The Official Cavan GAA Discussion thread.

The scoreline in 2019 flattered us, this one absolutely flattered Donegal. A freak goal sealed it, the margins were always going to be tight. Collectively we played really well and no player let us down. Can’t be faulted for effort or execution of plan. Our tackling in the first half was ferocious.

ultimately in a tight contest it came down a bit of luck and we didn’t get it today.

there’s so many positives to take from that game but I would say much like ourselves the lads are gutted as they are going to miss out on an Ulster final on a very fine margin. I’m not sure I could even stomach the Sunday game. This is going to hurt for a while.

Gallant display but a loss. Lads gave their all but we were lacking a bit of quality. I’ve seen a lot of comment re “fortutious” goals from the media but both came from glaring mistakes so I think we’re only being let off lightly because we were in Div 4 this year.

The first goal was a calamity of mistakes. Why does Galligan come off his line? Gunner & McLaughlin are there. Why doesn’t one of the 3 of them catch the bloody ball? I’m not sure if it’s Gunner or Ray in the end who knocks it down but if you’re doing that the bottom line is get it out of the danger zone.

Then the second goal is Clarke making a mess of what should be a routine catch for an intercounty player. He didn’t have a good game today. He gave away at least 2 frees that lead to scores in the first half too.

I would just hope that we take the Tailteann Cup seriously now and get extra games into the younger players. A bit more exposure to Croke Park would be an added bonus.

Few thoughts on the game

Donegal are no better than us we were equally as good as them yesterday and the better team for the whole first half.

Penalty or not we should have had at least 1 goal in the first half (our ability to not convert goal chances has been evident throughout the league and came back to bite us yesterday.

Murphy was given the freedom of the pitch at the start of the second half and this ended up with Donegal get the first 3 scores. We showed great character to get back level but it was a costly period.

First Donegal goal was an awful mix up i blame Ray he either stays on his line and lets the defenders deal with it or clearly calls the ball so the others don't jump so he can get a better punch on it. The second goal was poor play by Clarke.

Paddy Lynch is just what this team has needed since McVetty left a inside forward who can win his own ball turn towards goal and kick off both feet.

If we are going to continue to play this system i feel that we need to have a better scoring threat from the "forwards" who are dropping deep to defend/link up play as they haven't been worrying the scoreboard and at this level we need higher conversion rates.

The goals being fortuitous and being the result of mistakes are not mutually exclusive. Both of the goals came from miscued efforts, not deliberate high balls in. Both should have been dealt with and Ray could have punched that almost anywhere else and not resulted in an opportunist finish.

The second was poor from Clarke but there was luck in that the ball landed on McBrearty's head (which he knew nothing about) and then he gathered and scored.

It all really depends on the panel and the management. It will take a good while to get over the disappointment of yesterday. If we approach it as "let's get some game time into the younger lads" then we will approach it like we do the league. Fits and starts. Possibly enough to fall over the line in most games, and then get unstuck by a team like say Longford who will think this is their only realistic chance of silverware.

After yesterday we would be raging hot favourites and we know how well we play with that mantle :)

Hard luck to the lads, I woudn’t complain too much as despite the scoreline there was very little if anything between those 2 teams. 99/100 that penalty is given, couldn’t believe Lane didn’t at the time and I thought that could come back to haunt us as we probably needed to put some distance between us and them at half time. We showed great character to close a 3 point gap in the 2nd half but the balls up for the first goal and the fortuitousness of it hitting the Donegal man’s foot and running into the net was just unreal and it knocked the stuffing out of us (we went up the field and hit some very rash shots, losing the plot a bit then).

I had my doubts whether Paddy Lynch could really be a top forward but now I am satisfied that he can, he gave McCole a real tough time. Smith was excellent too. If we could just get one or two more scoring forwards we could be a real threat next year.

Overall I am disappointed we lost of course but at the same time I thought we couldn’t ask anymore of the lads, they needed a bit of luck but instead Donegal got it.

As for the Tailtean cup, we have to get ourselves up for it. We were not a great backdoor team in general but that is probably because we were obviously never going to win the cup at the end of that journey. We have a real chance to go and win this cup and how could we possibly turn up our noses at a national title given our lack of success for decades. If some of our lads are going to call it a day at the end of this year well then why not go out on a high and win the damn thing. I think that performance would bring the supporters out too and get them behind the team. 

I would love if we just went for it. No point saying that the Tailteann is beneath us, but just went out and showed we are cut above. Based on our two championship performances that if we played at that level i doubt many teams would be at that.

Personally I would love us to get Wicklow and to settle a score....And i mean really exorcise a demon. Didn't Paul Fitzpatrick say that the Wicklow lads were slagging us off after they beat us?

I'm starting to sound like a Cavan's answer to Kevin Keegan now :)

I know what you mean, but for Martin Reilly or Gearoid there may not be replacements! I think for Conroy, Niall Murray and Martin Reilly it is a huge ask to commit and realistically only be looking at a bit-part role.

Given all the work that has already gone into the conditioning and preparation you would hope the lads went for it for the last few games and if there is talk of lads hanging up the boots, that they do so with some more well-deserved silverware.

Looking at the bench yesterday it was very weak IMO.

Liam Brady - You would have to praise his dedication.

Argue - Very little game time this year and hasn't shown any form

Conroy - Not suited to fast paces games

Caoimhin - Does he suit the way the game is played now at inter county level in having to track players back the field. Very dangerous player if getting the ball in the right positions as he is very accurate.

Niall Murray - Probably finished at this level due to injuries

Martin Reilly - Only back from injury and may not have been up to speed

Cian Reilly - 1 for the future

Oisin Kiernan - Similar to Martin Reilly

Ciaran Brady - See Martin Reilly (hopefully see more of him in the Tailteann)

Ben Kelly - Not rated by some here but i don't have an opinion as have seen so little of him

Ryan O'Neill - Have never seen him play

I would have 4 of them Argue, Conroy, Murray and Martin Reilly as possible not around next year. From the starting 15 there may be 2 or 3 retirements so i can see why Graham has brought in the 5 or 6 from the U20 squad.

One of the points came from clever play by Galligan whom I thought had his best game in a Cavan shirt in a while. McKiernan was just left to tap it over iirc. I certainly don't see McKiernan as the ''talisman'' of the team that the media refer to him as. James Smith is a novice compared to Gearoid of the intercounty game and I felt he had more of an impact yesterday.

In relation to ''lower level opposition'', I would still somewhat agree with Oisin McConville when he stated that he thought no Division 4 team would be within ten points of Cavan at the start of the year. I certainly don't think they should have been, other than perhaps Tipp. How have the Division 4 teams fared in the championship for example? I still don't understand how Wexford managed to beat Offaly as Wexford are absolutely atrocious, as they showed against Dublin.

There's some reason however that we aren't performing to our ability against these teams - motivation, disinterest; it could be one of a number of reasons. I would certainly have reservations until we see how the team performs in the Tailteann Cup, even though Graham is saying the team will go for it. If nothing else, the posts above show we still need to work on developing a stronger panel of players.

I'll point you back to my paragraph:

[QUOTE]

Well I think the question is still there over us developing a panel as was stated above. In the 2021 Ulster Final we essentially made one substitution (Madden on for Conor Smith). Niall Murray came on too late to be relevant. Yesterday, we made three but the game was up by the time Caoimhin O'Reilly came on. Martin Reilly and Kiernan would have started if they had been fully fit. Would Mickey have thrown Cormac O'Reilly and Madden on if he had a fully fit panel and those two lads starting.

[/QUOTE]

As others have said to you, Kiernan, Holla & Marty Reilly were only on the bench because they weren't fit to start. If you took the three of those off the bench and put Cian Madden, Cormac O'Reilly and another of the fringe starting 15 players on it, would you describe it as strong? I don't think so. I'd like to see more of TED, Conor Madden (despite his inconsistency) and Oisin Brady because we need to have players we can introduce from the bench to get scores when they are needed.

I don't think you still get what I was saying....

I think the majority of us, bar one, get exactly what was stated and meant - another poster has also spelled it out. Yesterday’s bench was artificially inflated because you had three guaranteed starters on it who were deemed not fit enough to start. Whilst a “hypothetical bench when everyone is fit” is quoted above, you normally either have those players starting or not available.

Regardless of semantics, you will hear people say it’s a 20 man game now and Cavan didn’t have 20 players Mickey was happy to put on the pitch yesterday.

I don't need to comment any further on this thanks.

Or you could say Gearoid was running behind Galligan and Thomas had the forethought to turn his back, block the man off and leave McKiernan with a free pop at goal. Very unselfish and not something I think we’d see if the roles were reversed.

I was comparing Gearoid’s performance to an intercounty novice in arguably only his second season of county football - he missed 95% of last year - who was playing out of position. Please don’t attempt to twist my point like you have done to others. I don’t think anybody, bar the media, expects him to be our “talisman” and man of the match in every game.