USFC Round 1 : An Cabhan V An Dun

[Uladh]

Not knowing a whole pile about some of the cavan lads who have come into and gone out of the team, i'd hope that the changes would be aimed at achieving the following: 1) Obviously, extra cover in front of the down full forward line, more particularly on coulter. 2) stop the down wing backs sauntering forward unopposed (should play two wing backs at 10 & 12). 3) stop dan gordan getting a run to catch kickouts and get onto the resulting breaks. 4) better conditioned forwards who can sustain an attacking threat for 70 minutes or better use of the subs to achieve this. 5) create a middle third of sustained pressure to delay the ball getting into coulter. 6) move the ball out of defence much faster (that means kick it).

[The Bottom Brick]

Lyng and Sean Brady are there to bring some workrate to the half forward line. Cullivan found the pace too tough on his championhip debut and Larry was too unfit to track back (hence, the Down half back line got four points from play in the last 50 minutes).

Crowe to add some strength and stop lads coming through, I definitely wouldnt agree with this one, Brady would be one of my first names on the team sheet even if he has had 2 poor games in a row

I was stunned by Galligan, but when I think about it who else is there who can stay with Gordon? Mulvey can't , Walsh was atrocious when he came on, Brennan must be forgotten about...

Dropping Jelly is very harsh. He showed very well and kicked a good point under pressure (one point from play in 50 minutes was more than Jason got in 70, plus Jayo scuffed 3 goal chances).

I have a feeling Larry will start close to goal...

There's a good argument to be made for saying that we're starting with four (Gunner, Jelly, Cullivan, Fannin) of our best 9/10 players on the bench. Doesn't make much sense to me...

Hopefully there's a method in this madness and they're not just making it up as they go along

[shotstopper1]

McKeever will be used to play in front of Coulter.
As for Cullivan he has being one of our better players all year (even in Croker),and was unlucky to be subbed when he was on Sunday,there were one or two others who could've being taken off before him (even McKeever).Also he only turned 18 last Nov and has plenty of time for improvement which I've no doubt he will and will eventually end up playing either CHF or FF.
Its time now for Galligan to show us what hes worth, hopefully he willl.Reckon Gunner must be injured for Keoghan not to start him.

[BallyhaiseMan]

i seen McKeever play full forward for the County Minors and he was very effective there.He may not be as quick as most corner or full forwards,but he was, Extremely intelligent in his run making,
It could be Sean Brady dropping in front of Coulter either.

Maniac
about Ray Cullivan,he was poor against Down but in most games i seen him in the league he was very good.

Hes a magnificant fielder of the ball,Very strong and normaly a very good passer of the ball.
Hes a good freetaker,misses some but scores most.
I think he would be a great option at full forward at the minute to be honest due to his aerial ability,
He will eventually grow to be one of the best Half Forwards in the country i think and as one of the lads said hes only 18/19.
Thought he was our best man in Croker aswell.

Delighted with Ciaran Galligan playing,I dont think Dan Gordon will have half the influence he had in the first game now.
Galligan is athletic enough to stay with him wherever he goes,and he will contest the aerial battlesbetter in which Mulvey got cleaned out in last Sunday.

still have grave worries about that full back line though.

Half back line with Crowe in there now looks solid.

[downredblack]

Is Michael Walsh playing for the Bridge tomorrow night ?

[cavanmaniac]

Maniac
about Ray Cullivan,he was poor against Down but in most games i seen him in the league he was very good.

Hes a magnificant fielder of the ball,Very strong and normaly a very good passer of the ball.
Hes a good freetaker,misses some but scores most.
I think he would be a great option at full forward at the minute to be honest due to his aerial ability,
He will eventually grow to be one of the best Half Forwards in the country i think and as one of the lads said hes only 18/19.
Thought he was our best man in Croker aswell.

Aye, one thing I did forget to put into my post is that it is strange he hasn't been tried at FF. I still have reservations about him being started and depended on so soon in his intercounty career and it might be his age and nerves that's making him play below par in some of the games I've seen, because the general opinion on him still seems very favourable so I'll go along with that even though I'm not seeing it myself as yet.
But if he has good fielding ability (what height is he, 5.11?) and clearly he's strong physically, then he might be an option at FF? The only thing is he's quite slow so might not win any races for possession if the ball comes in low in front of him?
I remember John Tierney was being groomed for this role under Eamon Coleman and he was shaping up into one serious option at no.14 before the inevitable happened and some part of his body gave up the ghost. Tierney would be quicker off the mark though than Cullivan I'd say...

[BallyhaiseMan]

Tierney would be quicker off the mark than Cullivan,but even thought he was a strong man he wouldnt be as physically strong as Cullivan or as good as ball winner, Cullivan is an absolute tank.
Hes about 5'11 id say maybe 6ft,But he makes up for that because of his magnificant jumping ability.
He would be a handful for any Full back big or small,because ive seen him tear apart good players 3 and 4 inches bigger than him.
If things are going badly against Down,wouldnt be suprised to see him brought in at FF so they can put the ball in high.

[The Bottom Brick]

The more I think about it, how the f**k are they puting Crowe ahead of Brady?

Brady was deemed the defender most capable of marking Coulter last week, now he's not in the team??

Remember, bar the McKenna Cup, all Johnny Crowe has done is get substituted after SIXTEEN minutes v Antrim and get a flukey goal last Sunday.

He's strong, but so was Mulvey...

Jelly got rode too, big time. I'd much prefer Jelly than Jason at the minute. You'll see Sean Brady and McKeever dropping back which will mean the Cavan forwards have to work extra hard to stop Down building from the back. And who are those forwards?

Larry - not fit for 70 minutes
Jason - not fit for 70 minutes
Lyng - not for for 70 minutes

and Pierson, who is fit.

Disaster waiting to happen, pure and simple.

[BallyhaiseMan]

id have dropped Forde before Gunner.
Gunner played a bit of football when moved to wing half back.
Forde done nothing.
i think Crowe gives us a bit of power at wing half back,hes also being playing well for Crosserlough,so......

i cant understand dropping Jelly.
Jelly contributes alot more Jayo.

Full Forward line of
Jelly McKeever and Pierson would be very strong.

[The Bottom Brick]

Ballyhaise, McKeever won't play full forward in a million years, he'll be dropping back like he did in the second half last week

Club form is irrelevant. Sure Brennan's flying for Drumalee and must have featured in 15 league games for Cavan in the last 2 years - Crowe has done nothing in a Cavan jersey at any level, ever.

Same as we did last year in Casement, we're starting a foward line that isn't near fit.

Another thing, we had two players selected for the Ulster Railway Cup team six months ago - both are flying fit and both start on the bench this Sunday. Only in Cavan...

I hear Galligan's a bit of a woman as well... Saw him against wexford when he was hauled of and he didn't look like a boy that could handle Dan Gordon

Keogan and co are making it up as they go along...

Here's a question: If Murtagh's last point had've gone wide, and Cavan were out again this weekend, would there be four changes in the team? Not a fuckin hope.

[amallon]

I would assume Michael Walsh will be playing with us tomorrow night.  He was training with the Bridge last night.  

The surface in Newry is supposed to be excellent.

[mylestheslasher]

Well I think they are right dropping Johnson instead of Jason. Jason didn't scroe from play but he was the only player in the FF line who looked like beating his man when the ball was in hand. When Jayo does that there is a chance of goals, and goals win games. Seanie Johnson showed well at times but his finishing was poor. He hasn't been taking players on and beating them either. Pierson hasn't been beating players either but all Pierson needs is a half yard and he can kick them over if he is on form. Johnstone can count himself unlucky but I think it was the right decision.

Crowe did well against Ros when he came on and he did well last week when he came on. I think he deserves a chance, although if he doesn't take it he will need to be replaced by Brady early. Galligan is the only option we have for the middle that is athletic enough to keep with downs pacy runners. Maybe Brennan could've done the same but Galligan has some height to at least break ball on Down.

I am normally critical of the Keoghan management but I think at least we can say they seen some of the problems and are making strong decisions to rectify them. I hope they bring McKeever back to sweep in front of the FB line. I am more confident of victory this weekend than I was last weekend, so heres hoping.

[cavanmaniac]

It's clear that defending Coulter before the ball comes into him, when he has it in hand, and when the Down half backs and midfielders are attacking through the middle, are the three things we need to do better at to win this game.

I don't think there's much more we can do about the defensive personnel or positioning, so we have to concentrate on stopping the supply and stopping Down attacking from deep.

I think the management have taken encouraging steps in this regard with Galligan, Lyng, Crowe, Sean Brady on the side and others to come in like Gunner and Fannin. A hard working half back/forward line will restrict Down's key attacking weapon from deep which leaves us with Coulter to marshall. If we only allow him 50-60% of the ball he got last Sunday then I think we can beat Down with the forwards we have, their own measures to thwart our forwards notwithstanding because obviously they'll be working on their own revisions in that regard.

And let's not forget that in all the criticism of the Cavan team and management, that we shouldn't overlook the balls, spirit and determination in this brave if limited team. If one major stride was taken in 2007 it is this much improved attitude and never say die spirit. Down beat us last year because when it came down to it the belief or determination wasn't there to push on and win the game, despite outplaying them at times. This year's result was different because the attitude was, simple as.

[Lecale2]

Down team will be named tonight after training.

[shotstopper1]

Well I think they are right dropping Johnson instead of Jason. Jason didn't scroe from play but he was the only player in the FF line who looked like beating his man when the ball was in hand. When Jayo does that there is a chance of goals, and goals win games. Seanie Johnson showed well at times but his finishing was poor. He hasn't been taking players on and beating them either. Pierson hasn't been beating players either but all Pierson needs is a half yard and he can kick them over if he is on form. Johnstone can count himself unlucky but I think it was the right decision.

You've got that spot on there Myles,last Sunday Jason was the only one of them which tried to take on his man.Johnston was out in front and won a lot of ball but wasn't capable of beating his man,done more twisting and turning than was a holy terror and going nowwhere at the same time.