Official Cavan GAA Thread

[cavanmaniac]

It better feckin' not be on Saturday. I'll only get to the game if it's on Sunday - my first senior game this year. I won't be impressed if they switch it to Saturday.

[cavan4ever]

Sure it must be on sunday.. do u have the fixtures for this weekend league games??

[cavanmaniac]

31/03    NFL 1A    Kerry v Tyrone    Tralee    7.30pm
31/03    NFL 1B    Laois v Armagh    Portlaoise    7.30pm
31/03    NFL 2B    Meath v Waterford    Páirc Tailteann    7.30pm
01/04    NFL 1A    Fermanagh v Cork    Clones    3.30pm
01/04    NFL 1A    Mayo v Dublin    Castlebar    3.30pm
01/04    NFL 1A    Limerick v Donegal    Páirc na nGael    1.45pm
01/04    NFL 1B    Down v Derry    Newcastle    3.30pm
01/04    NFL 1B    Louth v Galway    Dowdallshill    2pm
01/04    NFL 1B    Westmeath v Kildare    Cusack Park    3.30pm
01/04    NFL 2A    Monaghan v Offaly    Clones    1.45pm
01/04    NFL 2A    Roscommon v Leitrim    Hyde Park    3.30pm
01/04    NFL 2A    Clare v London    TBC    3.30pm
01/04    NFL 2A    Carlow v Longford    Dr Cullen Park    1.45pm
01/04    NFL 2B    Sligo v Antrim    Markievicz Park    3.30pm
*01/04*    NFL 2B    Cavan v Wexford    Breffni Park    3.30pm
01/04    NFL 2B    Tipperary v Wicklow    Ardfinnan    3.30pm

[cavan4ever]

It will be good to get back to breffini on a Sunday!  Saturday games are alright but it good to get out for a few hours on a sunday and clear the head !!!!

[BallyhaiseMan]

i would actually prefer the Saturday Night games under lights,But i makes little difference in reality.

On Keoghans interview on Northern Sound,id like to see Rabbitte back playing as soon as possible, hes the only back we have that can physically cope with Benny Coulter (if hes at full forward) in May.
Michael Hannon is the best man marker in the county,But Coulter was just too strong for him last year.
Hows Larry getting on? does he have the weight off? he still had a bit to get off when i seen him against Sligo.
Disappointed at Crowe being taken off after 20 minutes on Saturday,he seemed prominent enough judging by the commentary.

Not so worried about Midfield now,as it will be pick two out of three from Mulvey,McCabe and Galligan with the odd man out going into the forward line.

[trim blue]

B'haiseman, do you see any role for Walsh? On the basis alone of his physique and athleticism I would think he should be in there, what was he like against Sligo before going off injured? I also think that he is a better option than McCabe at full-forward when it comes to putting a big man in there. Have to say I'm a bit uneasy about Sunday, we seem to be papering over the cracks a bit over the last 3 matches and its worrying that Antrim could score against us 13 times, hopefully we can get a good win and then lay the Waterford ghost which would set us up nicely for the c'ship. Great to see Pierson getting 5 from play on Sat, for me he is our most naturally talented forward and would get a place on most teams in Ireland when he's on form. Does anyone know if its true that Johnstone broke a bone in his foot?

[BallyhaiseMan]

B'haiseman, do you see any role for Walsh? On the basis alone of his physique and athleticism I would think he should be in there, what was he like against Sligo before going off injured? I also think that he is a better option than McCabe at full-forward when it comes to putting a big man in there. Have to say I'm a bit uneasy about Sunday, we seem to be papering over the cracks a bit over the last 3 matches and its worrying that Antrim could score against us 13 times, hopefully we can get a good win and then lay the Waterford ghost which would set us up nicely for the c'ship. Great to see Pierson getting 5 from play on Sat, for me he is our most naturally talented forward and would get a place on most teams in Ireland when he's on form. Does anyone know if its true that Johnstone broke a bone in his foot?

Walsh woulde be my preferred option at full forward if they were going the route of having a targetman,McCabe probably doesnt have the athleticism and  to be an effective targetman,ive seen him at full forward before and the ball can bevery easily broke away from him.He caused trouble for Sligo when he went into full forward,before he got injured,Hes a definite option there.

[mylestheslasher]

I have only one problem with playing Walsh FF and that is we have only given him around 15 minutes there in a competitive game (against Sligo) in which he received one decent ball, won it and was blocked when shooting for goal. I don't think it is practical just throwing a guy in there and booting huge inaccurate crap balls in his general direction. If this is a strategy we want to work on then we should be trying it out in a few games. The key to having a big ball winning FF is the quality of the ball going in. The last time we got that right was against Down in Breffni in the champ a couple of yrs ago, before that vrs Roscommon in Mullingar in a league semi few years earlier. I am concerned that we are a one tick pony and pretty predictable at the moment.

What would you think about a Pierson + johnson/Jason 2 man FF line with Walsh, Mulvey and McCabe in the middle?

[cavanmaniac]

Walsh, Mulvey and McCabe will get up to alot of ball, whether they catch it or not is a moot point. Cavan have generally opted to spoil in recent years in any case. Walsh is cut out for that sort of negative role and it worked well two years ago until Maughan copped on and we got cleaned out of it in the qualifier game against Mayo.

My preference though would be a McCabe, Mulvey midfield. McCabe will break and win his share, Mulvey too but the latter has a bit more pace (not much) about him. Either way, half back and half forward line need to be on the ball big style; McKeever, Gunner, Forde, Sean Brady etc. And don't forget we have big Ciaran Galligan as a potentially useful third midfielder option if he holds up in the next few games.

The real key point is the delivery to the inside men which needs to be good for smallish men and McCabe definitely has this in his locker. With that in mind I'd stick Walshe inside at 14 and play Johnston and Pierson off him, if the two smaller lads are tied up, Walsh in theory is a good out-ball to hang up there and see what comes off him. It wouldn't need to be inch perfect either as he can bust his way through and clear a space for himself, although too innaccurate is no good as the fecker can't run.

One other thing - Walsh should NEVER be allowed shoot. Win ball, lay it off, those would be the instructions.

[trim blue]

For better or worse I think McCabe needs to be in midfield, firstly he is still our best man at delivering ball into the forwards and secondly it is a myth that he is a good FF which is based solely on his demolition of Down in 04, think of him in the replay against Tyrone in 05 and more recently against them in the McKenna Cup when he was moved in after about 20 mins, he got 1 point and had every other ball blocked away from him, Walsh was then put in there for the last 15 mins and while I admit we were practically beaten at that stage he cleanly won or broke down ball for the forwards about 7 times and we ended up scoring around 4 points in a row. His big fault is that he has a foot like a triangle and as maniac says he shouldn't be allowed shoot. While there is more football in Mulvey I would still favour Walsh in MF as he will always get up and his man will catch less clean ball than would be the case with Mulvey, he has a better engine too for getting up and down the park. Mulvey or Galligan could be a third midfielder option ....

[Homer]

It's great for once to have a bit of choice about who should play midfield. Lets just hope the sick bay stays as quiet as it has been so far this year. As regards some of the 3rd midfielder suggestions, I don't see any point in playing three big men in the middle (ala McCabe, Walsh,  Mulvey or Galligan) much better to have two big men (McCabe and Mulvey for me) and a mobile man that can collect the breaks. Sean Brady would probably be ideal after his exploits with UCD.

I agree with the sentiments about the importance of the type of ball played into the full forward line. Some people (and apparently some of the players) seem to think that putting McCabe in the square and ballooning balls into him is the answer. But if people recall the infamous Down game it was relatively low, hard and accurate balls that went into McCabe delivered from the half back line. Although unfortunately I recall most of them balls coming in from Gaynor.

Seems Podge won't be going into the seniors. Himself and possibly Damien McInerney are heading to NY to play ball this summer. Very worrying news for a Ballinagh man.

[anglocelt39]

As a very much part time punter my money is on a draw on Sunday. Ever since we conceded a point via a last minute goal to the Rials in game one, I decided that if we were to go up it would all come down to a last day job with us needing to beat Waterford-kind of poetic if you think about it. Also, when did Cavan ever make it easy on themselves. So that requires either a loss or a draw against Wexford, take the odds on a draw for the crack.

Simple key to controlling Wexford is to get somebody on the Park to wind Mattie Forde up and watch him go off, do we have anybody with the required cuteness/slyness for this, not sure.

I'm not going to go into our weak areas, everybody else has those well highlighted-i.e. entire backline and midfield............looking on the bright side, Waterford have been very disappointing after a promising start and are there for the taking on Sunday week (I know, where did we hear that before). Another thing, Louth and W'meath haven't done too badly up in Div. 1 this year, so who knows, and here's hoping.

[cavan4ever]

No one has mentioned Gallagher i think that he is a dead cert to start in the champioship.

[shotstopper1]

If Cavan are beat on Sunday,their destiny will be still in their own hands.They'd need to beat Waterford fairly comfortable as scoring difference may also come into play.

At the moment

Meath      9 pts
Cavan     9 pts
Wexford 8 pts

This weekend
Meath bt Waterford
Wexford bt Cavan

Meath     11 pts
Wexford 10pts
Cavan      9 pts

Last Games

Wexford bt Meath
Cavan bt  Waterford

Wexford 12pts
Meath     11 pts
Cavan    11pts

Wexford draw Meath
Cavan bt  Waterford

Meath     12 pts
Wexford 11pts
Cavan    11pts

[mylestheslasher]

Shotstopper - The problem is Meath play Waterford at home this w'end with the potential to put a big score up against them. I suppose on the last day Cavan will know what amount they need to win by. Hopefully it won't come to that and we beat Wexford.