Official Cavan GAA Thread

[cavan4ever]

Going from the old divisions from last year it is probabaly right.  All the 1a teams from last year are in division 4.  Killagarry are div 2  and 5 and there third team played in 3a last year so it is divison 6 now. 

[mylestheslasher]

Looks like I won't be able to make the game on Sunday which is really pissing me off . Now I'll have to put up with that tynan fella on Northern Sound. Please someone post a report of some sort next week. Good luck to the lads anyhow, would be great to get promoted one game out.

[anglocelt39]

As a very much part time punter my money is on a draw on Sunday.




Ahem...................won't get too smug folks, this is merely a recovery of accumulated losses from the books. Hope some of ye got on, if so, join me in Fraher Field next Sunday and I will accept commission.

I only got to listen to the first half today via the broadband connection. Sounded absolutely bloody dire. In fact the only improvement from a Cavan man that I could detect was yer man Tynan on commentary, maybe he's an observer of this board. I say improvement because I at least got some hint of what was going wrong-namely-Midfield totally cleaned out, two man full forward line that was  not working at all (don't know if it was the quality of ball going in there) and a backline that did not seem set up to counter Wexford's main threat, Mattie Forde (presume the selectors had heard of him).

So, as predicted, all down to the final day against Waterford. This is all down to which Deise team turns up, and I will be able to get a bit of inside stuff on that later this week. Two years ago we put 7-14 on them in Dungarvan in a farce before a farce of a different type last year. They are in the doldrums at the moment, but would not put it past their coach (Kiely) to coax one last kick out of them. He would get great pleasure out of doing it against us, because they (rightly) found some of the stuff written about them in the match program from last year's game to be gratutious and insulting.

Having said that, if we cannot get into the top two from here, we don't deserve it. As for the championship, we really need to get some sort of midfield system sorted out, and fast. Our defence ain't the best, but the best defenders will have trouble if the middle is being over-run, Down and (hopefully) Monaghan, will pose as much of a threat around that area as, ahem, Antrim and Wexford. Two years ago when we had our bit of a run, McIlkennon managed to paper over the cracks in that area by having midfield swarmed by the likes of McKeever and the late Finbar O Reilly, among others. Might be more of the same this summer if we are to progress.

Anyway, off to spend some of the winnings!!

[BallyhaiseMan]

Cavan 0-11 Wexford 0-11

a Jason Reily equalising free 6 minutes into injury time to level it up after Jayo and Pierson both missed chances to equalise,earlier in the prolonged period of extra time.
Why 6 minutes plus of extra time,
Absolute disgraceful time wasting by Wexford,Every second minute,a Wexford man was lying down with them comfortabely in the lead.
Lorcan Mulvey was sent off about 10-15 minutes into the second half,when he stuck his arm out when  Mattie Forde sidestepped him, Forde held his face like he had just been hitten by John Duddy.
Forde wasnt finished there, he "connected" with  Michael Hannon's face near the end which had the Cavan fans on the terrace side in uproar(dont know if it was a closed fist or not),yet received just a yellow
Poor game in marvelous conditions.
Pacy Wexrford Full Forward line caused us endless problems in the first half. with Fannin replaced early on and Anthony Forde moved off Paddy Colfer(wearing number 8,but at full forward)
Mattie Forde scored some amazing points,Gave Fannin a very hard time,thought it was a bit harsh to take him off all the same.
Paul Brady played well,but lacked his usual sharpness,very expected seeing as he was playing Handball over the weekend.

Ratings
1.James Reily, Kickouts good, made one good block in the second half,didnt have very much to do. 7

2.Martin Cahill,The Pacy number 13, Ciaran Lyng hgave him lots of problems, 6

3.Anthony Forde,Paddy Colfer was causing him lots of problems in there,Not a full back,Played well when moved out the field though. 7

4.Keith Fannin,Given a bit of a roasting by Forde replaced after 25 minutes by Hannon. 6

5.Michael Brennan,Attacked well,but was up against a serious speed merchant in number 22 Adrian Flynn,and struggled when Flynn ran at him, Replaced near the end, Overall Good performance. 7

6.Eamon Reily, Got some breaks and carried the ball well i thought,wasnt in the game enough to impact it greatly though. 7

7.Paul Brady,Very good in all aspects,attacked well,won breaking ball and distribution was top class. 8

8.Dermot McCabe,had very little help at centrefield,done very well though,Kicked a marvelous score near the end to bring it to within 1. Only Cavan Midfielder to do any clean catching around the centre,For all the criticism he takes, we would be lost without him. 8

9.Lorcan Mulvey,Showed power,but impacted the game very little,switched to full forward at the start of the second half,then was brought back out,Got send off for a tackle on Forde.Probably not his best day in Intercounty football. 6

10.Ray Cullivan, Had an offday aswell by his standards, Kicked a lovely point from play and scored a free,but also missed two frees,id expect him to score.Caught one crucial ball near the end to set up a Cavan attack though. 6

11.Mark McKeever,was outstanding,workrate unbelieveable, his Ball Carrying set up most of cavans best work, and kicked a lovely and crucial score near the end,also made a tremendous block in his own half in the first half and tackle well in the 2nd. 8

12.Ciaran Galligan,another who had an offday,Cavan fucked him around,alternating between half forward midfield, and later Full Forward,it probably didnt help. 6

13.Gerard Pierson,Not the Pierson performance we've come to expect,Missed what could have been a crucial score near the end,Will be better once he gets sharper though. 6

14.Rory Gallagher, started well,in a withdrawn role which had him as a half forward,but was sloppy in his ball handling,and made some mistakes,Kicked a good free,but more is needed from open play from Gallagher. 7

15.Jason Reily,Kicked the crucial equaliser,was probably the best of the inside forwards, and also blasted what was a goal chance over earlier on,although the ball broke off him a fair bit,losing possesion,Done ok though,workrate was very good. 7

Subs
Michael Hannon,Best Cavan player on the field for me,Stuck to Forde like Glue,and held him scoreless,Attacked well throughout,launching some very good runs through the wexford backline. 9

Sean Brady, wasnt involved much 6

Martin Reily,lost possession a  few times,but his good tackling won a crucial free near the end. 6

Michael Lyng,Brought on near the end,Not involved that much,good to see him back though

Jonathan Crowe,Brought on in injury time,Battled hard and won a crucial break to set up a Cavan Attack.

[trim blue]

Very dissappointing display today which has completely tempered any notions I had of us doing well in the Championship/Qualifiers. Midfield is a serious problem and it looks to me like Walsh will have to come in there especially as Mulvey will now be suspended after getting what I'm sure was a straight red.Galligan isn't an option, he's big but not physical enough and he doesn't seem to have good hands. We're not picking up enough breaking ball either with only McKeever doing his share, he was great today and Hannon really stood out too, right from the first ball he got and made a good run up the pitch. Overall I thought the defence did alright, Brennan was solid and Brady stood out too. Gallagher was very poor and if Lyng gets in shape then it should be a straight swap as they are both essentially playmakers but Lyng is far more dynamic. Great just to see Lyng back but I also thought he played well enough too. I can only think that Pierson will never play as bad again, his freetaking was shocking and he had some poor second half wides from play at crucial times near the end, he has done it before in the big matches so hopefully it is a case of him getting sharper. Cullivan was hot and cold with one dreadful miss from a free in particular in the second half, but on balance he is a real gem, got a right clatter in the face near the end which the linesman couldn't have missed but nothing was done about it. On the subject of frees why can't they kick the ball off the ground especially for the close in frees? Our free-taking today was woeful and nearly cost us dearly. On the plus side we kept at it and put in what could loosely be described as a storming finish, the spirit seems to be good and there were many times in the past when we would have lost this sort of game by 3 or 4 points. Hope we do the business next week and get promoted and get a few more games in the league too.

[BallyhaiseMan]

Trim Blue
with problems in the full back position and the midfield position alongside McCabe,
1 or 2 extra league games would be very advantageous.
Wouldnt be so quick to give up on Galligan,He was very good against Antrim.
the problem with Having Walsh alongside McCabe is its a smaller than average intercounty midfield. They will be giving up 2 to 3 inches against the Likes of Dan Gordon etc,Thats a big ask to contest a ball with a guy a fair bit bigger than you at that level.

Wouldnt mind Walsh and McCabe if we had Galligan and Cullivan in the half forward line, 4 Ball winners.
Wouldnt be worried about the full forward line,

We have Pierson,Gallagher,Lyng,Jelly,Jayo etc all battling for places,lots of options.i think Jelly and Pierson will be starting against Down, with  one from Gallagher/Lyng/Jayo at full forward

[trim blue]

Hope your right about Galligan and you will have seen more of him than I have, in fairness anyone coming back from being a year out will need time but my instinct watching him today was that he won't cut it at midfield for us, dropped one terrible ball in the first half too when he went up unopposed near their goal and should have taken his point at start of second half when he went for goal but he could be forgiven for that. For me Walsh just gets stuck in and mentally he is tough, I think he has a big game mentality too (had a good run in 05). His leap allows him compete with bigger men in the way Joe Dillon used to do years ago so I wouldn't be concerned with the likes of Gordon. In relation to breaking ball dare I say it we could do with Gaynor but it looks like we will have to wait at least a year for that possibility providing he keeps his nose clean. Lyng needs to be CHF or at least in the half forward line so he can send in passes from there or run at the defence, think Jelly broke a bone in his foot and he was still limping heavily today so not sure how he fit he'll be come the Down game.

[BallyhaiseMan]

Galligan may not cut it midfield,you could be correct but,i see no problem with trying him wing forward,hes athletic and a good player.Also a good target for kickouts,As he will be a mismatch for most wing backs.
Pity to hear about Jelly.
Would disagree about Lyng in the half forward line,
I think that line is set now, with Cullivan,McKeever and  a pick from Sean Brady/Galligan/Cunningham.I think Keoghan/Grimley favour the two ball winners in the half forward line alongside McKeever approach to make up for the lack of a genuinely effective midfield partner for McCabe,and i for one agree with that.
Lyng would be effective in the full forward line,if the ball was played right to him,He would be a danger everytime he got the ball.Hes also a much better ability to win clean possesion(low ball) going into the FF line,
i lost count how many times actual decent ball played into the full forward line,was being dropped or bouncing off our players,many times losing momentum and possession,that wouldnt happen with Lyng.

[gortnaleck]

I think the free taking is an issue that will have to be sorted out .All the fowards seem to be taking frees and missing their fair share.I assume there it is planned beforehand but I would like to know the reasoning behind this.Will Lyng now be taking one or two against Waterford ?

[cavan4ever]

Balyhaiseman im afraid that you are wrong about galligan.  His performance yesterday was similar to what he does in the majority of club games.  He hasn't a good pair of hands and i think cunningham will be straight back in when he gets fit again.  I heard mulvey drew the boot on forde yesterday but i didn't see it myself.  Forde is a tr**p anyway he buried his elbow into hannon's head in the second half and was supposed to have been at the same craic against sligo.  I don't think that the 2 man full forward line is working well now teams are just dropping a man back in front of them and covering the space which means the ball has to be perfect which it rarely is. 

[anglocelt39]

Not a bit surprised to hear there was a bit of actin the maggot going on by Wexford, and Forde in particular. Pity such a great player can't have a bit of manners. When we played them down in Wexford park a few years ago (Division 1 and another draw), it got right hot and heavy on the sideline with Coleman, McIlkennon and Paddy Mac getting some right abuse from the Wexford mentors. Coleman momentarily lost it, forgot who he was in charge of, and referred to the Wexford crowd as, quote, "free state bastards". Brilliant. On the pitch Forde acted the gom that day too, drawing blood from his marker (McGovern?).

A pity about not clinching promotion yesterday is that the Waterford game could have been used to give a few blokes some much needed game time, Lyng and Rabbitte.

Regarding selections, you can take it that Sean Brady will play if fit, he's vice captain, I think.

[cavan4ever]

i wonder what would be the chances of Sean Brady staying fit he is another player who is injury prone. 

[shotstopper1]

A pity about not clinching promotion yesterday is that the Waterford game could have been used to give a few blokes some much needed game time, Lyng and Rabbitte.

Keoghan was interviewed on NS after the game and he said that Rabbitte had another setback at training on Tues night and it was unlikely he'd play any part in the league.

[cavan4ever]

A pity about not clinching promotion yesterday is that the Waterford game could have been used to give a few blokes some much needed game time, Lyng and Rabbitte.

Keoghan was interviewed on NS after the game and he said that Rabbitte had another setback at training on Tues night and it was unlikely he'd play any part in the league.

Thats not good news atall.  Good to see lyng back yesterday though he did alright the couple of times he got on the ball.   Gaynor is definately a big miss aswell and his temperment is no worse than mulvey's who let his county down last year aswell.  Hannon did a great job on forde and is a def starter now for the championship. He may get a hair cut though or people will think he is gaynor in disguise. 

[The Bottom Brick]

Gaynor is definately a big miss aswell and his temperment is no worse than mulvey's who let his county down last year aswel

Fair point, Mulvey would definitely want to lay off the "hard man" image.

I'm still laughing at that comment on here last week that some fella wouldn't have the same skill as Mulvey!!