The Official Cavan GAA Discussion thread.

Wait till Cavan_King logs out.....😀😀

I've a few aches and pains but that's a consequence of getting old, hoping the journey to Croke park doesn't play havoc with my back. Thanks for asking. Yourself? :)

RTE reporting in interview with Mickey that Conor Madden, Moynagh and Niall Murray all back in the frame for Sunday. Caoimhin must be close too?

Madden was doing sprints pre Fermanagh game on the pitch so can’t have been far off.

Caoimhin still had the hand in a cast then but I have seen players go straight from a cast after 6 weeks to back to playing.

Some mess re Division 2 going into final round. 3 teams on 15 points and 4 on 14 points.

CAVAN TEAM SELECTION.

Raymond Galligan

Jason McLoughlin

Padraig Faulkner

Killian Brady

Ciarán Brady

Killian Clarke

Conor Brady

Thomas Galligan

James Smith

Oisin Kiernan

Gearóid McKiernan

Gerard Smith

Martin Reilly

Paddy Lynch

Cian Madden

Subs:

Liam Brady

Chris Conroy

Luke Fortune

Niall Carolan

Michael Argue

Conor Moynagh

Oisin Brady

Stephen Smith

Ryan O' Neill

Thomas Edward Donohoe

Cormac O' Reilly

That's as strong a team as we've had all year, let's hope we can put in a good shift tomorrow and get the job done good and early

Niall Murphy back for Sligo and Spillane out as far as I've heard,

Sligo seem quite confident going into the game judging by the media interviews

Hopefully we'll bring a good crowd and a bit of life to what will be an empty stadium

Sligo struggled over London and Leitrim, neither are world beaters and both Division 4 teams. We comprehensively beat a team started the year in Division 2 and a solid Division 3 team.

Sligo is the easiest draw we could have got so need to be beating them. This Cavan team need to be moving to the next level now - regularly beating inferior teams in both championship and League.

He didn’t play against Leitrim, he lasted a few minutes v London.

He was outstanding, kicked some great scores, the foul for the penalty was a poor decision. Big problems in the full back line, how Sligo didn’t score another goal or two was very lucky for us.

Good to get the win today. Felt we didn't leave second gear though. I'd imagine it's just doing enough to get over the line while giving nothing away to Westmeath.

Onky slight worry is the defence today. Got opened up far to easily and they could have had a couple more goals. Going by the score Westmeath put up today that will need serious work over the next couple of weeks.

Still it's a place in the final and should be a cracking match.

Funny game today. We looked excellent going forward at times but sligo ran through us and could've won that game if they'd taken a few more chances. I think tactically what we were at was very odd. Leaving us man v man in our full back line yet putting poor levels of pressure firstly on their kick outs and secondly barely laying a hand on them as they transitioned into attack. Well that was disappointing to me. Will need a lot more to beat westmeath.

He seemed to be struggling after he took a hit to the ribs 11 to 12 minutes in. He has 3 weeks now to get fit anyway.

We have looked worryingly open in every game at the back. I raised here previously that I thought both Donegal & Down cut us open too easily and it’s still an issue.

Graham will have had a look at Westmeath today but they do look a cut above what we have played to date.

I think that was a good performance from Cavan while still leaving a decent bit in the tank. I think we were probably 10-15% off our max level of intensity and workrate. Defensively that makes a big difference. Gunner and Faulkner were exposed and not for the first time this year. We need to bring on some sticky defenders and to be fair there may be a couple of those U20s that could do the job.

Oisin Kiernan cleared off the line 3 times, huge credit to him for making it back and being in the right place at the right time. You make your own luck.

I thought we saw Paddy Lynch put in an exceptionally mature performance. He realised early on that he couldn't get the yard he needed from the Sligo full back to take on the shot and he offloaded and brought others into the play. It looked pre-planned to me and we got lots of scoring chances from it.

I thought Cian Madden played his best game for Cavan when he came on. Full of workrate, sharp, took his score well. Definitely some green shoots there and signs of the dynamo he was as a minor player.

Gerry Smith was outstanding. He's a different player this year. He always cruised through games and seemed overly conservative but is really taking the game to the opposition.

We didn't see the best from Thomas Galligan today. Would have liked to see him run at them more. He made two poor decisions to shoot for goal. Low percentage shots from that angle and the second one would have put us more than a goal up with time nearly up, a little bit of immaturity there I felt but he's that sort of player so you take the good with the bad.

Very solid displays from Conor Brady, McLoughlin, James Smith.

Firstly, it was a very entertaining game with both teams willing to play open, attacking football. Not good for the nerves at times, but also some quality scores (especially from us in the first half- and has the Gunner ever hit a better score for us?).

For Sligo, Lyons is an absolutely quality defender and their half back line was full of running and Murphy showed his class (even when half fit). Carrabine was a handful all afternoon as was Spillane.

For us, Jason man of the match for me. Made two huge catches when the game was in the mix and as usual it was a no-nonsense, high work rate performance from him with lots of crucial turnovers. Gerry Smith not far behind, and Oisin Kiernan also very strong. I think your point about Paddy Lynch is bang on. Lyons got a great block on him and beat him to the ball early in the first hald and was impossible to shake off. Lynch did what he had to do, showed and won almost every ball in there and rather than go for glory, laid the ball off to someone else in a shooting position. That's the sign of a quality player.

Solid for most parts, but we just weren't firing to the levels of our recent performance. Holla is still way off the pace, and if Moynagh is 100% I would start him at centre half back there.