Official Cavan GAA Thread

[anglocelt39]

Line up-Reilly, Hannon, Forde, Fannin, Brennan, Reilly, Crowe, McCabe, Gunner, Sean Brady, Lyng, McKeever, Gallagher, Cullivan, Jason. So the slight surprises, no Cahill or Pierson. Subs used for any length were Larry and Cunningham (Latter did not have a great time). Pierson, Dermot Sheridan and Galligan came on towards the end.

Like the Antrim and Tipp games, romped ahead, did not finish them off, took a Cullivan goal in the end to seal it. Amazing, we went eighht points up after sixty minutes to a very moderate team with nothing to play for and ended up having to rely on a late goal by the outstanding Ray Cullivan to breathe easy.

Top of Div 2 is huge progress from last years shambles. First time I've seen us play this year and most of my comments echo previous postings here.

Hannon, our best man marking defender-scored our first goal as well. Forde is tormented in at full back, moved out late on and made a huge difference. Fannin was taken out the pitch early on and was probably our most effective player over the 70 minutes.

Our half back line was  non existent by times. Forget about Eamon Reilly, Brennan and, possibly Crowe, We will need to see Gunner, in my view McKeever and (Possibly) Flanagan, there, come the Down Game.

Midfield-wiped out by a moderate Waterford team-McCabe not at the races and not Gunners position.

Half forward line-all ok, great to see Lyng back, full forward line-Cullivan was class.

So in summary, a bit to be happy about but we need sorting out all the way from midfield back.

Most positive thing was Lyng playing nearly 70 minutes, he was subbed towards the end and HUGE respect for John Kiely, the Waterford manager, who came over and made a point of shaking his hand. Some appreciation of what he has been through. Not sure we can expect him to save our bacon this year though, perhaps next year will see the best of the lad again. Job done for the moment.

[trim blue]

We've been second best in midfield in practically every game in the league and its very worrying at this stage. We've never been that dominant at midfield but the problem is compounded this year by the half back line, Forde would be much better than Reilly at CHB but the chances are that as poor as he is at FB he will be staying there as Rabbitt looks increasingly likely to be gone unless we get a run in the championship or qualifiers. Although much more effective in the half forward line McKeever may need to be put back in the HB's with Lyng going in at CHF. Great to see Lyng getting nearly 70 mins and at least one more match, a nice touch there by the Waterford manager too. Wexford must be sick, no sympathy for them after last weeks shenanigans...

[mylestheslasher]

Was listening to Northern Sound, sounded like a typical Cavan performnce in that we were unable to kill of a game. I had hopes for chesty but I don't think he is good enough to play CB. I couple of gamesnow we have seen teams pissing through us from midfield breaks. I'll say it again, Keoghan needs to get his head out of his hole and get Gaynor back in. Cullivan has been the one through positive from the campaign, he is a class act and needs to be looked after. Anglo Celt - would he make a good FF? I suppose it may seem a bit harsh to complain since most of us did set a goal at the start of the year of promotion, which we have achieved with an unbeaten run. I am just concerned that we have not dominated any team. I fancy Offaly to get the 2nd place in the other group. (didn't we lose to them a good few years back in the Div 2 semis in mullingar before??). Finally we get to the new croke park!!

[anglocelt39]

Dermot McCabe has been around for a long time and has been ridden by injuries. Now maybe yesterday was a one off but a lot of our defensive problems stemmed from the fact that he was totally unable to get back and cover off Waterford breaks. He was trying his damndest but the legs simply would not respond. It's hard enough to defend in a half back line at the best of times, but when you have a midfielder charging through on you un-opposed it gets a lot harder. Can't be too harsh on McCabe since there aren't a half dozen candidates for midfield. Expect we will see midfield as a version of downtown Calcutta come championship time.

Myles, have to confess was my first time to see Cullivan. He looked class but I was against the Deise, having said that he was up against a reasonable player in Eamon Walsh (played Sigerson with Maynooth so not a total waste), won plenty of ball, distributed well, took a few good scores. Pity we are not in a position to shelter him for a year or two.

[trim blue]

Myles, not sure if we are definitely playing in Croke Park, if Roscommon win or draw next weekend then I think we will, but chances are Offaly will beat them at home and there could be a play-off because of the awarding of points to Longford following the Offaly game and that would rule out the semis being played that weekend and Croke Park is being used the following weekend, it would be just typical for us not to get there. Was at that game against offaly in Mullingar, we were 7 or 8 points up at half-time and only a typical McManus goal kept them in it but we were destroyed by Claffey in the second half and Offaly ran out easy winners. Would prefer to be playing Roscommon, we scord 5-12 against them the last time we played them in a semi all without McCabe!Tyrone put manners on us in the final though and that was the end of another bright new dawn and Kerrigan. Not sure if its just Keoghan who is against Gaynor coming back in, unless injuries force their hand no invite will be extended this year. Hard to know how to read things just now, the spirit , belief, committment and work ethic bears no relation to last year but the nagging doubt remains that we could be taken to the cleaners by more clinical teams, management still don't know what their best team is and the playing style is not that obvious. My heart though hopes that we can start putting it all together and that qualifying for Div 2 as table toppers and getting into the play-offs will allow the team to express themselves a bit more.

[BallyhaiseMan]

Anglocelt

I aswell as the other lads listened to the game on Northern Sound,Suprised about what you said about Eamon Reily and Brennan,the commentators made it sound like they had good games.
They talked about how Waterford switched a 6'4 target man in on Forde,and Forde was lost,
How did Jonathan Crowe play?
id say this is probably the 5th game out of 7 we have lost the midfield battle comfortabely,just not good enough.
It really heartening to see Lyng playing so well,If ever one guy deserves to suceed on the football pitch its him.
Would Disagree with TrimBlue about moving McKeever back to the Half back line,McKeever has been outstanding in every game this year in the forwards.
How did Gallagher get on? do much from general play?
Cullivan is genuine class,I think he would be better at wing forward though were he can impact the game more and give Miller an outlet from kickouts.

[trim blue]

Agree that McKeever has been outstanding at CHF and I would only reluctantly move him back to half back line but I think there is a greater need for him there. In my opinion he played his best football for Cavan from half back in 2004 and got some great scores roaming forward from there. Flanagan is a fine footballer but he is hardly rugged enough for the half back's and I can't see him hoovering up breaking ball the way McKeever would. If Lyng continues to sharpen up then he could slot in at CHF instead of McKeever.

[mylestheslasher]

Paul Brady, Anthony gaynor and Anthony Forde is a damn good half back line. To make it happen of course we need Gaynor back and then Rabbitte fit to free up Forde. That way mcKeever can stay in the forwards. Paul Brady started in midfield against waterford and popped up with 2 points, although I didn't hear Tynan say anything about him winning any primary ball in there. Anglo Celt - what did you make of him in the middle.

[cavanmaniac]

Mission accomplished lads. Promotion from Division 2B and avoidance of the Tommy Morphine nightmare was absolute priority number one at turn of the year and bottom line is we have to be content with that. We have taken a monkey off our backs and purged the memory of last year, we can now gain more experience against better sides next year, and when all's said and done we are one of only three unbeaten sides in the whole football league along with Donegal and the Mushroom pickers which has to say something I suppose.

That said, the concerns about fullback slot and the half back line, which have been voiced here all year, will come back to haunt us later in the summer without a doubt. Maybe even in a fortnight. If teams like Waterford, Antrim etc. are giving us trouble at midfield and for breaking ball then in short we are fucked when we play better sides. Any success we might attain is dependent on turning midfield into a war like we did on that run to round 4 of the qualifiers, winning enough breaks to supply the strongest area of the team which is the forwards. With every game, the refusal to bring Gaynor back looks like absolute suicide and when the real spotlight is on the team in the summer and the fans come out in force to examine, Keogan will face the tough questions that achieving promotion has deferred up to now.

We have another day out anyway let's see how it goes although I'll approach with some trepidation. The better quality teams waiting in the wings have to be pinpointing our weaknesses by now and I feel we could be about to get a spanking some time soon... 

[cavan4ever]

Hopefully there won't be any play offs in Divison 2A because if there is we will miss out on croke park

[The Bottom Brick]

Lads, dry up on the Gaynor thing. He's not in and he won't be - there is absolutely ZERO chance of him being brought into the panel this year, so I don't understand all of this talk about him.

Why not talk about Trevor Crowe - here's another lad we could do with on the team, and, albeit for different reasons, we all know he won't be back this year.

Talking about it is futile.

Anyway, here's some news from a good source - we may get used to Forde at full back because Rabbitt won't be back for a long time.

[cavanmaniac]

We all talk about Gaynor so much because his presence is hugely missed. Unlike Crowe, his exclusion is entirely deliberate by management and can easily be reversed, whereas Crowe is out by his own volition only and wouldn't come back for all the tea in China, so there's less point talking about him.

Gaynor is mad to play and Keogan will feel the heat from this stubborn decision - and notably, an entirely unexplained one, I might add - to freeze him out. He's making a rod for his own back that promotion has postponed only.

[The Bottom Brick]

Gaynor is mad to play and Keogan will feel the heat from this stubborn decision - and notably, an entirely unexplained one, I might add - to freeze him out.

Unexplained to who, supporters, other players or who? Who does he have to explain anything to when his team are one of only 2 in the entire country unbeaten after seven league matches?

I'd love to see him back, absolutely love to have Ganor at his best bursting out of defence, but I think we need to get behind the team and management this year.

PS I was up in Terry Coyle last Friday and Levi Murphy gave him a bit of a run a round in the last ten minutes, we should call him up too! 

[Blue06]

Well the main goal of the season has been achieved, albeit with some unconvincing performances.

Also this is the first time in my 30 odd years following Cavan that we have gone through the group league matches undefeated.
McHugh in his first season (promotion from Div 3) lost to Roscommon & Gabriel Kelly (promotion to Div 1 '89) lost to Cork were the closest we came to remaining unbeaten.

Lets hope Div 2A is sorted this weekend otherwise we could be playing (if we win SF) each week till the Down match.(May 14th)

On the Gaynor issue, 10 years ago another CB was axed from the panel.  If the season ends up the same way I'd be happy.

[cavanmaniac]

Gaynor is mad to play and Keogan will feel the heat from this stubborn decision - and notably, an entirely unexplained one, I might add - to freeze him out.

Unexplained to who, supporters, other players or who? Who does he have to explain anything to when his team are one of only 2 in the entire country unbeaten after seven league matches?

I think we're one of three but that's by the by anyway...You're right he doesn't have to explain anything but only because it's been a winning team so far, after a fashion. My point is that this will not last and if we get a hiding somewhere, then the questions will start in earnest about Gaynor and so on. The issue hasn't gone away.

Personally, I feel if we pay our money to games and support the team etc. we're entitled to know why one of the best players of recent years isn't on it. If the reasons were above board and strictly football, I think those same reasons would be in the public domain already and the fact that they're not leaves it looking more fishy, personalised and not taken with the overall good of the team at heart. Make no mistake, the Gaynor issue will bite Keogan on the ass sometime soon.

Good point about Tobar, can't see it happening though!