The Official Cavan GAA Discussion thread.

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Now Armagh 2-16 Cavan 1-10 after 63 mins.

Armagh also playing Division 2 NFL football, along with Cavan and Clare in 2020.

Boom__Boom

Yevon wrote: »

I'm not saying the Kerry structure is a bad one, it obviously works wonders for them. I'm saying to try implement it in Cavan now would be nigh on impossible. Say you run off the Junior and Intermediate Championships early in the year and Kildallan, Drumlane and Belturbet (for example) have joined together for Senior. Only 5 players per club can start in any Senior game. Only a max of 7 can make an appearance. So you have the vast majority of lads from each club that are going to have played off their championship early in the year and won't get another kick of a ball for the rest of the year.

I like the idea of trying it, I love the idea of seeing Kevin McGovern or Eoin McCaffery or Caoimhin McGovern getting a chance at playing Senior Football every year. But it's pie in the sky stuff IMO, players are usually up in arms about the fixtures as is. Lads are leaving clubs every year to head to America. Club games are being postponed to give county players a chance to be fit to line out for Cavan. If on top of all that we try to tell the majority of clubs in Cavan that their premier competition is going to be shoehorned in to accommodate a new championship which at least half of their players won't participate in... I can't see it happening.

In Kerry the intermediate and junior championship were both finished by the end of April this year. Intermediate and junior clubs had county league and also divisional championhips for the lads who weren't involved with the divisional sides, so it definitely wasn't the case for players that once the Junior and Intermediate were finished they were done for the year. Also there is no stipulation for the divisional teams in terms of the numbers of players from any club.

piplip87

What's going on with Conor Bradley. Apparently wasn't called back into the Cavan Panel this year ?

Transferred club to Dunboyne for work reasons but is apparently training with Meath ?

As a Ramor man completely disgusted with him leaving the club in that manor. Had flights paid for him to and from France for few years he was there and now can't drive from Dublin ?

Cavan_King

Yevon wrote: »

Poor day out today, can only hope there's a lot left to come. We were completely outmuscled by Armagh. They ran through us at will and took some fantastic scores. We had no effective plan going forward, weak and lazy tackling at the back, forwards winning the ball reasonably well but no real attempts to take on a man and score. All of the newer lads look like they would be more at home on an U20 side, nobody the least big physically imposing. I thought Madden did well, Martin Reilly was decent, Stephen Smith did ok. Only the McKenna cup but very little positives to take away from today especially when the reinforcements are now thin on the ground.

It’s McKenna Cup so I won’t be panicking until the League. What you say is correct, particularly about the weak and lazy tackling, but Armagh had 10/11 League/Championship starters playing today a friend from there told me. We had 5/6 I’d say - Galligan, Faulkner, Brady, Kiernan, Reilly, Madden.

Last year the likes of Pierce Smith, Simon Cadden and O’Connor started the first McKenna Cup game and were rarely seen again.

We looked lethargic so I’d wonder if the heavy training is continuing even with matches starting. I know last year Tyrone had a poor League start because they continued heavy training with their plan to focus on the latter half of the League.

I still think Murray looked a cut above when introduced and you’ve the likes of McLoughlin, him, McKiernan and Gerry Smith to come into the starting team. They will make a huge difference.

Gallant_JJ

Didn’t manage to make it in. How did Conor smith and Ryan Connolly do?

baconsarnie

Gallant_JJ wrote: »

Didn’t manage to make it in. How did Conor smith and Ryan Connolly do?

Conor Smith showed well, good movement and handling in the first half but didn’t do much in the second. Connolly scored one long range free but hadn’t the physical presence to get much ball and was responsible for a few careless turnovers- in fairness he wasn’t alone there.

I know it’s only McKenna but that was insipid stuff. We were completely lacking in any intensity and were incredibly leggy. Can only assume all that heavy training had an impact.

More worryingly we seemed not to have any plan or strategy. I would say our kick out stats would make for grim analysis. I reckon 1-3 for Armagh came from our kick outs alone. I don’t think Armagh lost a single one of theirs.

It may be a case of not showing our hand in advance of the league but Armagh came down and planted a marker and I’m sure that will do their confidence no harm.

And Martin Reilly was as always, a cut above in terms of movement and passing. Great to see him used close to the opposition goals for a change. Conor Madden also did well in spells.

Cavan_King

Yevon wrote: »

Looked lively and got a couple of points. Looked like a boy in a man's game though. Got out in front and won his own ball but never looked to go past his man and avoided contact at all costs. Looks intelligent, hope to see more of him but hard to look past his lack of physicality.

Certainly no point in panicking just yet. Good to see Liam Buchanan come on at the end, he's always been solid around the middle for us. I was impressed with Madden and really hope he continues his upward curve, plenty of other lads would and have quit when the going got tough but he keeps coming back.

Is Caoimhin Reilly on the panel anyone know?

I was told by friends from the Bridge that Reilly isn’t committing this year.

Conor Smith is only coming back from a long term injury, his speed is his main asset and at times he showed he didn’t need to take on his man, he can just turn and shoot. He had an impressive enough first half for a debut.

I’m still not overly worried after today. There’s plenty of quality to come back into this team and I got the feeling this was a game that had to be fulfilled rather than a fixture any real emphasis was put on.

rrs

I was in Ruddens Costcutter after the match, and Reilly was working there, so he wasn't at the game. Think he is in final year in College.

Considering Cavan are down a lot of players, the game did mean something, to see if there is decent back up. If Niall Murray and Martin Reilly got injured, is there a strong bench?
Bunchanan back after a few years out, he has a good physical presence. McGee I thought could have done more, pulled out of a few 50/50 balls.
Madden good in spells, Niall Murray kicked 2 good points, the one off his left was impressive.

Cavan_King

rrs wrote: »

I was in Ruddens Costcutter after the match, and Reilly was working there, so he wasn't at the game. Think he is in final year in College.

Considering Cavan are down a lot of players, the game did mean something, to see if there is decent back up. If Niall Murray and Martin Reilly got injured, is there a strong bench?
Bunchanan back after a few years out, he has a good physical presence. McGee I thought could have done more, pulled out of a few 50/50 balls.
Madden good in spells, Niall Murray kicked 2 good points, the one off his left was impressive.

There’s a good enough bench to be competitive in Division 2.

It’s a McKenna Cup game. Last year we beat a very experimental Down team by a point and nobody was worrying then. I don’t see the point in getting worked up over a game in a Mickey Mouse tournament.

Kerry lost to Cork by 22 points today to put things into perspective.

There’s four weeks to go until the League starts and I’d expect to see a far more experienced side then.

I would expect the starting team to be something like....

Galligan

McLoughlin
Faulkner
K Brady

G Smith
O Kiernan
C Brady

Brian Magee
Conor Brady

Martin Reilly
G McKiernan
N Murray

C Smith
C Madden
O Pierson

If McKiernan starts at midfield, I’d start Ryan Connolly.

rrs

Kerry had nobody who played championship playing? or on the panel. Are they even training. Them and Dublin don't need to play in these competitions

From the Cavan point of view it, was a poor performance. 3 of the defence will likely be starting the League game
Anyway they should improve.

rrs

The Kerry team and management are currently on holiday. John Sugre the U20 manager was over them yesterday, so using them as perspective was a bit silly..

Cavan should have had players looking to get on the team for the League, since so many are no longer on the panel. Very little hunger

Cavan_King

rrs wrote: »

The Kerry team and management are currently on holiday. John Sugre the U20 manager was over them yesterday, so using them as perspective was a bit silly..

Cavan should have had players looking to get on the team for the League, since so many are no longer on the panel. Very little hunger

I hadn't checked the Kerry team but, regardless, I think there are plenty of examples showing that these pre season comps mean little. Didn't Leitrim reach the FBD final in Connacht a few years back?

The same could have been said of the team that started the McKenna Cup first game last year:

Galligan
O'Connor, Faulkner, Moynagh
S Murray, C. Brady, Stuart
Argue, Galligan
M. Reilly, N. Murray, Cadden
P Smith, S Smith, C. Madden

They were lacklustre and poor in that game against a Down team that weren't half as motivated as Armagh yesterday. I remember Martin Reilly having a particularly poor game but seven of that team went on to be regular starters for League and championship.

Three or four were barely seen again and it may be the same with yesterday's crew.

rrs

Interesting listening to the We are Cavan patreon podcast mention 2 players left because they weren't enjoying it. I wonder was it the actual set up, as McCabe would be hard enough to listen too..

Was Jack Brady asked back or opted out? His brother James was decent with Ramor this year

Cavan_King

rrs wrote: »

Interesting listening to the We are Cavan patreon podcast mention 2 players left because they weren't enjoying it. I wonder was it the actual set up, as McCabe would be hard enough to listen too..

Was Jack Brady asked back or opted out? His brother James was decent with Ramor this year

I know of at least one who isn't going back who commented on the individual you mention. The main reason that player gave for not going back is that he wants to go away on a trip with other club mates to Newcastle in January though so perhaps that's where his priorities lie and you can't hold wanting to enjoy life against him.

I'm not sure re Jack but he was given his chance last year and didn't really make the cut so its not big surprise. He's been in and around the panel for years and he's playing his club football in the half back line and we've better players than him in that area.

In fairness, he's a great club man for Ramor. I've seen him even turn up at their U9 and U11 games, and it's more than just a once off.

baconsarnie

Cavan_King wrote: »

I hadn't checked the Kerry team but, regardless, I think there are plenty of examples showing that these pre season comps mean little. Didn't Leitrim reach the FBD final in Connacht a few years back?

The same could have been said of the team that started the McKenna Cup first game last year:

Galligan
O'Connor, Faulkner, Moynagh
S Murray, C. Brady, Stuart
Argue, Galligan
M. Reilly, N. Murray, Cadden
P Smith, S Smith, C. Madden

They were lacklustre and poor in that game against a Down team that weren't half as motivated as Armagh yesterday. I remember Martin Reilly having a particularly poor game but seven of that team went on to be regular starters for League and championship.

Three or four were barely seen again and it may be the same with yesterday's crew.

Slight difference in that we knew we had McKiernan, Clarke, Mackey and McVeety to come back in and most of the county had an expectarion that last season would have been the on that Caoihin kicked in as well. Barring Gearoid, none of those are available this year and Moynagh (our most consistent player last year) and Rehill (debut in second McKenna cup game) also missing.

I’m not suggesting it’s doom and gloom (far from it) but no point in comparing this weekend with last year’s Down match.

Also noted above, have heard that McCabe is doing nothing for morale. Quelle surprise. Have no idea why he is involved.

Cavan_King

baconsarnie wrote: »

Slight difference in that we knew we had McKiernan, Clarke, Mackey and McVeety to come back in and most of the county had an expectarion that last season would have been the on that Caoihin kicked in as well. Barring Gearoid, none of those are available this year and Moynagh (our most consistent player last year) and Rehill (debut in second McKenna cup game) also missing.

I’m not suggesting it’s doom and gloom (far from it) but no point in comparing this weekend with last year’s Down match.

Also noted above, have heard that McCabe is doing nothing for morale. Quelle surprise. Have no idea why he is involved.

There's no getting away from the fact that McVeety, Clarke and Moynagh are big losses. McVeety and Moynagh may be back for championship hopefully.

Last year though, other players were discovered/stood up and the same needs to happen again this year. For example, would you have expected Rehill or Murray to have the seasons that they did? I'm hearing people say now that Murray is one of our best players, which I'd agree he is, but last year he wouldn't have even started the season as a definite starter.

We also didn't have Gearoid for the League last year, bar the last few minutes against Monaghan. He's a huge asset in Division 2. Great to see Buchanan back in too.

Hopefully we can get the best out of Ciaran Brady, Oisin Kiernan, Gerry Smith and others this year. Graham obviously thinks a lot of Oisin Pierson that he plucked him from the U20s and started him in the Ulster final last year.

Conor Smith looks like he could develop into the corner forward we've badly needed but let's not christen that too soon as it appears happened with Caoimhin Reilly.

People seem to be slightly over rating last season's team because of the amount of players opting out but let's not forget our full forward line featured Jack Brady in most matches who, with all fairness to him, was largely ineffective.

McVeety spent most of last season's league around midfield and the backline so wasn't used as a forward until championship. Therefore I'd argue we should actually have a better forward line than last year.

rrs

I think the problem was, Murray wasn't played really as a forward until Mickey Graham took over. That's where he always played under age, and with the Cavan U21s. I remember watching him in a Minor final with Cavan Gaels, and he scored 8 or 9 points. He's a very good player, he's got stronger in the last few years.

rrs

The other teams in Division 2 aiming for Promotion, have a big powerful forward.
Rian O Neill with Armagh, Daniel Flynn with Kildare and Conor Cox with Roscommon. John
Heslin plays in Full forward a bit with Westmeath.
Conor Madden is probaly in that mould for Cavan.
Madden was impressive last year against Kerry. He needs to get consistent as he has good hands, and can kick off either foot

Cavan_King

Yevon wrote: »

This is very optimistic, Conor Smith looked lively but did he do anything particularly noteworthy? Kicked one decent score, caught a mark and kicked a good score. Other than that he won a few balls inside and continued his run out the field and laid the ball off. If I was going to say we needed a type of corner forward I'd be looked for someone fast and powerful who can take on a man, break a tackle and kick big scores. Personally I didn't see any of that or even a hint that he could do that on Sunday.

Hopefully we will have McVeety and Moynagh back by the summer but the annoying thing is that Division 2 is probably our best bet for a good run of games and a bit of silverware.

Maybe I'm putting a bit of emphasis on his club form which I've seen over the past couple of years but he looked lively and exciting to me. He knows where the posts are and a couple of times he got the ball and turned and shot. That's what we need at times - someone direct rather than this crack of back and forth.

There's definitely work to do on strength and conditioning with him but he's only back from a horrible injury. This is the one player in the panel we have who destroys defences at senior club level in the county.

rrs wrote: »

The other teams in Division 2 aiming for Promotion, have a big powerful forward.
Rian O Neill with Armagh, Daniel Flynn with Kildare and Conor Cox with Roscommon. John
Heslin plays in Full forward a bit with Westmeath.
Conor Madden is probaly in that mould for Cavan.
Madden was impressive last year against Kerry. He needs to get consistent as he has good hands, and can kick off either foot

Fantastic against Roscommon too in a game I arguably found more enjoyable than the Monaghan match. There was a real carnival atmosphere around Breffni that day.
He seems to be a confidence player and his confidence dipped later in the Summer but I'd like to see him stay in around full forward a bit more. He tends to rotate or drop out a lot. He showed against Monaghan in Clones in the League that he isn't afraid to take on this man and go for it and fair play to him because he has stuck at it when others have dropped out.

Speaking of forwards, I listened to the We Are Cavan Patreon podcast about the Armagh game. Paul Fitzpatrick described Caoimhin O'Reilly as one of Cavan's ten best players - where did that come from? I'd love to see O'Reilly playing with Cavan but he made his debut in 2016 vs Tipp and has failed to hold down a starting position under successive managers. I definitely think its a matter of hugely overrating a player at this stage.

baconsarnie

Not unlike Conor Smith, Caoimhin at club level is almost always worth the entrance fee. He has “it” in that he’s fast, powerful and once he wins ball he looks to score. His debut against Tipp showed he could do it at intercounty level as well.

Mc Glennnan never played him for 70 minutes even in games when he was on fire (league final against the Rossies being one example) but he had the oddest way of subbing players.

Last year he was injured for most part so I think everyone had high hopes for him this year. I think a full forward line of Madden, Smith and Reilly would be fun to watch.

Cavan_King

baconsarnie wrote: »

Not unlike Conor Smith, Caoimhin at club level is almost always worth the entrance fee. He has “it” in that he’s fast, powerful and once he wins ball he looks to score. His debut against Tipp showed he could do it at intercounty level as well.

Mc Glennnan never played him for 70 minutes even in games when he was on fire (league final against the Rossies being one example) but he had the oddest way of subbing players.

Last year he was injured for most part so I think everyone had high hopes for him this year. I think a full forward line of Madden, Smith and Reilly would be fun to watch.

I don’t remember him being great in the League final. He got a point from a free that day and that was it. It was McVeety that I remember being on fire that day.

He was back and fit for Championship but Mickey allowed him to return to his club ahead of the Monaghan game and then started others like Pierson ahead of him in subsequent games.

I do think he’s a good player but I wouldn’t see him as one of our ten best.

rrs

Caoimhin Reilly was playing well against Donegal in Ballybofey, and was hauled off. He scored 1-2 maybe. He's been unlucky with Injury. Missed all of the League in 2019 and was only back to make a few sub appearance in championship.

He's needs a full year of County football injury free.

Cavan_King

rrs wrote: »

Caoimhin Reilly was playing well against Donegal in Ballybofey, and was hauled off. He scored 1-2 maybe. He's been unlucky with Injury. Missed all of the League in 2019 and was only back to make a few sub appearance in championship.

He's needs a full year of County football injury free.

I don’t disagree but my problem is him being labelled one of our ten best players? He hasn’t played enough or for long enough to be considered that.

rrs

Yeah, Paul Fitz exaggerates at times. I remember when Ray Cullivan was breaking through, Fitz was saying he was a future All Star in a few years. Just let them see how they get on, before building up before achieving much..

Cavan_King

rrs wrote: »

Yeah, Paul Fitz exaggerates at times. I remember when Ray Cullivan was breaking through, Fitz was saying he was a future All Star in a few years. Just let them see how they get on, before building up before achieving much..

I do like the pair of lads but I do think they are responsible for some of the #futureisblue crap of the Hyland years that they now lambast.

I used to listen to the WeareMeath podcast when it was free and the good thing was they’d mix it up a bit with four people each week and those four sometimes changing. I know We Are Cavan sometimes get on Hannon or Brennan but it’s not enough.

The same anecdotes are continually told by the two lads because it’s constantly just the pair of them.

rrs

Yeah Derry and Donegal seem to produce more bigger stronger players. It's no surprise that Derry have 3 players currently playing AFL.
Conor Glass, Callum Brown and Anton Tohill. Tohill is 6'6.

Cavan v Tyrone Sunday. Mattie Donnelly out of the League, McAliskey opted out for the year, and Cathal McShane Afl bound, so down a few.
Mcshane a serious loss for them this year.
They will likely be too strong all the same.
Don't think I'll be going to Omagh.

Cavan_King

Yevon wrote: »

Yeah that was a crazy comment on Caoimhin being one of our best players given his extremely limited game time and failure to hold his place under 2 successive managers.

One thing I did find interesting in this week's podcast was Paul's comment about the way football is played in the county being a reflection of the type of players we bring through.
For some reason, the best players in Cavan are usually smaller lighter players. Over the past decade our best players were probably Mackey, Flanagan, Johnston, Martin Reilly, Dara McVeety, Gearoid McKiernan. Only Gearoid would break 6 foot in that group. You could maybe add Killian Clarke and Rory Dunne to the list so it's not across the board.
But a lot of the other great white hopes like Martin Dunne, Conor Bradley, Ray Cullivan, Kevin Bouchier, Barry Reilly, Jack Brady... None very physically imposing.

What is it about football in the county, either at underage or Senior level that means the dominant players are small and skilful?Counties like Donegal and Derry seem to be able to churn out big physical ball players each generation.

I've heard Donegal argue that point before re the way football is played in the county effecting their county team - a lot of handpassing by their players because of the windy conditions they train in by the coast.

Cavan just seems to be a small county. We don't seem to produce physically imposing players, not like Bernard Morris anymore anyway! A few years back you had Castlerahan playing Mackey and Flanagan at midfield. There had to be some type of record made with that pairing!

rrs

Was anyone up in Omagh? Niall Murray seemed to play well again and Madden. I saw the highlights on BBC, Connolly kicked 2 nice pts when he came on.
Tyrone seemed to play better against the breeze in second half. I listened to the game on teamtalk.,Tyrone radio. They were impressed with the 2 Murrays, Madden and Connolly.
Gearoid McKiernan lacking fitness

Anothrr defeat to Tyrone though. They have no fear of Cavan and why should they..

Cavan_King

rrs wrote: »

Was anyone up in Omagh? Niall Murray seemed to play well again and Madden. I saw the highlights on BBC, Connolly kicked 2 nice pts when he came on.
Tyrone seemed to play better against the breeze in second half. I listened to the game on teamtalk.,Tyrone radio. They were impressed with the 2 Murrays, Madden and Connolly.
Gearoid McKiernan lacking fitness

Anothrr defeat to Tyrone though. They have no fear of Cavan and why should they..

Are they available online on BBC? Very few travelled according to Paul Fitz on Twitter but then I doubt there’s much stomach for a McKenna Cup game on a cold January day. I certainly couldn’t justify it.

Tyrone are a level above us, alongside Donegal, Kerry, Mayo and Dublin. They’re the elite teams ahead of the pack.

Below that you have Meath, Galway, Monaghan, Roscommon, Kildare and us. At the minute though, we’re hanging onto that grouping by the coat tails. We have to be able to beat the teams around us consistently, which we aren’t doing, before even thinking of challenging Tyrone.

Unfortunate to see Conor Smith go off. It seems he’ll never get a decent run without injury. I heard bits on Northern Sound and it seemed Pierson & Madden did alright.

Tyrone always play well against the wind. It was the same in the League game last year. People thought Cavan were a great position at half time and then Tyrone came out and blitzed us.

Less than 3 weeks to league now.

rrs

Yeah BBC NI sport have it online

https://t.co/sQIUN1l8fF?amp=1