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Massive step up and stride forward for Cavan. Wobbled a bit in the second half and went too conservative at times but ultimately saw off the threat with a few well-timed scores to keep Monaghan at arm's length.
Free-taking was not an issue today for Cavan but kickouts were terrible all evening.

I think Ray Galligan might be playing for Monaghan!

A real crispness, organisation and confidence to Cavan today. Should see this home now and it'd be a great step forward for the team under Graham in his first year.

Gary Mac, Mane and now Derek Origi. Three absolute classic, harrowing derby day hole-sickenings for Everton. When will their torment end?

I have a sneaky feeling Cavan might just survive in Division 1 by the skin of our teeth. We have a lot of seasoned performers and some returning AFAIK, a new manager bounce and a guy that seems to be going about things the right way, as well as experience in the top flight two seasons ago when we didn't do overly poorly, all things considered. I wouldn't write us off just yet. We might even completely realign the stars and beat Roscommon.

Aha, I didn't know that. A real Battle of the Hangovers...

It might be good for county pride. A rising tide lifts all boats! I'd be proud for any Cavan club to make its mark in Ulster but in Castlerahan's case it's hard to see them being overly interested in it, and they're playing the Derry champions to boot, but you never know.

Unfortunately, the breakthrough nature of the win and the celebrating and so on makes it unlikely they'll be too focused on the Ulster club? Might it be another fast exit for the Cavan representatives?

I signed up for the patreon too, a great first interview with Mickey Graham and I hope they keep the quality content coming.

Was quite impressed listening to our new manager. Given a magic wand a few months ago none of us would have been banging the drum for his appointment but now that he's there, and having heard him speak, I'm quietly optimistic. We have a very seasoned core of players with Division 1 experience, a new manager that sounds very driven, professional and energised by what he's seeing in the club championships, and he's aware of what needs to be tackled. The first real barometer will be which absentees throw their lot in with the team, and encouragingly, it sounds like it'll be strictly on the manager's terms if they do come back. It's not beyond the bounds that we'd survive in Division 1 and that would be a marvellous platform for the year ahead.

A few early interviews with the new man. Speaks about balancing the attacking/defending and getting some players back. I like that he's not buying into that jaded claptrap about "we don't have the players" although of course you'd hardly expect him to say otherwise!

http://www.irishnews.com/paywall/tsb/irishnews/irishnews/irishnews//sport/gaafootball/2018/08/22/news/cavan-need-their-best-players-playing-says-new-boss-graham-1413239/content.html

https://www.thesun.ie/sport/gaa-football/3015823/new-cavan-boss-mickey-graham-expecting-baptism-of-fire-as-he-starts-breffni-reign-in-division-1/

I doubt Mickey was top of anyone's fantasy list including mine but being realistic it seems he was the best genuinely available. Plenty of managers have belied their lack of experience to do a great job in their first year, plenty have fallen flat on their arses too. There's no way to know unless he has a go at it. It'll be interesting to see if any absentees come back and what new lads he adds to the squad, as well as persuading a few to delay retirement for another year. If he keeps us in Division 1 it'll be a job well done before even considering championship.

Needless to say, best of luck to all involved.

If Banty is the answer, it must be a very peculiar question.

I heard audio of McGuinness' analysis of Cavan before the Tyrone match and if nothing else, he was quite knowledgeable about the situation for an outsider, sounded enthused by cavan and if anything came over like he was giving a bit of a pep talk to the players from a 'management' or leadership perspective. That's a bit of a reach now I know, but it's on the podcast released after Matty went. Worth a listen.

Some interesting tidbits from the wearecavan lads:

- Mickey Graham approached, interested but non-committal as yet
- Jason rumoured to have dropped out but still thought to be in the ring
- No other hard news on any other candidate approached although an All-Ireland winner from another country was linked as interested but couldn't be named, and the Celt lad tried to contact James Horan who still hasn't definitely said he's not interested.

There was an interview with the county board chairman:

- List of candidates slated to interviewed by committee on week of July 30th
- Noted hint of urgency in his voice and seemingly very aware that time is running out for this group of players to achieve something and that this needs to be the right appointment

On a more substantive note, it's a long while ago now but I recall watching a few Armagh games in those seasons under the two Brians, perhaps more so early on in Kernan's reign, and feeling they were retreating into a 'defensive shell' once they had established leads in certain matches, and had left a few behind them as a result? If I'm not mistaken this tendency was a definite talking point at the time, with rumours that it had been instigated by team captain McGeeney, but some Armagh posters would be more authoritative about this I'm sure. This for me was the beginnings of a switch to pulling numbers back and defending leads which would later be refined and taken to extremes to evolve into the...whatchyoumacallit we watch today.

"IMHO I think Harte seen the success of Kernan's plan and twerked it a bit to suit the players at his disposal."

The image this conjures, of Mickey Harte twerking for his players for whatever reason, just can not be un-imagined