Official Cavan GAA Thread

[Lawrence of Knockbride]

I don't think I knocked the boxing did I?

No no, but I was just saying there is no harm in focusing in on it and seeing if it of benefit. I was just saying basic skills can be worked on individually, between collective trainings you know?

What you think of those lads that were called in Lawrence? Not really names I was hoping to see called in to be honest..

I'd have to agree with you. I'd have thought Curran was well past it but maybe I'm being harsh. I wasn't that impressed with McPhilips defensively this year. Looks good on the ball but we have enough of those. I've not see Fitzpatrick but there were other names that may have their reasons for not being there at this stage.

[Lawrence of Knockbride]

Seriously intense match in Breffni today in sometimes difficult conditions but in the end it was an all too familiar tale for Cavan football. The indsicpline of players that really ought to know better was terrible to see.
Chesty off-off the ball incident.
Walsh off-off the ball incident
Forde off-dissent.
Crotty off-jumping on a mans back when the gaels are 2 points down, 2 men down and need the ball late in the game.

I know it's easy from the stand when I'm not in the heat of battle but it was painful to see that kind of shite. Crotty's was late and stupid and possibly out of frustration. The others have little excuse.
Galls were the better team overall and like last year left their shooting boots at home but prevailed in the end.
Johnston should've got the line too for smacking the ball away/at the ref only for the ref to put his card back in his pocket instead of issuing a second yellow.

[Celt_Man]

Seriously intense match in Breffni today in sometimes difficult conditions but in the end it was an all too familiar tale for Cavan football. The indsicpline of players that really ought to know better was terrible to see.
Chesty off-off the ball incident.
Walsh off-off the ball incident
Forde off-dissent.
Crotty off-jumping on a mans back when the gaels are 2 points down, 2 men down and need the ball late in the game.

I know it's easy from the stand when I'm not in the heat of battle but it was painful to see that kind of shite. Crotty's was late and stupid and possibly out of frustration. The others have little excuse.
Galls were the better team overall and like last year left their shooting boots at home but prevailed in the end.
Johnston should've got the line too for smacking the ball away/at the ref only for the ref to put his card back in his pocket instead of issuing a second yellow.

+ 1

[CavanCola]

Interesting article from the tribune today....

Most over-rated Footballers
of 2009

1. Stephen O'Neill

As I've already said, there are days when someone as good as O'Neill needs to turn games all on his own. The greatest footballers on the greatest teams do such a thing, you know. As Tyrone struggled to look anything like commanding All Ireland title-holders in August, more and more was required of O'Neill. Instead we got slimmer examples of his brilliance. O'Neill gave us all the impression he is, at this stage of his career, more of a support act on Mickey Harte's team. He never lived up to top billing in a season which demanded it of him.

2. Tadgh Kennelly

It's not his fault. He didn't ask for the mindless fascination which followed him almost every day of the season. He did as well as he could in almost every game he played and in the All Ireland final gave a very worthy, workmanlike performance which had the addition of two good points. Take away the fairytale business of his return home, and also the drama of the big gamble which Jack O'Connor took in giving Kennelly a straight run at a medal, however, and what's left is something none of us would have passed too many remarks upon if, say, Eoin Brosnan had stuck around and delivered on the same scale.

3. Seánie Johnston

No forward, every winter and spring, gets as much attention and applause from the media as Cavan's immaculately skilled corner-forward. Johnston – it's true – does have it all. Yet he makes so little happen once the championship commences. When Cavan needed chunks of Johnston's undoubted genius in order to complete a credible run through the qualifying rounds, which was well within the team's abilities, they didn't get that.

4. Paul Griffin

Being Dublin captain is not a role which anyone could desire. Griffin is a quiet, fairly humble footballer, with magnificent defensive qualities – and it's not his fault he completely, horrifically failed to save Dublin from the quarter-final slaughter. Even on a day as awful as that, more was expected from Griffin. Dublin got less.

5. Pearse O'Neill

Within the vulnerable, always wary Cork camp, O'Neill gave the firm impression in 2008 and in the early part of '09 that he was made of the sort of stuff which was capable of changing the county's football history. Coming onto the team so late in his career, and to play such strong roles taking several big games by the collar, we expected him to be the last man on the Cork team in this year's final to pack for home. But O'Neill, even before the game had reached halfway, packed with the rest of them. Unfortunately for us, and most unfortunately for his own reputation.

lhayes@tribune.ie

October 18, 2009
http://www.tribune.ie/sport/gaelic-football/article/2009/oct/18/football-analyst-liam-hayes-five-greats-five-great/

[Lawrence of Knockbride]

I'm not Johnston's biggest fan but I feel that's harsh. I think he more than pulls his weight when it comes to putting the ball between the posts. It's the other side of his game that bothers me.
I don't think this article contributes much.

[Celt_Man]

Typical shite from Liam Hayes... stirring and making things up just for the sake of it.... very harsh on all of them.
Paul Griffin is over rated because as Captain he didn't stop Dublin for imploding against Kerry, there's no logic to that argument at all

[cavanmaniac]

Made the trip down to see Gaels and Galls. It was certainly intense, gripping stuff.

I have to say first off, I was impressed with the Gaels workrate and commitment, and the character they showed to send it to extra time with a man less on a very draining day. I know Galls were wasteful in front of the posts and generally edged the contest overall, but I left thinking that if our county team had half the balls, drive and gumption that the Gaels do, we'd be a lot better off.

Now that's one side of the argument, the other of course is that their traditional headlessness cost them dear again, although whether they'd have made a better fist of the extra time with a fuller complement remains to be seen, as they were struggling a little anyway. It's incredible for a team of their pedigree and experience that you have seasoned performers like Chesty, Walsh, Forde and Crotty all spitting the dummy or doing ridiculous, volatile, brainless things on the field in a vital game. Simply unbelieveable.

Am interested in people's views of the penalty given to Galls...is a penalty awarded when a keeper overplays the ball in the small square? It's an unusual occurrence to say the least.
Also, did the referee c**k up by sending some of the Gaels lads off on second yellows in extra time, when (I'm almost certain) the initial yellow had been issued in normal time and therefore should have been wiped out? Or have I that arseways?

Anyway, the Gaels were slightly short on the day. The intensity of the tactics and defensive nature of their game often left them way too short of numbers in attack and stopped counter attacks in their tracks when their frequent stout defending yielded turnovers. That said, they had the last three possessions (Murray?) in injury time of normal time and I think on each occasion they were turned over in the middle of the field, those were chances to win the game as Galls were a bit rattled. A big target man to leave upfield as a hit and hope out-ball would have done wonders for the Gaels yesterday, look at the difference the big man made for Galls when they brought him on, he was indirectly responsible for at least three points.
Gaels also hit the post in extra time when down by two as well and then after that, they just lost the rag altogether, which was a sour twist on what was in many ways a performance you could admire to a certain extent.

[Denn Forever]

Am interested in people's views of the penalty given to Galls...is a penalty awarded when a keeper overplays the ball in the small square? It's an unusual occurrence to say the least.

The goalkeepers fouled the ball by overcarrying so it was a penalty.  It would be the same if a back picked up the ball in the small square.  Can have no complaints.

[Lawrence of Knockbride]

Am interested in people's views of the penalty given to Galls...is a penalty awarded when a keeper overplays the ball in the small square? It's an unusual occurrence to say the least.

The goalkeepers fouled the ball by overcarrying so it was a penalty.  It would be the same if a back picked up the ball in the small square.  Can have no complaints.

Yes, I'm told this was the correct decision. The complaint the gaels seem to have is that Elliott was tackled in the area which I don't think is true.
As for the yellow cads being carried over, I'm informe that this was passed at congress only very recently. Very strange when the reason I've always been told that a team down to 14 gets back to 15 in ET is because it's a new game.

[Drung]

I have to say first off, I was impressed with the Gaels workrate and commitment, and the character they showed to send it to extra time with a man less on a very draining day. I know Galls were wasteful in front of the posts and generally edged the contest overall, but I left thinking that if our county team had half the balls, drive and gumption that the Gaels do, we'd be a lot better off.

I totally disagree. The Gaels were six up with 25 minutes to play and hit the self-destruct button, Chesty going round charging with the head at a crucial stage.
The diving antics of Walsh beggared belief too.
Getting four men sent off in one match and being outscored by 1-5 to 0-2 in the final 25 minutes of normal time is the opposite to 'balls and gumption' in my opinion.
Lyng was scoreless for 80 minutes plus - no balls there. Jelly kicked the ball at the ref and Crotty took a fella down with a WWF style tackle in the last seconds. Not much gumption in that!
Niall Murray came on and coughed up possession four times by my count, kicked one great point and followed up with a poor wide.
Gall's totally dominated the match and kicked 20 wides according to Irish News today - if they had even scored a quarter of these they were seven point winners, which would have been closer to the right result.

It was just terrible for Cavan football, I really thought the Gaels would give us all a lift. They are a great team when things are going well, which is often because Cavan sides roll over against them. But outside of Ulster, their record is actually worse than Cavan's in the Ulster Championship!

[BigMac]

I have a few comments on the previous posts. Firstly I too would like to question the fact that a penalty was given for the keeper over carrying the ball. Im not saying it isnt a penalty but i have played in games where the keeper has either overcarried, or picked the ball off the ground outside the small square (i cant remember which it was) and a 13m free was the result. Is there any situation where there is a 13m after the ball is fouled in the square.
Also I know for a fact that if a player gets sent off in normal time and the game goes into injury time then the team is allowed go back to 15 as it is a new game. Surely then by by calculation all yellow cards should be forgotten about in extra time if it is to be called "a new game". And if that is the case then the player that was sent off may even be allowed back on if they had got two yellows in normal time, because there is no suspension for two yellows. What do ye lads think of this?
On another note, the list of over rated players that was posted in the Tribune..... What a load of bull. Of the 5 players listed, 3 of them Tadhg Kenelly, Pearse O'Neill, and Stephen O'Neill have all won All Star awards which is probably one of the greatest individual accolades a player can get, so to call them over rated seem a bit strange to me.

[cavanmaniac]

Now that's one side of the argument, the other of course is that their traditional headlessness cost them dear again...It's incredible for a team of their pedigree and experience that you have seasoned performers like Chesty, Walsh, Forde and Crotty all spitting the dummy or doing ridiculous, volatile, brainless things on the field in a vital game. Simply unbelieveable.

You might read that above passage I wrote before delivering any more sermons Drung.

Gaels let themselves down very badly in the end, I agree and said as much, but for the better part of the match and until they let their discipline go entirely, they were clearly full of determination and spirit, and stuck rigidly to the gameplan they had. I thought they defended very well at times, there were frequent turnovers and good dispossessions and they clipped some nice scores at times also. Until Galls started using their strong runners more in the second half, it was notable how the shadowing and marking employed by the Gaels defence forced them into playing raking balls crossfield in an effort to find space, way out wide, which contributed to the Galls wides tally when they did everntually shoot. Whatever about the nonsense later, there's a huge element of discipline involved there and at that stage, they were keeping the foul count down too.
They forced extra time with a man less on a day when they had 15 defenders covering every blade of grass , were unlucky to hit the post with a goal chancew when STILL only two down in extra time despite all, and they certainly never rolled over and meekly accepted defeat like a lot of Cavan teams I've been seeing in recent seasons.

There was still plenty to admire in the Gaels performance even if they let eventually themselves down very badly with the stupid stuff and if the county team employed the better aspects of the Gaels display we'd be a hell of a lot better off.

As for your simplistic aside about 'pushing the self destruct button' you might consider how Galls totally revamped their game and switched to running at the heart of the Gaels defence when they went six down and brought their wing backs into it (especially number seven) and also how their targetman gave them a whole new dimension from which a lot of key scores came from, but instead you're just interested in ragging on the Gaels while refusing to ackowledge they were playing a very good team as well.
I'm not a Gaels clubman or anything close but the petty refusal by a lot of football-watchers in the county to give them any credit whatsoever for anything they do beggars belief at times.

[boojangles]

A Technical foul like Elliotts yesterday in the small square is a Penalty.
Not sure about the yellow card rule.

[Celt_Man]

I think it is very harsh to concede a penalty for a technical foul in the small square.  Something like the keeper over carrying it or throwing the ball should be just a 13 m in my opinion but the rules are that a penalty should be awarded.

As for the yellow cards, my understanding is that if a player gets two yellows and then a red during a game, that the team can introduce a sub for that player at the start of extra time although the same player can't be re-introduced.

Also a yellow card received in the first 60 minutes has no bearing on extra time, it is essentially a new game so a player has to receive two yellows in extra time to get the line.   I think I can remember Forde getting a yellow early on in the first few minutes of extra time but am open to correction on that.

[Drung]

Funny you should say this, cavanmaniac:

you're just interested in ragging on the Gaels

and this

I'm not a Gaels clubman or anything close but the petty refusal by a lot of football-watchers in the county to give them any credit whatsoever for anything they do beggars belief at times.[/

Because in my very last post I said this:

Fill the Cavan team with Gaels lads I say. They are the benchmark

Doesn't sound like someone not giving credit, does it?