[Celt_Man]

Eventually beaten out the gate by 6 points. 1-16 to 13. Jelly missed a penalty at the end of the first, got it back to a draw with 10 to go, then Hannon and Sheridan kinda got cleaned. They were lefted isolated and gave away a goal, peno and a few points in the last ten... And no changes to be seen either. Sickener

[BallyhaiseMan]

First League game ive missed this year,so cant comment,
Conceding 1-16 wont win you many games and it would lead me to believe some of the following occured

Midfield was cleaned out giving a great supply of ball to the Faithful forwards
Full back line was left isolated(which ive just seen Celt Man has revealed)
we picked up f**k all breaks.

Forwards havent scored a goal this year in the league yet with 5 games gone,Something which needs to be rectified
Abuse we gave Jayo over the years,but by god he came up with goals when they were needed.

Looking forward to Celt Man's and Lawrence's reports on the game.

[Lawrence of Knockbride]

First League game ive missed this year,so cant comment,
Conceding 1-16 wont win you many games and it would lead me to believe some of the following occured

Midfield was cleaned out giving a great supply of ball to the Faithful forwards
Full back line was left isolated(which ive just seen Celt Man has revealed)
we picked up f**k all breaks.

Forwards havent scored a goal this year in the league yet with 5 games gone,Something which needs to be rectified
Abuse we gave Jayo over the years,but by god he came up with goals when they were needed.

Looking forward to Celt Man's and Lawrence's reports on the game.

Well here goes, although I'm getting pretty tired of this.
Miller - Did fine, stopped a one-on-one first half an deflected a penalty over the bar with his foot. Good distance in his kicks into a strong enough wind in the first half.

Hannon & Sheridan, apart from the first 10 mins when overhit balls in missed their men they were roasted.  Disappointing as both stood out well against Limerick and while Sheridan was close to his man at times Hannon was destroyed by McNamee.

Fanin - Not great either but was playing a strange enough roll (along with the tactics generally IMO) where he played in front of the back two and at times in the second half he swapped the free-man role with Flanagan.

McCutcheon & Dunne - The bright points for me. You just have to like McCutcheon. He marks his man (something wing-backs seem to forget they have to do these days) and offers support at the right times as shown with his point in the second half and the one he got with his left foot last week. In a team with many places up for grabs he's one of the certs in my book. Dunne is going to be a very good player. Cool on the ball and you can already see that he's filling out. May lack a little agresssion but he ran through brilliantly for a great goal chance but a poor finish/good stop denied us our first goal in how long...................?

Flanagan - As mentioned above, played a free role which backfired as far as I could see as Offaly won ball at midfield in the second half and Flanagan stayed deep in front of the full-back line. Anyone know what the point was? A very likeable player with a great future but I wonder if the plaudits for his ability to read the game are missing the point that he's not often tight to his man when he is in a one-on-one battle.

Mulvey & Galligan. Typical Galligan performance. Tried to compete without much joy and tracked back well when needed. Left most of the running forward to Mr. Mulvey who really doesn't know what he's at. He seemed to take a dive in the first half (didn't see it but he was up in no time) and then gestured to the crowd when abused for it. Mind elsewhere, a showman with very little to show at the end of the day.

Eddie - Don't know why he's there. No pace, no creativity and trying hard isn't enough. Was hauled off.

Martin Reilly - Taken off and although not especially poor, made little impression.

Lyng - Needs a good run of games but was always looking to get involved although he got a bit sidetracked in niggling with his man.

Larry - used as a third midfielder for a spell. Scored his token wonder point in the first half and left the defence sitting on another run second half (as he did against Limerick). Not involved enough though and still makes the same mistakes he always has.

Johnston - Not his biggest fan but Today he just had a poor game. Tried harder than usual and kept his mouth shut. If he wasn't overcarrying he was fouling.

Walsh - Worth a try at FF and you have to say at least Carr is trying things. Broke a couple in the second half that almost created havoc. Did better when he came out the field for a while.

Subs - Givney, Keating, Jayo. The latter had a great late goal chance but missed at the near post. The other two didn't really get into it when they came on.

Overall, a poor full-back line performance, confusing tactics which deprived us of possession at midfield and no cutting edge or goal threat up front leaves us looking pretty toothless. No idea where Mackey was as the game was made for him. No Cullivan and no McCabe from the bench so I' m not sure what the management was thinking as Offaly pulled away.

Anyway, see you all next Sunday for something similar I'd imagine.

[Drung]

Conceding 1-16 wont win you many games and it would lead me to believe some of the following occured

Midfield was cleaned out giving a great supply of ball to the Faithful forwards
Full back line was left isolated(which ive just seen Celt Man has revealed)
we picked up f**k all breaks.

Cheers for that ballyhaiseMan. Not being smart here, but that post was a total waste of time! I wasn't at the Monaghan match on Saturday night but going by the fact that it was 0-12 each, I can safely say...

Come on Haise, you're better than that!

I actually attended the game and here's my reading of it:
Dunne and McCutcheon were very good and Flanagan did reasonably well, so the full-back line wasn't totally exposed, they were just poor and up against three savage players who knew how to play their role and revelled in the direct ball.

Cavan, on the other hand, took off the only two forwards creating anything (Eddie and Larry, who scored 0-3 from play and won the penalty) and were relying on Jelly and Lyng who looked like a pair of prima donnas today.

Johnston needs to sort his atitooood out - you only had to look at Niall McNamee to see a real, top class forward.

I wouldn't write off Dermot Sheridan or Hannon - both are quality players but were poor today. I would write off Mulvey however, and the jury is out on Galligan - he needs to quit trying the spectacular fetches and do more of the dirty work.

Walsh was also absolutely dire.
James Reilly was very good.


On a different note, folk are saying that it was an U21 sub and a Gaels player who was drinking - basically, McClarey. I don't know if this is true or not. I would be very disappointed if it was though, I rate him highly.

[Lawrence of Knockbride]

First League game ive missed this year,so cant comment,
Conceding 1-16 wont win you many games and it would lead me to believe some of the following occured

Midfield was cleaned out giving a great supply of ball to the Faithful forwards
Full back line was left isolated(which ive just seen Celt Man has revealed)
we picked up f**k all breaks.

Forwards havent scored a goal this year in the league yet with 5 games gone,Something which needs to be rectified
Abuse we gave Jayo over the years,but by god he came up with goals when they were needed.

Looking forward to Celt Man's and Lawrence's reports on the game.

Well here goes, although I'm getting pretty tired of this.
Miller - Did fine, stopped a one-on-one first half an deflected a penalty over the bar with his foot. Good distance in his kicks into a strong enough wind in the first half.

Hannon & Sheridan, apart from the first 10 mins when overhit balls in missed their men they were roasted.  Disappointing as both stood out well against Limerick and while Sheridan was close to his man at times Hannon was destroyed by McNamee.

Fanin - Not great either but was playing a strange enough roll (along with the tactics generally IMO) where he played in front of the back two and at times in the second half he swapped the free-man role with Flanagan.

McCutcheon & Dunne - The bright points for me. You just have to like McCutcheon. He marks his man (something wing-backs seem to forget they have to do these days) and offers support at the right times as shown with his point in the second half and the one he got with his left foot last week. In a team with many places up for grabs he's one of the certs in my book. Dunne is going to be a very good player. Cool on the ball and you can already see that he's filling out. May lack a little agresssion but he ran through brilliantly for a great goal chance but a poor finish/good stop denied us our first goal in how long...................?

Flanagan - As mentioned above, played a free role which backfired as far as I could see as Offaly won ball at midfield in the second half and Flanagan stayed deep in front of the full-back line. Anyone know what the point was? A very likeable player with a great future but I wonder if the plaudits for his ability to read the game are missing the point that he's not often tight to his man when he is in a one-on-one battle.

Mulvey & Galligan. Typical Galligan performance. Tried to compete without much joy and tracked back well when needed. Left most of the running forward to Mr. Mulvey who really doesn't know what he's at. He seemed to take a dive in the first half (didn't see it but he was up in no time) and then gestured to the crowd when abused for it. Mind elsewhere, a showman with very little to show at the end of the day.

Eddie - Don't know why he's there. No pace, no creativity and trying hard isn't enough. Was hauled off.

Martin Reilly - Taken off and although not especially poor, made little impression.

Lyng - Needs a good run of games but was always looking to get involved although he got a bit sidetracked in niggling with his man.

Larry - used as a third midfielder for a spell. Scored his token wonder point in the first half and left the defence sitting on another run second half (as he did against Limerick). Not involved enough though and still makes the same mistakes he always has.

Johnston - Not his biggest fan but Today he just had a poor game. Tried harder than usual and kept his mouth shut. If he wasn't overcarrying he was fouling.

Walsh - Worth a try at FF and you have to say at least Carr is trying things. Broke a couple in the second half that almost created havoc. Did better when he came out the field for a while.

Subs - Givney, Keating, Jayo. The latter had a great late goal chance but missed at the near post. The other two didn't really get into it when they came on.

Overall, a poor full-back line performance, confusing tactics which deprived us of possession at midfield and no cutting edge or goal threat up front leaves us looking pretty toothless. No idea where Mackey was as the game was made for him. No Cullivan and no McCabe from the bench so I' m not sure what the management was thinking as Offaly pulled away.

Anyway, see you all next Sunday for something similar I'd imagine.

Dermot went to Cardiff to watch rugby and didn't come back for game!!

A joke right?

[mylestheslasher]

Yeh, I could've sworn I seen Dermot roaring behind O Gara with 3 minutes left demanding that he take the drop at goal for the win . It that is true it is a poor reflection on the dedication of some panel members.

[BallyhaiseMan]

Yeh, I could've sworn I seen Dermot roaring behind O Gara with 3 minutes left demanding that he take the drop at goal for the win

Brilliant Myles       

IF its true it doesnt say much for McCabe's attitude, because he needs as much game time as possible from now on to get him fit for the championship.

[tierworker blue]

Just back from Tullamore...yet another disappointing day out (will they ever end?!)
Backline was awful...seriously lacking in shape. We were never out in front for the ball, and a better forward line could've had a few goals on us. We won precious little ball in midfield, so there was no decent supply into the forwards. There was far too much passing over and back across the pitch and to players only a few yards away...at times they were nearly running into each other. We were against the wind in the first half, but very few players seemed to make allowances for this...there was some dodgy reading of the ball going on. It's a pity they did'nt have a better day out, because Offaly are no world beaters, and a result was very achievable. When we made a comeback at the three quarter mark and drew at 12 points each (our scores came from a passage of more direct play...less fiddling about resulted in our best time of the match) it looked like we were going to get a result, but their goal killed it off.

Negatives...
Very little shape to the team betimes.

Backs never first to the ball.

Missing the peno.

No ball won in midfield.

Lorcan Mulveys antics in trying to get a man sent off...shameful. I'm not a fan of his anyway, and I don't think he has what it takes to be on the team. In fairness he scored a lovely point but he caught nothing all day. For those who were'nt there, he had a bit of a shamozzle with a dude (nothing serious) which resulted in him ending up on the ground. As he got up he tried to do a Zidane on it and headbutted yer man into the stomach/chest. This only pushed the Offaly player back a bit so Mulvey grabbed his face and hit the deck like he had been shot. He then proceeded to roll around a bit holding his head. I had a direct line of sight of this and there was no contact next or near his face. I was sitting with quite a few Cavan folk and the embarassment was palpable. If the most you can contribute to a game is trying to get a man sent off then you don't deserve to wear the blue. Not that I would condone on field violence, but I would have had more respect for him if he flattened yer man and took his punishment like a man instead of trying to be sly (and failing miserably...he made a tool out of himself!)

Lyng did'nt look interested half the time.

I would'nt have taken off Eddie or Larry...there were others who should've went first. Eddie was Eddie (i'm sure we all know what that means by now!)...it was'nt pretty, but 10 out of 10 for passion and committment. He was on the ball a lot and did feck all wrong. He scored a sweet point too. Larry played well and it's great to see him back in shape and knocking over the points. He had the beating of them and should'nt have been called ashore.

A few positives...
Larry back playing well. The old turn of pace has'nt left him and he skinned all before him a few times. Nice scores.

James made a nice save in the first half. Good kickouts...pity we had nobody to catch them!

There was a small crowd but the majority seemed to be from Cavan. A good few older folk out and about...nice to see them out enjoying the game, and the multi generational banter was good.

Fair play to the Offaly gang...O' Connor park is looking well since the renovation...I hav'nt been there in over 10 years.

[BallyhaiseMan]

Yeh, I could've sworn I seen Dermot roaring behind O Gara with 3 minutes left demanding that he take the drop at goal for the win . It that is true it is a poor reflection on the dedication of some panel members.

very accurate info and says a lot. not even going to comment on todays farce in Tullamore. Took my life in my hands bringing all down there and boy did it backfire. Lunch in the Kilmore, a walk in Killykeen and a pint in the Meadow View would have been more fun!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wouldn't agree with Drung's comments re. Walsh He did he what he could with the shite ball coming in at him. Also considering the man has been out out of action for over three weeks and struggling with ankle injuries doesn't reflect well on the back up we have ie NONE. Full back line is chronic, midfield well......have yet to see any man at midfield catch a ball coming from 3 yards behind his man!!! And this is happening all the time. Same in Armagh and Breffni with U21s and Minors. Rory Dunne is the only bright light I see at the moment. Galligan and Mulvey cutting no salt for me at the moment. I expect every player at this level to be able to run so its not a good enough reason to heap praise on Galligan. His overall contribution and distribution not of high enough quality. Mulvey..........heard him called Ronaldo today for his amazing dive. Don;t like to see that.....for me his antics in Newry refusing to shake hands and now today are nothing short of bad sportsmanship.

We could do worse than try Rory Dunne at midfield.He was very good in the Intermediate Final last year against Ray Cullivan. Gunner would slot into wing half back when he returns.
Tommy Carr should really consider dropping McCabe off the panel for that type of behaviour,it just signifies everything that has been wrong with the Cavan scene for the past number of years.

[BallyhaiseMan]

i wasnt a big fan of Dunne when he first came on the scene and was tried at full back as his lack of speed off the mark was a problem. But he was very good when he came on against Limerick, and was very good at midfield and wing back for Redhills last year.
I believe hed offer more than Mulvey at Midfield anyway.

[mylestheslasher]

Have to say i am surprised with story on McCabe. He has his faults and he pisses me off with his mouthing and all that but I never heard anyone question his commitment before.

Does anyone think Carr is treating this league as a big experiement? I don't mind that he does as long as we stay in Div 3!

[anglocelt39]

Cheers for that ballyhaiseMan. Not being smart here, but that post was a total waste of time! I wasn't at the Monaghan match on Saturday night but going by the fact that it was 0-12 each, I can safely say...

Come on Haise, you're better than that!



Drung, looking at some of your posts I'd say we are two of the "older" posters on this thread. Now I know from personal experience that age can bring bitterness laced with cynicism but come on now, give Haise Man a break. Or if you do have to pick him up on trivial detail sure you could try pm'ing him. Thanks for the report on the game today by the way.

[cavan4ever]

Any sign of McCabe yet?

We can do without him now if them stories are true, he let the team, management and supporters down.

[Celt_Man]

Right first time near a computer to put more than a few lines of my thoughts up here....
Kinda typical of Cavan to get you more than a bit of hope by drawing level with ten minutes to go and the wind in their backs then to fall apart so completely in the remainder of the game....
Couldn't believe how much space there was left between the half back/midfield area and the full back line that added to the fact that both Hannon and to a less extend Sheridan weren't at the races led to Offaly completely dominating the match once we drew level.
Couldn't understand why Cavan kicked it as much as they did in the first half, especially kicking it high. They were playing against a very strong breeze and Under 16s will tell you that you have to run the ball in the face of a breeze like that and save the most of the kicking for the second half.

Miller - was solid in goals and had a good save with his leg for the peno, kickouts were grand but we need to have another option for them other than just kicking it long and hoping to catch it or get the break. Dublin had a nice system which has worked for a good few kickouts in a most games of dropping the ball over the corner backs head, pulling the half back away and Shane Ryan runs into the space collecting the ball - would like to see something like that tried with Cavan.

Hannon - Just isn't good enough at the minute, no doubting his ability from previous years but he is carrying a site of weight and doesn't look like he has lost much of it from the Down game, he is constantly behind his man and has none of the speed which served him well any other year.  Got caught out a couple of times kicking or passing the ball out of defence, reinforcing my theory that is isn't a good "footballer"

Sheridan - Tends to keep his marker a whole lot more honest, insofar as he gets a lot closer to him and so can get more pressure on the ball.  Struggled at times yesterday and sometimes after doing great work to get the ball he would shoot himself in the foot by dropping it or losing it.  Overall though an improvement at full back

Fannin - Did well enough until he was told or decided to follow his man out to midfield where he was lost and totally out of the game, should have been deployed in the 40 yards of open space in front of the other 2 full backs.

McCutcheon - Himself and Dunne were the pick of the backs and actually the pick of the whole cavan team by a good distance, again got forward to score a point but not at the expense of his defensive duties. Was close to his man at all times and broke the ball away from him several times during the game, really cementing his place.

Flanagan - Had a quiet game, didn't exactly set the world on fire but did nothing wrong either.  Don't think he is a CHB though and would like to see him on the wing. Saw a lot of ball as the spare man in defence especially in the first half and used it well but maybe could be closer to his man when marking him

Dunne - Very impressed with him, picks up a lot of loose ball around the half back line and looks a good bit bigger than last year.  Would like to see him and Flanagan swap, just to see if Dunne's greater size could be more useful in that position.  Should have made better work of his goal attempt, it seemed to be hit straight at the keeper.

Galligan & Mulvey - Mid field struggled big time yesterday and I think we are gonna be found out in this area more times than not this year.  Both do a lot of good but sometimes I feel it papers over the cracks.  While a lot of people give Galligan a lot of credit for being so fit and it is to be commended, I think he isn't so much more fitter than other players as he was in the McKenna Cup and so he is a lot quieter in games now.

Eddie - As usual Eddie went through a lot of the donkey work and tried to work the ball against the wind in the first half.  Scored a nice point in the first half maybe left one or two more scores behind him, overall I thought he played well enough.  seems to be taken off no matter how he plays and that can eat into a players confidence even Eddie's!!

Lyng - Not too sure if this is his best position although I have no other suggestions where to play him.  he isn't the quickest so can't beat all that many boys with pure speed, sometimes with Lyng I think we lack a bit of penetration at CHF.  Again though, same as Flanagan, sees a lot of the ball and rarely loses it or doesn't find a man.

Martin Reilly - some of his kick passing and decision making was poor although scored a great 45 in the second half and as usual goes through a lot of work off the ball

Jelly - some nice scores from play and frees without playing well at all. needs to close his gob at times and remember no one ever hits an intention bad pass.  Cavan need to get away from " if jelly plays well then cavan play well because the opposition is then true too"

Walsh - quiet game form the big man and when it wasn't working for him in there, would like to have seen him brought out around the middle

larry- gettin back to a bit of form, clipped over a few points from play, won the penalty and tracked back a couple of won the ball, only kinda realising it now but Larry was probably the pick of the forwards

[the salmon of knowledge]

mccabe was last seen in a cardiff alehouse signing autographs pretending to be paul o connell, he even robbed a powerade tracksuit top from munterconaught to pull off this charade. shame on you dermot