Official Cavan GAA Thread

[Itchy]

Some level of administration incompetence that.

[mrdeeds]

Some craic Cavan having two illegal players in panel versus Kildare. One got on too. Kildare notified Cavan after game.

Caoimhin McGovern and who else?

Cian O Reilly

[Duckquay]

So Kildare had to notify us to let us know?
That's a scenario that's inexcusable on several levels

[gortnaleck]

Where's Cian O Reilly from.

[mrdeeds]

Where's Cian O Reilly from.

Killygarry

[Westside]

Brilliant win. Great resolve, great calmness shown under pressure towards the end. The best single championship performance we have seen in a long time from Thomas Galligan. Gearoid stood up and was counted, Oisin Kiernan looked like a real leader. The sort of outrageous kick to beat them that they have beaten us with in the past.

Lots of negatives though, we were second best for long periods. I don't think anyone can deny that Monaghan took the foot off the gas, knocked over points when the goals were on. I thought Cormac O'Reilly wasn't great, wasted ball. Doughty gave the ball away twice in the last few minutes under minimal pressure. We were porous at the back. We struggled badly up front in the first half. But absolutely no doubt about the application of the players.

So Antrim up next in the first round proper. Two division 3 teams next year so I hope nobody looks past them. We need a better plan up front. Is it worth sticking Thomas Galligan in there to keep the Antrim defence honest? We need more cover for the defence. Going man to man isn't working and we are finding ourselves out of games and having to pull together outrageous efforts to work our way back into contention.

[bannside]

Wish we were Div 3 Westside. Close three years in a row, but no cigar! Still Div 4 next year.

[Westside]

Wish we were Div 3 Westside. Close three years in a row, but no cigar! Still Div 4 next year.

My mistake! Let's hope next week will be our only meeting anytime soon then. 

[restorepride]

Some fantastic scores by an Cabhán today, especially in second half.  Great hunger and deserved win.

[Itchy]

Well that was a sweet sweet win, against all the odds and the doubters - of which i was one. Even the eternal optimists on wearecavan predicted a Monaghan win.

It was a really strange game. A good 1st quarter where we looked up for it, only for monaghan to wake up and run through our defense just like Roscommon and Kildare had done in the last 2 league games. Monaghan had a few chances for goals which they got neither a goal or a point from which ended up very costly for them - we rode our luck, until McManus finally got through very easily it must be said.

I watched the 3rd quarter and it was very odd stuff. Monaghan deciding no longer to commit to running at us, which they had done so successfully and Cavan refusing to push up and force Began to kick long where we had been dominating. Found it hard to understand what Mickey was at there, maybe a realisation it wasnt in the legs to press for the whole 2nd half? Anyway, when the press eventually came in the 3rd quarter it was a finely timed effort with Gerry nailing the equaliser on 72 minutes with a beauty. But up to that we had superb showings from Thomas Galligan, Gearoid, Fortune, Conroy - I have to say humble pie for me, those lads showed up when leadership was needed.

Extra time we did so well for 8 mins in the 1st half, holding the ball and when Monaghan got McGuinness sent off it looked like we were in a great position but a poor kick out let them in for a point and then another which flattered them when they looked totally out of ideas. The goal was a massive lift then in the 2nd half but we began doing some mental things with the ball then, Ray blasting a free away, Doughty coughing up possession like an U12 in a senior game and Martin Reillys daft black card and we transpired to give Monaghan that chance they were looking for which Began took. But what balls followed. Ray kicked long cos it was too dodgy to go short, Galligan won a ball in the the middle of 3 Monaghan men and took them on instead of standing for the mark and what an incredible free from Ray. It doesnt get much sweeter than that. Well done to the team and management.

[Look-Up!]

I'd agree with all of that Itchy. Very sweet victory and one hardly any Cavan person could have predicted. Monaghan will be sick. They really should have been home and hosed by half time. We did ok from a forward point of view first half. Ran up a decent score against an extremely strong wind but we were a shambles defensively bar Raymond Galligan who kept us in the game. The mismatch in pace between our defence and their attack was frightening at times and every move they came forward they looked like scoring a goal. We struggled to lay a hand on them at times but by some sort of miracle we were just 7 adrift at half time.
Second half was a Mexican standoff. Despite the strong breeze and us having players who are generally good at shooting from distance we didn't really do much. It was very frustrating and looked like we just wanted to see out a respectable defeat. Despite Monaghan having the players who seemingly could run through us at will they did nothing, maybe happy to protect what they had. The couple of times they did run at us we looked suspect. Then it all kicked off in the last 10 minutes. We moved up and they flinched. Starting winning ball round the middle and creating shooting opportunities from around the 45 and once the gap went down to 4 you could sense they were in real trouble. As I said Monaghan will be sick with what transpired but full credit to our lads. Some of those scores, despite the strong breeze, were top top drawer.
Extra time we had some heroic performers. Very satisfying to see so many stand up and be counted and not let Monaghan up off the ropes. Despite all that had gone on before, luck, bad luck, whatever, we found ourselves in the melting pot with a much more experienced and accomplished opponent and both of us had it all to play for again. We made mistakes of course but overall we finished a much stronger team than how we started. Hopefully we can build on it.
Antrim will be a tricky opponent but if we perform how we can we should be able to get over the line. We will justifiably be favourites which is always a worry in itself. Defensively we have plenty of question marks over us and up front our experience in big games is limited. So really anything can happen and if we're not on top form from the start we could be in trouble. I think it's crucial we keep a clean sheet in goals. I feel for Antrim to win they'll need to score a couple.

[Look-Up!]

Into an Ulster semi-final second year on the trot. We'll take that. Hopefully no new knocks this week and a few of the injured lads can come back refreshed for the weekend. We'll need all the help we can get on this weekend's evidence.
Antrim will feel this is a game they left behind. Contained us reasonably well for much of the game and carved out some great opportunities. Both teams were guilty of bad wides into the Ballinagh end but our wides first half were from defensive pressure and some very questionable shot selection. Some of the Antrim wides second half were just really poor. They worked the ball very well into good opportunities that were reasonably easy to convert. You could feel each wide sucking the confidence out of them. Another Galligan save was also a massive moment at a critical time in the game. Our substitutions turned the tide for us and we finished the game reasonably strongly.
Where to start on us? It's very worrying but again defensively we looked, I suppose shambolic is the word, for a lot of the game. When teams run at us we are in serious trouble. There's lads that look stuck to the ground. They're there or thereabouts and covering space when we're setup but once the gaps appear we have serious issues with tracking runners, basic tackling and needless fouling. Communication is another issue and is beyond a joke at this stage. For the fourth week on the trot we have seen multiple players going for the same ball, no call coming, and inevitably stupidly gifting the ball back to the opposition when they had zero chance of getting it.
We look leaderless and directionless too for long spells. It was only the introduction of Thomas Galligan again that brought a bit of impetus and purpose to our play. He takes the game to the opposition and gets their defence out of their comfort zone, which is in stark contrast to some of our forwards who just seem to amble around aimlessly, get on easy ball and recycle. When we don't have the ball their work rate is questionable too. Some of the Antrim kick outs to the wings were extremely predictable and far far too easy.
On a positive note it was our fourth week in a row playing against a rested team and we did have a gruelling derby that went to extra time 7 days previously. We finished the game again stronger and we have an extra days rest than our next opponent so hopefully we see a better performance. Down looked decent yesterday and extremely capable of causing us damage. If they get amongst the goals they could run out comfortable enough so it's very important we tighten up at the back and we may need to hit the net a couple of times ourselves.

[Itchy]

It was a flat performance, we didnt look up for it. I suppose how much prep could we really have done for Antrim, probably not a lot. I think it was just about finding a way to win and we did that with a player down for pretty much the whole 2nd half. And thats the thing that annoyed me most. Gunners idiotic black card, this man needs to be sat down and told to cop on or ship out. He will cost us in a really big game. I know he brings physicality but thats not what he is getting cards for, its for lazy silly tackles when players are going nowhere or daft off the ball stuff like Saturday. There is just no excuse. I thought Gerry Smith was poor after a brilliant game against Monaghan, before his black card he didnt go down on a ball which allowed him to be turned over and resulted in him commiting the foul. We all know what a good player Gerry is so I am putting that down to fatigue and hopefully he will be sound next week. My big concern is our inside forwards, they really struggled to win ball and to make good runs inside the Antrim mass defence. I think if we could get Madden back fit and leave him inside against Down it could give us another dimension. Down are very defensive this year so we will need to really improve on this. All that said, we have an extra day recovery and I am still hopefull we can beat Down. The heat has been taken out of the expectation too which will help. Down have been in Div 3 for a good few years so playing at a higher level should also help us. Cavan by a point or two is my prediction.

[Denn Forever]

would TED be an impact sub or woulld he be able for the whole game?

[Westside]

I think TED could easily offer as much as Pierson or Cormac O'Reilly have offered by way of scoring threat over the last couple of games. That's not a high bar though.