Official Cavan GAA Thread

[anglocelt39]

I always though you were richiej 

Tommy didn't someone once suggest on here that you were Miley's lovechild?? Might have been related to a few things including your pointed reluctance to disclose your club affiliations. Anyway I'm sure we all look forward to this new thread you will eventually start to disclose the startling inside facts about Cavan GAA's inner workings.

You don't have to leave this site to come across hogan stand nonsense. That Meath knob with the punctuation fetish once accused Miley of being myself in disguise if I'm not mistaken.

Gowan da blues.

[rodney trotter]

Anyway I'm sure we all look forward to this new thread you will eventually start to disclose the startling inside facts about Cavan GAA's inner workings.

Be looking forward to that too, the missing link to winning Sam.

[tommysmith]

Anyway I'm sure we all look forward to this new thread you will eventually start to disclose the startling inside facts about Cavan GAA's inner workings.

Be looking forward to that too, the missing link to winning Sam.

You will have to wait for the thread lads but i may disclose it all in my autobiography 

[rodney trotter]

Cavan v Armagh, Kingspan Breffni Park, Cavan, 2pm

Friday, May 17, 2013

Sunday, May 19
   Ulster GAA Football Championship Preliminary Round
   Cavan v Armagh, Kingspan Breffni Park, Cavan, 2pm

For the second year in a row, Cavan are involved in the first game of the Ulster Senior Championship. Last year, Terry Hyland's young side lost to eventual All-Ireland champions Donegal in the Preliminary Round; 12 months on, once again on home turf in Kingspan Breffni Park, they face the most successful team in the province in recent times, Armagh.

Although the Orchard County last won an Ulster title in 2008, they have claimed seven titles since Cavan's last success, all the way back in 1997. Still, the Breffni County lead the roll of honour in Ulster by a considerable margin with 39 provincial titles, although that famous '97 win is their only success since the late 1960s.


Cavan may be considered faded aristocracy in Ulster, but they approach this championship campaign full of vitality and with a young squad brimming with confidence after the county earned a third straight Ulster U21 title this spring. Hyland's squad is made up primarily of graduates of those recent successful U21 sides, with the team that lost the All-Ireland final to Galway under his guidance in 2011 forming the base of his team.

It was a brave move by Hyland to start from scratch and chart out a long-term vision for the future of Cavan football, and he has stuck admirably to his plan in a football-mad county where patience is not always an abundant virtue. In an interview with GAA.ie this week, Hyland explained that he is not necessarily too concerned about attaining immediate success with the team.

"We're not looking to suddenly win an Ulster title or an All-Ireland title within a year or two," he said. "We're building for the future and that was a conscious decision taken in Cavan in the last few years, that we were going to look at certain age levels and focus on that and try and put in a good strong foundation going forward."

One of the inevitable results of going with such an inexperienced squad was some pretty erratic form in the Allianz League. Cavan managed to beat the two promoted teams, Monaghan and Meath, but they were undone by defeats to Antrim and Roscommon. A record of played seven, won three, lost three and drew one tells its own story.



One major disappointment in the build-up to the game has been the loss of influential midfielder Gearóid McKiernan to a cruciate tear a few weeks back. The Cavan U21 captain in 2011, McKiernan is a very mature and dynamic performer, and his class will be sorely missed this summer, although DIT Sigerson Cup winner David Givney is a very tidy replacement.

Hyland blooded most of the new players last year, so goalkeeper Conor Gilsenen, a member of this year's U21 team who comes in for injured clubmate Alan O'Mara, and full-forward Martin Dunne are the only championship debutants in the side.

While Cavan's decision to foster a youth policy has gained plenty of attention, Armagh manager Paul Grimley has been staging a much quieter revolution in Armagh. Grimley has named three championship newcomers in his side, including 18-year-old Ciaron O'Hanlon, who played for St Paul's, Bessbrook in the MacRory Cup but has never featured at senior inter-county level before.

"Once he came into the panel and started training, it just firmed up what I already knew about him," Grimley said. "He is not only a skilful footballer, but extremely brainy, and very unselfish. This lad has a bright future.

"It was an easy decision. There's no reason in my mind for holding him back. If he's good enough to play, he starts. I don't like to over-complicate things."


Mark Shields and Stephen Harold are the two other debutants while Paul McKeown has a solitary appearance as a sub in a Qualifier against Donegal in 2010 to his name. Grimley's hand has been forced to a degree by injuries to seven squad members, but it is nonetheless a bold selection and one clearly made with one eye on the future.

As is often the case with teams with new managers, Armagh had a very mixed campaign with two wins, two draws and three defeats leaving them in sixth place in Division II. They rounded off their campaign with an impressive 0-21 to 1-12 win over Galway, and with Jamie Clarke back from his sojourn in South America they should be in a better position now.

The sides last met in the Ulster Championship in the 2008 quarter-final, when Armagh won by 0-17 to 0-13 at Kingspan Breffni Park on the way to their last provincial title. The winners play Fermanagh in the quarter-final on June 16.

Cavan: C Gilsenan; J McLoughlin, R Dunne, K Clarke; J McEnroe, A Clarke, R Flanagan; D O'Reilly, D Givney; C Mackey, J Brady, F Flanagan; N McDermott, M Dunne, E Keating.

Armagh: P McEvoy; P McKeown, D McKenna, M Shields; A Kernan, B Donaghy, C McKeever; J Lavery, S Harold; C Rafferty, C O'Hanlon, K Dyas; T Kernan, J Clarke, S Forker.

http://t.co/orWZKNrdSa

[Itchy]

Funny thing is I tried posting something on hoganstand around same time as dirtbag and mine was censored! Please God he stays there and doesn't invade gaaboard.

[Dirtyball]

Funny thing is I tried posting something on hoganstand around same time as dirtbag and mine was censored! Please God he stays there and doesn't invade gaaboard.

mylestheslasher stop answering your own posts. It's a sign of madness taking to yourself. !!

[Itchy]

Funny thing is I tried posting something on hoganstand around same time as dirtbag and mine was censored! Please God he stays there and doesn't invade gaaboard.

mylestheslasher stop answering your own posts. It's a sign of madness taking to yourself. !!

I've better things to do than debate with you. Take Westsides advice.

[Dirtyball]

Funny thing is I tried posting something on hoganstand around same time as dirtbag and mine was censored! Please God he stays there and doesn't invade gaaboard.

mylestheslasher stop answering your own posts. It's a sign of madness taking to yourself. !!

I've better things to do than debate with you. Take Westsides advice.

so you not denying that you mylestheslasher then Itchy? You just have to read your posts on various threads to work that out. Sad really that you feel the need to debate issues with yourself!!!

[rodney trotter]

Article from the Times


For a couple of Armagh's starting team the venue for tomorrow's Ulster championship opener against Cavan will bring back happy memories. Aaron Kernan and Ciarán McKeever were both on the side that won the All-Ireland under-21 title against Mayo nine years ago.

Yet, the limited extent of that graduation says something about the lasting impact of the class of 2004. Contemplating the alchemy that turns underage success into senior gold isn't just the preserve of Armagh. Between the two counties, they and Cavan have won half of the last 10 Ulster under-21 titles, Cavan in a three-in-a-row run, which rolls on to next year.

Former senior captain Jarlath Burns has for the past couple of decades watched with interest the emerging talent in Armagh and he sees the team of nine years ago as being the result of an inverse process.

"The strange thing about 2004 is that it was a very good team and inspired by the 2002 (senior) All-Ireland winners, who were closely involved with them. I mean if you've Kieran McGeeney and Paul McGrane coming in to give you pep talks you're going to respond.

"It wasn't a team with stars – there was no Jamie Clarke – but they were a strong bunch of players. Stephen Kernan was Man of the Match in the final and Malachy Mackin next in line but it was an outstanding collective performance.

"It's funny how a losing team can produce five or six players for the seniors and a winning team not as many. The best example is the 1992 minors, who lost to Meath but produced four or five players for the All-Ireland panel 10 years later."

As a postscript on that, the Meath minor team which defeated Armagh with an injury-time goal in 1992 produced fewer senior medallists than the following year's minors who lost their All-Ireland final to Cork.

Cavan haven't hit the highest notes for over 60 years but reached an All-Ireland under-21 final 17 years ago and 12 months later had won a senior Ulster title. Peter Reilly was captain of the 1996 under-21s and manager of the team that recorded its third successive provincial title this year. He agrees with Burns's definitions.

"There are two sides to it: a team which works as a unit without superstars and a team built around outstanding individuals. Donegal in 2010 got to an All-Ireland but they had a stand-out player in Michael Murphy. They beat Cavan in the Ulster final and I can safely say that they wouldn't have without him."

Aside from the different types of teams that win underage All-Irelands there is a positive dynamic for a county in bringing back inter-county silverware at whatever age grade. Cavan captain Alan Clarke summed up the optimistic side of underage success from the perspective of both morale and practical consideration.

"The more titles you win at underage surely has to have a positive effect on the senior team because these players are starting to feed through. Most of the players on the panel have won a medal at county level, which is a massive boost.

"Going back five years, Cavan players hadn't that underage structure behind them and hadn't the medals. We're full of confidence and the young lads are full of confidence, which means the older lads know that if they're not stepping up to the plate there'll be a younger player stepping into their position."
Cautious response
Asked what sort of a team his under-21s are likely to prove, Reilly is cautious about either damning his players with faint praise or creating the pressure of unreasonable expectation.

"I'd look at our team as having extremely strong-minded individuals within a strong collective. But there's probably no scientific formula for working it out.

"Our team that won Ulster (in 1997) came together with a previous under-21 team that had lost the 1988 All-Ireland final so it was a combination of the two. I think as well there's too much read into it in retrospect.

"Hindsight is a great thing. We don't really know what impact a successful underage team will have until we look back and see how they got on at senior. We beat a Meath team in our All-Ireland (U-21) semi-final and five of them went on to win senior All-Irelands a month later.

"There's no rules but on the law of averages I know that Cavan are now better off than they were three years ago."

[Itchy]

Funny thing is I tried posting something on hoganstand around same time as dirtbag and mine was censored! Please God he stays there and doesn't invade gaaboard.

mylestheslasher stop answering your own posts. It's a sign of madness taking to yourself. !!

I've better things to do than debate with you. Take Westsides advice.

so you not denying that you mylestheslasher then Itchy? You just have to read your posts on various threads to work that out. Sad really that you feel the need to debate issues with yourself!!!

Yes I am, now I'm done talking to you so do me a favour and direct your shite talk somewhere else.

[Dirtyball]

Funny thing is I tried posting something on hoganstand around same time as dirtbag and mine was censored! Please God he stays there and doesn't invade gaaboard.

mylestheslasher stop answering your own posts. It's a sign of madness taking to yourself. !!

I've better things to do than debate with you. Take Westsides advice.

so you not denying that you mylestheslasher then Itchy? You just have to read your posts on various threads to work that out. Sad really that you feel the need to debate issues with yourself!!!

Yes I am, now I'm done talking to you so do me a favour and direct your shite talk somewhere else.

typical mylestheslasher answer!

[anglocelt39]

http://t.co/yV800H3QEp

[big balla]

Funny thing is I tried posting something on hoganstand around same time as dirtbag and mine was censored! Please God he stays there and doesn't invade gaaboard.

mylestheslasher stop answering your own posts. It's a sign of madness taking to yourself. !!

I've better things to do than debate with you. Take Westsides advice.

so you not denying that you mylestheslasher then Itchy? You just have to read your posts on various threads to work that out. Sad really that you feel the need to debate issues with yourself!!!

Yes I am, now I'm done talking to you so do me a favour and direct your shite talk somewhere else.

Well said. Dirtyball you are an idiot with nothing insightful to say about Cavan football. That was a huge win for Cavan and one that was badly needed.

[cavanmaniac]

Fair play to all concerned today, two good victories for our minor and senior teams and badly needed.

There was lots of good things in that performance, mostly so the steady and cool-headed response to the goal. There's clearly a steely psychology underpinning our team now and it's very encouraging to see. Collectively we defended very well for most of the game, the goal was a bit of a slippy one that can happen to any team really. The response was excellent though.

Midfield looked very strange all through, quite isolated and we lost a lot of kick outs early on. In the crucial stages we won a lot more breaking ball though and that's when it counted most.

We should commend a young and learning Cavan team for this win, while being mindful of how poor Armagh were by contrast. If anything, Cavan should have taken them for more scores with all the space we had when the ball came in, and we left them in the game way longer than they deserved to be. Some wild shooting and selfishness from Keating didn't help but otherwise he had a big bearing on the result; he roasted his man and then got hands on a lot of ball at a crucial time when he moved out around the middle of the field.
Dunne was excellent but he will play a long time before he has such freedom again. But you can only beat what's put in front of you and in this lad we have an inside forward of real class who can develop and get even better.
Martin Reilly had a very positive impact when he came on, he carried a lot of ball out of defence and relieved a lot of pressure, Ronan Flanagan and Mackey got through a lot of work as well.
You'd have to be happy with our first Ulster championship win since 2009. There's a bit of mental toughness there, togetherness, team spirit, a clear plan and a great work ethic and pride in the jersey. In the bleak times of a few years ago, that's all any of us wanted to see in our players and now we have it.
Armagh can feel aggrieved at the decision to disallow the goal but they got the rub of the green for the goal that did stand so maybe it evened out. Bad decision or no, it would have been a travesty had they got anything out of that game. It's hard to see where they can go now and it looks like the suspicions about Grimley are proving to be true.

[anglocelt39]

start of the year I would have been happy with 1, going into the last day of a dangerous division three with status secured 2. three good championship days out and 3, not getting humiliated by anybody at senior level. Happy days. Absolutely super wins today, compliment players management and backroom teams for both seniors and minors. Of course Armagh were disappointing partly because our lads worked like dogs and didn't give them anything to work with. In addition to the lads singled out in the previous post I would comment on Fergal Flanagan who worked like a dog when the going was tough and also Niall McDermott. He has been  a lad who seems to get a small bit of a hard time from some of the keyboard experts, I'm delighted he is being stuck with and given the chance to develop into an inter county player. Too often in the past Cavan lads were getting one chance and if they weren't immediately the next Texas Brady or Charlie Gallagher they were getting dispensed with for somebody else.

Fermanagh next and we owe Canavan one for the league performance when let us say his "stamp" was on the Lake Mens team. What's the story with Givney two yellows??? Positive things are that the likes of Mossy Corr, McKeever, Barry Reilly, Hayes, McCutcheon and a few others are available to man up if needed.

Also delighted for our minors players and selectors. How nice to be bagging a late win, god knows it's been to opposite way too often in the past 10 years.

This site and Hogan should be mercifully free of some of the usual shitehawks over the next few weeks.