Cavan v Armagh - Kingspan Breffni Park - Sat, Apr 22, 2023 - 18:30

[full moon]

It'll be anyone's guess what Mickey Graham does with his line up. I'm expecting Gearoid McKiernan right in close to goal. Will he ask McVetty to play inside, he destroyed Armagh in that ulster semi final in that position. I'd say Cillian Clarke could end up in the Full Back line. Cavan have quite a bit of versatility in their playing positions.
I see reports that Rian O Neill will not play any part whether that can be believed or not.

G McKiernan should be in full forward but that never seems to happen. Indeed we've been poor since he returned in as centre half forward. He wasn't great in the league final was even subbed and I'm struggling to recall him being subbed before.

G Mac was full forward in the club league final last year for Cavan Gaels and he scored 3-14! He was absolutely outstanding, his size alone makes it very difficult for full back line. I've no idea why Cavan do not put him in there it's not like we have much options there.

[Armagh18]

It'll be anyone's guess what Mickey Graham does with his line up. I'm expecting Gearoid McKiernan right in close to goal. Will he ask McVetty to play inside, he destroyed Armagh in that ulster semi final in that position. I'd say Cillian Clarke could end up in the Full Back line. Cavan have quite a bit of versatility in their playing positions.
I see reports that Rian O Neill will not play any part whether that can be believed or not.

G McKiernan should be in full forward but that never seems to happen. Indeed we've been poor since he returned in as centre half forward. He wasn't great in the league final was even subbed and I'm struggling to recall him being subbed before.

G Mac was full forward in the club league final last year for Cavan Gaels and he scored 3-14! He was absolutely outstanding, his size alone makes it very difficult for full back line. I've no idea why Cavan do not put him in there it's not like we have much options there.

We aren't exactly blessed with height at the back to mark him either!

[Cavan19]

I'm not as confident as other Cavan folk about this game. Yes Armagh have been poor so far this year.  Cavan were very average in the league final though I thought and the 2 games before against Fermanagh and Antrim.  The gulf in class in both divisions is huge and we haven't been blowing teams away.

Even without Rian O'Neill Armagh have a far superior forward line in particular. My main issue with Cavan is we've spent the last several years playing Division 3 and 4 teams and we still cannot put the ball in the back of the net. Even against very weak sides we cannot score goals, and as happened in Omagh again yesterday goals win games. We haven't shown any improvement in goalscoring this year. In tight games against good sides this can be the difference.

I have been speaking to a lot of my fellow county men about this game recently and they are all expecting a Cavan win.  I wouldn't be as confident but i expect Graham to have something up his sleeve. I fully expected McKiernan to play in the full forward line he doesn't have the legs to play much further out anymore going by the last few games but maybe they were fitness issues.

I would love to see McVitty in the forwards but i think he will play the majority of the game in the defence and move into the square a couple of times to mix things up.

[samuel maguire]

Armagh should win this game comfortably enough i think. Cavan aren't a bad side, but aren't great either. I think armaghs last 2 seasons playing in the top division, along with Cavans playing in the bottom and 3rd division will stand to them

[Westside]

Armagh should win this game comfortably enough i think. Cavan aren't a bad side, but aren't great either. I think armaghs last 2 seasons playing in the top division, along with Cavans playing in the bottom and 3rd division will stand to them

Agree. People talking up our chances aren't really basing it on the evidence of what we've seen from both sides over the last year or two. I think the 2 point handicap is very short and Armagh should win this game by 5+. Armagh scoring potential is far greater than Cavan's.

[Itchy]

Armagh should win this game comfortably enough i think. Cavan aren't a bad side, but aren't great either. I think armaghs last 2 seasons playing in the top division, along with Cavans playing in the bottom and 3rd division will stand to them

Agree. People talking up our chances aren't really basing it on the evidence of what we've seen from both sides over the last year or two. I think the 2 point handicap is very short and Armagh should win this game by 5+. Armagh scoring potential is far greater than Cavan's.

A FF line for example of Paddy Smith, Gearoid McKiernan and Dara McVetty is every bit as strong as Armaghs if Cavan were to line out like that.

[Westside]

Armagh should win this game comfortably enough i think. Cavan aren't a bad side, but aren't great either. I think armaghs last 2 seasons playing in the top division, along with Cavans playing in the bottom and 3rd division will stand to them

Agree. People talking up our chances aren't really basing it on the evidence of what we've seen from both sides over the last year or two. I think the 2 point handicap is very short and Armagh should win this game by 5+. Armagh scoring potential is far greater than Cavan's.

A FF line for example of Paddy Smith, Gearoid McKiernan and Dara McVetty is every bit as strong as Armaghs if Cavan were to line out like that.

Gearoid looks a shadow of himself coming off the back of a bad injury, Paddy is struggling for form and fitness and McVeety is playing through pain and hasn't played in the full forward line since 2019. The three of them have never played together in the full forward line together. I don't believe that can all be resolved in the 3 week break from league final to Championship.

They're all excellent talented players Itchy, I agree with you but the context is important.

[Itchy]

Armagh should win this game comfortably enough i think. Cavan aren't a bad side, but aren't great either. I think armaghs last 2 seasons playing in the top division, along with Cavans playing in the bottom and 3rd division will stand to them

Agree. People talking up our chances aren't really basing it on the evidence of what we've seen from both sides over the last year or two. I think the 2 point handicap is very short and Armagh should win this game by 5+. Armagh scoring potential is far greater than Cavan's.

A FF line for example of Paddy Smith, Gearoid McKiernan and Dara McVetty is every bit as strong as Armaghs if Cavan were to line out like that.

Gearoid looks a shadow of himself coming off the back of a bad injury, Paddy is struggling for form and fitness and McVeety is playing through pain and hasn't played in the full forward line since 2019. The three of them have never played together in the full forward line together. I don't believe that can all be resolved in the 3 week break from league final to Championship.

They're all excellent talented players Itchy, I agree with you but the context is important.

I think your glass half empty there. I expect does 3 lads to be at their peak on Saturday as that's how Graham and the backroom team will have planned it. Look at Monaghan, they looked hopeless in the league. Got a win against Mayo reserves to stay up but when Tyrone came around they were a different proposition. I'm expecting a Cavan team primed for a big performance on Saturday.

[Cavan19]

Armagh should win this game comfortably enough i think. Cavan aren't a bad side, but aren't great either. I think armaghs last 2 seasons playing in the top division, along with Cavans playing in the bottom and 3rd division will stand to them

Agree. People talking up our chances aren't really basing it on the evidence of what we've seen from both sides over the last year or two. I think the 2 point handicap is very short and Armagh should win this game by 5+. Armagh scoring potential is far greater than Cavan's.

A FF line for example of Paddy Smith, Gearoid McKiernan and Dara McVetty is every bit as strong as Armaghs if Cavan were to line out like that.

Gearoid looks a shadow of himself coming off the back of a bad injury, Paddy is struggling for form and fitness and McVeety is playing through pain and hasn't played in the full forward line since 2019. The three of them have never played together in the full forward line together. I don't believe that can all be resolved in the 3 week break from league final to Championship.

They're all excellent talented players Itchy, I agree with you but the context is important.

I think your glass half empty there. I expect does 3 lads to be at their peak on Saturday as that's how Graham and the backroom team will have planned it. Look at Monaghan, they looked hopeless in the league. Got a win against Mayo reserves to stay up but when Tyrone came around they were a different proposition. I'm expecting a Cavan team primed for a big performance on Saturday.

Exactly Graham has been planning towards this game for months he put James Smith in full forward last year against Donegal and that was the first that we had seen him in there. There isn't a hope that there will be three men in the full forward line anyway apart from when the ball is been thrown in that isn't part of the game anymore.

[Dreadnought]

Armagh should win this game comfortably enough i think. Cavan aren't a bad side, but aren't great either. I think armaghs last 2 seasons playing in the top division, along with Cavans playing in the bottom and 3rd division will stand to them

Agree. People talking up our chances aren't really basing it on the evidence of what we've seen from both sides over the last year or two. I think the 2 point handicap is very short and Armagh should win this game by 5+. Armagh scoring potential is far greater than Cavan's.

A FF line for example of Paddy Smith, Gearoid McKiernan and Dara McVetty is every bit as strong as Armaghs if Cavan were to line out like that.

Gearoid looks a shadow of himself coming off the back of a bad injury, Paddy is struggling for form and fitness and McVeety is playing through pain and hasn't played in the full forward line since 2019. The three of them have never played together in the full forward line together. I don't believe that can all be resolved in the 3 week break from league final to Championship.

They're all excellent talented players Itchy, I agree with you but the context is important.

Ah I wouldn't be too sure about that on G. Yeah he looked unfit, but wouldn't be hugely worried. He has been like this before and come the time he was in the right place. There was no reason to overshow their hand in the League final. If there's anything we know about Graham, is that he's been aiming everything towards being ready for this game, and that'll have included load on certain players. I expect those with existing niggles to have cleared up as they work towards this and should be ready to go. If no new injuries of course

[bennydorano]

Cavan torn between acting the candy men or being bullish on an internet forum, dilemmas.

Cavan are no doubt waiting in the long grass but Armagh are well well warned, beat Antrim with half a team and gave the Cavan management team very little to go on. It'll be very interesting to see our line up.

[Cavan19]

Cavan torn between acting the candy men or being bullish on an internet forum, dilemmas.

Cavan are no doubt waiting in the long grass but Armagh are well well warned, beat Antrim with half a team and gave the Cavan management team very little to go on. It'll be very interesting to see our line up.

Hopefully it will be a good game anyway both managements will have to put a good bit of though into the match ups on the field as Graham won't know if Armaghs injured players are back and will have to plan for a few different scenarios. Likewise Armagh will probably have a good idea of 13 of the starting Cavan team but where 2 or 3 of them line up will be interesting (McVetty, McKiernan, James Smith.

[Armagh18]

To be honest, shite talk on here aside because it'll not affect anything, but if we play to our full potential and that is a massive if, we are well capable of beating Cavan. If we return to form and make sloppy mistakes they're a good enough team that will punish us. Expecting an extremely close game but cautiously confident of getting the victory. Should be a good day out anyway!

[illdecide]

Agreed...We are a slighlty better team than Cavan but the gap isn't that big to be bursting with confidence. Cavan have home advantage and know how to beat Armagh so for me it will be tight. See all this talk about so and so not in form...load of bollix. Them experienced players always come good at Championship time and that's why they're still about the place, they perform every year in the  Championship when they have too.
One thing that will throw me over the edge...If Armagh lose on sat evening playing defensive football pulling everyone back behing the ball and Cavan still beat us then i'll go ballistic swear to f**k. If we lose and get beat having a go i can accept that and say best team on the day won fair and square but that side ways passing with everyone back behind the ball has me well pissed off.

[Armamike]

Agreed...We are a slighlty better team than Cavan but the gap isn't that big to be bursting with confidence. Cavan have home advantage and know how to beat Armagh so for me it will be tight. See all this talk about so and so not in form...load of bollix. Them experienced players always come good at Championship time and that's why they're still about the place, they perform every year in the  Championship when they have too.
One thing that will throw me over the edge...If Armagh lose on sat evening playing defensive football pulling everyone back behing the ball and Cavan still beat us then i'll go ballistic swear to f**k. If we lose and get beat having a go i can accept that and say best team on the day won fair and square but that side ways passing with everyone back behind the ball has me well pissed off.

What you are trying to say is that teams are set up well with a good defensive structure in place, with fast transitions and turnovers, meeting their defensive and attacking KPIs.