Official Cavan GAA Thread

[Lawrence of Knockbride]

A lot misspellings there-apologies.

[mylestheslasher]

A lot of lads not at the game today with a lot of opinions but I won't hold that against anyone as I'm getting a bit fed up of it myself. In defence of Carr if we had taken our chances early on it's likely that some of the negative comments being made now wouldn't have been as fierce. As our Louth contibutor said, this was a bad Louth team and we should've been out of sight. Maybe it was those chances missed as well as some frees missed into the wind that plant seeds of doubt in some of our players. But we never played after that first quarter.
As far as performances go:
1. Fintan-No saves to make but his kicouts were poor into and with the wind. I would disagree that Elliott (if he wants to play) is a worse optoin here. He's not great but he's as good as Fintan.
2. McPhilips-A good game and was frequently out with his man. Deserves to start going forward from here.
3. Corr-Wasn't expoesed badly as I feel he inevitably will but this was due to the lack of ball going in. Also Flangan and Clarke swept in front of him quite well in the first half.
4. Cahill-Did ok. Again wasn't beaten to the few balls that came in but you can see he's bursting to play further out the field to utilise his main asset-his running off the ball in support of attacks. Was vey vocal in trying to get the lads going too.
5. Clarke-Got a straight red late for stamping (I heard). Did ok but didnt' support going forward. Left his man a lot to cover the centre which was obviously a ploy. So maybe we had a plan afterall.
6. McGuigan-Not in the game enough for me at this position but nobody ran through this area either but this was probably down to the opposition and their style of play.
7. Flagnagn-Good first half where he swept up inside and drove forward a couple of times.
8. Galligan-Quiet but didn't do anything wrong and set up the goal well. Harshly taken of for L****n.
9. Sheridan-Very poor. I've been a fan and thought he was being played out of position last year. But in the last two games, in two different positions he's looked clumsy, sleepy and generally uninterested which is very unlike him. Disillusionment?
10. McKeever-Dropped deep first half and worked hard coming forward from deep but disappeared second half.
11. Nesty-Worked harder defensively than most and more than he has done. Didn't do himself justice on the ball and missed a bad free first half although the wind seemed strong.
12. Givney-Good first half where he took 2 or 3 marks and was on the ball more than others by dropping deep and further infield (another tactical plan that worked insofar as getting on the ball at least). Set up some decent attacks first half but also largely disappeared second half.
13. Mackey-Probably our best player and was a constant thorn in the first half drawing frees and scoring the goal.
14. Brennan-Was involved in a couple of the missed early goal chances but looked cumbersome and was withdrawn. Maybe not up to fitness yet.
15. Galligan-The honeymoon is over. Looked slow and awkward. Was off-target with his frees and didn't provide much of a target. Taken off.

Subs:
Lyng-played well, got involved in the second half but unfortunately the others didn't follow suit. Wasn't great in previous games but still a strange omission for me.
Eddie-Nothing good to say, no say nothing. Shouted a bit and feel over a bit more.
Mulvey-Came on to the pitch in quite a straight line so credit where it's due. Threw a couple of punches into Aaron Hoey when he was being shackled by two men, had a little jog with the ref for a chat while we were building an attack, let his man have a 30 metre head start in an attack before a lung bursting, cape flying out, sprint back to catch him and finally kicked a free on to the head of the referee. But he's a nice lad off the pitch (Sorry Boojangles but my face is turning red trying to be light-hearted about him)
Hannon-Not on long but gave away one free from one tackle.

Referee-Awful for both teams but why would he be the exception

As you'll have noticed most of my points reflect our performance in the first half. The reason being that the second half just seemed to pass by with a series of Louth frees and points so although our defence wasn't terrible we offered nothing to get back into the game and we were beaten badly at midfield.
I'm no fan of Carr and I think he maybe should go as it may be that the players have lost faith in themselves and him. At this point in time I don't really give a shit. We might stay up, we might go down, we won't go up. f**k it.

Lawrence, you were at the game - I wasn't but your ratings seem to suggest a decentish performance but hadn't we only scored 1-3 half way through 2nd half, 1-1 of which was scored in the 1st few minutes? From listening to the radio it appeared we were emm Brutal.

[anglocelt39]

Larry of Canningstown, thanks for the report. Yes I'm stating opinions not having been at the game but if you check those opinions did not require attendance. Myles in fairness now your statement on what Micko has done in Wicklow does bear thinking about ignoriing what Wicklow will be like when Micko rides off into the sunset. So to try to finalise it and stop boring everybody:

1. the fortunes of our county team have fallen into an awful state of chassis-fact;

2. one club team has dominated all elements of underage and senior over the past sevearal years-fact;

3. many players from that club are not interested in representing their county for whatever reason-fact;

4. if more players from that club were willing to committ to the county panel it would be a good thing-opinion but stongly supported by the above facts.

Off to work for the week now which has an internet police regime second to none, your spared any more until next weekend when we move onto flat earth theory. best of luck

[Lawrence of Knockbride]

Myles, like I said the second half passed the lads by who didn't seem to know we were in a game. It consisted of us losing most kickouts and giving away frees in the backs from the ball won. We offered little going forward in the second half.
The first half we played deep, Givney got on the ball a lot and fed Mackey a lot which resulted in us scoring 1-1 and missing a very, very scoreable 3-3 odd. So we played quite well in the first quarter without putting it on the board. I'm no journalist but you know better than to take much notice of Northern Sound's views. Did they care to elaborate on how and where we were so bad?
Anglocelt, I wasn't having a go at you and your right, your calls didn't require viewing to make. I'm just highlighting the thin line between outrage with Carr and mild disappointment with him which requires a little more than stats such as x scores in y minutes which can be gained from viewing the game itself. And while I'm on and angry, is there any chance you could stop the squabbling and silly remarks?

[Dougal]

A lot of lads not at the game today with a lot of opinions but I won't hold that against anyone as I'm getting a bit fed up of it myself. In defence of Carr if we had taken our chances early on it's likely that some of the negative comments being made now wouldn't have been as fierce. As our Louth contibutor said, this was a bad Louth team and we should've been out of sight. Maybe it was those chances missed as well as some frees missed into the wind that plant seeds of doubt in some of our players. But we never played after that first quarter.
As far as performances go:
1. Fintan-No saves to make but his kicouts were poor into and with the wind. I would disagree that Elliott (if he wants to play) is a worse optoin here. He's not great but he's as good as Fintan.
2. McPhilips-A good game and was frequently out with his man. Deserves to start going forward from here.
3. Corr-Wasn't expoesed badly as I feel he inevitably will but this was due to the lack of ball going in. Also Flangan and Clarke swept in front of him quite well in the first half.
4. Cahill-Did ok. Again wasn't beaten to the few balls that came in but you can see he's bursting to play further out the field to utilise his main asset-his running off the ball in support of attacks. Was vey vocal in trying to get the lads going too.
5. Clarke-Got a straight red late for stamping (I heard). Did ok but didnt' support going forward. Left his man a lot to cover the centre which was obviously a ploy. So maybe we had a plan afterall.
6. McGuigan-Not in the game enough for me at this position but nobody ran through this area either but this was probably down to the opposition and their style of play.
7. Flagnagn-Good first half where he swept up inside and drove forward a couple of times.
8. Galligan-Quiet but didn't do anything wrong and set up the goal well. Harshly taken of for L****n.
9. Sheridan-Very poor. I've been a fan and thought he was being played out of position last year. But in the last two games, in two different positions he's looked clumsy, sleepy and generally uninterested which is very unlike him. Disillusionment?
10. McKeever-Dropped deep first half and worked hard coming forward from deep but disappeared second half.
11. Nesty-Worked harder defensively than most and more than he has done. Didn't do himself justice on the ball and missed a bad free first half although the wind seemed strong.
12. Givney-Good first half where he took 2 or 3 marks and was on the ball more than others by dropping deep and further infield (another tactical plan that worked insofar as getting on the ball at least). Set up some decent attacks first half but also largely disappeared second half.
13. Mackey-Probably our best player and was a constant thorn in the first half drawing frees and scoring the goal.
14. Brennan-Was involved in a couple of the missed early goal chances but looked cumbersome and was withdrawn. Maybe not up to fitness yet.
15. Galligan-The honeymoon is over. Looked slow and awkward. Was off-target with his frees and didn't provide much of a target. Taken off.

Subs:
Lyng-played well, got involved in the second half but unfortunately the others didn't follow suit. Wasn't great in previous games but still a strange omission for me.
Eddie-Nothing good to say, no say nothing. Shouted a bit and feel over a bit more.
Mulvey-Came on to the pitch in quite a straight line so credit where it's due. Threw a couple of punches into Aaron Hoey when he was being shackled by two men, had a little jog with the ref for a chat while we were building an attack, let his man have a 30 metre head start in an attack before a lung bursting, cape flying out, sprint back to catch him and finally kicked a free on to the head of the referee. But he's a nice lad off the pitch (Sorry Boojangles but my face is turning red trying to be light-hearted about him)
Hannon-Not on long but gave away one free from one tackle.

Referee-Awful for both teams but why would he be the exception

As you'll have noticed most of my points reflect our performance in the first half. The reason being that the second half just seemed to pass by with a series of Louth frees and points so although our defence wasn't terrible we offered nothing to get back into the game and we were beaten badly at midfield.
I'm no fan of Carr and I think he maybe should go as it may be that the players have lost faith in themselves and him. At this point in time I don't really give a shit. We might stay up, we might go down, we won't go up. f**k it.

was at the game and agree with all you said.they looked good in the first quarter,and disappeared after that.thanks for that bit about mulvey,cheered me up after being in a dire mood all evening.

what did clarke and lyng do in front of the stand?i was the far side and didnt see either of them properly.lyng looked like he did nothing,i thought it looked like clarke just clipped your man when he fell on the ground.

[trim blue]

Was on that side of the pitch, Lyng caught your man with a high elbow and could have walked, Hoey held on to the ball over the line and Clarke walked/stamped on his leg. No discernible game plan lads and a lack of basic skills, numerous times in the second half we could not pass the ball 5 yards when under no pressure, at one stage we had 3 lads across the middle unmarked and each pass was atrocious, the last one landing at the players feet, he fell over it and a Louth man came in and won another cheap free.

[tierworker blue]

Clarke should'nt have got the line...bad call by the ref (it happened just in front of me.) Two men chasing a 50 50 ball out over the sideline and Clarke clipped Hoey, who went down holding onto the ball. There was no outlandish stamp or anything and the tangle was'nt malicious in my opinion.

On the other hand, the general concensus over on our side was that Lyng was lucky not to see the line. He came out in front of his man, gathered the ball and then turned sharply towards goal in the process flattening his man with a high arm / fist. This was a bit further away from us, but the Louth lad went down like a ton of bricks, and it looked genuine. Strangely though, the medic did'nt pay much attention to the head area where it seemed there was contact, but concentrated on his leg, so I'm not sure what the actual injury was.

[mylestheslasher]

Myles, like I said the second half passed the lads by who didn't seem to know we were in a game. It consisted of us losing most kickouts and giving away frees in the backs from the ball won. We offered little going forward in the second half.
The first half we played deep, Givney got on the ball a lot and fed Mackey a lot which resulted in us scoring 1-1 and missing a very, very scoreable 3-3 odd. So we played quite well in the first quarter without putting it on the board. I'm no journalist but you know better than to take much notice of Northern Sound's views. Did they care to elaborate on how and where we were so bad?
Anglocelt, I wasn't having a go at you and your right, your calls didn't require viewing to make. I'm just highlighting the thin line between outrage with Carr and mild disappointment with him which requires a little more than stats such as x scores in y minutes which can be gained from viewing the game itself. And while I'm on and angry, is there any chance you could stop the squabbling and silly remarks?

Maybe our expectations have dropped so  much that when we actually get the ball and pass it we think we are playing well, even though we miss 2-2 at the end of it. In the end of the day Cavan scored 1-6 against the mighty Louth, 1-1 from play (which means after 5 minutes we did not score a single point from play!). That to me is a pretty dire performance and no amount of "what might have been" makes it any better.

Just to qualify what I said earlier. I was not trying to play down the crucial role that having good underage structures has to play. What I was saying is that you can take a team of players and get the very best out of them by being a good motivator, teaching a work and team ethic and getting some pride in the jersey, as has been proven by Wicklow. Cavan are no world beaters but we are not playing to our full potential and surely we need some man that can instill this. Underage structures are for the future but right now we need to do something to shore up this mess before confidence of players goes too low to be revived. I supported Carr on here for the job when it was going and I now admit I was wrong to. The man has shown us nothing. I'd move him out now if I was the county board. We have no choice now but to take a punt on a local man even when there is no likely man standing out, but let him in now so that he can use whats left of this season to learn the ropes and maybe have something to go on next year.

[Celt_Man]

I think we could be actually going backwards now...  Thank jaysus I couldn't make it to the game...
Big response needed on Saturday

[BallyhaiseMan]

The way i see it,is our game against Fermanagh in the league will decide who gets relegated,
we may survive and even beat Fermanagh in the championship because they seem to be in disarray aswell,But we will go no futher with this panel and management.
This whole scenario with so many of the best players in club football in Cavan not bothering with the county reminds me of of the days Eire Og of Carlow were dominating Leinster Club Football and many of their key men didnt bother or half arsed the Carlow Senior Football team.The same was prevalent in Wicklow as Myles alluded to with Baltinglass and Rathnew having exceptional club teams who killed each other and never pulled together to represent their county. Is that the way Cavan football is going whereby club players with the top senior clubs cant be arsed???
If so we are Division 4 bound and we will stay there until things change.

we have harped on and on about,Boojangles named the players in question,but we just dont have the selection of players in this county to ignore alot of those players named.

[cavanmaniac]

What I was saying is that you can take a team of players and get the very best out of them by being a good motivator, teaching a work and team ethic and getting some pride in the jersey, as has been proven by Wicklow. Cavan are no world beaters but we are not playing to our full potential and surely we need some man that can instill this.

Couldn't agree more. It's not as if McHugh didn't come in and do precisely this almost 15 years ago to provide us with the example. Bradley has done exactly the same in Antrim. Micko in Wicklow. O'Mahony in Galway. Boylan in Meath. Even Maughan in Mayo although he dirtied his bib since. The likes of Clare are passing us out as well. You can go right back through time and pinpoint numerous examples of how the right manager has made a massive impact in lost and drifting counties where all you ever hear is bullshit about "not having the players".

I'll say this: If there's no longer 15 footballers in Cavan that can hold their own at the lowly third/fourth echelon of intercounty football, then will the last person to abandon the mess altogether just turn off the lights and let us all go find something more rewarding to do with our Sundays. I'd say there's more drive, motivation and fire in the Waterford footballers this minute than there is in Cavan.

I'm past actually giving a bollix about our shambles of a county team anyway, but it's obvious nonetheless that a decent manager would have us at a respectable level at least, so what Carr is actually doing, besides inexorably making us worse, I can't fathom at all. Then again, when he couldn't win a Leinster with Dublin and much of the team went on to dominate the province under different managers in subsequent years, maybe we should have twigged. That said, he was as good as we were going to get at the time, but we'll soon be looking for another.

If he ever works at intercounty level again after this debacle in Cavan, I'll eat my own arse.

[BallyhaiseMan]

Did Tommy Carr not win a Leinster with Dublin?
I always thought he did.
If not,how in gods name is he still in IC management,screwed up a talented bunch of Rossies and failed to win even the bare requirement with Dublin,a Leinster Title.
It all comes back to the county board,handing off the hiring of the manager to Sportstracker.
Absolute dispicable f**king decision that has turned out to be.
I agree with Myles,Id prefer he was gone before the league is over,and get a new man in and let him have the 2  or at most 3 championship games to have a look at what hes got.

[Dougal]

he needs to go now,at the minute we are going to be in Div 4 next year,and we are only going to have two championship matches.a new manager cant do any worse even if he tried.il not be going to another cavan match under tommy carr.

[mylestheslasher]

I am a bot disappointed we have not got the regular press release from Tommy this week but he could make up for it by just releasing "I Quit" to the media.

[Lawrence of Knockbride]

Did Carr not bring Roscommon to the All-Ireland quarter-fina in 2003l? I've also heard from someone within the county set-up that Smith went after Carr without any recommendation from the recruitment crowd.