Official Cavan GAA Thread

[Itchy]

Good interview with Ray Galligan in Celt today. Especially interesting to hear the comparison between this panel and the last one he was in with Val Andrews.

I'm expecting a Cavan win on Saturday, crunch crunch match for Terry and the boys

[Itchy]

No team named yet, what's the story?

I have a feeling hyland will play gunner at fb.

[Westside]

I wouldn't like the thoughts of Gunner on someone like Senan Kilbride. Hard to know if he'll play or not though. McEnroe could do a job I'm sure but if we're to take the game to Roscommon Id rather him out the field, he offers much more between the two 45s. Hopefully Galligan will be taking the frees and we can punish Roscommon for any sloppy tackling. If the Roscommon team is as depleted as we're hearing, we should be taking full advantage as they did last year and leaving Breffni with a solid win.

[Westside]

Team named just now. McEnroe at Full Back, Gunner at corner back. No Killian Clarke or Martin Dunne.

[rodney trotter]

Cavan must have one of the smallest half forward lines in the Country.

[Westside]

Looks like Donie Shine starts for Roscommon. Our discipline in the tackle will be vital. It let us down against Monaghan and we gave away a lot against Monaghan too.

[rodney trotter]

Yeah Shine is excellent from free's. It will be a plus if Murtagh and Kilbride don't start.

Roscommon have other good forwards like Ciaran Murtagh , Cathal Cregg but those 2 are chief scorers from play.

[cavanmaniac]

With thanks for all he's done to drag us from a very dark place,  I think it's time for Terry to move on.
The poverty of our attacking play and inability to knit play together in any sort of offensive pattern or system is now actually embarrassing to look at. It's harsh on a guy who did so much but hand on heart I can't foresee a single  positive coming from retaining him as manager.  He has taken us as far as he can and now we need something different.

[rodney trotter]

Tough stuff to watch alright. Terry probaly will go

A new manager doesn't mean everything either - there is a lot of players on that Cavan team who can barely break a tackle.

[mylestheslasher]

That really was devastating for us yesterday and leaves us at a cross roads on where to go next. In the first half we had matched Roscommon, worked a good goal and had a nice kick out strategy with McKiernan coming into midfield from deep meeting excellent kicks from Galligan. I thought against a strong wind we just needed to stay in touch and in the 2nd half we could finish it off and from that perspective the first half was pretty much to plan. Then came the sending off (Am I the only one that thinks it was harsh? Seemed to me Corr was lashing out at a guy who was pulling at him rather than targeting a fella with a box - that said Corr and Cavan need to use more brains) and the game plan totally came undone, with more space Ros just ran and ran at us and their power and pace cut us to pieces. I have to say I think the line also cost us in the 2nd half and there were some really bizarre things going on and I will list these below...

- Ray Galligan kicks a 45 v London and 50m free v Monaghan yet with the wind behind us M Reilly and then B Reilly take frees which I am confident Ray would have kicked. Can't understand that.
- It seems we knew at HT that Corr was a goner (despite what Terry said in his after match interview). Surely to god the tactic was then simple with the wind behind us, get 13 men behind the ball like last year, turnover Ros, work it to the Ros 45 and float over some long range points like Barry Reilly did and many others can. What we did instead was play wildly open at the back, man to man in many cases. This was a terrible call from management. I'm not sure are the media "puke football" merchants getting  to Hyland but I say f**k them, management are in the business of winning and that game was still there for us.
- Fitness was not there again, just like against Monaghan. We looked to have only 3/4 of a game in the legs - very disappointing to see. Ros could have bagged 2/3 more goals if they were more clinical.
- Work rate. Something went badly wrong in the heads yesterday too. I saw Damien Reilly give a dire handpass which was intercepted and not even attempt to atone for it. I saw Mackey walking around like a prize peacock until he gets the ball handed to him then suddenly he can run again. Some of our so called leaders lay down as far as I am concerned yesterday.
- Subs. Holla is not started. Moynagh comes on ahead of him and Holla then comes on 10 mins later - whats that about. Enda Reilly did really well against London but then falls behind Tom Hayes who I dont think even got a run against London. Are they drawing the subs out of a hat or what?? All over the shop.
- Argue. I feel sorry for Argue, he is not a FF end of story. A lot of people have been saying that Argue and the game plan around Argue has "given teams something to think about" well I am sorry, it has not worked at all in my opinion in any of the games, including London. The balls in have been largely poor but yesterday even the balls that were good he couldn't hold. It is a failed tactic. Argue should have been moved to the half forward line with the wind at his back he'd have kicked 2/3 points in the 2nd half from out there.

The future. Well I think its fairly clear Terry will go now. I think the time is right. We owe Terry an awful awful lot. He took us from the abyss and his reign should be and hopefully will be remembered as a turning point in our history. He should go because a new face and new ideas is what this team needs I think. On a new manager I have only one requirement - a Cavan man or at least a man based in Cavan. No big money outsiders as that will fail - you cannot ask 30 lads to make sacrifices (including their jobs) and then have a manager pocketing 30k or whatever a year. It will not work and has hardly ever worked for any county. We also need to realise that for whatever reason Cavan do not have top quality forwards so we must cut our cloth to fit until we find some. All this shite talk on hoganstand about free flowing attacking football is such a load of crap - Sligo have better forwards than Cavan, we don't have the players for that game. For me I would bring in Peter Reilly from the U21s. A well respected coach, a lad  that the young players would admire and a man that was a leader on the pitch. Get a good team around Peter and move on. We need to then scour the county and get the best forwards on the panel (with the exception of Johnston who should be left where he is, he has no place on any Cavan team as far as I am concerned). Players like Conor Madden, Keating etc need to be worked on as they have the raw ingredients but have been let down by other issues.

Finally we need to strengthen the atrocious standard of club football. Implement the plan that was to be implemented 3 years ago. Clubs need to stop their inward looking and work for the greater good. You can see this attitude over on that other forum when a player is dropped from the county team a gang of pricks from his club are on slagging off other players and management. Its sad. Its big fish in a small pond thinking. The system above is good enough for Kerry. Our new chairman needs to make this his mission while in the chair.

Hopefully our minors can keep the conveyor rolling in the next few weeks, we could do with a pick me up.

[rodney trotter]

Yeah Club football needs to be sorted out. 17 Clubs still in the Senior Championship. Drumalee are bottom of Division 2 , and are among the teams in Senior.

A Cavan Club has never won Ulster Senior Club, last apperance was 95. It will hardly change this year

https://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCAQFjAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FUlster_Senior_Club_Football_Championship&ei=RGqZVc3_A8K7-AGApYjoDA&usg=AFQjCNGzJVvFB-VvZ6WJdLIPNvf2-c7xdw

[Western Blue]

Was so looking forward to the 2nd half and believed we would finish the game with a win.  Corr let us down and his team mates badly. That's 3 players that have cost us big time this year , Damien Reilly,Ronan Flanagan and Mossie Corr. I would give Terry Hyland one more year as he was unlucky with the injuries,sendings off,and players that could not commit this year. James Horan is the best man to replace Terry in the event of him leaving but I believe he  has a big management position with Coca Cola in Ballina and lives in Castlebar with a young family,therefore I cant see him commuting 3 times a week to Cavan. Not sure he gets on with Liam McHale too. Story has it the Evans is going from Roscommon and Kevin McStay is lined up to take over. Long shot might be Michael McDermott the ex Clare Manager and Kilmurry-Ilbricken  Manager who is a Cavan man living in Virgina now.

[comeysfield]

We fell away badly but if Hyland wants another year would not be totally surprised if he does get it. I would think the ball is in his court initially. One man who absolutely has to go is McHale as he cannot even get himself to say WE in an interview. If he is not committed then shag off else where. We are a team in progression and what we really need is the OFFENCE plan if Hyland thinks he can find the right man then maybe he is worth a try. We know our lack of fowards but we have to do something why Enda Reilly is not an option is a surprise.  But, think it may be time for somebody to come in and call the shots our big players did not show any real heart in that 15 mins after half time. Fresh team, fresh approach but hopefully very much centered around a Cavan man but will not fall off horse if he gets another year

[Myra mains]

That really was devastating for us yesterday and leaves us at a cross roads on where to go next. In the first half we had matched Roscommon, worked a good goal and had a nice kick out strategy with McKiernan coming into midfield from deep meeting excellent kicks from Galligan. I thought against a strong wind we just needed to stay in touch and in the 2nd half we could finish it off and from that perspective the first half was pretty much to plan. Then came the sending off (Am I the only one that thinks it was harsh? Seemed to me Corr was lashing out at a guy who was pulling at him rather than targeting a fella with a box - that said Corr and Cavan need to use more brains) and the game plan totally came undone, with more space Ros just ran and ran at us and their power and pace cut us to pieces. I have to say I think the line also cost us in the 2nd half and there were some really bizarre things going on and I will list these below...

- Ray Galligan kicks a 45 v London and 50m free v Monaghan yet with the wind behind us M Reilly and then B Reilly take frees which I am confident Ray would have kicked. Can't understand that.
- It seems we knew at HT that Corr was a goner (despite what Terry said in his after match interview). Surely to god the tactic was then simple with the wind behind us, get 13 men behind the ball like last year, turnover Ros, work it to the Ros 45 and float over some long range points like Barry Reilly did and many others can. What we did instead was play wildly open at the back, man to man in many cases. This was a terrible call from management. I'm not sure are the media "puke football" merchants getting  to Hyland but I say f**k them, management are in the business of winning and that game was still there for us.
- Fitness was not there again, just like against Monaghan. We looked to have only 3/4 of a game in the legs - very disappointing to see. Ros could have bagged 2/3 more goals if they were more clinical.
- Work rate. Something went badly wrong in the heads yesterday too. I saw Damien Reilly give a dire handpass which was intercepted and not even attempt to atone for it. I saw Mackey walking around like a prize peacock until he gets the ball handed to him then suddenly he can run again. Some of our so called leaders lay down as far as I am concerned yesterday.
- Subs. Holla is not started. Moynagh comes on ahead of him and Holla then comes on 10 mins later - whats that about. Enda Reilly did really well against London but then falls behind Tom Hayes who I dont think even got a run against London. Are they drawing the subs out of a hat or what?? All over the shop.
- Argue. I feel sorry for Argue, he is not a FF end of story. A lot of people have been saying that Argue and the game plan around Argue has "given teams something to think about" well I am sorry, it has not worked at all in my opinion in any of the games, including London. The balls in have been largely poor but yesterday even the balls that were good he couldn't hold. It is a failed tactic. Argue should have been moved to the half forward line with the wind at his back he'd have kicked 2/3 points in the 2nd half from out there.

The future. Well I think its fairly clear Terry will go now. I think the time is right. We owe Terry an awful awful lot. He took us from the abyss and his reign should be and hopefully will be remembered as a turning point in our history. He should go because a new face and new ideas is what this team needs I think. On a new manager I have only one requirement - a Cavan man or at least a man based in Cavan. No big money outsiders as that will fail - you cannot ask 30 lads to make sacrifices (including their jobs) and then have a manager pocketing 30k or whatever a year. It will not work and has hardly ever worked for any county. We also need to realise that for whatever reason Cavan do not have top quality forwards so we must cut our cloth to fit until we find some. All this shite talk on hoganstand about free flowing attacking football is such a load of crap - Sligo have better forwards than Cavan, we don't have the players for that game. For me I would bring in Peter Reilly from the U21s. A well respected coach, a lad  that the young players would admire and a man that was a leader on the pitch. Get a good team around Peter and move on. We need to then scour the county and get the best forwards on the panel (with the exception of Johnston who should be left where he is, he has no place on any Cavan team as far as I am concerned). Players like Conor Madden, Keating etc need to be worked on as they have the raw ingredients but have been let down by other issues.

Finally we need to strengthen the atrocious standard of club football. Implement the plan that was to be implemented 3 years ago. Clubs need to stop their inward looking and work for the greater good. You can see this attitude over on that other forum when a player is dropped from the county team a gang of pricks from his club are on slagging off other players and management. Its sad. Its big fish in a small pond thinking. The system above is good enough for Kerry. Our new chairman needs to make this his mission while in the chair.

Hopefully our minors can keep the conveyor rolling in the next few weeks, we could do with a pick me up.

Still showing sour grapes over the Seanie Johnston episode 3 years ago. Well I heard he was the best scoring club forward in last years club championship? What are you going to do when Hyland and Forde leave and a new manager invited him back? Because it will happen. Move on ya bollox ya.

[cavanmaniac]

There's no way the decision should be Hyland's to make, he simply has not earned that right. He got his second chance after a very tame 2014 showing and we've seen now that despite his best and wholehearted efforts, he has completely run out of ideas and it looks like some of the players are no longer buying it either.

One of the best things we can say that he did though was to maintain a new standard for the type of behaviour and attitude expected of any player who wants to wear the blue jersey. There is no longer a sense that playing for the county team is a 'favour' a player does for his county, there's no more going cap-in-hand to lads with dodgy pasts, giving them chance after chance to swing the lead and wag the dog because we're only seeing the next match and not the longer road ahead. Despite not winning anything, at least the county team is now bigger than any one player and that's how it must stay unless people want a return to the way it was 5/6 years ago. And I think most sensible people have actually moved on from the Johnson issue and it's really only those with the short-term view and no concern for the sustained health of the game in the county that keep calling for his return - they are truly the ones that haven't moved on because there's just no longer any place whatsoever for lads like him, who despite having all the talent in the world have a toxic attitude that infects and stymies the whole panel. I know the post above is just from a wind-up merchant but there are too many people who genuinely would have Johnson back in the morning and that's ridiculous IMO.

So fair play to Terry for staying strong on issues like this and for raising the bar overall. But I do feel he has run out of road and now it's time for someone else to take over. People say we have no forwards but I wonder how much of this is due to coming up the ranks and having a very defensive mindset ingrained from a very young age, because of the degree of success achieved that way? I think a diluting of the negative focus would suddenly see a few lads open up a little and find they have a few more scores in their boots than they realise. For that reason I wonder if Peter Reilly is the answer, he also seems committed to that way of playing?