Official Cavan GAA Thread

[mylestheslasher]

Its always good to take stock of where we are today versus, say a few weeks ago. One of the bonuses with the team doing well is that "fans" like Dirtyball vanish.

I quote...
.                                                                                                                                          When exactly would you expect the present management to start producing? Given that hyland himself has been in or around the senior set up 4/5 years. Lads like Givney McDermott dunne were all u21 in 2010 . Lads like Murray Meehan seem to have been discarded already and they were u21 in 2011. Fergal Flanagan comes back in for his annual first round of the championship game . He was brutal against Donegal last year and was at fault for Corks last 3 points in the u21 semi . And to call him a senior county footballer is complete nonsense. If you look at last years first round team v Donegal and look at this years team v Armagh there not a lot of similarities to show the management know what they are doing. As a poster here said already hyland played a big part in the downfall of Andrews by not opening his mouth regarding team selection and regarding who was dropped from the panel. He set Val up for a fall and jumped in when Val left. He got 4 and a half years and from the way he is shaping up he will leave it no better than when he joined it all those years ago. Yes he worked wonders with the u21s .but so did Peter Reilly this year. That doesn't make them senior managers. Nor does jumping on the sideline like a headless chicken roaring his guts of make forde and better than a selector with a bit of cop. Armagh by 5 and wait for Terry's work in progress press conference.

[rodney trotter]

If he had kept his head he would still be centre back for Cavan. Played his best football at 20/21in 04/05. Then drifted off the scene. Made a brief comeback in 2011 in the final game of the league against Tipp. Then missed the championship with an ankle problem.

I think he got dropped from the panel after going on the beer for a few days after the tipp game

I always thought Gaynor was going to be a great player for cavan and the stupid things he did he might grow out of but it seems that he has the maturity of a teenager on the field. You would hope having his name splashed across the national media and getting a large ban might force him to take a look at himself but it seems to me he hasn't the brains to do that and will most likely go down as another Cavan footballer who pissed his potential away. We can only hope. I tell you I would not be happy if some thug bit my sons ear like that on a field, he made a real mess of that ear.

Regardless if he does come back and play for Ballinagh after the ban and keeps his head down he still won't be near the County team. Cadden has a permanent scar on his ear from that incident.. Wouldn't have a player like that near a County team. Good player but pissed away his potential, by on/off field antics in the past.

[Westside]

He bit a guys ear, this shouldn't be a matter for the County Board or the GAA, this should be a full criminal investigation. A biting incident goes way above and beyond the fouls in a game that you give implied consent to once you take to the field. It's a serious assault.

[Swadman]

I always thought Gaynor was going to be a great player for cavan and the stupid things he did he might grow out of but it seems that he has the maturity of a teenager on the field. You would hope having his name splashed across the national media and getting a large ban might force him to take a look at himself but it seems to me he hasn't the brains to do that and will most likely go down as another Cavan footballer who pissed his potential away. We can only hope. I tell you I would not be happy if some thug bit my sons ear like that on a field, he made a real mess of that ear.

You could say he has "made a pig's ear" out of his football career 

I have seen a lot of young lads over the years and hoped that the obvious footballing potential would develop and took it for granted that a maturity (mental toughness) would naturally replace their childish quirks. Sadly these 2 things have not always combined.  Great effort has gone into coaching of the skills of the game but "life skills" and these "quirks of character" are left to chance or nature to sort out. Maybe it's time we gave some help in that part of development instead of the "win at all costs" dogma?
   

[Swadman]

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/mcgeeney-abuse-of-gaa-players-has-hit-new-level-234846.html#.UcawIE_KaIc.twitter

[Itchy]

Any predictions for Saturday lads. I think the minors have done well but I'm afraid this will be the end of the road. Hope I'm wrong, just hope they can keep it competitive. I fancy the seniors to win by 3 points.

[rodney trotter]

As Kevin Keegan once said "I will love it if we beat them " http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXpUdBlRZe8

Monaghan Minors will be strong favourites to beat Cavan after a convincing win against Antrim and winning the Minor league, hammering Cavan along the way. Cavan grinded out 2 hard wins against Armagh and Fermanagh.
Greg McGovern is a obvious loss at midfield for Cavan Minors. But all the pressure is on the Mushroom men, nobody giving Cavan Minors a chance, so who know;s

Senior game will be very close, Monaghan have obviously more experience in Lennon, Clerkin, Finaly, Mone,
But Cavan will have no fear, we beat them in the league. They lost McManus early but we lost Dunne shortly after. Cavan were without Keating that night and they were missing Finlay.
Darren Hughes was kept quiet at centre back  that night from making the strong runs he usually makes, containing him and Cavan will be doing well on Saturday.

[Westside]

Well it was a hearbreaking loss... We had a bit of luck at the beginning with the ball crossing the line and/or Clarke handling it on the line but we didn't have much after. Bad mistake by the goalie gifted them a goal when we were in complete control, their point waved wide which was given by the ref, Damien O'Reilly hitting the crossbar and 99 times out of a hundred that ball will bounce over the bar but it spun out and went wide, the goalie fouled the ball twice at the end and had the ref been braver he would have given us the free to tie it up. Two Monaghan players could and should have seen the line for striking.

That said, had we controlled the controlables, we could have won the game. The difference for me in the end was the extra touch of class they had in Conor McManus. Our two corner forwards were better marked and both had nightmare days out. Keating showed that while he is a great ball winner and a great asset, his shot choice and accuracy are preventing him from becoming a quality full forward. He kicked 2 wides when the game was in the melting pot.
Dunne just didn't look fit, right at the start of the second half he was scrapping for a ball at the end line and he looked jaded as if it was the 70th minute. He should have been off much earlier. Also as I keep harping on about, free taking is a big problem.

Still very proud of their efforts though, we are developing much faster this year than I thought we would. Terry said earlier on in the year that he was trying to get our defensive system right. This is a long term plan and I'm sure that now we have a system in defence more emphasis can be placed on developing our attacking play. Yesterday Niall McDermott had another very good game, Givney chipped in with a few nice scores, Killian Clarke played well too.
The main thing is that we were competitive!! There is still the back door to come although the effort expended yesterday won't have us in great shape either mentally or physically. It would be great to see the same team take to the field and show the same hunger for the qualifiers.

[Westside]

On the Minor game, the two goals killed us. What a goal by Liam Galligan, he should have started. Was excellent against Armagh and a poor game v Fermanagh seemed to have cost him his place. Greg made a huge difference too.

I still think Donohoe should go.

[Itchy]

Minors look a poorly drilled team but saying that they showed a lot of heart to hang in with a better team. One thing is all the subs out performed those they replaced so you have to wonder about the team that was picked to start.

[mylestheslasher]

Agree with most of that Westside. The thing is I think we have overachieved this year. We have such a young team and many of  them are 2/3 years away from the physical peak. You could see how tired the likes of Mcloughlin was in the 2nd half from all t he hits and the power that Monaghan were able to throw at them. And yet still for all that we were only bet by a point and conceded a goal all of our own making. I think the future is bright. Martin Dunne needs to work on muscling up and a bit of power as do a good few others but thats no problem with the great attitude these lads have. We do need to look at another forward or two, young Madden from Gowna is the type of player we need - big, fast and powerful. I'm a bit pissed off we lost but still this year is a good year for us. Just hope we can get a beatable team in the draw tomorrow and take it from there.

[cavanforever]

If i was terry i would have had dunne off after 20 mins as it was clear what was going to happen for the rest of the game. Once he gets roughed up by a tenacious sticky corner back he doesn't want to know

[rodney trotter]

I don't think there was anything wrong with Martin Dunne's fitness, as cavanfotever said, when a tenacious marker is getting the better of him he doesn't want to know

There was a ball in the second half he clearly should have had, he was in front of Walsh but then pulled out. He has had a good Championship, but maybe getting too much praise.

[tommysmith]

I don't think there was anything wrong with Martin Dunne's fitness, as cavanfotever said, when a tenacious marker is getting the better of him he doesn't want to know

There was a ball in the second half he clearly should have had, he was in front of Walsh but then pulled out. He has had a good Championship, but maybe getting too much praise.

He was rumored to have hurt his groin near the end of the Fermanagh game and did very little training since it. 

[Westside]

Bit harsh saying he doesn't want to know. You can't fault his effort or his runs, and very little quality ball went into him. He didn't have a good day out certainly but he was excellent in the last two games. There's no shame in being well marked. My initial reaction was that he should have been taken off after about 50 odd minutes when it was clear that he wasn't winning his personal battle but if you look at it from Terry's point of view, your most accurate forward in a one point game where one strike can win it, leaving him on could have been the right call. He was quiet in the second half v Fermanagh but won the game with an outstanding strike.

I'd be surprised if we progressed much further this year, mentally I think we're spent. The messages from the players seems to be very much "we'll be back next year" Hopefully I'm wrong, another few games and maybe another big scalp would be nice.

Long term I think the development of the team is going well. Some problem areas are the physicality in key areas, Jason McLoughlin is a quality player but needs to be a lot bigger than he is right now, Ronan Flanagan is another lad that's a worry in that department. Midfield needs a lot more consistency and hopefully Gearoid can make a full recovery and return to playing well there with Corr inside him. That could possibly allow us to free up Givney to play in attack, a bit of pace and power there is vital. We NEED a solid free taker from the right, Jack Brady being fit and available would help with that and give us a bigger scoring threat in the half forward line.

Niall McDermott has been our player of Championship for me so far.