Official Cavan GAA Thread

[mylestheslasher]

Got down to the game myself tonight and must say it was fairly enjoyable. Am i wrong or was there a decent oul Cavan contingent in the stand? That first half performance was as good as I have seen from any Cavan team in a few years. McDermott was unmarkable and they have a few clever footballers in there - especially Reilly. He has the makings of a serious player. I thought McKiernan did rightly and he still got up to kick a few points.

The second half was pretty desperate though and it was like they completely collapsed. On another night it could have been different and Fermanagh definetly should of had at least one more goal. I don't know how O'Meara pushed that first one onto the bar but his kicks were much poorer in the second half and that didn't help to relieve any pressure on the backs.

If one sweeper caused so much bother tonight you would be worried about how they will react to Donegal next week. All feedback from lads around me during the game said they play a swarm defense. Is that safe to presume?

Id say so, last yr in the final they had 13 behind the ball at all times. It was atrocious to watch. Packie Leddy was good enough Westie but whats the point in having a lad of his size in the FF line and never putting in a bomb to see what he could do. 90% of ball was to McDermott and once the sweeper went in front of him they had no plan B - same as last year. The big bomb to Leddy should be plan B imo.

[tommysmith]

McDermott is good enough in the air aswell so i dont know why they didnt bomb it in over the sweeper in the second half.  Someone that was with me reckons that Cavan just tried to do enough in the second half to win the game (as in stop Fermanagh from scoring) but i wouldnt like to see them do that against a better team Fermanagh had plenty of chances.  At times it looked like them were doing their best to let them back into the game with sloppy passing and bad decison making.

Big Murphy will be hard stopped the next day.

[mylestheslasher]

McDermott is good enough in the air aswell so i dont know why they didnt bomb it in over the sweeper in the second half.  Someone that was with me reckons that Cavan just tried to do enough in the second half to win the game (as in stop Fermanagh from scoring) but i wouldnt like to see them do that against a better team Fermanagh had plenty of chances.  At times it looked like them were doing their best to let them back into the game with sloppy passing and bad decison making.

Big Murphy will be hard stopped the next day.

I don't think he is U21 this year. They do have some senior players in Dermot Molloy, Mark McHugh and Peter McNelis. Their horrible defensive swarm will be the biggest issue for Cavan as we have shown over and over at all levels that we haven't a clue how to break these defenses down.

[tommysmith]

McDermott is good enough in the air aswell so i dont know why they didnt bomb it in over the sweeper in the second half.  Someone that was with me reckons that Cavan just tried to do enough in the second half to win the game (as in stop Fermanagh from scoring) but i wouldnt like to see them do that against a better team Fermanagh had plenty of chances.  At times it looked like them were doing their best to let them back into the game with sloppy passing and bad decison making.

Big Murphy will be hard stopped the next day.

I don't think he is U21 this year. They do have some senior players in Dermot Molloy, Mark McHugh and Peter McNelis. Their horrible defensive swarm will be the biggest issue for Cavan as we have shown over and over at all levels that we haven't a clue how to break these defenses down.

Thank god for that but they still have a lot off talent there.  Is there a venue/date for this?

[mylestheslasher]

It has to be neutral so I am guessing Brewster again. I think it is supposed to be next Wednesday but that might have changed given Tyrone and Down drew yesterday.

[Westside]

I was at the far end of the stand to the end that Cavan were attacking in the first half, was it Leddy or McDermott that flicked the ball up and was through on goal before being hauled back? Brilliant piece of skill. Gearoid was crowded at every kickout and they broke any high ball that went in on him. Such a pity we don't have another dominant midfielder to accompany him.. Last year's 2 victories were built on winning midfield. I thought Niall McKiernan was a certain starter?

I would be surprised if we got past Donegal given their forward line and tactics coupled with our leaky looking defence.. Mark McHugh on the 40 will take some stopping and they need to be prepared well for the packed defence.. If the management show the same tactical naivety as last year and indeed against Fermanagh then I can't see us progressing. Another chance at an Ulster final would be fantastic so hopefully they can address the weaknesses.

[cavanmaniac]

If the management show the same tactical naivety as last year and indeed against Fermanagh then I can't see us progressing.

+1. Last year's final was lost on the line, playing Russian Roulette going one-on-one with Murphy on the edge of the square. Our full back might have dealt with 99 out of 100 balls in that night but Murphy only had to get it right once to vindicate their tactic and so it proved, and it was the goal that won the game. We never tried Givney at 14 either and insisted on playing into the swarm defence's hands by running at them up the middle. You'd just shake your head. I'd have my doubts for this year too but naturally hope I'm very wrong.

And the ref was atrocious that night too!

[anglocelt39]

Very good result the other night I'm a small bit surprised people are being pessimistic about the next game as I reckon we have any number of reasons to be positive:

1. Team bas a bit of a winning habit Has won Hastings Cup and looks like some of the teams we overcame in that are useful enough this year, based on championship results;
2. Plenty of lads available from last years campaign;
3. We had as comfortable a win as anybody in the first round and emptied the bench in the process;
4. Donegal minus Murphy are a different proposition from last year. Not sure how they got on against Antrim but I think Antrim kicked a rake of wides.
5. Whatever about us having no plan B it seems Donegal have only one plan and if it doesn't work it's try plan A again.


Think a few people have mentioned that a lot will be decided on the sideline against Donegal, at least we know the sort of annoying negative game they will adopt and we just have to have our lads geared up to counteract, the one positive in all this is that we are unlikely to be surprised by their approach. If we could jump them by a few points early one would be very interesting to see if they have another way of playing/responding.

Quietly hopeful of a good result

[tommysmith]

Anyone know the team for todays game, or does anyone care?

[boojangles]

Anyone know the team for todays game, or does anyone care?

The panel still didnt know it by lunchtime yesterday. They were travelling down yesterday evening so was probably announced last night.

[put-it-up-again]

This team went up on Twitter last night by the PRO -

JReilly,AClarke,DSheridan,DO'Dowd,MMcKeever,JMcCutcheon,DO'Reilly,RCullivan,PReilly,RFlangan,GSmith,CMackey,BFitzpatrick,MBrennan,SJohnston.

[tommysmith]

This team went up on Twitter last night by the PRO -

JReilly,AClarke,DSheridan,DO'Dowd,MMcKeever,JMcCutcheon,DO'Reilly,RCullivan,PReilly,RFlangan,GSmith,CMackey,BFitzpatrick,MBrennan,SJohnston.

I dont think that team is good enough to come out of Wexford with a win.

[Westside]

http://www.southeastradio.ie/listen_live/index.php

Cavan game on Wexford Radio for those who don't want to listen to Tynan..

[BallyhaiseMan]

another f**king masterclass
1-13 to 1-07 down with 10 minutes left.
Enough of this shite, may aswell concentrate on club football for the year.

[Breffni_Yank]

Are we heading for Division Four?