Official Cavan GAA Thread

[Celt_Man]

Huge  night for Cavan football, Best of luck to all involved. Somobody pointed out that the Monaghan game was probably the first in god knows how many years when Cavan edged a close one against the odds at undeage level, well since our Under 21's took Meath in the AISF in 96. Hopefully it shows a level of belief among these lads that will get us across the line tonight.

Well wouldn't go that far back...  They had a couple of gutsy wins in the '05 Under 21 championship, beating All-Ireland champions Armagh in the first round then a one point win over Monaghan in the semi final.   But point taken, they have been few and far between

[Dougal]

best of luck to the lads tonight,done us proud so far,but hope they can go all the way.

[offthebeatentrack]

Donegal 2-8 to Cavan 0-7- 5,000-6,000 at it!! That's it over.

[Denn Forever]

Great to see so many out. 

Wouldn't say that Donegal were a much better team but the goals against killed us.  What happened for that 2nd goal.  It appeared to be caught well.  Was it lost coming out?

Well done to all involved and hold the heads up.  It was a great tonic while it lasted.

[cavanmaniac]

Made a flying visit down for the match, very disappointing result obviously but on the other hand, a deserved win - just about - for Donegal.

Ten scores beating seven in perfect conditions tells you a fair bit about the game and tactics. Cavan tried to play all the football, Donegal generally had 13 men in their own half - sometimes all 15 - such was their commitment to the blanket defence. The attacking tactic was to isolate big Murphy on the edge of the square and although never looking comfortable or in control, Rory Dunne did well enough on him overall, scrambling it or breaking it away somehow the majority of the time. However, Murphy only had to get it right once and when he bagged his goal on the stroke of half time it turned a manageable 0-4 to 0-2 deficit into a daunting 1-4 to 0-2 one and our goose looked cooked to me at that stage. We were making little headway against the packed defence as it was, but one felt if we hurried up the ball in a little there was still some hope as we were clearly best at midfield (Givney was a beast, shame he overcarried at times) and had dominated possession for spells in the first period. Jitters and giving the ball away, unforced errors and delaying the ball in undid us though and Murphy's goal was just a total killer.

In the second half we launched it in much earlier and drew a few fouls and generally got the very large Cavan crowd behind the team. We closed to within two points at one stage and were coming strong when one of the most inexplicable refereeing decisions I've ever seen turned the match IMO. We were cleaning up scraps from the long ball in and starting to make inroads by carrying from deep at pace and a Cavan attack, right under the seated terrace where I was situated, was taking shape and looking promising. The Cavan forward had jinked by his man and had a clear sight of goal when the ref somehow saw a pickup in the build up that not even the most one-eyed of Donegal fans could have seen - because it didn't happen. From this awful decision Donegal went up the field, won a free and when the ball dropped under the posts the Cavan defender who collected it came down unsteadily, dropped it and the Donegal forward sent it to the net for a highly fortunate goal and effectively, the winning of the game.

That was it more or less, the wind went out of our sails then and Donegal played keepball. It's frustrating as we were the team trying to play most of the 'football' but Donegal's gameplan was certainly effective if not very pretty to look at. They swarmed in defence but gave away very few frees in a quite disciplined performance although their #7 and #8 sailed close to the wind a few times. Donegal were also physically much bigger and overall it was their deployment of numbers rather than any great individual skill that won them the game, with the hugely impressive Murphy (a quiet second half but the damage was done) their jewel in the crown and a few other pacy players enabling them to attack from deep in waves and release the numbers they generally have funnelled back.

The ref was a bit of a fusspot, throwing up two Cavan frees for not being taken from the right spot and ignoring Donegal's similar indiscretions although overall, he made bad decisions for both teams - sadly, the worst one he made against Cavan turned the match in my opinion. We'll never know what might have happened but for that decision but 'if me auntie had balls she'd be my uncle' springs to mind too - Donegal won and fair play to them now and best of luck later in the year.

Awful shame for Cavan, we desperately need some success at underage but at least in Givney it genuinely looks like we've found a midfielder and as always have a few quick, nacky forwards coming on as well.

[boojangles]

Was great while it lasted as right.I'd have taken an Ulster Final appearance in January so its not all doom and gloom, however that game was probably there for the taking but too many lads didnt play,especially in key forward positions. Tight field didnt suit us either and Donegal were much cuter in the 2nd half.
They kept possession while we just landed it on top of their sweepers instead of working it in. People can blame management but at the end of the day 20/21 year olds should be able to think on their feet and see what Donegal were doing and counteract it by running at them.

In terms of the step up to Senior level,at the moment I would probably say only Givney and maybe Rory Dunne look like they are ready. Barry Reilly will make it if we can hold on to him but Id give him another year or two.
Gearoid McKiernan maybe in time but he has some work to do.
Other lads like Daragh Tighe and Bud Fitzpatrick were outstanding over the 3 games but unfortunately may not be big enough. But I hope I'm wrong.
The jury is out on a few more but its up to themselves.

Overall this panel has restored a bit of pride in Cavan football at a time when it is badly wanted.The turn out of Cavan people tonight was very encouraging and shows how desperate for success we are, but also how as a county we still love our football.
The team showed heart and guts and every one of them can be proud of themselves and I really hope they can learn from the experience of the last few weeks.

An Cabhan Abu

[mylestheslasher]

Very disappointing result last night. As Boojangles said, some of our lads just did not play. The game was lost at the FB battle though and I am afraid Dunne is no Full back going on the last 2 U21 games. He let Murphy in behind him badly for the 1st goal and the 2nd goal he caught a ball on the cross bar and dropped it to a forward on the way down. He was also responsible for some very soft points, one in particular where he decided to fall on the ball in front of the stand after Tighe had done trojan work to win the ball out in front and another where he pulled out of a 50:50. You can say he started well on Murphy but he was directly at fault for 2-2. I know the lad done his best but he is no FB solution imo. Was also disappointed in Thomais Reilly, very disappointed in Niall McDermott (I would have taken him off after 20 minutes he was so poor in 1st half). Keeper was also poor. Others just did not show or were too light to deal with the packed defence Donegal had.

On the positive Givney was immense and single handedly won midfield on his own, even when Donegal brought out Murphy he couldn't compete with him. He has the ability to be one of the best in the country and I think that is a real possibility as the man gets better and better every game so he obviously works hard on improving himself. Givney was the best player on the pitch by a mile. Daragh Tighe was also magnificent in defense, as sticky a corner back as their is in this grade. He is a good lad too and I reckon he will make the senior team. Barry Reilly was our only threat in the half forward line and got some nice points. He has skill and a good head too, def one for the future and finally Brendan Fitzpatrick was also exceptional considering he was being double and triple marked the whole game.

Now for the controversial bit. I would hate to see this Donegal team win this out. They are without doubt the most negative team I have ever seen. I reckon they have 2 quality players and 13 mullockers. At times they had 14 behind the ball and then spend ages playing basketball with it. I'd say 50% of their frees in the 2nd half went backways. The ref let them away with constant fouling, walking across the free takers path to slow the game down. He even stopped the game when one of them tied his laces conveniently when cavan were on top. They are a team that shows all that is wrong with this puke cynical football and they'll be the 1st Ulster team I will not be cheering for in the semis. At the end of the 2nd half they had 7 defenders inside their 20 when cavan had the ball in their own half. The tacticians out their may applaud this type of stuff but to me it is shit that will turn people off the game.

[beer baron]

Jaysus i thought dunne did as well as could be expected against someone as exceptionally skilful and strong as Murphy,he broke or won as much if not more ball than Murphy did and was very unlucky for 2nd goal.Givney was immense in the air but took too much out of the ball at times but still  played exceptionally well.Barry reilly is some skilful player and hard as nails for a lad thats not big.Who was the goalie?Didn't rate him at all?No.10 for us made some great bursts with the ball when he got it-lightning quick-who was he?Mc Kiernan was a big disappointment as was mc dermott from ballinagh.Bud fitz was excellent.What were the management thinking playing short balls or balls into the corner when they had big mc kiernan in full orward 1st hafl then launching it into full forward when he was pulled  out and 2 sweepers being deployed?Another point-them donegal lads fairly eat their spuds-some of them players would look like monsters up against any senior team

[mylestheslasher]

Jaysus i thought dunne did as well as could be expected against someone as exceptionally skilful and strong as Murphy,he broke or won as much if not more ball than Murphy did and was very unlucky for 2nd goal.Givney was immense in the air but took too much out of the ball at times but still  played exceptionally well.Barry reilly is some skilful player and hard as nails for a lad thats not big.Who was the goalie?Didn't rate him at all?No.10 for us made some great bursts with the ball when he got it-lightning quick-who was he?Mc Kiernan was a big disappointment as was mc dermott from ballinagh.Bud fitz was excellent.What were the management thinking playing short balls or balls into the corner when they had big mc kiernan in full orward 1st hafl then launching it into full forward when he was pulled  out and 2 sweepers being deployed?Another point-them donegal lads fairly eat their spuds-some of them players would look like monsters up against any senior team

The goal was nothing to do with Murphys skill. A FB never goes out  yards in front of his man to allow a high ball over his head. The 2nd goal was not bad luck he caught the ball and dropped it, don't see what luck had to do with it to be honest. No 10 was fast but thats it, he never looked up and generally ran into cul de sacs. Did the same in the semi. Maybe he will improve as he reminds me a bit of mackey at that age.

[beer baron]

2nd goal was knocked out of his hand as he came down from stopping it going over for a point-that's bad luck!

[whats my name]

Wasn't a great result but we had donegal on the ropes when we were two points down we were wining every kickout and we were getting scores on the board the turning point of the game for me was when the ref blew bud Fitz for picking the ball up off the ground was a very poor decision as you could see as clear as day that he got his toe under it after the resulting free donegal got a point out of it and cavan heads dropped then the goal etc

[boojangles]

Think you are being a bit harsh on Rory Dunne Myles considering who he was on I thought he did well enough, although for the 1st goal he was caught badly.
But whatever about having no full back,You will never win a game when your Full-Forward and Centre-Half forwrad are completely out of the game. They offered nothing. Maloney-Derham should have started IMO.He would have played the role that Paddy Carroll was in excellently.

[Denn Forever]

So it is Fermanagh in the last round?  Hope the senior team kick on from their mni revival.  Will Brady start (it seems to be a given according to HS) and who will lose out?

What would need to happen (we can but dream) in order to get promoted?

Back to the bread and butter football and dreams of the Championship.

[mylestheslasher]

We need a Cavan win. Wexford to lose to Antrim. Sligo to lose to roscommon. Louth Offaly won't matter unless one hammers the other. Our score diff would then put us up. Can't see Sligo lose myself

[Denn Forever]

I wonder what the odds are on that happening?  Might be worth a punt.