Official Cavan GAA Thread

[cavan4sam]

Any1 have any report from the game against meath? Any of you guys make the trip?

[BallyhaiseMan]

myles posted it earlier on this page C4sam

[cavan4sam]

Yea i seen that but i wanted the opinion of some of our guys on here who may have bn at it, might be able to give us some info on what player did well etc. Meath had a second string team out yet we only won by a point, we really are in dire straits, the sooner the county get knocked out the better, at least we wil get our county boys back playing for us. playin denn this wknd and witout the 3 county men i cant see us getting anythin out of the match.

[mylestheslasher]

I hear we beat Carlow in a challenge 3-13 to 0-14. Anyone have any info on it. Jaysus lads, we are out in the championship in just over a week and no chat out of us at all. The man in charge is a muppet but we'll have to give the team support on the day anyway, for the sake of the players that did bust a gut since last November.

[Lawrence of Knockbride]

On the contrary perhaps offering no support might be a better move. Let me explain. My guess is that we could have as many as 4 players starting against Antrim who haven't played competitively for the county this year. I talk of Rabbitte, Walsh, Cahill, & Gunner. Now I don't need to explain what this will do to the lads on the bench. It reeks of SHITE. The same shite that McElkennon was guilty off a few years back when he hauled Peter Reilly & McKeever from the stands, the latter of which wasn't deemed dedicated enough the previous January. Quick fix bullshit at best, at worst an embaressment for all concerned. He's gone completely back on his words about the Chicago 3 and we're supposed to be happy if we succeed. I follow the county everywhere but I cannot envisage myself being happy even if we do win. I'd rather it was late summer, we were out, we had a new manager who was looking round the county for talent and character for next year.

[anglocelt39]

Lawrence..........a new manager looking around the county for talent and character for next year. New manager?, well we don't seem to have a whole pile of options inside the county at present as in I'm not sure who would want to take it on in the light of the roasting Keogan is getting (some ,but not all of which is justified in my opinion). So who from outside the county, John Maughan is at a loose end, Paidi (although be warned the lad likes a drink which might rule him out among some of us zealots), Mattie Kerrigan? Liam Austin.

My point is that we've tried new managers maybe it's the availability of players of talent and character where we have fallen a bit short. And you can't totally blame Keogan on that front, he's certainly trawled players during the league, and ok I agree that his chopping and changing at midfield, to take one area, has been a bit of a bloody joke, but it's not as if the next Stephen King or Dermot McCabe is exactly staring us all in the face. So now we are faced with the potential recall of the "old guard" for the first round of the championship and I'm glad Lawrence pointed out the DK doesn't have the monopoly on that particular trick, as in witness the joke of McIlkennons playing of just about the least fit team in Ireland a couple of years ago in some bloody championship game or other.

So there we have it, bit of a bloody shambles but sometimes we cavan lads are a bit too inward looking I reckon. Look at the Laois camp with all it's underage talent of many years ago and the comings and goings. Any number of other cases of players being called up into panels at late stages. What's the betting on Kieran McDonald wearing the Green and Red before this summer is out?

[cavan4ever]

I hear we beat Carlow in a challenge 3-13 to 0-14. Anyone have any info on it. Jaysus lads, we are out in the championship in just over a week and no chat out of us at all. The man in charge is a muppet but we'll have to give the team support on the day anyway, for the sake of the players that did bust a gut since last November.

Won by a point and very lucky according to player i was talking to. 

[mylestheslasher]

Anglocelt - What criticism of him is unjustified? As far as I am concerned he has failed on everyone of the basic principles of management...

Results (to date) - Failed
Player Motivation - Failed
Player Discipline - Failed
Search for new talent - We might be short on talent but surely McDonald from Drumgoon is coming in a bit late now. Waters, m Reilly are too young and light. Chesty, we know the rumours. Chicago 3 - what a total joke. For me - Failed.

I agree with what Lawrence says to a point but at the end of the day there are a large proportion of good Cavan men who have worked hard for the team and deserve our support against Antrim, in spite of the manager.

[Lawrence of Knockbride]

By not showing up Myles the good Cavan men may unsderstand that the GAA fans in the county aren't going to be part of this shambles. The players, both those being wronged and those in the wrong, may take note as may the county board. Anglo-Celt, I'm not saying there's a line of managers to pick from but that's not the point. To put up with a fool who has no respect or pride in himself (by calling in these players late) and lacking in so many other areas is wrong. We might as well give any of us the job as well as him. Surely there's a decent club manager with some principles that could take a long term view, select a panel with a relatively young average and build over a number of years. Football fans aren't (all) stupid. They'll put up with loss and appreciate the long-term goal if it's clear to see. By the way I assume this Chesty stuff is the big taboo of a few weeks ago on here. Well I'm still none the wiser and I don't care to be honest.

[boojangles]

Jesus lads I know alot of people were glad to see the back of McElkannon as Cavan manager and they were probly right but I wouldnt ever put McElkannon and DK in the same sentence.If DK had even quarter of the know-how on team preparation,motivation,coaching or even tactics then we wouldnt b in this mess we'r in now.I dont wanna b bringing it all back up but the County Board should have had the foresight to hold on to McElkannon as Coach.The best in the business as far as Im concerned.
As for not supporting Cavan on the 18th,I just dont think I could do that.As much as I hate DK and the whole set-up,the lads representing us on the field against Antrim deserve our support.

[cavanmaniac]

I have never, and I mean NEVER been so wholly disinterested in football so close to the championship in my entire life.

DK is a clown who was appointed by buffoons to preside over a shambles and he's turned it into a farce. That's about it in a nutshell for me. Pardon the mixed metaphors but this year had write off written all over it from early on. DK brought passion and interest to the job like we knew he would but that's all - the glaring lack of craft on the sideline and in the dressing room is all too apparent.

The real culprits here are the county board though, that's what really annoys me most, you can't blame DK for taking the job if they were stupid and short-sighted enough i.e. €, to offer it to him.

Long-term view, start from scratch approach with a new manager that ticks all the necessary boxes is what's required now, else we may c**k our arse to it and forget about it.

[Lawrence of Knockbride]

what cavan maniac said.....................and perhaps it was unfair to compare McElkennon to Keoghan but the happenings of the last two weeks are extremely similar. Anyway, the way I heard it was that McElkennon was a good coach but not the greatest tactician in the world.

[anglocelt39]

Anglocelt - What criticism of him is unjustified? As far as I am concerned he has failed on everyone of the basic principles of management...

Results (to date) - Failed
Player Motivation - Failed
Player Discipline - Failed
Search for new talent - We might be short on talent but surely McDonald from Drumgoon is coming in a bit late now. Waters, m Reilly are too young and light. Chesty, we know the rumours. Chicago 3 - what a total joke. For me - Failed.

I agree with what Lawrence says to a point but at the end of the day there are a large proportion of good Cavan men who have worked hard for the team and deserve our support against Antrim, in spite of the manager.


So Myles, first things first I was among a number of people who questioned the Keogan/Grimley appointment as regards the general management setup implied who was in charge etc. etc. There were plenty willing to support the appointment at the time on this site on a number of bases mostly along the lines of we've had enough of being bled dry by out of county goldiggers etc. so lets go along with it for a while and see what happens sez I.

You reckon he's been a failure on results, player motivation and discipline, let's boil that down to results which will reflect motivation and discipline. Well lets be fair now, relative to McHugh he deserves to be whipped to within an inch of his life. Austin, Andrews, Kerrigan, Coleman (RIP), McIlkennon? I'm not so sure. Boojangles reckons McIlkennon was some man and who am I to argue. I saw us struggle seriously under Marty's tenure against Tipp/Carlow/Wicklow before the Waterford end of league issue. Much and all as it might sicken you Myles Keogan presided over us coming out of that division. We've competed unsuccessfullly against Armagh, Monaghan, Dublin, Meath, Westmeath (division 2 champions) this year. Interestingly I have never seen this board as quiet as the week after we beat last years all Ireland Finalists. Possibly what John Maughan would have referred to as a "customer issue" over in Roscommon.

So Myles the one issue we are left with it Keogans abject failure in the search for new talent. Now I'm long out of the locaL scene so can you point me out the budding talents he has ignored that would make a serious difference over the next few weeks? And for god's sake leave Trevor Crowe out of the equation since that issue has been done to death at this stage. While you are at it leave Anthony Gaynor out of it since he hasn't set the world on fire for his club over the last several months.

Look, bottom line, I have no doubt that there might be somebody, somewhere, who could achieve slighly better results than what we have under the current setup, but who is that person and what the degree of improvement is i don't really know. Myles, I think it might have been you who suggested a few weeks ago that we replace the current bossman with SOMEBODY  and bring Anthony Gaynor back into the panel. If that's the short term answer I'm damned if I'm sure what the question is.

[anglocelt39]

Fair enought Thatstheball so let's get rid of Keogan, then what, exactly. If somebody dropped in from outer space and read some of the postings on here they could be forgiven for thinking that he has inherited an Ulster Championship winning panel with a conveyor belt of successful underage teams to back them up. People banging on about Keogan to the exclusion of all the other issues with the county set up is convenient lazy analysis. No doubt there will be somebody else to bitch about in a few years time.

So Thatstheball I'm in agreement the Keogan is not be the best that there is out there, now would you be willing to consider a few things in return, namely:
1. The talent mightn't be the absolute best there is, not in terms of a panel of 26/30 players anyway;
2. The dedication levels of a few lads on the panel might not be at a level seen in other counties and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, that some of these blokes have had those issues long before the current management team came into being; and
3. The attitude of some of the more senior panel members might not be overly conducive to building a winning setup.

And before you come back with the reasonable argument that it's up to Keogan to deal with the players in the panel, it might be worth adding that some of the guys in question were indulged in their habits by a  number of management teams.

[mylestheslasher]

Anglocelt - i agree that the players are not there to make us a power that we once were. But I do believe that we have sufficient players to achieve what the likes of Westmeath achieved this year. I think we can be a decent 2nd tier team and build from there. Do be a decent 2nd tier team you need a smattering of class around the field and good solid workers around them. I look at the likes of Westmeath, Fermanagh etc and I see teams that player for player we are well capable of matching - Is that unreasonable.
You made some other comments on the issues I'd like to pull you up on. I was totally against Keoghan getting the job as was nearly everyone on the board. I think only Maniac was in favour and that was a hesitant "yes" based on Grimley being there with him (Correct me if I am wrong Maniac). McElhennon has showed that he was a excellent trainer but maybe not a great manager. The year he didn't get us out of Div2 (waterford defeat) we struggled to win games well, but we had an unbelievable injury crisis that year. Andrews was a decent manager and we reached a Div 1 league final under him, but he never seemed to get it tactically right for the championship. Coleman was the best since McHugh. Thatstheball is right in my opinion in that there is simply no comparison between Keoghan and any one of these. I also don't accept your point that the board was very quiet after the Cork game - you seem to be implying we were disappointed that we won. The board has been very quiet for a good while now and that is down to depression with the current set up.
Anyway, I don't intend to continue repeating myself on these issues. I think everyones view has been put forward at this stage so lets hope for a win next Sunday and see what happens after that. I am glad to see there is no great optimism in Antrim either.