Messages

No sign of David Givney on the Sligo I.T. football team this year...is he injured,, and no sign of Michael Lyng either with D.C.U...Big Lorcan must be ready to start...might get a game tomorrow night against Monaghan.. could collect his first Red card of the season?

Traveled over for the game which  was played in driving rain and a gale blowing down towards the town end. It was a delight watching Paddy Bradley playing..with his runs and distribution.I don't think he wasted a ball all night and he and Conleth Gilligan got some great points in the first half.James  Reilly made a great save from a point blank shot and went off shortly afterwards....got the ball hard into his manhood ..sore thing! Replacement keeper couldn't cope kicking into the wind which helped Derry's to build up the 8 pt lead. Mossy Corr made big contribution when he came on into midfield and Keith Fannin looks the part at No 10.for the rest of the season..great engine.I thought Jelly looked unfit and didn't like the conditions and wanted to be somewhere warmer.Michael Brennan is a busy player but his first touch is cat.ie fumbling and spills ( over anxious when he sees the ball coming). Paddy Gumley and Alan Clarke deserve another run out against Monaghan on Wed.night. Great to see Gerry Pierson in a blue shirt again..still has the class. but still has some way to go to get up to the pace of today's game after been out for a number of years..hope he sticks at it and stays fit for the full season because he is needed. I thought Ronan Flanagan did ok last night. Would have been nice to have got a draw out of last night's game on the bases of a good fighting 2nd half performance.

I read that piece too about 14 players missing! Who are these 14 players??. I can think of 6 players alright  but another 8 players has me puzzled!! Have we anybody to play on Saturday night or should we give a walkover to Queens

 Letrim in Breffni. Any other news from this challenge match...team that started and the score. I can take it that it was played on the 3G pitch?

Haven been to  Cavan since I walked out of  Breffni Park at half-time in the Wicklow match very distraught and promising never to support my native county again!. Whiter it is the appointment of Team Andrews/Hyland ( Clough/Taylor) for 2011 I am feeling good again and so I am prepared to put on my old Kingspan jersey for another year and travel over from the West to watch the Queens match Sat night in the hope of seeing some areas of improvement and a win for moral purposes. I would imagine the team should have some degree of fitness at this time?

Just learned about the great Phil Sheridan passing away. Can still see this big man in his best Sunday suit with a crisp white shirt patrolling up along the side lines of St Anne's Park on Sunday afternoon's offering great encouragement be it to the U.14's or the Senior side.

I was there allright.take your point half time score line..but if we had kicked over 7 points instead of the wides and at least 4/5 more in to the goalies hand we might have been in the lead!!

Our lads were not used to playing football at High Altitude  and playing with and against a North Atlantic wind. !! Did I not list the team later that evening. I WAS THERE .

Lads, Any news after the Mayo match back home,we got a bad local press this week down here  .ie showed no interest in the game a useless exercise for John O'Mahony's team !! I though we competed well in the 1st half in what was terrible conditions for both team.
Read Seanie Johnston  article  re his injury update..not looking good for the Fermanagh game.
No sign of Givney or Mulvey last weekend. Are they in trouble too.
Givney looked to have taken a  crunching knock to his back against Dublin and  Mc Kiernan looked in serious pain going off at half-time against Mayo.
We need them all fit fairly quickly.

Just back from wild,wet and windy Belmullet this evening. Match Result Mayo 0.11...Cavan 0.4. Never mind the result as Cavan actually played very well  and competed with a full strength Mayo side till both managers made the usual emptying  out the bench midway through the 2nd half. In particular the fullback line and half back line were as a defense unit were excellent and snuffed out the Mayo forwards.Mossy got the better of Aidan O'Shea and Martin Cahill had a great tussle with C.Mortimer.Dermot Sheridan and Paul Brady both had good games . Galligan and Cullivan were our midfielders on the evening  and worked hard. We lost because we could not handle the gale force wind with the result we were over hitting passes,kicked at least 7 wides in the first half and into the keepers hands . Out of our 4 scores one point came from play courtesy of Cian Mackey.
All in all it was a good work out for the team in terrible conditions. We were just as fit as Mayo and team work was excellent.  On the minus side  the final ball into the forward line was poor.

Fintan Reilly

Dermot Sheridan   Mossy Corr  Martin Cahill
Paul Brady          Eoin McGuigan  John McCutcheon

  CIARAN GALLIGAN......RAY CULLIVAN

D O'Dowd     Nesty Smith  Mark McKeever
Cian Mackey  Declan Mc Kiernan  Philip Brady

Flanagan was togged out but seemed to pull a muscle in the warm-up.  McKiernan went off with what looked like a hamstring  injury. Hope both will be OK for the Fermanagh game

Looking forward to going up to Belmullet on Sat evening to see how the present Cavan squad measure up to the Mayo lads in particular the midfield dual between McGarrity/O'Shea against Giveny/Galligan  or Mulvey. Also how our backline handle Aidan O'Shea and Conor Mortimer?

Could Seanie Johnston make an appearance in this game?

Travelled over from the West to see the match and have a look at the new 3G pitch. It looks to be a fabulous  playing surface to play on and the players seemed to enjoyed it. Could be slippery  if wet ? Anyway Cavan Gaa are leading the way for other counties again! Cavan played well in the first half and took their chances  with plenty of movement and support for the man on the ball. However on at least 4 occasions we were opened up at the back and Dublin could have had 2/3 goals. Paul Brady,Dermot Sheridan,John McCutcheon and Eoin Mc Phillips can be pleased with their performance. Dublin had 2 huge men at midfield in Fennell and McConnell and they were cleaning up early but Cullivan/ Givney never gave up .Givney took a huge hit in the small of his back and had to go off as a precaution .a pity because when on the ball he used it well
Flanagan,Nesty and McKeever worked hard  although I though McKeever ran out of steam in the 2nd half.Mackey was quite but still got on the score sheet.Didn't come out for the 2nd half.Declan Mc Kiernan will have enjoyed experience playing at this level but was ball watching on a couple of occasions...good for the future.Not sure about Phiip Brady . didn't think he was physically fit compared to the other players but then he he has just come in.
Spoke with some the backroom people after the game about Seanie Johnston....seems to be running out of time to be ready for the Fermanagh game.Not fit for any contact training yet..pity. We deserved to win as Dublin players on view were poor. Yet again I suppose we were poor attack wise in the 2nd half running with the ball into heavy traffic/turning over the ball....no long distance shooting

I gather T.C. has arranged 2 challenge games against Mayo and Dublin shortly. Does anyone know the dates and venues as I would like to go along  particularly the match against Mayo who are serious contenders for an All Ireland title. Watched them already this year against Dublin and Monaghan. They have a great squad this year.

Keating plays for Mullagh/Cross....position Midfield or Centre Half Back

What is the position regarding Eugene Keating? I was of the impression that he was dropped from that panel in Feb and then there was some mention later of him been injured. The couple of times last year I saw him in action for the Senior team I thought he played OK/fair. Any news on him?

Congrats.to all involved with the Cavan U.21 team . A lot of good preparation and a wee bit of good fortune on Wednesday night will go along way in getting us past what appears to be a strong Donegal team. Hopefully our Capt. Rory Dunne will play his part in keep Michael Murphy quite on the night.
Who are Terry Hyland's ( Manager) co. selectors . By any chance is Martin McHugh working with the team in the background?