The Official Cavan GAA Discussion thread.

KeepTheFaith

McVeety wasn't playing? Conor Madden at Full Forward looked very solid. Nevin O'Donnell at No. 10 put in a great shift but ran out of steam in the second half. The Number 12 was probably Man of the Match for me (don't know his name?), Aaron Watson at 2 got on a lot of ball and played very well but he was playing as a free man at the back. Aaron O'Hara at Number 7 played well too. Some good football played by Cavan at times and we were a much better team than Offaly. Tom Hayes looked spritley when he came on and made one fantastic defence splitting pass.

Add in Gerry Smith, Killian Clarke, Dara McVeety, Argue starting and the team should be shaping up nicely. Still lots to work on though lots of hesitation in shooting in the forwards and we were just workmanlike for a lot of the game. With an extremely talented Derry side waiting to knock us off our perch this could be the toughest year at U21 in Ulster yet.

willabur

jays, i thought no 7 was mcveety. Very similar style, looked alot like him too. You are probably right as I haven't seen them play in the flesh too often

they were vastly superior team today, offaly took the sting out of the game in the second half bringing back two lads to play in defence. Any Derry team playing at home will be hard beat

Tinkerbell4484

Really looking forward to seeing what Cavan has to offer this year.i think after last summer they have the whole county buzzing and excited about this year

KeepTheFaith

willabur wrote: »

jays, i thought no 7 was mcveety. Very similar style, looked alot like him too. You are probably right as I haven't seen them play in the flesh too often

they were vastly superior team today, offaly took the sting out of the game in the second half bringing back two lads to play in defence. Any Derry team playing at home will be hard beat

No. 7 was Aaron O'Hara from Shannon Gaels, good player. Good crowd at the game shows there's a great interest in the U21. Pity the Mayo game isn't going to be closer to home.

Lemlin

Good win today. 3-12 to 12. Very promising that Kevin Tierney got 2 goals.

There were three changes to the starting line up. Niall Murray started in place of Fergal Flanagan, Niall McDermott instead of Lyng and David Givney in place of Martin Dunne.

Givney got the other goal playing at full forward. With Gearoid on the road to recovery, that could be a pointer for things to come.

Lemlin

Good win today. 3-12 to 12. Very promising that Kevin Tierney got 2 goals.

There were three changes to the starting line up. Niall Murray started in place of Fergal Flanagan, Niall McDermott instead of Lyng and David Givney in place of Martin Dunne.

Givney got the other goal playing at full forward. With Gearoid on the road to recovery, that could be a pointer for things to come.

Tom Joad

Good result and good to see Tierney get amongst the goals. Not in favour off Givney at full forward - think midfield is where he does his best work but now is the time to be trying different things I suppose.

Lemlin

Tom Joad wrote: »

Good result and good to see Tierney get amongst the goals. Not in favour off Givney at full forward - think midfield is where he does his best work but now is the time to be trying different things I suppose.

He played most of the League last year at full forward because Keating was injured.

I'd prefer to see him at midfield tbh and Gearoid on the 40.

In fairness, the two will probably swap it around a bit like they did last year e.g. Givney came out to midfield against Meath when Gearoid tired.

Apparently Gearoid will only be back towards the end of the league.

willabur

time enough for gearoid to be honest, need to get 7-8 years out of that lad not just one summer.

A comment from one of the coaching staff last year that I picked up upon was that they wanted to not just concentrate on the purest footballers in cavan but rather bring lads in who physically are up to the task of Ulster football and then try to develop their skills. Its an interesting point and probably no coincidence that we have about 4-5 guys who are 6ft3 plus. Argue, Givney, Buchanan, McKiernan are all absolute monsters of men, two of them 6-5 the other two 6,4 and 6,3 I would guess.

I would say its a long term project in converting one of these guys into a full forward. In modern football having an option like a Donaghy or a Murphy would mean that you could mix the game up. Play it patient or play it quick. Its clear that they are looking at having as many options as possible. 20 substitutes in a hastings cup match suggests the net is being cast wide and far, great to see it

willabur

Not so sure about playing Gearoid as a classic 11, with the way the game has gone recently the number on the jersey means feck all really but a classic 11 was your orchestrator - classic examples for me would be Brian McGuigan, Trevor Giles, Greg Blaney, Gooch and probably several others. Playing Gearoid there would point towards emulating the cork setup of a couple of years ago when they had a physical behemoth in Pearse O'Neill ploughing a gap through the middle of the park.

With players available such as lyng and Jack brady I think a game that would see gearoid there would be a horses for courses ty scenario. Great lad to win ball and in doing so consume the yards infront of him with a sweet enough right foot to take advantage my fear is that a clued in team will easily negate him at 11. So you will need someone with nuance to free up the rest of the forward line. That or play Jack at 15 with a playmaking remit with gearoid bursting forward from the 40

Lemlin

The problem at this stage is trying to fit all our big hitters in. I agree about Gearoid on the 40 but I'd see him as being able to adapt better there than Givney can at full forward.

I can't see Martin Dunne bring dropped so our full forward line pretty much picks itself. Dunne, Keating and Tierney. Tierney has to start if he keeps up this form. I'd prefer to see Jack Brady in there instead of Dunne but he was second highest scorer in the Championship last year and got some important scores.

Fergal Flanagan may actually start as a half back this year so we've places available on the 40. For me, you could have Mackey, Gearoid and McDermott for those three places.

That leaves room for Givney at midfield which is his best position IMO. There's always room for him and Gearoid to keep swapping as they tire.

No team announced yet for the Down game tomorrow. It's in Kingscourt instead of Breffni,

Tom Joad

Two changes for tomorrow - Mackey and Tinnelly in for Murray and Tierney.

Cracking results against Mayo in the hastings cup - beating any Mayo team by 7 points is impressive stuff.

Lemlin

Tom Joad wrote: »

Two changes for tomorrow - Mackey and Tinnelly in for Murray and Tierney.

Cracking results against Mayo in the hastings cup - beating any Mayo team by 7 points is impressive stuff.

And still players like Gerard Smith and Killian Clarke to come back in.

McVeety and Moynagh only came on as subs today too.

Tom Joad

Lemlin wrote: »

And still players like Gerard Smith and Killian Clarke to come back in.

McVeety and Moynagh only came on as subs today too.

Some real strength in depth now.

Cracking result for the seniors today too.

Lemlin

Tom Joad wrote: »

Some real strength in depth now.

Cracking result for the seniors today too.

Great result. Down are a Division 1 team so its a huge victory for confidence.

blowitupref

Lemlin wrote: »

Great result. Down are a Division 1 team so its a huge victory for confidence.

Down are Div 2 team now and expect Cavan to be that Division in 2015.

Redsoxfan

I saw a tweet suggesting Seanie was togged yesterday - any truth in this?

munchkin_utd

Redsoxfan wrote: »

I saw a tweet suggesting Seanie was togged yesterday - any truth in this?

I can't see him

tayto lover

Seanie was not there yesterday according to my Kingscourt friend who is in the know. Not likely to be either.

Tom Joad

tayto lover wrote: »

Seanie was not there yesterday according to my Kingscourt friend who is in the know. Not likely to be either.

not going to add fuel to the fire - I will be in Breffni Wednesday night and will believe it when I see him with my own eyes..

tayto lover

Tom Joad wrote: »

not going to add fuel to the fire - I will be in Breffni Wednesday night and will believe it when I see him with my own eyes..

Seanie was NOT there yesterday for sure.

Lemlin

tayto lover wrote: »

Seanie was not there yesterday according to my Kingscourt friend who is in the know. Not likely to be either.

Exactly tayto lover. I can safely say from what I've heard Seanie will be nowhere near that panel at any stage.

With the way the forward line are playing, he's not needed either.

Lemlin

UUJ have pulled out of Wednesday night's fixture. The county board posted it on the Twitter feed at 12 last night.

A real pity because some of the fringe players could have played.

Now to wait and see who we get in the semis.

Tom Joad

Lemlin wrote: »

UUJ have pulled out of Wednesday night's fixture. The county board posted it on the Twitter feed at 12 last night.

A real pity because some of the fringe players could have played.

Now to wait and see who we get in the semis.

That's a shame as another game is always good this time off year but with the state of Breffni it's no harm for it to have the night off.

munchkin_utd

Tom Joad wrote: »

That's a shame as another game is always good this time off year but with the state of Breffni it's no harm for it to have the night off.

it was to be on the 3g pitch so the main pitch wasnt in danger of being dug up anyhow.

Tom Joad

UUJ PRESS RELEASE :

UUJ in consultation with the Ulster Council have
with regret conceded the Mc Kenna cup game against Cavan on Wednesday 15th
January 2014

UUJ find ourselves unable to fulfil this fixture due to
circumstance beyond our control
A combination of senior players involved in
examinations on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning along with a number of
injuries and a significant number of players involved with their counties has
forced us to concede the game. This decision has not been taken lightly and UUJ
have explored all avenues to avoid having to take this course of action. We want
to put on record that we do not wish to disrespect our opponents on Wednesday
night namely Cavan or indeed the Mc Kenna Cup competition itself.
The Mc
Kenna Cup is a competition which UUJ look forward each year and which we have
derived enormous benefit from participating in. We look forward to
participating in the Mc Kenna Cup fully again in 2015. UUJ GAA wish to thank
Ulster GAA for their ongoing help and co operation and fully support them in any
future initiatives in order to ensure continued third level participation in the
Dr. Mc Kenna Cup in the future.

Interesting statement from UUJ - maybe now the Ulster Council will do something about counties taking their players away from the colleges - farcial situation imo and about time it came to a head.

Tom Joad

Cavan v Monaghan in semi this Sunday in our second home - should be good . Monaghan beat Fermanagh well tonight.

RoyalCelt

Cavan looking good in pre season lads. You must be hot favs for promotion? Management will hardly rest all the young lads for the entire u21 championship as not playing division 2 football next year would be disastrous.

Lemlin

RoyalCelt wrote: »

Cavan looking good in pre season lads. You must be hot favs for promotion? Management will hardly rest all the young lads for the entire u21 championship as not playing division 2 football next year would be disastrous.

Cavan are 2/1 for promotion from Division 3 so the bookies have us favourites alright. I was actually shocked to see we are 4/6 favourites to beat Monaghan this weekend, despite them being Ulster champions.

Last year the U21 lads played in the first three league games, up until the Meath match, and then went to the U21s. This year the panel is very competitive for places though so I can see them not featuring at all tbh.

Syferus

Mon the Cavan. Hope ye and ourselves get to play twice in this year's league.