Official Cavan GAA Thread

[rodney trotter]

Have heard good reports about the Cavan Under 21's.   Are they worth a bet to win Ulster this year.  4/1 looks to be a decent price.

I would say so yeah, playing Monaghan at home in the first round, Home advantage has been a big help for the u21 team over the last 3 years. Got to 3 Ulster Finals won 2, Breffni or Enniskillan have been the only grounds Cavan have played at since 2010.

Cavan were beaten by Longford in Januray in the Hastings Cup final, but Cavan weren't at full strenght. Longford won by 2, Cavan have been going well since then with a sronger team, Turloc Mooney is back aswell. A key player in the run to the All Ireland final in 2011.

If Cavan get over Monaghan its Armagh/Derry in the semi's. Cavan beat both sides last year, but all on the day.

Cavan would probaly have beaten Roscommon last year in the All Ireland Semi with a full strenght team, Barry Reilly the Captain was missing and Mooney, Paul Graham , Captain of the Cavan Minors 2011.

[Itchy]

I think Monaghan are a big threat in the first round. Cavan will have to be at their best. However, I'd fancy them to make the final if they win that round.

[rodney trotter]

Team for tomorrow, via twitter

AO'Mara,OMinagh,JMcEnroe,KClarke,KBrady,AClarke,DO'Reilly,TCorr,GMcKiernan,CMackey,MReilly,MMcKeever,NMcDermott,JBrady,DGivney v MH 7pm Sat

[Westside]

Have heard good reports about the Cavan Under 21's.   Are they worth a bet to win Ulster this year.  4/1 looks to be a decent price.

I would say so yeah, playing Monaghan at home in the first round, Home advantage has been a big help for the u21 team over the last 3 years. Got to 3 Ulster Finals won 2, Breffni or Enniskillan have been the only grounds Cavan have played at since 2010.

Cavan were beaten by Longford in Januray in the Hastings Cup final, but Cavan weren't at full strenght. Longford won by 2, Cavan have been going well since then with a sronger team, Turloc Mooney is back aswell. A key player in the run to the All Ireland final in 2011.

If Cavan get over Monaghan its Armagh/Derry in the semi's. Cavan beat both sides last year, but all on the day.

Cavan would probaly have beaten Roscommon last year in the All Ireland Semi with a full strenght team, Barry Reilly the Captain was missing and Mooney, Paul Graham , Captain of the Cavan Minors 2011.

Really?

[rodney trotter]

Have heard good reports about the Cavan Under 21's.   Are they worth a bet to win Ulster this year.  4/1 looks to be a decent price.

I would say so yeah, playing Monaghan at home in the first round, Home advantage has been a big help for the u21 team over the last 3 years. Got to 3 Ulster Finals won 2, Breffni or Enniskillan have been the only grounds Cavan have played at since 2010.

Cavan were beaten by Longford in Januray in the Hastings Cup final, but Cavan weren't at full strenght. Longford won by 2, Cavan have been going well since then with a sronger team, Turloc Mooney is back aswell. A key player in the run to the All Ireland final in 2011.

If Cavan get over Monaghan its Armagh/Derry in the semi's. Cavan beat both sides last year, but all on the day.

Cavan would probaly have beaten Roscommon last year in the All Ireland Semi with a full strenght team, Barry Reilly the Captain was missing and Mooney, Paul Graham , Captain of the Cavan Minors 2011.

Really?

He made valuable contributions getting to the final, would you not think? Obviously he wasn't starting.

[Westside]

I would have thought he played a very small role in the 2011 run. Made a short appearance against Fermanagh in the first round and played the second half of the Ulster Final as far as I can recall, not making little of his contribution especially as a lad that still had two years left at U21 level but I'd find it very hard to brand him as a "key player" that year. Hopefully he will be a key man this year.

[rodney trotter]

I would have thought he played a very small role in the 2011 run. Made a short appearance against Fermanagh in the first round and played the second half of the Ulster Final as far as I can recall, not making little of his contribution especially as a lad that still had two years left at U21 level but I'd find it very hard to brand him as a "key player" that year. Hopefully he will be a key man this year.

Ah yeah, sure it was only Cavan first u21 title in how many years, He was the first sub used in the Ulster final and made a impact in that second half, for a lad that was only 19.,

Obviously he wasn't "a key"- key player as he wasn't starting

[Westside]

I'm well aware of the significance of the win Rodney, let's not get into an argument about the definition of 'key'. Hopefully he can put his injuries behind him and do well with Cavan this year, best of luck to the lad.

So I suppose McEnroe is the only surprise change for Terry for tomorrow night. It will be interesting to see if he starts at full back.

[rodney trotter]

I'm well aware of the significance of the win Rodney, let's not get into an argument about the definition of 'key'. Hopefully he can put his injuries behind him and do well with Cavan this year, best of luck to the lad.

So I suppose McEnroe is the only surprise change for Terry for tomorrow night. It will be interesting to see if he starts at full back.

I should have just said key member of the panel..

McEnroe is a good player, in at full back is a big step for him though. Be great to get another win tomorrow night.

[scoopmine]

A great win great attitude work rate and gameplan. Meath were very poor. Big trip to Sligo next weekend. Says alot about the form of G Mac and Corr at midfield that Givney is left in the FF line for most of the game.

A very positive evenings work!

[Westside]

A great victory and from the sounds of things we were flying it in the first half. Meath were always going to show some fight but we never went less that 5 ahead. Two derby victories in a row will not only benefit the players hugely but it will pique the curiosity of the dormant support in Cavan, that in turn will help the momentum of the team.

We have beaten what many would have considered before the league to be the two best sides in the Division. Promotion is now a real possibility and the threat of relegation has eased somewhat, but survival is still not certain. If we can perform again against Sligo next week and get a result, we can really start to believe, with two home games and a Wicklow team on a bad run left after that. We will be without U21 players but Dunne and McCutcheon should be available again. There's a solid feel to the squad and Terry's influence is beginning to show, I really don't think this is a flash in the pan. There will be more bumps along the road but I really feel we are on the right track to becoming a solid outfit.

When was the last time Cavan won 3 games on the bounce?

[mylestheslasher]

Very satisfying evenings work in Navan. We totally dominated the first half and should have been 15 points clear at half time, we made Meath look like a junior B team. However, we did kick a lot of bad wides too which is something that won't have pleased the manager. The second half we got the expected response from Meath and they got a goal which had to be illegal as there man was lying on the ground with ball in hand and the next thing its in the net. Yet again, umpires had not a clue what happened and the ref had no option, without any word to the contrary, to award a goal. However, something different happened then. Previous Cavan teams would have buckled but Mossy Corr said "NO" and made two powerful breaks upfield scoring a great point and winning a free (which was missed). Meath never got closer than 5 points thanks to some fine pressure from our hard working defence. Now at times in the 2nd half we made life harder than it needed to be, giving away some silly ball and over elaborating a bit. We also missed two "one on one's" with the Meath keeper (McDermott & McKiernan). Really we were a 10 point better team over the 70 minutes in my opinion.

For me Mackey was outstanding in the first half, a bit less in the 2nd (possible due to a nasty knock he took), Martin Reilly was excellent on the 40. McKiernan got his usual 3 points and he could've had more. Corr worked hard as did Alan Clarke. Givney had a good tussle with Menton which finished even I would say but when Meath got a bit of momentum coming into the last quarter, Givney came out and made some incredible catched in the middle of the field - you'd swear he had springs on his feet and glue on his hands!

Up front McDermott had a storming 2nd half, McKeever hit a beaut of a point and Jack was lively.We also had good showings from subs Fergal Flanagan and great to see Barry Reilly come on and land a peach. I was impressed by the defensive 6, really sticky giving very few soft frees and working extremely hard. Damien Reilly is most improved player I've seen in a long time. O Mara's has good direction on his kicks even if they are not as long as millers but the day of whacking it as far as you can from a kick out is long gone.

Overall a great result but a word of warning. This is still a team that is learning and we shouldnt suddenly expect them to win promotion and beat all around them. I said I'd be happy with a mid table finish in Div 3 and that still stands. However, promotion is still there and a win against Sligo would be a huge result. No U21's from now on though.

Well done to Terry Hyland and the squad, Monaghan and Meath bet. I feel better already.

[rodney trotter]

An important and very impressive performance last night from Cavan. Cian Mackey has been a revalation this year - the one year lay off from County football has brought him on. He is very hungry and his work rate is super. He always had good work rate but its more noticatble with the system Cavan are playing like the the u21's had been using for the past 3 years.

Another feature was 9 different players scored for Cavan, some relief for those who were crowing after only 2 players scored against Down on the 6th of Januray.

If Cavan could manage a result next week in Sligo, Division 3 status would be close to being secured, and a great chance of promotion.

[Itchy]

It was a pleasure to witness the game on Saturday. Delighted the lads are getting some credit, they deserve it. Sligo will be tough but it is winnable, I believe they were very poor today. We are starting to look like a team now and we have some great options now with Dunne and Mccutcheon to come back and Keating getting close too. One warning though, we've beat the two favourites for promotion easily so no one will be taking us lightly from now on.

[packiedevlin]

Lads, any thoughts on this years championship draws?

Any idea when these championships are going to be played?
It looks like senior and intermediate are knock-out, is there a back door system apart from that prelim in senior?

Does anyone get the impression that the county board are making this up as they go along?