The Official Cavan GAA Discussion thread.

Wallace from Westmeath did plenty of damage with his forward runs. Just because a player isn’t scoring themselves doesn’t mean they aren’t causing problems.

The half back line is now one of the most attacking on the field. If you want to compete at even Division 2 level, you won’t do it with half forwards that won’t track back.

Give McVeety time. He’s back a wet week. He’ll have to get up to the intensity of the games again as what he was playing in Oz won’t have been up to the speed of that game. He’s been doing triathalons and events like that so should be in peak physical condition but then, this forum holds people to high standards, we did have one West Cavan poster try to say Gerry Smith looked overweight at the start of the year.

At the minute you’re trying to compare how McVeety played to what Damien Donohoe has titled possibly the best performance by a club player in a game that he has ever seen.

Strong win by Arva tonight. Having ten points to spare against Drumlane, alongside their league performances, shows they will more than likely have far too much for junior.

Assuming players stay fit, I agree, Arva will walk Junior. They’re far too strong for it.

while I’m at it I’m going Ballyhaise for intermediate and a coin toss between Gowna and Crosserlough, just to be a contrarian I will go for Gowna. Senior and intermediate should have some brilliant games.

There seems to be a constant opinion out there that Gearoid gets a hard time. I don’t buy it to be honest. If anything, he’s the media darling. For example, did anyone believe Gearoid should have got man of the match against Sligo? You’ll find very few who would look past Gerry Smith or Jason McLoughlin.

In 2019 the same happened when Dick Clerkin had to actually try and retrospectively change his man of the match award vs Monaghan to Martin Reilly.

On the JMac podcast this year, you had Kevin McGourty trying to say that Gearoid carried Cavan on his back to the Tailteann Cup final. I was at all the matches, did I miss something?

He consistently puts himself forward to take frees and takes the ball from other players but he’s not an intercounty standard free taker - we wouldn’t have needed a replay against Armagh in 2019 if he had tapped over a 30 yard free in front of the posts.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d fully agree that he’s our most consistent player since McCabe but I would think he gets a lot of benefits from being our most high profile player.

Gerry Smith and Cian don't play in the back line for their clubs. Gerry is usually midfield or even full forward last year and Cian probably lines out at wing back but spends most of his time in the attacking third.

I agree management should take responsibility for their faults on the day. And the players should do so too. If you blame management when Carolan stands looking at the ball and let's O'Toole ghost by him and kick it into the net... well player responsibility will go out the window.

We could have won the game if management had taken a different approach. We could have won the game with the employed tactics if the players had made less errors. Both of these things are true.

It's very easy to criticise players and managers and be an expert after the fact which is something we should be mindful of too, and I include myself in that.

Smith plays wherever Lavey need him. He’s only ever played full forward when on one leg like he was against Crosserlough a few years back. If named in the full forward line, he drifts out the pitch - he doesn’t stay in there unless they are playing him when he’s not fit because of injury and can’t run right. Madden has been playing attacking half back for Gowna. Either way, neither are natural scoring forwards.

I think you’ll find most people pinpointed errors that were made before the game - not after the fact. As was pointed out above, how many people on here said we were too open before it? How many people expected McLoughlin to be the natural fit to pick up O’Toole? How many people thought Carolan looked a bit green against Fermanagh?

Perhaps Mickey did a Pep on it and was trying to be too clever but the criticism was anything but “after the fact”. It was the downright obvious before the debacle.

Good of you to reply for another poster.

Centre half is a back. In my mind, positions 2-7 are backs. The half back line are called the half back line for a reason. They are backs. I don’t know many people who think otherwise. When he came into the team, as a teenager, I remember seeing him pick up Niall Smith at a game vs the Gaels when Niall was wing half forward. Was possibly a decade ago now but he’s generally been around midfield and the half back line for the last ten years. Certainly not a scoring forward.

They got a lot more than match ups and the tempo wrong. The selection was too pedestrian and conservative. I would argue that the players, while they made mistakes, stayed in the game despite how much the line got wrong.

No need for the “anyone with a pair of eyes comment”. I’d expect that if other posters on here but you’re better than that. Don’t reduce yourself to that sort of comment.

Cian Madden is like a lot of players we have: a creator, not a scorer. That’s why Gowna leave the scoring lads in the forward line and he plays deeper down the pitch creating.

Half backs attack now, I’m not arguing that, but the fact is our forward line was far too conservative. Moynagh, Carolan, Smith & Cian Madden can score but it’s not their primary purpose for club or county.

You can nitpick all you like about lads attacking from positions but the bottom line is management gave Westmeath far too much respect. We should have had confidence in our players to take the game to Westmeath but instead we allowed an inferior team to dictate it (as per the GAA rankings per various sources at that time if anyone wants to nitpick that).

Oh, back now to replying to the other side of the Hardy Bros double team.

1. Raymond Galligan

20. Niall Carolan

4. Killian Brady

3. Padraig Faulkner

12. Conor Moynagh

7. Conor Brady

2. Jason McLoughlin

6. Killian Clarke

8. Thomas Galligan

10. Gerard Smith

11. Gearoid McKiernan

5. Oisin Kiernan

9. James Smith

14. Paddy Lynch

15. Cian Madden

Subs

Stephen Smith for Cian Madden (ht)

Martin Reilly for Conor Brady (51)

Luke Fortune for Conor Moynagh (66)

Cormac O'Reilly for Killian Brady (71)

Conor Madden for Killian Clarke (71)

That’s the team and subs as per the first article came up on Google. I wouldn’t have started Carolan, Moynagh or Madden. Luke Fortune starts over Carolan for me.

It’s tough on Cian Madden after he had a good semi final but we’ve too many similar players already on the pitch.

Oisin Kiernan drops back to the half backline.

I’m not privy to who is going well in training but it appears Conor Madden & Cormac O’Reilly were as that is who Mickey called on when we desperately needed scores. Therefore O’Reilly, or TED if he was going well, in for Cian Madden and Conor Madden in for Moynagh. I don’t believe Butlersbridge Caoimhin was fit for the final was he?

Oh yeah, and before the team walked out, I’d remind them that we are putting the best midfielder in the county in FF and there’s not much point in him standing in there unless we kick the ball in.

So did you fully agree with the team selected and the decisions made?

Like I said, the manager did a Pep and tried to be too clever when it was glaringly obvious who should mark O’Toole. Then when Conor Brady was doing well after the change, he took him off and left others on the pitch. One of a huge number of errors.

Mickey gets another 2 years subject to ratification at the next County Committee Meeting.

Good to see Graham committing. Searching for a new manager at the moment would be tough with so many other counties in the same boat.

He has his work cut out for him. Division 3 looks like it is going to be the best Div 3 in a long while. Down will presumably get a surge under their new manager, Kilcoo lads potentially involved and good U20s coming through. Offaly in a similar boat. Westmeath with a cup under their belt. Tipperary who are a definite bogey team for us.

h'on the mighty Gaels! Written off by everyone and beat the favourites. Crosserlough not all their cracked up to be. McVeety only fit for covering ground in front of Gmac, best player in the county by a country mile.

It's only one win but it was against most people's championship favourites. All the talk was about Gaels being too old, too reliant on Gmac etc. And the talent available to Xlough. In fairness to him, McVeety was excellent.

I don't belive the big 3 are as far ahead as people seem to think.

XLough Gowna and Ramor. Most people I talk to seem to belive these 3 are ahead of the pack and not many are predicting a winner outside of these 3 sides.

I was surprised by how tight that result was. Given the trimming Laragh gave the Bridge and reports said they struggled with Laragh's physicality, I thought Ramor would steamroller them. None of the favourites humming yet. I was at the Lough Vs the Gaels and whilst the Lough did kick the game away in the first half, the Gaels were the hungrier and better organised in the second. Knocks to Stephen Smith and James Smith didn't help. Sounds like Lacken gave the Lough a tight game even without Thomas Galligan.

In intermediate, no big surprises yet. Ballyhaise Vs Castlerahan in a few weeks could be interesting. Do either team have a panel big enough to do some shadow boxing given that they are both more or less through?