Messages

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.

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.

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.

If Casement gets built, it could surely host some big national games too, games where the life gets sucked out of the atmosphere in 70% empty Croker. That said, Paschal seems already pissed that the Euros in Dublin will be a money loser and aghast at suggestions Irish gov contribute to Casement, so unless London ups the £62m grant, GAA will have to build whatever 77m can afford, which would still be a nice little stadium but not a 35,000 seater.

It's a pity that this Stadium if it gets built and the new one in Cork are so far away from so many counties.  Apart from Croke Park they will be in the best stadiums in the Country but due to there locations are going to be a hard sell for use as neutral grounds for the All-Ireland series and possible league finals. 

Casement will probably never see a big knockout hurling championship game due to the distance it is away from the top hurling counties and cork probably wont be used regularly for big Football games either. 

Dublin will have 5 billion surplus every year for next 5 years. Since it's a GAA stadium that will ultimately promote Irish culture, Irish gov should cover the additional costs. An additional 50 million is nothing in the scheme of things. It would soften the cough of some DUPers.

I don't think they should it would be alot better spent on doing up the likes of Clones, Navan, Breffni etc.

dublin airport roundabout blocked again today 2nd week in a row

Brilliant, love the energy they put into distributing things. Think how well that could be used if they were working. But rather make Cnuts of themselves

Guards must be tied up with assisting evictions otherwise they'd surely remove a handful of people from a public road, disrupting people going about their business?

I assume they are allowing the far right make themselves unpopular. It's starting to fizzle out, numbers are way down from an already low base.  But it does beg questions about the policing of other protests.

Maybe the protesters can't get anymore time of work to attend.

Fermanagh at 2/1 is a good bet for this weekend.

They were by far the better team last week and i doubt if we will get as lucky with goals this week.

I doubt if we will have Gerry Smith, McVitty, Carolan and there is talk of Clarke carrying a knock also.  I don't think Graham is to bothered about this game as once promotion was as good as secured he starting tinkering with the team which resulted in performance levels dropping.

I hope i'm wrong a victory in Croke park and a trophy can only be good for a team.

50 yrs in schools??? I'm not 50 and I never had this in either primary or secondary school

You would have needed to be able to cycle a bicycle to get on it. 

I've had about 5/6 concussions in last 5 years, previous one was especially bad was off work for 6 months with migraines/blackouts etc.. Pretty soft hit I got on the back of head going down to pick up the ball and just knew from the previous ones what had happened, stupidly played the rest of the match but then I was sick for days. Was still struggling few weeks later and went to hospital and was diagnosed with PCS (Post Concussion Syndrome)

Went for CT/MRI scans all came back that brain function was ok but was still getting the blackouts/migraines - Got some rotation examination done on my neck and consultant said had the rotation/flexibility of someone in there 50/60s, I was 28 at the time so not great news lol. Neck had completely stiffened from the concussion so that was the cause of my blackouts/brain fog etc. About 3/4 months of physio and started to feel ok again.

Still get the odd bit of brain fog but happens when neck gets tight or sit too long. Not currently playing atm (Partners ill do a year out) but consultant said one more concussion that I was to stop contact spot completely.

Thats not good you may hang up the boots its not worth it.

Was reading it and thinking are you just unlucky or going into tackles wildly?  Only one concussion from playing, full hurl contact on side of head, played on, but looked like I was drunk apparently

Yeah sport is great craic but if it has repercussions later in life its not worth that

1st one I got was done intentional, busted the fella earlier in the game because he took out a younger player then got me back.. rest just unlucky(falls/clash of heads), always happened against teams in yellow/blue jerseys so I just sat out those matches after the last one 😅 Have a wee girl and she's a couple of years from nursery football groups so will be coaching for me from now on I'd say. Get nagging from the other half when I mention going back so headache listening to her and risk of another knock on the head probably not worth it at all

Take up the whistle  Handy one, its like concussion without the long term effects

Anyone who referees must have got a bang on the head when they were younger !

I've had about 5/6 concussions in last 5 years, previous one was especially bad was off work for 6 months with migraines/blackouts etc.. Pretty soft hit I got on the back of head going down to pick up the ball and just knew from the previous ones what had happened, stupidly played the rest of the match but then I was sick for days. Was still struggling few weeks later and went to hospital and was diagnosed with PCS (Post Concussion Syndrome)

Went for CT/MRI scans all came back that brain function was ok but was still getting the blackouts/migraines - Got some rotation examination done on my neck and consultant said had the rotation/flexibility of someone in there 50/60s, I was 28 at the time so not great news lol. Neck had completely stiffened from the concussion so that was the cause of my blackouts/brain fog etc. About 3/4 months of physio and started to feel ok again.

Still get the odd bit of brain fog but happens when neck gets tight or sit too long. Not currently playing atm (Partners ill do a year out) but consultant said one more concussion that I was to stop contact spot completely.

Thats not good you may hang up the boots its not worth it.

Looks like Rian O'Neill will be missing for Armagh if they get through to the quarter versus us. Big loss for them

Id be more concerned about McVetty been missing than who they have or haven't we are not the same team without him.

It's pretty rudimentary. Trying to play out from the back with such a limited team against one of the worlds best is moronic. I'd happily watch hoof ball for an hour and be bored to tears if it got us a point.

What will you do for the other 30 minutes watch it from behind the couch? 

Sligo v Wicklow Sligo by 4
Fermanagh v Cavan. Cavan by 5

Derry v Dublin Derry by 1
Mayo v Galway. Galway by 2

[Draw]

Galway v Kerry Draw
Roscommon v Donegal
Tyrone v Armagh
Mayo v Monaghan

Clare v Limerick
Dublin v Louth
Kildare v Meath Draw
Cork v Derry

Cavan v Fermanagh
Westmeath v Tipperary
Offaly v Down
Longford v Antrim Draw

Wexford v Carlow
London v Laois
Waterford v Wicklow
Leitrim v Sligo

That's the bit that doesn't stack up. You've people saying football was much more enjoyable in the 90's with no crowded defences and skillfull players who could score from anywhere. Yet you wonder what they were doing because there is as many scores now in games as ever.

Nowadays players are much better at shooting from what I can see.

That's because they are only taking on shots at the end off a move of about 20 fists passes when they are in a position that their manager allows them to shoot.