Official Cavan GAA Thread

[Onlooker]

Tipperary agreed to a 1 o'clock throw in at Ardfinnan following a request from Cavan.   As a Tipperary supporter, I would much prefer a 2.30 throw in, but the change was made to facilitate Cavan.  Any chance Cavan would repay the favour by losing the game!!!.

[BallyhaiseMan]

we said the same against Waterford last year though c4ever  

Lack of a physically big full back
Half back line very attack minded....albeit inexperienced
Thomas must be impressing in training to get the spot ahead of McDonald and your clubmate Galligan.
I like the fact that we have two ball winner in the half forward line in Walsh and Cunningham,two extra options for Miller to hit from the kickouts.
Full Forward line even without Jelly will do damage.
Welcome to the board Nelly
my pick for the bottom spot in Division Three would be Mountnugent again,im afraid, not sure their senior team even won a game last year.

[BallyhaiseMan]

Tipperary agreed to a 1 o'clock throw in at Ardfinnan following a request from Cavan.   As a Tipperary supporter, I would much prefer a 2.30 throw in, but the change was made to facilitate Cavan.  Any chance Cavan would repay the favour by losing the game!!!.

hope we dont take you for granted like we did to Waterford last year, hows Football in Tipp getting on anyway these days?

[cavan4ever]

don't even mention the waterford game 

[cavanmaniac]

Good to hear that Lyng is at least on the bench. It suggests two encouraging things, one he's on the way back and two the management aren't rushing him back into the fray either.

I'd still worried that we seem to be persisting with Forde as Rabbitte's stand-in. We simply have to use the league to unearth a better option somewhere, get him in and tuned up, because although Rabbitte is first choice, he's so injury prone you wouldn't depend on him at all.

Definitely an attacking half back line, are we perhaps hoping to stick a big scoreline on Tipp and improve the old scoring averages in a tightly balanced division? That might be folly, Tipp on their own patch won't be that bad I'd say.

Hope Thomas shows up in this game he worked hard against Derry but didn't really impress, best of luck to him, although Walsh is there as an option for midfield if required.

When's Hannon coming back?

Two more points please!

[trim blue]

Agree that fluting about with Forde or even Fannin at full back is a real short term solution, that backline would be in serious trouble in the Championship against any decent opposition. Thought they might give Brennan another run at full back this year, incidentally has Crowe been given his suspension yet?

[Onlooker]

In reply to Ballyhaiseman, Tipp played quite well against Sligo and probably should have won the game.  IMO they were the better team that day.   I was not at the Wexford game, but believe we played poorly in that game.  Tipp are very much in transition at present, with quite a few stalwarts having retired from the inter county scene.   Only 7 of the team that played against Wexford in the Tommy Murphy Cup final in Croke Park less than 18 months ago will line out on Sunday.   The newer players are young, but are showing promise of better days ahead.   Like many counties is Div. 2, I reckon Tipp's major problem is a lack of confidence which can prevent them closing out games that they should win.  Earlier this year, they should have beaten Limerick in the McGrath Cup and Limerick beat Fermanagh last Sunday and lost to Dublin by a point.   I think the new National League set up next year will be of benefit to teams like Tipp and we would be very happy to qualify for Div. 3 from this year's league.  Anyway we live in hope and you always hope that there are some good days to come.

[The Bottom Brick]

What about giving Mickey Hannon a run at full back?

[anglocelt39]

Didn't make it today, was relying on phone updates from one of my fellow breffni exiles in Munster, always a bit dodgy but here goes. Sounds like a real game of two halves. Romped into an early lead, 1-2 to nil after about five minutes. All over a very poor Tipp side in the first half, going in 1-10 to 5 ahead, four tipp frees from Declan Brown. Jason on fire in first half, three points and set up the goal. Pierson good two, although missed one or two goal chances, which can be a bit of a feature with the lad. Cahill and Flanagan also got good mentions in the first half, Flanagan pushing up for a few points.

Second half we seem to have really lost our way-sounds like Tipp started to niggle and we fell for it, the ref. was fairly ordinary by all accounts. We struggled throughout in Midfield. Rake of subs in the second half-Rabbitte, Mulvey, Gunner and Cullivan. Reilly in goals continued to tread the fine line between ultimate cool dude and dopey so and so, conceding a needless free that gave Tipp a bit of a head of steam.

So there we are, fairly comfortable win in the end against a pretty moderate Tipp side. Once again we fail to put fairly moderate opposition to the sword having built up comfortable leads. On the positive side, at least it's good to see that new players are being tried out, no harm for the likes of gunner and johnston to know that there is competition about. According to my source, no sign of Lyng in the match program, not to say he was not hidden away on the bench.

Not a ballyhaise man style comprehensive report, but hopefully some of the returned travellers will fill in the gaps.

[The Bottom Brick]

Just home from the match, some trek to an absolute shit hole, plus the jobsworth on the gate madeeveryone pay full whack if they hadnbt a student card (even if they looked 16) or their student card didnt say 2007, asshole

THE REF WAS THE MOST INCOMPETENT IVE EVER SEEN. ABUSING PLAYERS ETC

Anyway, a very quick recap:

cavan were winning 1-10 to 5 and cruising at h/t, that's the most important thing to remember, they were always going to come back but they never got within three points even

Fannin stood out in second half

McCabe caught some great ball when Tipp came back at us

Gunner came on anad kicked the insurance point in the seventh minute of injury time

McKeever was very good again

Rory Gallagher I thought did well, the Tipp full back was a kn**ker but RG (after being booked for being fouled!) stuck to his task well

Overall, we let them back but we were ten times the better team and they were never going to catch us. Che only thing that kept them in the match at all was Browne's brilliance from frees and play

Walsh looked OK actually, he was replaced by Cullivan at h/t or shortly after, not sure why...

In short, the ground was a joke, the opposition were filthy and the ref was a disgrace, so to come away with a 5 point win wasnt too bad

[trim blue]

Bottom Brick thats really good to hear cos from listening to it on the radio it sounded like the wheels were coming off big time in the second half and it almost felt like a defeat in the end...

[Onlooker]

I take serious exception to The Bottom Brick referring to a Tipperary footballer as a "kn**ker".   I would have expected something better from a follower of a proud football county like Cavan.  That remark reflects more on The Bottom Brick than it does on any player.   I have followed the game for years and attended matches in many parts of the country, including Breffni Park and I would never refer to any player in those terms.   I believe it takes a good man to play inter-county football, no matter what team he plays for and all players are entitled to our respect.  With regard to the match, I think that Bottom Brick should have been admitted for half price, as clearly he could only see one team.   By what Trim Blue says, I would say that the radio gave a much truer picture of the game.   Cavan won this game in the first quarter, when they started off very impressively, with Mc Keever and the full forward line well on top.  They should have had another goal before their first score. Rory Gallagher is still a fine player and was much more of a team player yesterday, than I remember him when he played for Fermanagh.  Cavan were well worth their 8 points half time lead and looked a very useful team at that stage.  The 2nd half was a different story.  a couple of Tipp substitutions at half time improved the home team quite a lot and Tipp were the better team in the 2nd half, outsoring Cavan by 7 points to 4.  We never looked like saving the game as the goal that was needed never looked likely, but still the lead was down to 4 points entering added time and Tipp had a half chance of a goal before Cavan's last point.    I thought that the referee was too fussy rather than a "disgrace" and despite what Bottom Brick says it was not a dirty game.  By the way, I am fairly sure that Cavan got more yellow cards than Tipp.  Meath and Cavan are in pole position for promotion to Division 2, but Cavan's 2nd half performance would not get them much success in the Ulster Championship.  Nonetheless, i wish them well as i know from experience that the vast majority of Cavan follwers  are true sportsmen, unlike TBB, who is a disgrace to the photo of the great John Joe O'Reilly that is on all his posts.

[cavan4ever]

Thats you told bottom brick   

[cavanmaniac]

Holy Lord. TBB, that's a fair reddener you're after getting there.

Another win for us though, now looking forward to the bigger tests against Sligo and Wexford, these will tell us a bit more about our side and we'd want to be putting in a 70 minute performance in those games - fade outs will result in punishment.

Serious diversion in opinion between the Cavan poster and the lad from Tipp although there's no smoke without fire!

[The Bottom Brick]

 

Calm down there Mr Onlooker...

The Tipp full back was very limited, he spent the entire match digging and elbowing Rory Gallagher, who at one stage pushed him back only to get booked himself...

When he got no joy out of RG, the full back turned on a couple of others. At one stage he was in the centre circle and as McKeever burst past him to join the attack (the ball was at half forward line at this stage) he just stuck out his leg and tripped him, it was unbelievably cynical.

He also niggled at Pierson - he was obviously ripping after the roasting the full back line got in the first half, but he didn't have to act like a tr**p for the remainder of the match.

The ref was a disgrace, but for both teams - at one stage his decisions had got so bad that they were prompting laughter rather than outrage!

One great quip from a Tipp lad beside us. The referee was calling for a change of ball for ages and nobody was kicking one up, eventually Tipp fan roars out, "It's not a ball we ant it's a ref!!!"

Tipp were completely reliant on Browne, as they have been for six or seven years, and resorted to throwing their weight around in the second half (with a bit of success I'm disappointed to say). The number six (another thug btw) was hilarious too - he was such a block of a lad and so awkward that his upper body barely moved when he ran, just his legs...

Ardfinnan is also the worst ground I've ever been at for a NFL match. Something similar to Redhills or Drumgoon pitch if you can imagine it...

I wouldn't be too despondent at all. We went to a little kip with long grass to play a shite team with one good player, and despite the ref, we won by five having only played for 30 minutes.

Also,  D Thomas won't make it I don't think...