Cavan v Fermanagh, Ulster champ 1st rd

[anglocelt39]

Poor enough game, but from a Donegal point of view happy to see Cavan hold on, as Fermanagh always give us bother. I know we have to beat Antrim next week but i think we look good for an Ulster final spot at this stage.

Fair play Donegal Danny I'm even happier now, keep it up.

Personally I couldn't give two tuppeny shites about (1) the crap football (2) Fermanagh's tactical ineptitude, particularly in the first half (3) poor free taking by Fermanagh. I'm taking nothing but positives given that we fielded a very inexperienced team. I reckon Michael Brides was the only starter who was on our last Ulster Final team on 01. And hats off to Brides, particularly for his first half performance given the awful injuries he's suffered.

Our full back line was much maligned coming into this and I thought we dealt with Fermanagh quite well. Also good to see two debutants cope quite well in the Half back line, even though I thought Keating would be targeted a lot more by Fermanagh. It's also good to see a Cavan side that, for a change, was in a position to mix it physically with the opposition.

A few lads who might be competing by the time of the next round which would help-Fannin, Cahill, Gunner back from the Handball, Lyng, Pierson (?)

When it all boiled down, Johnston was the man however. We've nothing to lose in Ulster from here on in and I'd love to see Carr take a bit of a gamble in the next round i.e. start either Larry or Jason inside in the full forward line-Larry in particular seems to be in great shape and would give opposing full back line a small bit to think about apart from Jelly.

Anyway, well done to players and mentors.

[anglocelt39]

Crap game by two very poor teams, I know the weather was a big factor but some of the footballing skills on display were very poor by both sides.

Again too many fouls, too many wides and kicks at points falling short (a pet hate of mine), and a ground that was lucky to have 8-10 thousand at it, is this this famed Ulster Championship (aka The Land of Giants) we are told about all the time , surely not.

How in the name of feck have Cavan got 38 Ulster titles to their credit and still only have 5 real football titles to go along with them, says alot about the standards up there for the last 125 years.

Some fair points in there Mike but just to pull you up it's 39 Ulster titles. Clearly we'd only have 4 Sam's if Paddy Bawn' brother's sister's aunt hadn't done the cruciate ligament on the boat over to new York in 1947. Glad that one still hurts and, while we are now a retired football power I'm glad we were in there when Kerry started their eternal tradition of choking against Ulster teams on the days that matter. What about tomorrow, you expect the Kerry support to travel?

[INDIANA]

Cavan is a great Gaa county though Mike. They don't play anything else up there except Gaa. Plenty of natural footballers as well , but they can't keep half of them off the gargle. Carr had to get rid of half of them off the squad.
I said at his appointment Carr would be good for Cavan and he will be. I think they've a shot of getting to an Ulster final. Donegal are not that good that they can take Cavan for granted. Cavan need to get the likes of Pierson in up front- he's too good to leave off.

[GrandMasterFlash]

How in the name of feck have Cavan got 38 Ulster titles to their credit and still only have 5 real football titles to go along with them, says alot about the standards up there for the last 125 years.

The arrogance in that statement alone would be the envy of Pat (Puke) Spillane. Coming from a man whose better half is a Monaghan lass is risky at the very least. She's obviously not proof reading your posts!

  Cavan are a great footballing county (yes, I did just type that!) and set the bar in Ulster for two decades. You're neglecting the fact that for many reasons for many decades the Ulster Title was 'a real football title'. It was Cavan and Down that reversed this trend and broke the mould. There was no team in Ulster to touch them.

  A good win for Cavan this evening. The underdog tag didn't suit Fermanagh. It wasn't a cracker but Cavan deserved it, the were up for it and intent on playing football. Cullivan didn't result in any scores but was a handful and disrupted Fermanagh full-back line. Seanie Johnson is a class act. Mackey done well too until getting injured, he reminds me of Gollogly for Monaghan, similar build, busy and not afraid to get forward for a pop.

  Monaghan v Fermanagh in the first round of the qualifiers I reckon..

[ONeill]

Malachy O'Rourke = anti-football.

[TheClutch]

thought johnson was immense 2day,if cavan got the ball into him earlier and more direct then it would have been over a lot earlier than it was.o'reily had a great game from the dead ball perspective, but in my opinion wasnt up to much from play, over carrying and poor shooting with the right foot.
It just goes to show the standard Down are at these days, turley from downpatrick could hardly handle carson, and yet 2day he was kept relatively quiet compared to that in brewster! T McElroy hada poor one in my view today, could have fisted the ball in twice near the end instead of going for his own score, which proved to be the wrong option.
just want to ask what people thought of the ref today?too harsh or was it good refing?

[J70]

Donegal are not that good that they can take Cavan for granted.

Its only four years since a Cavan side on its knees, one week after a 21 point hammering by Tyrone, and with only 1000 supporters out to cheer them on, shocked us in the qualifiers. Hopefully that will be very fresh in the mind at home, given that many of that squad are still in place. Of course, this all assumes we aren't equally as complacent and arrogant next week as we were that day in Breffni against Cavan. We are certainly not good enough to take anyone for granted.

[cavan4ever]

We've nothing to lose in Ulster from here on in and I'd love to see Carr take a bit of a gamble in the next round i.e. start either Larry or Jason inside in the full forward line-Larry in particular seems to be in great shape and would give opposing full back line a small bit to think about apart from Jelly.

Cop yourself on kid, so who you would take from the full forward linethe ball winner or the free taker?

I though fermanagh were slightly better than that, bring on Donegal(or Antrim) nothing to lose now and Cavan are most dangerous when underdogs.

[cavan4sam]

Martin Reilly may be forced to move to half forward line because Cian Mackey may not be ready, he is goin for a scan on his cruciate today. It is not torn but they are goin to see the extent of the injury. Massive blow to Cavan.

[bennydorano]

Maybe I'm easy pleased but I enjoyed it.  Well done Cavan and nothing to fear in the semi.  For a widely respected manager O'Rourke was tactically inept yesterday or maybe it's a case of we play one way and one way only no matter what happens or what the prevailing conditions are, if that's the case then that's certainly not the sign of a good team. 

[rrhf]

O rourke had a mare and he needs a balancing act within the fermanagah camp to argue with many of his extreme football tactics, the rest of the guys on the management team must be simply yes men.  Surely someone could have shouted stop in that first half.   

[mylestheslasher]

Crap game by two very poor teams, I know the weather was a big factor but some of the footballing skills on display were very poor by both sides.

Again too many fouls, too many wides and kicks at points falling short (a pet hate of mine), and a ground that was lucky to have 8-10 thousand at it, is this this famed Ulster Championship (aka The Land of Giants) we are told about all the time , surely not.

How in the name of feck have Cavan got 38 Ulster titles to their credit and still only have 5 real football titles to go along with them, says alot about the standards up there for the last 125 years.

Your some bollix. Kerry wouldn't fill a bus with their support to a game in Tralee.

[FermGael]

Where do i start???
First congratulations to Cavan.  The best team won.  I have no idea how Fermanagh only got beat by a point. 
Your manager had the players well prepared and they knew exactly how Fermanagh were going to play and how to stop them.
Johnston was a bit of class but i was really impressed by your number 12.  he had an excellent game.

From a Fermanagh perspective only really Little and Blobby turned up.  Little won a serious amount of break ball in the second half and everytime Carson got the ball he looked dangerous.  The problem was he had no support until Owens came on but then he had to be shipped to midfield.
The other 4 forwards were poor.  R Keenan is not a corner forward.  He lacks the confidence to shoot and i have no idea how he lasted nearly the whole match.
Eamonn scored a good goal but looked a shadow of himself.  C McElroy dropped deep as expected but Cavan just left him to it and had an extra man in defence to double up on Carson, which suited them grand.  D Keenan had a game to forget.
At midfield we were cleaned out for the first time in the championship in years.  This had been happening in the league and the first half against Down.
In defence Lyons was been cleaned out and Brady did better when  moved over to Full back.  Sherry did well when he came on.  McCluskey and McDermott are both CHBs and only one of them should play.  Tommy was our only real attacking threat from the half back line and he did not have his shooting boots on.  D Kelly should have been on earlier.

I have no clue where fermanagh go to from here.  As long as we avoid any team from Ulster in the backdoor, i would be happy enough.
But realistically Fermanagh will not win an All Ireland, the height of our aims was an Ulster and i think that we have let another possible Ulster final appearance slip through our fingers.

[Maguire01]

I'd rather watch Monaghan v Derry again! Terrible game - it's easy to count up the chances for Fermanagh to be on the right side of that result. Can't see either team going too far, although i still wouldn't like to draw Fermanagh in the first round.

[pintsofguinness]

Crap game by two very poor teams, I know the weather was a big factor but some of the footballing skills on display were very poor by both sides.

Again too many fouls, too many wides and kicks at points falling short (a pet hate of mine), and a ground that was lucky to have 8-10 thousand at it, is this this famed Ulster Championship (aka The Land of Giants) we are told about all the time , surely not.

How in the name of feck have Cavan got 38 Ulster titles to their credit and still only have 5 real football titles to go along with them, says alot about the standards up there for the last 125 years.

Your some bollix. Kerry wouldn't fill a bus with their support to a game in Tralee.

When are people going to realise that virtually every post from Kerrymike is a wind up attempt (normally a poor one too)