Official Cavan GAA Thread

[put-it-up]

Maybe I didn't make my point well enough. What I'm trying to say about Graham is that, yes, he's got a decent pedigree but he hasn't set the world alight and has been over-hyped IN MY OPINION. It shows how short of options we are that we are touting a fella who has

- scraped through a junior with a replay in semi and final
- scraped through an Intermediate with a replay in final
- done nothing at Ulster club level with either side
- stepped up to county minor level and failed to reach an Ulster final with a very, very talented team the first year, then lost in the first round the second year

The facts, then, are that Graham is coming along well and won two lesser championships from two attempts but his two years over the minors have to be seen as a complete failure, whatever way they are looked at. If he brings a team to end the Gaels' stranglehold at senior, or even reaches an Ulster minor final, that would change things.
He may be the best of the current bunch within club circles in Cavan but no other county would have him over their senior team on what he has done so far, that's for sure.

PS: On your point about the Tyrone minors being the best minor team of the last 15 years, that's simply not true and stands up to no scrutiny. They were taken to a replay in the final for a start, they didn't walk the All Ireland by any means and were reliant on a couple of outstanding individuals eg Donnelly, Coney rather than an all-round sensational team.

That Tyrone team was a magnificant one, with terrific players throughout the team like Ronan McNab,Peter Harte,Niall McKenna,Ryan Pickering,Matthew Donnelly and Coney.It was the best minor team ive seen in a long time.

Im not saying we should appoint Mickey, i think he probably needs a couple more years at club level,Id say he will manage the Gaels within the next couple of years.
He is a future Cavan manager for me,and at this moment in my opinion is the best Candidate within the county.
I think all of us here would favour an outside man though due to the limited options within the county.

Agree entirely about Mickey BHM.

I doubt he would take the job now though. He will wait until players he has brought through are ready for the step up. He is abit young too..dont forget how friendly he would be with a lot of the players.

From the tone of the last few posts, its like you all presume Carr is going, am I right?

[Drung]

I remember the hype about the minor team put-it-up, they weren't written off, there was a lot expected of them and they played well but choked, unfortunately. They had about half a dozen of a superb Gaels minor team, the lieks of McClarey, Murray, Smith, Meehan, Maloney-Derham etc, a few of whom were on the Gaels senior team.
And this year's minor team were the best in Ulster at the Under 16 tournament in Buncrana two years ago, yet couldn't win the first round at minor.

On the Tyrone minors '08 thing, all you have done BHMan is listed a few outstanding individuals, which I agreed that Tyrone team had. If they were the best minor team in 15 years, they would have steamrolled everyone, as it was they neded a replay to beat Mayo in the final, who themselves had needed a replay to beat Kerry in the semi-final. They were extremely lucky to draw with Mayo the first day too.

Anyway, it's irrelevant, it WAS an excellent Tyrone team. Still, Cavan have had teams lose narrowly to excellent teams before. Remember in about 2002, Cavan, with a few injuries, lost by three or four points to an outstanding Derry team which won the All Ireland.
I think Tony Brady was the manager and I'm nearly sure he also brought Castlerahan from nowhere to win the Intermediate in 2001, so his achievements are more or less equal to Mickey Graham's. Yet we're not talking about him as Cavan senior boss, so my point that Graham is over-hyped is still valid.

If not Mickey Graham, then who? Morris???

[BallyhaiseMan]

While Morris won an Intermediate and Ulster Intermediate, it was always believed he wasnt very tactically astute and wasnt great at making changes when things were going wrong.
Homer would know more about him,being a Ballinagh man.

Put it up
i think Carr will go,The criticism from the fans like ourselves he could live with,But with a high profile player like Jason Reily coming out saying in the media that he wont be there next year and criticising his management abilities,i cant see him staying.

You never know though, he may be an ignorant c**t who will stay on, drop half a dozen of players including the bould jayo and build a new team,comprising of many of the players we named in our lists of regional teams.
Hed certainly win over alot of us here if he did that.

[put-it-up]

While Morris won an Intermediate and Ulster Intermediate, it was always believed he wasnt very tactically astute and wasnt great at making changes when things were going wrong.
Homer would know more about him,being a Ballinagh man.

Put it up
i think Carr will go,The criticism from the fans like ourselves he could live with,But with a high profile player like Jason Reily coming out saying in the media that he wont be there next year and criticising his management abilities,i cant see him staying.

You never know though, he may be an ignorant c**t who will stay on, drop half a dozen of players including the bould jayo and build a new team,comprising of many of the players we named in our lists of regional teams.
Hed certainly win over alot of us here if he did that.

Your latter point BHM is Carr's only hope I think. I said already that he more or less kept DK team's together, so this year he has a chance to build his own team. He played it too safe this year with regards to team selection in my opinion. It would actually be quite refreshing if he did that. Can I also make the point that why would he quiit when I imagine he is being paid very well to do this job!!!

Listen lads, not one credible sucessor has been named. Fair enough if Phil Smith chats to some of the players and they genuinely feel he is not up to it then he should go. By that I mean he should talk to lads like Larry, Flanagan, Hannon. Not lads that are pissed off because they didn;t get starting. But who would we bring in. Morris and King just are not good enough. The only person I would go for withing the county is Mickey Graham but I don't think the job will interest him at this time of his life.

Jayo;s outburst shows there must not be much team spirit in there at the minute too doesn't it.

For f**k sake, we coulda been preparing for an Ulster Final this week....we will never get as good a chance in the forseeable future!

[cavanmaniac]

I see nothing to be gained by appointing a new manager now, not unless it's a real, high-profile top drawer appointment which we don't deserve to attract anyway - McHugh, Kernan etc. or someone of that stature, irrespective of what you might think of their individual attributes.

Carr has been a major disappointment for me. I hadn't even got anything near to high hopes for him in wanting only a disciplined panel, that would give their all and have some sort of cut about them and even on that quite basic criteria he has failed to deliver. Nobody is upset we're not winning Ulsters as we know it's a long road but you have to start that journey with a step forward, not a step back, and that's what Tommy seems to have done inside 10 months. It's a very sobering realisation.

For all that, I think he has to stay. Like I said at the outset, if you're not replacing him with an absolutely outstanding candidate, you're only taking a sideways step and moving the deckchairs on the Titanic so to speak, so I would give him another year to show that the reaction to his first season has stung him and he is determined to do better next year. I'd bet me left ball that neither Stephen King, Mickey Graham, Bernard Morris etc. would do any better if they replaced him.

[put-it-up]

I see nothing to be gained by appointing a new manager now, not unless it's a real, high-profile top drawer appointment which we don't deserve to attract anyway - McHugh, Kernan etc. or someone of that stature, irrespective of what you might think of their individual attributes.

Carr has been a major disappointment for me. I hadn't even got anything near to high hopes for him in wanting only a disciplined panel, that would give their all and have some sort of cut about them and even on that quite basic criteria he has failed to deliver. Nobody is upset we're not winning Ulsters as we know it's a long road but you have to start that journey with a step forward, not a step back, and that's what Tommy seems to have done inside 10 months. It's a very sobering realisation.

For all that, I think he has to stay. Like I said at the outset, if you're not replacing him with an absolutely outstanding candidate, you're only taking a sideways step and moving the deckchairs on the Titanic so to speak, so I would give him anoth
er year to show that the reaction to his Thfirst season has stung him and he is determined to do better next year. I'd bet me left ball that neither Stephen King, Mickey Graham, Bernard Morris etc. would do any better if they replaced him.

Il put both my balls in the line
I think it is important both he and the players he picks get a chance to react.
I think the panel will get a really good shake up next year. Lets be honest Carr came in knowing little or no Cavan players. Too many of those players are happy just to be on the panel. It needs freshenin up with lads that have not played much with Cavan before and are desperate to change our fortunes

[Mr. Pain]

Refrain from the inane and insane blame game, it's just lame says the main man Mr. Pain. Chill dawgs!

[boojangles]

The same with the intermediate with Drumalee,
As for not doing well in Ulster, I Know Drumalee spent the whole week drinking(Boojangles will confirm this  ) after the intermediate final replay and they were in no fit way when they played Ballymacnab

Right on 1 count BH Man
I can confirm we spent a week drinking after our Intermediate win-but we finished up Friday after the final to send our Good neighbours Killygarry down to Division 2 of the League in a relegation play-off. We played Ballymacnab the week after.We didnt do ourselves justice that day.Lost by 3 or 4 points.Don't know if we Bombed,cos I don't know what Bombed means!
As regards Paul McCorry- I couldnt say enough good words about the man and IMO he should be Coach of Cavan Seniors in the not too distant future. Top class and always learning.
Mickey Graham will in time manage Cavan I would say,but I think it is at least 5 years too soon for that to happen.
As I said before I think Ciaran Brady may be the best home manager we have in Cavan.

[Rollout]

I see Jason's outburst and cavan's standard of football in general get a dig in the Indo today, in the 'Sam says" piece. It wasn't wrong.

[boojangles]

Terry Hylands piece in the Echo today is worth a read.

On another point- Does anyone know what is the situtaion with Kingspans sponsorship of Cavan teams? Have they signed up for a few more years or is it a year by year thing? I wouldnt b suprised to see the Murtaghs having a second look at the money they are throwing to the County set-up.

[Mr. Pain]

Terry Hylands piece in the Echo today is worth a read.

On another point- Does anyone know what is the situtaion with Kingspans sponsorship of Cavan teams? Have they signed up for a few more years or is it a year by year thing? I wouldnt b suprised to see the Murtaghs having a second look at the money they are throwing to the County set-up.

Why would they Booj? They have their own man in the hot seat so they basically control the picking of the manager and lots of other decisions Mr. Pain is sure. Not a conspiracy theory by any means but if you look into it you'll find that the Pain freak is not far wrong!

[anglocelt39]

Their own man as in the County board Chairman Mr. Pain? Fair enough.

I wouldn't be surprised if Boojangles point is more along the lines of the actual cost of the sponsorship in a time when companies in the building and construction sector are taking a fair beating. It's not as if they are getting huge exposure for their sponsorship either. So would not be surprised if they are looking for the same exposure for less money, or a performance related sponsorship in future.

[boojangles]

Their own man as in the County board Chairman Mr. Pain? Fair enough.

I wouldn't be surprised if Boojangles point is more along the lines of the actual cost of the sponsorship in a time when companies in the building and construction sector are taking a fair beating. It's not as if they are getting huge exposure for their sponsorship either. So would not be surprised if they are looking for the same exposure for less money, or a performance related sponsorship in future.

Thats what Im talking about! Just don't b suprised if you see a review of their Sponsorship deal.
As regards having their own man-Dont be so sure of that either Pain. Work and Pleasure don't mix.

[Babe Ruth 47]

Another ridiculous thread over on the HS about bringing John Mullane up to mentor the football team. Stupid I know, but what would Cavan give to have a player with such fierce determination. Some difference watching an inspirational figure like him giving everything for the county and Walsh mopping about hiding from kickouts. Wouldnt it be great to see a Cavan team line out with a few characters in Mullane's mould.

[jimjim]

Heard the Cul Gaa camps that are been held in Cavan this summer are €65 per child.
Firstly this is a disgrace, £30 in the Fermanagh region i believe is plenty.
And now the Coaches are voluntry (apart from Full time coaches). Can Anyone confirm this?
I dont mind the voluntry coaching but surely the price should be then brought down. Well done to all helping out tho...
Like where is all this money going...