The Official Cavan GAA Discussion thread.

A few thoughts:

Finals are about the result, not the performance. It may only be division four but it's our first trophy at Croker at county level for 70 years. I'm delighted to have been able to be there to see it. Getting over the line and not performing well is something we've not done a lot recently. Also, Tipp were in danger of becoming our new Roscommon in that they just seemed to have our number. It looked like it was going to be their day they way they started the second half and they were way more economical in taking their scores. They looked far less nervy than we did and probably were the better team for longer spells. We did have a slice of luck with the shot off the crossbar but Mark Russel coming off was a massive blow for Tipp- was he injured or just goosed? The three points he kicked in the first half were absolute monsters and he was cleaning up in midfield.

But when the game was in the mix, i was really impressed with our workrate and our tenacity. In fairness whilst Smith and Galligan were fairly anonymous for long spells, they both stepped up for the last 20. Lynch was exceptional and that's some tally to come back from Croker with. As mentioned, Jason wasn't far behind. Special mention to Stephen Smith who had his best game i think for the Cavan seniors. Kicked a monster point, created two goal chances with brilliant kick passes. There were lots of players who didn't have their best day at the office in terms of decision making but no one lacked for effort or commitment, but i can't help thinking that some of them either let the occasion get to them or weren't fully fit.

We won, had a good day out and we won with lots of room for improvement. I've no idea on the amount of scoring chances created but aside from three poor placed balls from Ray we kicked about four into the keepers hands at least and god knows how many wides (including Fortune's goal chance) and for once it was good to come away with a win and not be thinking about how we threw it away again.

He played well in the second half against Sligo but I agree his form has gone off a cliff since the Tipp match in Breffni. The plus side is that normally if Gearoid isn't performing we don't score, so to put up 2-10 and have him only contribute a free is a sign that we are progressing. I do wonder if he's 100% but he was putting in the yards and forced a few turnovers and linked well for the second goal- but didn't contribute much otherwise.

I couldn't understand why gearoid didn't take that free. Sometimes when you look at who is stepping up to take frees through the league you'd have to scratch your head. Gearoid scores that free 9 times of 10.

He looked nervous. I wasn't too far away from the first free (when Thomas was fouled) and I wasn't confident that he would do it.

Niall Murray was really motoring on frees in 2019, another big negative of his injury unfortunately.

I still see free taking as an issue for Cavan. We’ve nobody like a Sean O’Se or Dean Rock that is scoring 80 percent plus.

It has lost us games. The 2019 home league game vs Kerry immediately comes to mind. Galligan missed frees at vital times that day.

I wouldn't be too worried about the performance, and we did enough to win it. There is naturally a lot of room for improvement but I think there was more pressure on Cavan to perform and get that first trophy in 70 years than there was on Tipp, and that showed in some of our play. We just needed to fall over the line on this one I think. We created far more chances than Tipp but they looked more composed until they had to chase the game. I actually felt they were becoming into our new bogey team and there was a confidence in most of their play that they believed they had our number.

Credit where credit is due, we were far the hungrier team with 15 mins to go and let's be realistic, if Ray nails one or two of those dead balls, it's a different game.

Conor Brady catapulted into a game in Croke Park after injury like he was in 2020 vs Dublin. He obviously features in Mickeys starting 15. Where do people think he will play? Midfield?

I still think we look open at the back when run at and that Clarke would be far better at the back than in midfield. I fully expect to see Brady take up a role in midfield like he did in 2019.

It effectively cost us relegation to division four. Yes, we were poor and sluggish and Fermanagh clearly had a few weeks (at least!) training on us, but we kicked two poor wides from frees at the end that at least would have salvaged a draw for us. That's just one game of the top of my head! On Saturday, it was just the scoreboard that was impacted by those misses. One goes over and you suspect that Tipp would lose momentum. Whereas we missed three placed balls and it just added to the pressure. Having done some trojan work in turning the ball over and winning frees / 45 we needed to kick at least one of those to stem the tide. Anyways, we got there!

I would have my doubts about Holla been anywhere near fit? Is that coming from what Graham allegedly said to MT or is there another source?

I'll engage with this now as it's a slow day in work. I don't know who the tournament favourites were - I didn't look up the odds. Were Monaghan? I'd imagine it was a great performance by Cavan given the result but they need to follow it up against Derry. I haven't had time to sit down and watch it yet but I'm not a huge fan of streams as I've previously kept repeating to you, particularly ones where it's one man with a camera trying to follow the action. I would love nothing more than Donohoe to prove his detractors wrong and for Cavan to perform superbly in the U20 championship - I don't think anyone mentioned them needing to win it to do that other than your goodself.

In relation to watching games, I love watching games, especially live. Over the weekend, I was at a minor game Friday evening, then called into a senior club game on the way home, attended the Cavan game on Saturday and was at my club game on Sunday. How many games did you attend over the weekend? You don't seem to reference the club game much other than streams. Do you attend games other than county games?

You have good points to add on this forum but I don't see the need for the catty remarks. As with many supporters, I'm not able to attend absolutely every game so I will speak to others - the recent London game being a prime example. You referenced teachers telling you Chris Conroy was a good coach. By your own rule, you should only be accepting their opinion if you've seen Conroy coach yourself.

A free taker to keep the scoreboard ticking over is huge. The more distance you can put between yourself and a team coming back at you the better - it allows breathing space. I've seen other counties getting their keeper to take even some of the handy frees - Meath for example with their new goalkeeper Harry Hogan. Should Cavan be doing the same? Is it unfair to expect Ray to come up for long, difficult kicks only and boom them over?

I would like to see the stats on chances created, but at a guess Tipp hit three wides and missed two goal chances (three if you count the first minute attack). Realistically the goal chance in the first half wasn't on, Faulkner, Galligan and McLoughlin dealt well with that. Let's say 2-3.

We easily missed 1-4 in the first half and then at least 5 wides in the second half. That doesn't take into account dropped short or attacks created (especially in the first half) that broke down through careless hand passes, poor kicking or decision making. Tipp sat back, hit us on the break and had a ridiculously efficient return. Missed no frees, kicked very little wide and as good as Russel is, he's not kicking 4 amazing points from four chances like that every outing.

So can't really see how Tipp were the better team. More economical perhaps.

The U20 game on Friday evening is being shown on the TG4 app and their YouTube channel.